Irene Rich
Toronto Daily Star, September 1 1931
Irene Rich (1891-1988) really was 39 years old at the time that this ad came out. Her Hollywood career had started relatively late: in 1918, when she started seeking work as an extra, she had been married and divorced twice and had two daughters. She appeared in a number of silent films in the 1920s, including eight pictures by Will Rogers. In the 1930s, she made the transition to radio, hosting her own show from 1933 to 1944. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for her film work and one for radio.
Ms. Rich was in the process of separating from her third husband, realtor David Blankenhorn, at the time of this photo. In 1949, she became part of a love triangle that turned deadly: Agnes Elizabeth Garnier shot businessman John Owen and claimed that Ms. Rich had come between them (which she denied). Ms. Garnier was sentenced to one to ten years in prison for manslaughter and served a year and a half.
Ms. Rich married again in 1950; she and her new husband, George Henry Clifford, bought an avocado ranch in California. She remained there after he passed away in 1959, living as a widow for nearly three decades.
Created October 2, 2025.