Irene Rich
| Irene Rich | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Irene Frances Luther October 13, 1891 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 22, 1988 (aged 96) Hope Ranch, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1918-1949 |
| Spouse(s) | Elvo Deffenbaugh (1909-1911; divorced) 1 child (Frances) Charles Rich (1912-1916; divorced) 1 child (Jane) David F. Blankenhorn (1927-1931) (divorced) George Henry Clifford (1950-1959; his death) |
Irene Rich (October 13, 1891 – April 22, 1988) was an American actress who worked in both silent films and talkies, as well as radio.
Born Irene Frances Luther in Buffalo, New York, to Mabel A. (née Robinson) and William Martin Luther. Luther was raised in the Buffalo area and then Stites, Idaho, and Spokane, Washington with her older half-brother Edwin Darius Luther (1884-1961) and younger brother, Richard Robinson Luther.
She married Elvo Elcourt Deffenbaugh at All Saints' Cathedral in Spokane, Washington on February 17, 1909, after her parents talked about sending her to boarding school. Irene and Elvo had one child, Frances Rich, who became a stage and film actress in the 1930s before becoming a noted sculptor. Elvo was a salesman who traveled a lot. The young family moved to the Bay Area of San Francisco, where the marriage ended after two years.
Next she married Charles Henry Rich, who was then a lieutenant in the United States Army (became a major during World War I and was later a lieutenant colonel), in Portland, Oregon on January 9, 1912. The two had met when he was stationed with the 25th Infantry at Fort George Wright in Spokane. They had one daughter Martha Jane (b.December 13, 1916 in San Francisco). The marriage ended after four years. Luther went into real estate to feed herself and her two daughters. She then went to Hollywood in 1918 and got work as an extra.
Rich worked for Will Rogers, who used her in eight pictures, including Water Water Everywhere (1920), The Strange Boarder (1920), Jes' Call Me Jim (1920), Boys Will Be Boys (1921) and The Ropin' Fool (1921). She often portrayed society women, such as in the 1925 adaptation of Lady Windermere's Fan and also in Queen of the Yukon (1940).
In two of her last films she played a frontier wife and mother. She was the mother of Gail Russell's character 'Penelope Worth', in John Wayne's Angel and the Badman as well as in John Ford's cavalry story Fort Apache in which she portrayed Mrs. O'Rourke, the wife of Sergeant O'Rourke (Ward Bond).
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