Louise Closser Hale

Louise Closser Hale (October 13, 1872 – July 26, 1933) was an American actress, playwright and novelist.

Louise Closser was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was Joseph A. Closser (1844–1887), a wealthy grain dealer and her mother was Louise M. Closser (1847–1932). She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, and at Emerson College of Oratory in Boston.

She made her theatrical debut in Detroit in an 1894 production of In Old Kentucky. Her first theatrical success came in 1903, when she appeared in a Broadway production of George Bernard Shaw's Candida. In 1907, she made her London debut in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. She was equally famous on New York and London stages, she was known to the world of literature for such novels as Home Talent and An American's London, as well as to the theater for a play called Mother's Millions, which she co-authored.

In 1899, Closser married artist and actor Walter Hale, whose name she used for her stage career, and who illustrated a number of her travel books. She collaborated with him in the preparation of many travel works. They traveled all over the world. She was a correspondent for Harper's during World War I.

Aged 57, following her husband's death from cancer in 1917, she left the stage for Hollywood. She had a parallel career as an author and playwright, starting in the first decade of the 20th century.

She experienced an apoplectic stroke while shopping in Hollywood, California in 1933. She was rushed to Monte Sano Hospital. She suffered another stroke the next day and died, aged 60. She had just recently finished filming Dinner at Eight.

In her will, Mrs. Hale requested an Episcopalian funeral service as simple and as inexpensive as possible. She directed that at the close of the service her body be cremated and that "no friend or kin accompany the body further than the church door." In her will, Mrs Hale said, "If I live in the memory of my friends, I shall have lived long enough."

Hale had no children, but two sisters, writer Myla Jo Closser (1880–1962) of New York City, and Belle Closser Wilson (1870–1955) of Indianapolis, survived her. She left her estate to relatives and charities. Her body was cremated and the ashes were interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.