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If you thought that the heirarchy of old Hollywood had the studio bosses placed at the top of the pile in terms of authority then you may just want to think again…

In terms of practicality, yes, the studio heads called the shots as far as business and the stars career moves were concerned but behind the scenes there was an even greater force with far more influence and power than any Louis B Mayer’s, Darryl F Zanuck’s and Harry Cohn’s put together…the Hollywood gossip columnist!

There were many Perez Hilton-type writers in the old days but by far just two stood out as the one’s who could literally make or break a star’s career - Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons (pictured).

Louella Parsons wrote the very first gossip column for the Chicago Record-Herald in 1914 before moving to the New York Morning Telegraph. She caught the eye of media baron William Randolph Hearst whereby he placed her under contract and she began writing her famous - and feared - column for his paper The New York American.

Hedda Hopper began life in Hollywood as an actress before taking up the pen and spilling the beans on who was doing what and with whom in her equally famous - and feared - column for the Los Angeles Times. These two women wielded such an iron grip over the Hollywood elite that to insult one of them was as good as kissing one’s career goodbye. No glitzy party or event could be hosted without them being invited and their influence over the private lives of the movie stars was ensured as both women kept many well informed spies on their payroll. Both were rivals themselves and held a famous long running feud.

Hedda Hopper also had a radio show and was known to be the nastiest and most vindictive of the two; when she bought her new home in Beverly Hills she christened it The House that Fear Built…and she was correct. If she required information on an individual she would go to all lengths to get it…terrifying people into digging up the dirt for them for fear she would expose their own secrets, their own extramarital affairs.

Despite the fact that many stars went to great lengths to keep on the good side of both women there were a few who had the courage to stand up to them…Stewart Granger once telephoned her after she wrote to him threatening to reveal details about a supposed affair with an actress (he was married to Jean Simmons at the time) and called her every four letter word (“you dried up raddled old c**t!” ) he could think of. She was so shocked she never bothered him again. She even tried to out gay lovers Cary Grant and Randolph Scott but Grant was too big a star himself for her to overpower and she left them alone.

In these times, with libel laws so well established, columnists no longer have the upper hand that Parsons and Hopper enjoyed back then, information is more freely released with the advent of the internet, but all being said and done there are still some things certain stars do not want us to know!

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