Gossip columnist 1930s through the 1950s, the two best-known - and competing - Hollywood gossip columnists were Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. Well-timed leaks about a star's purported romantic adventures helped the studios to create and sustain the public's interest in the studios' star actors. As well, the movie studios' publicity agents acted as unnamed "well-informed inside sources" who provided misinformation and rumors to counteract whispers about celebrity secrets — such as homosexuality or an out-of-wedlock child — that could have severely damaged not only the reputation of the movie star in question, but the movie star's box office viability. Having fallen
Conceit (film) Conceit (film) Conceit is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Burton George, produced by Selznick Pictures Corporation, and released by Select Pictures. The film stars William B. Davidson and Mrs. De Wolf Hopper, who later became a gossip columnist using the name "Hedda Hopper". As described in a film magazine, wealthy William Crombie (Davidson) has always been able to purchase what he wanted, including his lovely wife Agnes (Hopper). At a dinner party in his luxurious home, to the intense boredom of his guests, William tells of his hunting exploits and of having killed a wounded bear with