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
Joanne Linville Acting Craft". Linville was married to actor/director Mark Rydell from 1962 until their divorce in 1973. Linville played gossip columnist Hedda Hopper in the television movie "James Dean". Rydell directed the film and also played Jack L. Warner. Joanne Linville Beverly Joanne Linville (born January 15, 1928) is a retired American film and television actress. Linville and actress Irene Gilbert co-founded the Stella Adler Academy in Los Angeles in 1985. Linville was born in Bakersfield, California, on January 15, 1928. Linville's motion-picture credits include "The Goddess" (1958), "Scorpio" (1973), "Gable and Lombard" (1976), "A Star Is Born" (1976), and "The