When top silent screen comedienne Mabel Normand would gripe to Mack Sennett about making classier films, Sennett's retort would always be, "I'll send for Fazenda." This gawky, highly popular slapstick funny girl put in her time first in two-reelers and Universal's Joker Comedies from 1913 on, but unleashed her real gift for getting laughs when she joined Keystone Studios, pairing up well with comedian Charlie Murray, among others. Her best known character was her country bumpkin--complete with spit curls, multiple pigtails and calico dresses, a look that went on to inspire such later comics as Judy Canova and Minnie Pearl.
In the early 1920s Louise left Sennett's company and progressed to feature films, where her eccentric talents were greatly utilized in musicals and knockabout comedies. She had no problem adjusting to sound and continued working for Warner Bros. She eventually married Hal B. Wallis, one of Warner's top producers, who produced six of her movies. Retiring in 1939, she became a noted humanitarian and art collector.
She died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962.
