Fritzi Ridgeway
American silent film actress, vaudeville performer
Died when: 62 years 355 days (755 months)Star Sign: Aries
Fredericka Berneice "Fritzi" Ridgeway (April 8, 1898 – March 29, 1961) was an American silent film actress, vaudeville performer, and hotelier.Though she starred in numerous films, she is perhaps best known for her work in silent Western films.
A native of Montana, Ridgeway worked as both a vaudeville performer and a professional trick rider before making her film debut in 1916.
She appeared in 63 films between 1916 and 1934, with prominent roles in Western films populating much of her early career.Other notable roles include supporting parts in Tod Browning's drama The Unpainted Woman (1919) and The Enemy (1927).
Ridgeway officially retired from acting in 1934, making her final screen appearance in Rouben Mamoulian's We Live Again.She spent the latter half of her life managing the Hotel del Tahquitz in Palm Springs, California, a hotel she built in 1928.
She remained the proprietor of the Hotel del Tahquitz until her death in 1961.She was married to Russian composer Constantin Bakaleinikoff.
In L.A.Exposed: Strange Myths and Curious Legends in the City of Angels, historian Paul Young noted Ridgeway as an "iconoclastic silent film star."
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American silent film actress
American silent film actress
Silent film actress