Blanche Payson
born: 20 September 1881
Santa Barbara, California,
United States of America		 died: 04 July 1964
Granada Hills, California,
United States of America
(cardiac decompensation due to arteriosclerotic heart disease, age 82)
Frighteningly tall, beefy American actress, who started out with Mack Sennett before a stint at the Hal Roach Studios.  In her films she took no nonsense and could scare a man just by looking at him!
She appeared in two versions of Laurel & Hardy's "Below Zero" (1930).  The foreign-language version of the film has slightly more footage of her in it where she physically assaults Stan Laurel (which is not seen in the English version).
In 1915 she was granted commission by the Police Board in San Francisco, California.
In 1946 she pleaded guilty to drink-driving and was placed on probation.

Her married name was Loring.  Several separate sources ("Photoplay Magazine", May 1915 and "Universal Weekly" 1922) list her height at 6'4".  1916-18 & 1920-21 directories have her height at 6'3".
Real name: Mary Elizabeth Bush
Height: 6'3"		 Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography;
plus all solo films with Stan Laurel, and Oliver Hardy.

8
(1)


1930		 Below Zero
Formidable woman

1930		 Tiembla Y Titubea
Formidable woman

1931		 Our Wife
Mrs. Gladding

1931		 War Mamas
Head nurse

1931		 Dogs Is Dogs
Spud's mother

1932		 Helpmates
Mrs. Hardy

1932		 Love Pains
Mrs. Kornman

1932		 Red Noses
Dr. Payson
▼ NON-HAL ROACH FILMS

1918		 Bears And Bad Men
Maw Cutshaw

1923		 The Midnight Cabaret
Woman at table

1923		 Half A Man
Shipwrecked woman




Acknowledgements:
www.looking-for-mabel.webs.com (grave marker)
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9GF-C5G (1900 Census)
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11825-985-46?cc=1325221 (1900 Census)
https://archive.org/stream/PantomimeJan.211922/Pantomime012122#page/n10/mode/1up (Pantomime, Jan 21, 1922)
https://archive.org/stream/universal1516univ#page/n14/mode/1up/search/payson (Universal Weekly 1922)
https://archive.org/stream/PhotoplayMagazineMay1915/Photoplay0515#page/n40/mode/1up/search/payson (Photoplay magazine, May 1915)
http://sfhcbasc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/it-came-from-photo-morgue-women-in.html
https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturestu00moti#page/98/mode/1up/search/payson
https://archive.org/stream/moctu00moti#page/123/mode/1up/search/payson
https://archive.org/stream/motrestu00moti#page/138/mode/1up/search/payson
https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturestu00moti_0#page/n274/mode/1up/search/payson
https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturestu00johnrich#page/235/mode/1up/search/payson
Brent Walker (information from his Mack Sennett book)
San Francisco Chronicle, February 2, 1915
Jesse Brisson (help and assistance)
Irv Hyatt (information and photographs)
Randy Skretvedt (information and photograph)
Peter Mikkelsen (signature)
At least one source lists her as being in "Should Men Walk Home?" (1927). This is wrong.

This page was last updated on: 03 June 2021