Florence Rice


Florence Davenport Rice was an American film actress.

Early years

Rice was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of Grantland Rice and Fannie Katherine Hollis. She attended Dwight School for Girls at Englewood, New Jersey, and Smith College.

Career

Rice became an actress during the early 1930s and, after several Broadway roles, eventually made her way to Hollywood, where she acted in almost 50 films between 1934 and 1943.
Rice was cast as the reliable girlfriend in several films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM gradually provided her with more substantial roles, occasionally in prestige productions. Rice never became a major figure in movies, but she performed in a number of screen pairings with Robert Young.
Her most widely seen performances were in Double Wedding, in which she was billed third in the cast credits behind William Powell and Myrna Loy, Sweethearts with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, and The Marx Brothers film At The Circus.
During the 1940s, the quality of her roles steadily decreased, and in 1947, she retired.

Personal life

Rice married four times, with her fourth marriage lasting until her death.

Death

On February 23, 1974, Rice died in Honolul from lung cancer at age 67. She was survived by her husband.

Filmography