Estelle Etterre
born: 26 July 1899
San Francisco, California,
United States of America
died: 07 April 1996
Country Club Convalescent Hospital,
Santa Ana, Orange County, California,
United States of America
(cardiopulmonary arrest, coronary artery disease, age 96)
American actress.  In the early 1930s, she had a handful of small appearances in some Our Gang and Laurel & Hardy films.

Her father was William Howard Frederick and her mother was Carrie May Case.  They married in Santa Ana, California on 17 December 1898.  Her father operated a livery stable and eventually raised cattle in Fresno, CA.
In 1920 Census (Jan 1) she is living in an apartment in LA with her widowed mother.  Her mother was a dressmaker for a private family and ELEANOR is a "comptometer for a railroad".
On June 3rd, 1920, she married Josef Werner Makk Jr. in Los Angeles.  Her husband died on February 22, 1925.  He and his Dad were dress designers/tailors and owned a shop in Pasadena, where they resided. 
In 1929 she was sketched and declared by the internationally famous artist James Montgomery Flagg (producer of the famous WWI "Uncle Sam" recruiting poster) to be "the most beautiful girl in Hollywood".
In 1930 Census both widows are living in an apartment in LA.
In 1940 Census she owns her own $5,000 home in (Studio City) LA.  Mom is retired and ELEANOR works full time as an actress earning $2,500 per year.
On 3 April 1943, she marries Donald Hyde Clough in Los Angeles.  He is an electrical engineer divorcee with a daughter Diane (he is 11 years her junior and she takes 5 years off her age for the Marriage Certificate).  He dies in 1963.  According to the Death Certificate, she was divorced at the time of her death and living with her step-daughter, Diane Palmer.
Her Mom, Carrie, lived to be almost 102 years old!

Laurel & Hardy historian and respected author Richard W. Bann wrote this to me in December 2013:
This lady was absolutely the single hardest person to identify in all the work I did in the 1960s and 70s studying HRS films. Took me the longest time, caused the most angst. I tried everything, everywhere. No one seemed to care, and no one could help. Not film fans, or scholars, or HRS alumni. Grrrrrrrrrr!!! She was never in any of the casting directories. She was never accorded screen credit in any film going back to the birth of Christ. Yet I saw her everywhere, haunting me in films at HRS and elsewhere. At one point I thought the name was Belle Hare. Wrong. It was more important to learn the names of Sam Lufkin and Jack Hill, but the one who really stymied me was Estelle Ettere. Hal Roach himself didn't know their names, but his long time transportation director, good ol' Bob Davis, did at least know Messrs. Lufkin and Hill.
What I did originally, I heard her first name and her last name used individually in a couple films. I had to assume that what I thought I heard were her real names since that was usually the practice at HRS. Putting them together the name I thought I heard was what I went with. It was close, but wrong.


Some sources refer to her as Belle Hare.
Real name: Eleanor Josephine Frederick. Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography.

23


1931
Catch-As-Catch-Can
Irene

1931
Skip The Maloo!
Party guest

1931
On The Loose
Model

1932
Free Eats
Estelle

1932
Choo-Choo!
Dorothy's mother
DVD screencapture - Lord Heath - Laurel & Hardy - Another Nice Mess - http://www.lordheath.com/

1932
The Nickel Nurser
Mr. Todd's daughter

1932
Red Noses
Physical therapist
DVD screencapture - Lord Heath - Laurel & Hardy - Another Nice Mess - http://www.lordheath.com/

1932
The Chimp
Circus performer

1932
The Pooch
First housewife
 

1932
County Hospital
Nurse
DVD screencapture - Lord Heath - Laurel & Hardy - Another Nice Mess - http://www.lordheath.com/

1932
Show Business
Train passenger

1932
Young Ironsides
Beauty contestant

1932
Alum And Eve
Nurse

1932
Free Wheeling
Nurse

1933
Fallen Arches
Helpful driver

1933
Maids A La Mode
Model

1933
Forgetten Babies
Telephone operator

1933
Taxi Barons
Dinner party guest

1933
His Silent Racket
Customer whom Charley visits

1934
Next Week-End
Dinner guest

1934
A Duke For A Day
Woman with soaked dress

1936
Pan Handlers
Maisie Schultz

1936
Our Relations
Pirate's Club patron

DEATH CERTIFICATE
(click any image to enlarge)

RISQUE
(click image from "A Duke For A Day" to enlarge)

Acknowledgements:
Richard W. Bann (identification in several films)
Jim Jarvis (help and assistance)
Jim Clewer (identification in On The Loose)
Brian Anthony (identification in Pan Handlers)
Jesse Brisson (identification in His Silent Racket, Next Week-End, Alum And Eve, Skip The Maloo!, Show Business, Young Ironsides)
Steve Wright (identification in Maids A La Mode)
*I previously identified her in What A Bozo but this was disputed by Jesse and later removed)

This page was last updated on: 02 October 2024