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42. She Didn’t Rally
Despite being confined to a bed and forced into seclusion from the end of 1914, Lucille Ricksen did not get better. Again, her doctor blamed her relentless work schedule, “The result is that she has had a complete physical and nervous collapse …so complete that she has not rallied from it as she should”. Despite this, Ricksen apparently put on a brave face.
File:Lucille Ricksen – 22 Aug 1921 Duluth Herald.jpg
Unknown photographer, Wikimedia Commons
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43. She Kept On A Brave Face
Ingeborg finally stepped up in a way that she hadn’t previously. She did her best to keep Hollywood at bay while her daughter suffered. However, Ricksen, perhaps, made a few genuine friends who wished to see her. She told one of these friends, “to be happy, she was on the mend”. Perhaps Ricksen believed that, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.
File:Stranger’s Banquet lobby card 3.jpg
Goldwyn Pictures, Wikimedia Commons
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44. She Left Her Family High And Dry
Without Ricksen’s income coming in, the family began to struggle. Her elder brother, Marshall, left school in order to get a job to support his family through this time, and some sources suggest that the family had to downsize in order to continue to afford their lodgings. Through it all, they’d yet to realize the real tragedy had yet to come.
File:Two adult men with one younger boy working in field vintage photo.jpg
Schmidt Rex Gary, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wikimedia Commons
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45. Her Mother Pushed Too Far
Most sources seem to suggest that Ricksen’s father vanished during her illness, despite possibly living nearby. However, Ingeborg remained at her daughter’s side, desperate for her recovery. One evening, Ingeborg rushed to Ricksen’s side, thinking she heard her daughter cry out. It turned out Ingeborg, not Ricksen, needed the help.
File:Girl Who Ran Wild lobby card 3.jpg
Universal Pictures, Wikimedia Commons
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46. She Had A Nasty Shock
His sister’s screams woke Marshall that evening. When he rushed to her room, he found a sorry sight: his mother, collapsed across the bed, atop of his sister, who was already wasting away. Although Marshall pulled his mother off of Ricksen, it was too late.
Creepiest Moments
Wikimedia Commons
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47. She Lost Too Much
Ingeborg suffered a severe heart attack that night, and passed on. Although their father supposedly returned to offer support, Lucille Ricksen and her brother turned to the Hollywood community for support, asking Rupert Hughes and Conrad Nagel to become their guardians. It was a task they took on for only a short time.
File:Ruperthughes.jpg
Bain News Service, Wikimedia Commons
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48. She Couldn’t Keep Fighting
Exhaustion, illness, and now grief proved too much for young Lucille Ricksen to handle. Ricksen survived her mother by only two weeks. Surrounded by her brother and fellow actress Lois Wilson, Ricksen succumbed to her illness, leaving behind a brief legacy that is as tragic as it has become forgotten.
File:Lois Wilson Witzel.png
Albert Witzel, Wikimedia Commons
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49. She Didn’t Get To Live
Lucille Ricksen lived for approximately 14 and a half years. She spent 12 of those 14 years working from morning to night. She may have enjoyed some of these experiences, but an adult would’ve faulted under these conditions, let alone a child. It was no way to live, and, for a brief time, the media realized it.
File:Lucille Ricksen Grave.JPG
Arthur Dark, Wikimedia Commons
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50. She Broke Hearts
Briefly following her passing, the media made its rounds, reporting on the cause of Ricksen’s fatal illness. She had been exhausted and undernourished. Those meant to protect her prioritized what she could bring them (money) over the fact that she was a child. However, as the years have gone on, the world has forgotten Lucille Ricksen and the story that breaks every heart who hears it.
File:Trimmed in Scarlet lobby card 2.jpg
Universal Pictures, Wikimedia Commons
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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
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Jul 28
PEOPLE
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