Lois Weber(1879-1939)
- Director
- Writer
- Actress
Lois Weber, who had been a street-corner evangelist before entering
motion pictures in 1905, became the first American woman movie director
of note, and a major one at that.
Herbert Blaché, the husband of
Frenchwoman Alice Guy, the first woman
to direct a motion picture (and arguably, the first director of either
gender to helm a fictional narrative film), cast her in the lead of
"Hypocrites" (1908). Weber first got behind the camera on
A Heroine of '76 (1911), a
silent that was co-directed by pioneering American director
Edwin S. Porter and actor
Phillips Smalley, who played George
Washington. She also starred in the picture.
In 1914, a year in which she helmed 27 movies, Weber co-directed
William Shakespeare's
The Merchant of Venice (1914)
with Smalley, who also played Shylock, making her the first woman to
direct a feature-length film in the US.
(Jeanie Macpherson, who would play a
major role in cinema as
Cecil B. DeMille's favorite
screenwriter, also acted in the film).
In the spirit of her evangelism, she began directing, writing and then
producing films of social import, dealing with such themes as abortion,
alcoholism, birth control, drug addiction and prostitution. By 1916 she
had established herself as the top director at Universal Film
Manufacturing (now Universal Studios), the top studio in America at the
time, making her the highest-paid director in the world. The following
year she formed Lois Weber Productions.
She directed over 100 films, but her production company went bankrupt
in the 1920s as her career faltered. She did not make the transition to
sound, although she did make one talkie,
White Heat (1934), in 1934.
motion pictures in 1905, became the first American woman movie director
of note, and a major one at that.
Herbert Blaché, the husband of
Frenchwoman Alice Guy, the first woman
to direct a motion picture (and arguably, the first director of either
gender to helm a fictional narrative film), cast her in the lead of
"Hypocrites" (1908). Weber first got behind the camera on
A Heroine of '76 (1911), a
silent that was co-directed by pioneering American director
Edwin S. Porter and actor
Phillips Smalley, who played George
Washington. She also starred in the picture.
In 1914, a year in which she helmed 27 movies, Weber co-directed
William Shakespeare's
The Merchant of Venice (1914)
with Smalley, who also played Shylock, making her the first woman to
direct a feature-length film in the US.
(Jeanie Macpherson, who would play a
major role in cinema as
Cecil B. DeMille's favorite
screenwriter, also acted in the film).
In the spirit of her evangelism, she began directing, writing and then
producing films of social import, dealing with such themes as abortion,
alcoholism, birth control, drug addiction and prostitution. By 1916 she
had established herself as the top director at Universal Film
Manufacturing (now Universal Studios), the top studio in America at the
time, making her the highest-paid director in the world. The following
year she formed Lois Weber Productions.
She directed over 100 films, but her production company went bankrupt
in the 1920s as her career faltered. She did not make the transition to
sound, although she did make one talkie,
White Heat (1934), in 1934.