Silent Film Actress and Screenwriter. She is remembered for her portrayal of the title role in the 4-reel Bess the Detectress (1914) serials, but her true fame lies with being one of the most successful woman screenwriters of her generation, with more than 150 films to her credit. During the 1920s and 1930s, she was under contract with most of the major movie studios including MGM (1924-25; 1929-33), United Artists (1934-35), Warner Brothers and Columbia, and was known particularly for Wonder of Women (1929), Morgan's Raiders (1918) and A Woman of Affairs (1928). She directed a film called Morgan's Raiders in 1918, although the film is now lost. She had originally thought of becoming a fiction writer in her hometown of Buffalo, New York. She started acting in vaudeville and was soon doing extra work in New York City for D.W. Griffith's Biograph Studios. She moved to Los Angeles where she continued to do extra work, subsidizing her income with screen writing. Her second husband, the actor Wilfred Lucas, encouraged her to pursue screen acting career and together they collaborated on a number of projects. Their marriage produced one son, John Meredyth Lucas, who was a television writer, director and producer . Her third husband was famed film director Michael Curtiz, whom she aided on his most successful film, Casablanca (1942). She was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Silent Film Actress and Screenwriter. She is remembered for her portrayal of the title role in the 4-reel Bess the Detectress (1914) serials, but her true fame lies with being one of the most successful woman screenwriters of her generation, with more than 150 films to her credit. During the 1920s and 1930s, she was under contract with most of the major movie studios including MGM (1924-25; 1929-33), United Artists (1934-35), Warner Brothers and Columbia, and was known particularly for Wonder of Women (1929), Morgan's Raiders (1918) and A Woman of Affairs (1928). She directed a film called Morgan's Raiders in 1918, although the film is now lost. She had originally thought of becoming a fiction writer in her hometown of Buffalo, New York. She started acting in vaudeville and was soon doing extra work in New York City for D.W. Griffith's Biograph Studios. She moved to Los Angeles where she continued to do extra work, subsidizing her income with screen writing. Her second husband, the actor Wilfred Lucas, encouraged her to pursue screen acting career and together they collaborated on a number of projects. Their marriage produced one son, John Meredyth Lucas, who was a television writer, director and producer . Her third husband was famed film director Michael Curtiz, whom she aided on his most successful film, Casablanca (1942). She was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Bio by: Neil Funkhouser
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