Lois Weber's photo

Lois Weber

Born: 1879-06-12 in Allegheny City [now Pittsburgh], Pennsylvania, USA

Died: 1939-11-13

Known For: Directing

Biography

Lois Weber (1879 - 1939) was a true American auteur on par with D. W. Griffith. A director, actress, screenwriter, and producer of mostly silent films, she was the first American woman to direct a full-length feature film (1914's The Merchant of Venice), the first American woman director to own her own film studio, and one of the first film directors to experiment with sound. Weber pioneered the split-screen technique in the 1913 short film Suspense, and Hypocrites featured the first non-pornographic full-frontal female nude scene in 1915. Many of her films tackled social issues like abortion, poverty, discrimination, and religion, drawing the attention of censors. Only a fraction of her films, estimated to number between 200 and 400, were preserved. In 2022, the American Film Institute announced a new initiative titled "Behind the Veil," after one of Weber's lost films. The initiative "will document 6,000 short films from the silent and early sound eras to uncover the innovative contributions of female and BIPOC storytellers."

Filmography

2016

1980

  • Hollywood as Self (archive footage, uncredited)

1934

1927

1926

1923

1921

1920

1919

1918

1916

1915

1914

1913

1912

1911