Why do we love Ida?

No woman in Hollywood—and quite possibly the world—ever called the shots more than Ida Lupino. In a time when women were doing very little behind the camera in Hollywood, Ida directed 27 films, many television programs, and wrote and produced projects as well. She began her career in her native England in 1933, when she was cast in a part for which her mother had auditioned. The following year, Ida came to Hollywood and began working as an actress in small parts for Warner Brothers. She was often given roles that Bette Davis had passed on, until she finally refused to take anymore of Bette's hand-me-downs, which led to Warner's suspending her several times. During those times of little work, Ida would hang around the sets, getting to know the directors and other crew members, and learning all she could about their craft. In the late 1940s, Ida left her contract acting work, and began to freelance doing acting and writing. When the director of one of her writing projects became ill, she stepped into what would be her most successful career.

Over the course of the 1940s and '50s, Ida directed all manner of dark, tough, sometimes controversial movies about crime and social issues like rape, bigamy, polio, and unwed motherhood. Relying on her feminine wiles to get things done in sexist, restrictive post-War Hollywood, Ida's director's chair was inscribed "The Mother of Us All" and she often wheedled performance out of her crew by claiming she didn't know what she was doing and needed their help. While she denied being in favor of any sort of feminism or women's liberation, Ida was also tough when she needed to be, and did recognize the importance of giving other women opportunities in the Boys' Club of the movies. By the end of her career, Ida had built a respectable body of work that is studied to this day as an example of mid-century American film auteurism. Though her pictures were rarely the top feature when they first came out, her reign as the "Queen of the B's" ensured that her thoughtful and original films would survive to be lauded by film critics and scholars for generations to come.

Biography:

Born - February 4, 1914
London, England
Died - August 3, 1995
Los Angeles, California

Achievements:

• 1976 - Won Golden Scroll Best Supporting Actress for The Devil's Rain
• 1959 - Nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Comedy Series Emmy for Mr. Adams and Eve
• 1958 - Nominated for Best Continuing Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic or Comedy Series Emmy for Mr. Adams and Eve
• 1957 - Nominated for Best Continuing Performance by an Actress in a Dramatic Series Emmy for Four Star Playhouse
• 1949 - Directs first movie, Not Wanted
• 1943 - Won New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress Award for The Hard Way
• Has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - Motion Picture and Television