Lois Weber
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- June 12, 1879
- Died
- November 13, 1939 (aged 60)
- Birthplace
- Allegheny City [now Pittsburgh], Pennsylvania, USA
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."
Known For
Photos
Filmography
White Heat
Movie · Director
The Angel of Broadway
Movie · Director
Sensation Seekers
Movie · Director
The Marriage Clause
Movie · Director
A Chapter in Her Life
Movie · Director
The Blot
Movie · Director
Too Wise Wives
Movie · Director
What Do Men Want?
Movie · Director
What's Worth While?
Movie · Director
To Please One Woman
Movie · Director
A Midnight Romance
Movie · Director
Mary Regan
Movie · Director
Forbidden
Movie · Director
Home
Movie · Director
When a Girl Loves
Movie · Director
For Husbands Only
Movie · Director
The Doctor and the Woman
Movie · Director
Borrowed Clothes
Movie · Director
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Movie · Director
Even as You and I
Movie · Director
The Mysterious Mrs. M
Movie · Director
The Price of a Good Time
Movie · Director
Shoes
Movie · Director
Where Are My Children?
Movie · Director
The Dumb Girl of Portici
Movie · Director
Idle Wives
Movie · Director
Discontent
Movie · Director
The Eye of God
Movie · Director
Saving the Family Name
Movie · Director
The People vs. John Doe
Movie · Director
Hop - The Devil's Brew
Movie · Director
John Needham's Double
Movie · Director
The Flirt
Movie · Director
Hypocrites
Movie · Director
Captain Courtesy
Movie · Director
It's No Laughing Matter
Movie · Director
Betty in Search of a Thrill
Movie · Director
A Cigarette - That's All
Movie · Director
Scandal
Movie · Director
Sunshine Molly
Movie · Director
The Spider and Her Web
Movie · Director
False Colors
Movie · Director
The Pursuit of Hate
Movie · Director
The Merchant of Venice
Movie · Director
Lost by a Hair
Movie · Director
Suspense
Movie · Director
How Men Propose
Movie · Director
The Rosary
Movie · Director
The Jew's Christmas
Movie · Director
Eyes That See Not
Movie · Director
A Japanese Idyll
Movie · Director
Fine Feathers
Movie · Director
The Troubadour's Triumph
Movie · Director
A Heroine of '76
Movie · Director
Fate
Movie · Director
The Price
Movie · Director
On the Brink
Movie · Director
From Death to Life
Movie · Director
The Twins
Movie · Director