Directing
Lois Weber
FR, EN, XX cinema · 70 credits
Born
12 June 1879
Died
13 November 1939 (aged 60)
Birthplace
Allegheny City [now Pittsburgh], Pennsylvania, USA
Also known as Florence Lois Weber · Mrs. Phillips Smalley
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
Filmography
The Women Who Run Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)
White Heat
Writer, Director
Sensation Seekers
Director, Writer
Topsy and Eva
Adaptation, Screenplay
The Marriage Clause
Director, Writer
A Chapter in Her Life
Director, Adaptation, Screenplay
The Blot
Director, Writer, Producer
Too Wise Wives
Director, Story, Producer, Screenplay
What Do Men Want?
Director, Writer
What's Worth While?
Writer, Director, Producer
To Please One Woman
Director, Writer
A Midnight Romance
Director, Writer
Mary Regan
Director, Scenario Writer, Screenplay
Forbidden
Director, Writer
Home
Director, Writer
When a Girl Loves
Director, Writer
For Husbands Only
Director, Adaptation, Producer, Screenplay
The Doctor and the Woman
Director, Writer
Borrowed Clothes
Director, Writer
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
as Mrs. Broome, Director, Writer, Producer
The Mysterious Mrs. M
Director, Writer
The Price of a Good Time
Director, Writer, Editor
Idle Wives
as Anne, Director, Writer, Producer, Adaptation
The Eye of God
as Renie, Scenario Writer, Director, Writer
Hop - The Devil's Brew
as Lydia Jansen, Director, Scenario Writer, Screenplay
The Dumb Girl of Portici
Adaptation, Producer, Director
Shoes
Director, Writer, Producer
Where Are My Children?
Director, Producer, Writer
Wanted- A Home
Producer, Story
Discontent
Director, Writer
Saving the Family Name
Director, Writer
The People vs. John Doe
Director, Writer, Producer
The Flirt
1916
The Flirt
Writer, Director
Scandal
as Daisy Dean, Director, Writer
Sunshine Molly
as Sunshine Molly, Director, Writer
Hypocrites
Director, Writer, Producer
It's No Laughing Matter
Director, Writer
Jewel
Writer
The Spider and Her Web
as Madame DuBarr, Director, Scenario Writer
The Pursuit of Hate
1914
The Pursuit of Hate
as Diana Grave, Director
Lost by a Hair
as Summer Girl, Director, Writer
The Merchant of Venice
as Portia, Director, Writer
False Colors
1914
False Colors
as Mrs. Moore, Director, Screenplay
The Opened Shutters
Scenario Writer
How Men Propose
as The Maid, Director, Producer
Suspense
as The Wife, Director, Writer
The Rosary
as The Soldier's Sweetheart, Director
The Jew's Christmas
as Leah - Isaac's Daughter, Director, Writer
Fine Feathers
as Mira, the Artist's Model, Director
A Japanese Idyll
1912
A Japanese Idyll
Actor, Director
Eyes That See Not
1912
Eyes That See Not
as The Millionaire's Wife, Director
The Troubadour's Triumph
Director, Writer
A Heroine of '76
as The Tavern Keeper's Daughter, Director
Fate
1911
Fate
as Flora Brown, Director
Lost Illusions
1911
Lost Illusions
as Grace - The Wife
The Price
as Ann, Director, Writer
On the Brink
as Tess, Director, Story
From Death to Life
as Aratus' Wife, Director
The Twins
as The Twin Sisters, Director, Writer