Lois Weber

Known For

Directing

Born

Jun 12, 1879

Died

Nov 13, 1939

Place of Birth

Allegheny City [now Pittsburgh], Pennsylvania, USA

Credits

71 titles

Lois Weber

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

Filmography

2016

The Women Who Run Hollywood

Self (archive footage)

Movie
2009

Early Directors on Directing

Self

Movie
1980

Hollywood

Self (archive footage, uncredited)

Tv
1934

White Heat

Writer

Movie
1927

The Angel of Broadway

Director

Movie
1927

Topsy and Eva

Adaptation

Movie
1927

Sensation Seekers

Director

Movie
1926

The Marriage Clause

Director

Movie
1923

A Chapter in Her Life

Director

Movie
1921

What Do Men Want?

Director

Movie
1921

The Blot

Director

Movie
1921

Too Wise Wives

Director

Movie
1921

What's Worth While?

Writer

Movie
1920

To Please One Woman

Director

Movie
1919

Forbidden

Director

Movie
1919

Home

Director

Movie
1919

Mary Regan

Director

Movie
1919

A Midnight Romance

Director

Movie
1919

When a Girl Loves

Director

Movie
1918

Borrowed Clothes

Director

Movie
1918

For Husbands Only

Director

Movie
1918

The Doctor and the Woman

Director

Movie
1918

Tarzan of the Apes

Writer

Movie
1917

The Price of a Good Time

Director

Movie
1917

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

Mrs. Broome

Movie
1917

Even as You and I

Director

Movie
1917

The Mysterious Mrs. M

Director

Movie
1917

Alone in the World

Movie
1916

The People vs. John Doe

Director

Movie
1916

Wanted- A Home

Producer

Movie
1916

Idle Wives

Anne

Movie
1916

Saving the Family Name

Director

Movie
1916

Shoes

Director

Movie
1916

The Eye of God

Renie

Movie
1916

Where Are My Children?

Director

Movie
1916

John Needham's Double

Director

Movie
1916

The Flirt

Writer

Movie
1916

Hop - The Devil's Brew

Lydia Jansen

Movie
1916

The Dumb Girl of Portici

Adaptation

Movie
1916

Discontent

Director

Movie
1915

Jewel

Writer

Movie
1915

A Cigarette - That's All

Director

Movie
1915

Scandal

Daisy Dean

Movie
1915

Betty in Search of a Thrill

Director

Movie
1915

Captain Courtesy

Director

Movie
1915

Sunshine Molly

Sunshine Molly

Movie
1915

Hypocrites

Director

Movie
1915

It's No Laughing Matter

Director

Movie
1914

False Colors

Mrs. Moore

Movie
1914

The Opened Shutters

Scenario Writer

Movie