Lois Weber
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- June 12, 1879, Allegheny City [now Pittsburgh], Pennsylvania, USA
- Died
- November 13, 1939
- Movies
- 94
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."
Best-Known Movies
Filmography
| 2016 | The Women Who Run Hollywood | Self (archive footage) |
| 2009 | Early Directors on Directing | Self |
| 1917 | The Hand That Rocks the Cradle | Mrs. Broome |
| 1917 | Alone in the World | |
| 1916 | Idle Wives | Anne |
| 1916 | The Eye of God | Renie |
| 1916 | Hop - The Devil's Brew | Lydia Jansen |
| 1915 | Scandal | Daisy Dean |
| 1915 | Sunshine Molly | Sunshine Molly |
| 1914 | False Colors | Mrs. Moore |
| 1914 | Lost by a Hair | Summer Girl |
| 1914 | The Pursuit of Hate | Diana Grave |
| 1914 | The Spider and Her Web | Madame DuBarr |
| 1914 | The Merchant of Venice | Portia |
| 1913 | The Jew's Christmas | Leah - Isaac's Daughter |
| 1913 | How Men Propose | The Maid |
| 1913 | Suspense | The Wife |
| 1913 | The Rosary | The Soldier's Sweetheart |
| 1913 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | |
| 1912 | A Japanese Idyll | |
| 1912 | Eyes That See Not | The Millionaire's Wife |
| 1912 | Fine Feathers | Mira, the Artist's Model |
| 1911 | The Price | Ann |
| 1911 | Lost Illusions | Grace - The Wife |
| 1911 | Sherlock Holmes, Jr. | Mrs. Brown |
| 1911 | Fate | Flora Brown |
| 1911 | On the Brink | Tess |
| 1911 | The Twins | The Twin Sisters |
| 1911 | From Death to Life | Aratus' Wife |
| 1911 | A Heroine of '76 | The Tavern Keeper's Daughter |
Directing, Writing & Producing
| 1934 | White Heat | Writer, Director |
| 1927 | The Angel of Broadway | Director |
| 1927 | Topsy and Eva | Screenplay |
| 1927 | Sensation Seekers | Director, Writer |
| 1926 | The Marriage Clause | Director, Writer |
| 1923 | A Chapter in Her Life | Director, Screenplay |
| 1921 | What Do Men Want? | Director, Writer |
| 1921 | The Blot | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1921 | Too Wise Wives | Director, Producer, Screenplay |
| 1921 | What's Worth While? | Writer, Director, Producer |
| 1920 | To Please One Woman | Director, Writer |
| 1919 | Forbidden | Director, Writer |
| 1919 | Home | Director, Writer |
| 1919 | Mary Regan | Director, Screenplay |
| 1919 | A Midnight Romance | Director, Writer |
| 1919 | When a Girl Loves | Director, Writer |
| 1918 | Borrowed Clothes | Director, Writer |
| 1918 | For Husbands Only | Director, Producer, Screenplay |
| 1918 | The Doctor and the Woman | Director, Writer |
| 1918 | Tarzan of the Apes | Writer |
| 1917 | The Price of a Good Time | Director, Writer |
| 1917 | The Hand That Rocks the Cradle | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1917 | Even as You and I | Director |
| 1917 | The Mysterious Mrs. M | Director, Writer |
| 1916 | The People vs. John Doe | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1916 | Wanted- A Home | Producer |
| 1916 | Idle Wives | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1916 | Saving the Family Name | Director, Writer |
| 1916 | Shoes | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1916 | The Eye of God | Director, Writer |
| 1916 | Where Are My Children? | Director, Producer, Writer |
| 1916 | John Needham's Double | Director |
| 1916 | The Flirt | Writer, Director |
| 1916 | Hop - The Devil's Brew | Director, Screenplay |
| 1916 | The Dumb Girl of Portici | Producer, Director |
| 1916 | Discontent | Director, Writer |
| 1915 | Jewel | Writer |
| 1915 | A Cigarette - That's All | Director |
| 1915 | Scandal | Director, Writer |
| 1915 | Betty in Search of a Thrill | Director |
| 1915 | Captain Courtesy | Director |
| 1915 | Sunshine Molly | Director, Writer |
| 1915 | Hypocrites | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1915 | It's No Laughing Matter | Director, Writer |
| 1914 | False Colors | Director, Screenplay |
| 1914 | Lost by a Hair | Director, Writer |
| 1914 | The Pursuit of Hate | Director |
| 1914 | The Spider and Her Web | Director |
| 1914 | The Merchant of Venice | Director, Writer |
| 1913 | The Jew's Christmas | Director, Writer |
| 1913 | How Men Propose | Director, Producer |
| 1913 | Suspense | Director, Writer |
| 1913 | The Rosary | Director |
| 1913 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Screenplay |
| 1912 | A Japanese Idyll | Director |
| 1912 | The Troubadour's Triumph | Director, Writer |
| 1912 | Eyes That See Not | Director |
| 1912 | Fine Feathers | Director |
| 1911 | The Price | Director, Writer |
| 1911 | Fate | Director |
| 1911 | On the Brink | Director |
| 1911 | The Twins | Director, Writer |
| 1911 | From Death to Life | Director |
| 1911 | A Heroine of '76 | Director |
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