Lupino, Ida

▪ 1996

      U.S. film and television actress, director, and screenwriter (b. Feb. 4, 1918?, London, England—d. Aug. 3, 1995, Burbank, Calif.), first gained fame through her portrayals of strong, worldly-wise characters and went on to become one of the first women film directors in Hollywood. Lupino was born into a theatrical dynasty of several generations' duration. As a child she acted in a model theatre built by her father, and she entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at age 13. After her film debut in Her First Affaire (1932), she appeared in several inconsequential roles before being cast as a vengeful prostitute in The Light That Failed (1939). That led to meaty roles in such films as They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra (1941), The Sea Wolf (1941), Ladies in Retirement (1941), and The Hard Way (1942), for which she won a New York Film Critics award. With her second husband, Collier Young (her first husband was actor Louis Hayward), Lupino founded (1949) a production company and began writing scripts, tackling such controversial topics as rape, unmarried mothers, and bigamy. When the director of Not Wanted (1949) had a heart attack three days after filming began, she took over. Her official directing debut came a year later with The Young Lovers, and she followed that with several other gritty features. Especially notable were the 1953 films The Bigamist and The Hitch-Hiker. Lupino was a star (1952-56) of the dramatic television anthology "Four Star Playhouse" and appeared with her third husband, Howard Duff, in the situation comedy "Mr. Adams and Eve" for three seasons in the late 1950s. She also directed episodes of numerous television series, among them "The Untouchables," "Have Gun, Will Travel," "The Fugitive," "The Twilight Zone," and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." The most notable of her later motion-picture performances came in Junior Bonner (1972).

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