Dorothy Arzner Biography

Fast Facts

• Became a cutter and editor at Realart Studio, soon rising to the rank of chief editor
• Early in her career, she worked on several films with her mentor, director James Cruze
• Her first job in the film industry was typing scripts for Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which later became Paramount
• Quote: "I was not dependent on the movies for my living, so I was always ready to give the picture over to some other director if I couldn't make it the way I saw it․ Right or wrong, I believe this was why I sustained so long--twenty years․"
• Quote: "No one gave me trouble because I was a woman․ Men were more helpful than women․"
• Her films were the subjects of some of the earliest feminist film criticism and generally emphasized women's relationships with one another
• Spent fifteen years of her lengthy film directing career as a doctor
• After deciding to leave Hollywood, she made training films for the Women's Army Corps, produced a radio program and worked in theater production
• At the behest of Joan Crawford, she made fifty commercials for Pepsi
• Taught filmmaking at the Pasadena Playhouse and the University of California Los Angeles