Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino Biography Born February 4, 1918 in Camberwell, London, England, UK Died August 3, 1995 in Los Angeles, California, USA Nickname Little Scout Height 5' 4" (1.63 m) Ida was born in London to a show business family. In 1933, her mother brought Ida with her to an audition and Ida got the part her mother wanted. The picture was Her First Affaire (1932). Ida, a bleached blonde, came to Hollywood in 1934 and played small and insignificant parts. Peter Ibbetson (1935) was one of her few noteworthy movies and it was not until The Light That Failed (1939) that she got a chance to get better parts. In most of her movies, she was cast as the hard, but sympathetic woman from the wrong side of the tracks. In The Sea Wolf (1941) and High Sierra (1941), she played the part magnificently. It has been said that no one could do hard-luck dames the way Lupino could do them. She played tough, knowing characters who held their own against some of the biggest leading men of the day - Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Colman, John Garfield and Edward G. Robinson. She made a handful of films during the forties playing different characters ranging from Pillow to Post (1945), where she played a traveling saleswoman to the tough nightclub singer in The Man I Love (1947). But good roles for women were hard to get and there were many young actresses and established stars competing for those roles. She left Warner Brothers in 1947 and became a freelance actress. When better roles did not materialize, Ida stepped behind the camera as a director, writer and producer. Her first directing job came when director Elmer Clifton fell ill on a script that she co-wrote Not Wanted (1949). Ida had joked that as an actress, she was the poor man's Bette Davis. Now, she said that as a director, she became the poor man's Don Siegel. The films that she wrote, or directed, or appeared in during the fifties were mostly inexpensive melodramas. She later turned to Television where she directed episodes in shows such as The Untouchables (1959) and The Fugitive (1963). In the seventies, she did guest appearances on various television show and small parts in a few movies. Spouse (3) Howard Duff (21 October 1951 - 1984) ( divorced) ( 1 child) Collier Young (5 August 1948 - 20 October 1951) ( divorced) Louis Hayward (16 November 1938 - 11 May 1945) ( divorced) Calls everyone "Darling" Her seductive, deep voice Daughter of British revue star and film comedian Stanley Lupino and Connie Emerald. Gave birth to her only child at age 34, a daughter Bridget Mirella Duff aka Bridget Duff, on April 23, 1952. Child's father is her 3rd [now ex] husband, Howard Duff. Widely respected as a pioneer for women filmmakers. As rigid and tough-minded as Bette Davis, Ida would often refuse to play a Davis hand-me-down role and was often suspended by Warner Brothers for doing so. It was during those breaks that she would go on movie sets, chum around with the male directors and learned the craft of directing. Blazing new trails, she became the only notable and respected female filmmaker of her era in Hollywood. She was the second woman to be admitted to the Director's Guild. Dorothy Arzner was the first. Arrived from England aboard the RMS Berengaria at New York on August 25, 1933 at age 15. Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945- 1985". Pages 617-621. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988. Her daughter was born on April 23, 1952. She only weighed 4 pounds and almost died. Cousin of actor Richard Lupino and Lauri Lupino Lane. Sister of Rita Lupino. Second cousin of actor Wallace Lupino and Lupino Lane. She was the only person to both appear in and direct episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959): The Twilight Zone: The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine (1959) and The Twilight Zone: The Masks (1964). She was also the only woman to have directed an episode of the series. She was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Television at 1724 Vine Street in Hollywood, California. She appeared twice in Columbo movies. In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by either Lydia Simoneschi, Renata Marini or Rosetta Calavetta. She was occasionally dubbed by Clelia Bernacchi, most notably in Hollywood Canteen (1944). Profiled in "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" bu Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner (McFarland, 2004). Became lifelong friends with Mala Powers (whom she directed in Outrage (1950)). When Ida died in 1995, Mala was the executor of her estate. Richard Boone told columnist Erskine Johnson in 1961 about her skills as a director, "Ida stimulates me as an actor because she knows acting. In a weekly show, you get into acting patterns. Ida gets you out of them.". Lupino was originally scheduled to play Cassandra Tower in Kings Row (1942), but when Warner Brothers decided to loan her to 20th Century-Fox for two films, she was replaced by Betty Field. At age ten, Lupino asked her father to construct a theater for her and her sister. The project resulted in an elaborate structure with electrical equipment, a pit, and seating for a hundred. Lupino is an Italian surname. Her ancestors came from Bologna, Italy. Was a naturalized citizen of the United States. Was friends with: Ann Sheridan, John Garfield, Joan Fontaine, Reginald Gardiner, Jane Wyman, David Niven, Alexis Smith, Audrey Totter, Harry Mines, Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, Olivia de Havilland, Vincent Sherman, Henry Willson, Nancy Coleman and Frances Robinson. She was close friends with Paul Henreid. Following her death, she was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Musician Paul Bley recorded a song in honor of her entitled "Ida Lupino", composed by his then-wife Carla Bley, for his 1965 album "Closer". She was an active board member of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Lupino's house on Weddington St. in the Valley Village area of North Hollywood is shown in Hollywood Mouth 3 (2018). The trailer for that film, "The Parallel Universe of Noir," concludes with the same house, followed by director Jordan Mohr setting up a shot. (An earlier Lupino residence, Ravenswood Apartments, is also shown in "Hollywood Mouth 3."). Personal Quotes (5) My agent had told me that he was going to make me the Janet Gaynor of England - I was going to play all the sweet roles. Whereupon, at the tender age of thirteen, I set upon the path of playing nothing but hookers. I'd love to see more women working as directors and producers. Today, it's almost impossible to do it unless you are an actress or writer with power... I wouldn't hesitate right this minute to hire a talented woman if the subject matter were right. The beautiful thing about Warner Brothers when I was there was, I only worked with great people, actors, directors, producers. But when I left, nobody said goodbye. [To Jack L. Warner after turning down a four year exclusive contract] I don't want to be told someday that I will be replaced by some starlet as I was told I would replace Bette [Davis]. [To a method actor] Darling, we have a three day schedule. There's no time to do anything but to do it.