Ida Lupino was a British actress and director who appeared in over 50 movies as well as becoming a pioniering and prolific director. She started her movie career working out of Teddington Studios in England in the early 1930s and moved to Hollywood in 1933. She continued to work in Hollywood throughout the 30s and 40s, calling herself ‘the poor man’s Bette Davis‘ as she often took parts which Davis turned down.

She worked throughout the 1940s despite having difficult working relationships with her studios (she claimed that a lot of her parts were ‘beneath her dignity as an actress’ at first Warner Bros. and then Columbia Pictures.

During periods of suspension by the studios because of her insubordination she get involved in directing and continued this along with her acting throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s producing TV producing including: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone and Bewitched.

Photo source (top) and copyright: This work is in the public domain in that it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1977 and without a copyright notice.