DOROTHY ARZNER

Dorothy Arzner was a director from the 1920s to the 1940s. She was the only woman director during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood ('20s to '40s) and she was the first woman to join the Directors Guild of America. Arzner was a lesbian at a time when almost no females openly were, and she was surprisingly open about it, often dressing in "men's clothes" and wearing her hair short. She made many "women's movies" and movies with a "feminist" theme. After making "First Comes Courage" in 1943, she made training films for the U.S. Army WACs, and she never returned to making Hollywood movies, becoming a film teacher of directing and screenwriting, teaching at UCLA until she died. Some of her movies included: Dance Girl Dance, The Bride Wore Red, and Christopher Strong. Arzner passed away in 1979 at the age of 82.