Ida Lupino

Though Paramount had imported her from England as an ingénue, Ida Lupino proved more than merely wise beyond her years when she landed in Hollywood in 1934. The 16-year-old scion of a British acting dynasty, Lupino evinced a husky sensuality that had won her a reputation in her homeland as the British Jean Harlow. Plugged into programmers, the progressive Lupino swiftly grew dissatisfied and shifted to Warner Brothers, landing edgier roles in Raoul Walsh's "They Drive by Night" (1940) and "High Sierra" (1941) with Humphrey Bogart. A lead role as a steely murderess in Charles Vidor's "Ladies in Retirement" (1941) proved an apt showcase for Lupino's acting abilities, but she always had her sights set higher. With second husband Collier Young, Lupino crafted a string of mostly independent dramas with an emphasis on social issues, among them the unwed mother meller "Not Wanted" (1949) and "Outrage" (1950), which concerned the aftermath of a brutal rape. Lupino's "The Hitch-Hiker" (1952) was at once a skewering of the fragile male psyche and an important entry in the suspense subgenre of film noir. Diverting her efforts as a director-for-hire to television following her marriage to actor Howard Duff, Lupino made occasional film appearances, albeit often in such drive-in fodder as "The Devil's Rain" (1976) and "Food of the Gods" (1976). At the time of her death in 1995, Lupino was only beginning to be reevaluated as a pioneering female director, as well as a guiding hand in the gestation of American independent cinema.