LOIS WEBER

Lois Weber was the first woman ever to direct a feature-length film (she directed "The Merchant of Venice" in 1914). She had been an actress beginning in 1908, and by 1916, she had become Universal Studios' highest paid director, and she had an assistant director named John Ford! In the early 1920s, her career went downhill, and she made her last movie in 1934, and died penniless in 1939 at the age of 60. She is completely forgotten today, except by major film buffs, which is very sad, because she is an extremely important person in the history of movie-making!