Happy Birthday: Ida Lupino!

Ida Lupino (4 February 1918– 3 August 1995), was a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed nine others. She also appeared in serial television shows 58 times and directed 50 other episodes. In addition, she contributed as a writer to five films and four TV episodes.

Lupino was born into a family of performers. Her father, Stanley Lupino, was a music-hall comedian and her mother, Connie Emerald, was an actress. As a girl, Ida was encouraged to enter show business by both her parents and her uncle, Lupino Lane. She trained at RADA and made her first movie appearance in, The Love Race (1931) and spent the next several years playing bit parts.

It was after her appearance in, The Light That Failed (1939) that Lupino began to be taken seriously as a dramatic actress and she began to call herself..."the poor man's Bette Davis."

Lupino became well known from her performances in such films as, They Drive by Night (1940). A story about two brothers who were a couple of wildcat truck drivers. One comes to harm, while the other is accused of his friend's murder.






And High Sierra (1941), A story about Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle, who meets up with an old a friend who wants him to help with an upcoming robbery. When the robbery goes wrong and a man is shot and killed Earle goes on the run with the police hot on his tail in the, Sierra Nevada's.

After her performance in, The Hard Way (1943). She acted regularly, and was in demand throughout the 1940s without becoming a major star until 1947.

Eventually, Lupino became interested in directing. She found herself bored on set while "someone else seemed to be doing all the interesting work." She and her husband Collier Young formed an independent company, The Filmmakers. Lupino, became a producer, director and screenwriter of low-budget movies.

Her first directing job came when Elmer Clifton suffered a mild heart attack and could not finish the film, Not Wanted(1949). Lupino stepped in to finish the film and went on to direct her own projects, becoming Hollywood's only female film director of the time.

Lupino directed films about social issues: Outrage (1950)and The Hitch-Hiker (1953), making her the first woman to direct a film noir. Lupino often joked that if she had been the "poor man's Bette Davis" as an actress, then she had become the "poor man's Don Siegel" as a director. In 1952, Lupino was invited to become the "fourth star" in Four Star Productions by Dick Powell, David Niven, and Charles Boyer, after Joel McCrea and Rosalind Russell had dropped out of the company.

Lupino continued acting throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and her directing were mostly television shows: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller, The Twilight Zone, Have Gun Will Travel, The Donna Reed Show, Gilligan's Island, 77 Sunset Strip, The Investigators, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Rifleman, The Virginian, Batman, Sam Benedict, Bonanza, The Untouchables, The Fugitive, Colombo, and Bewitched. She guest-starred on The Streets of San Francisco .

From January 1957 through September 1958, Lupino starred with her then husband, Howard Duff, in the CBS sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve, in which they played husband and wife film stars named Howard Adams and Eve Drake. Duff and Lupino also co-starred as themselves in 1959 in one of, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour. Later in her acting career, Lupino guest-starred on many TV shows, before she retired at the age of 60. She made her final movie appearance in 1978.

Ida Lupino movies I have seen:

1940 They Drive by Night
1941 High Sierra
Escape Me Never.  Please click here to read Escape Me Never review.
1952 On Dangerous Ground
1966 The Trouble with Angels
1972 Junior Bonner

Escape Me Never( 1947).

Escape Me Never( 1947). Cast: Errol Flynn, Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker and Gig Young. It was adapted by Lenore J. Coffe(uncredited) and Thames Williamson and was directed by Peter Godfrey, with music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

A romance between aspiring composer Caryl Dubrok and Fenella MacLean is quickly ended by her parents when they believe that Caryl living with a young widow named, Gemma Smith and her son Piccolo. Caryl learns that Gemma lives with his brother Sebastian a composer. Sebastian says that they go after Fenella and clear up the terrible misunderstanding. At first, Sebastian wants to leave Gemma and Piccolo behind, but when she says that she is going accept a marriage proposal from someone else, Sebastian decides to bring her along.

One evening, when Sebastian and Gemma perform without Caryl. A beautiful woman catches Sebastians eye, he does not know that it is Fenella. He sends Gemma home, while Sebastian stays behind with Fenella, and is inspired to write the music that he will use in his ballet.

The next day, Gemma goes to the hotel to pick up their pay, she learns Fenella is staying there and explains the mix up. Fenella so upset that Sebastian is really Caryl's brother that Gemma leaves with Sebastian. Gemma and Sebastian marry and move to London, where he continues his work.

The MacLeans also return to London, followed by Caryl, who becomes engaged to Fenella. Sebastian finishes his music and everything is going well until one day during rehearsals, Piccolo becomes very ill. Sebastian refuses to go with Gemma to the hospital. Fenella tells Sebastian that she has broken her engagement to Caryl and wants to go back to her family's home in the country. While Gemma's life falls apart. Sebastian realizes how much Gemma means to him, and rewrites the music for her. Will Gemma and Sebastian ever find each other again?

I just saw the film, Escape Me Never, on TCM for the first time. I thought it was a very charming film. This film is quite a change of pace for Flynn. In this film you see Flynn's natural ease and... he is still very sexy even in rags!

Ida Lupino, was an English-American film actress and director, and a pioneer women filmmaker. In her forty-eight year career, she performed in fifty-nine films, and directed nine others. She also performed in television shows fifty-eight times and directed fifty other episodes.

Lupino was born into a family of performers. Her father, Stanley Lupino, was a music-hall comedian, and her mother, Connie Emerald, was an actress. Ida trained at RADA and made her first movie in, The Love Race(1939).

It was after her performance in, The Light That Failed (1939) that Lupino was taken seriously as an actress. She called herself "the poor man's Bette Davis."  Lupino best known films are: They Drive by Night (1940) and High Sierra (1941), both opposite Humphrey Bogart. The Hard Way (1943),  Road House and On Dangerous Ground.