Jeanie MacPherson

Jeanie MacPherson was an American actress, writer, and director from 1908 until the late 1940s. She was a pioneer for women in the film industry. She worked with some of the best filmmakers of the time period including D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille. While she started in the theater, and then had a brief stint as an actress, she ultimately dedicated her lifes work to screenwriting for DeMille. She was appraised for her new level resourcefulness and attentiveness to the needs of DeMille.

MacPherson was born Abbie Jean Macpherson in Boston to a wealthy family. Her parents were John S. Macpherson and Evangeline C. Tomlinson. MacPherson was a petite, spirited girl of Spanish, Scottish, and French descent. She was named after Jeanie MacPherson, the Scottish Joan of Arc, who led the Highlanders at the Battle of Culloden. As a teenager she was sent to Mademoiselle DeJacques school in paris but was forced to leave when her family fell on hard times. She then returned to the United States and began to look for a job. It was back in the United States that MacPherson finished her degree from the prestigious Kenwood Institute in Chicago, where she started her career as a dancer and stage performer. She began her theatrical career in the chorus of the Chicago Opera House. Over the next few years she took singing lessons and took whatever theaterrelated jobs that she could find. However, she quickly became infatuated with film. She was quoted as saying, All I knew was that I wanted

Source: Wikipedia