Ida Lupino: Beyond the Camera | The New Book by Mary Ann Anderson

Mary Ann Anderson has had a varied and extensive career in the world of show business. As an author, Mary Ann has published Portrait of a Soap Star: The Emily McLaughlin Story and Mr. Adams and Eve Illustrated, a history of the classic TV sitcom.

Mary Ann served as conservator for Ida Lupino, the actress and director, from 1984 to 1995. Many Brentwood residents who lived on Old Oak Lane recall the time Miss Lupino set her mailbox on fire. She also delighted in watering her lawn and the neighbors — not the neighbors' lawns, but the neighbors!

Through her association with Miss Lupino, Mary Ann met many other legends of "Old Hollywood," such as Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Hale and Marie Windsor. Mary Ann has been instrumental in bringing the stories of Ida Lupino to A&E's Biography and Jeffrey Hunter to E!'s Mysteries and Scandals, by researching, writing and appearing in them. She also worked on the Ida Lupino Paper Doll Book, released by Paper Studio Press.

You can e-mail Mary Ann at i.lupino@yahoo.com.

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Ida Lupino did not want to be an actress; composing and writing were her major interests. Ida went after and was cast in the role of "Bessie" in The Light That Failed (1932), directed by William Wellman. Critical acclaim from this film established Ida as an actress of the first rank and she later emphasized that talent in subsequent films.

Her name appears above Humphrey Bogart's in the 1941 film High Sierra, and she won the New York Critics' Award for her performance in The Hard Way (1943).

Ida branched out into film directing and producing in 1949, becoming one of two women to enter the male-dominated field. While her feature films were primarily aimed at female audiences, on television Ida Lupino quickly became known for her skill at directing westerns, mysteries and detective dramas — shows aimed at male viewers and many featuring all-male casts. “No one ever asked me to direct a love story,” she said.