What you might not know about the American author
There are countless women who left their own indelible mark on Hollywood over the past century. The fight for women's rights rose to the forefront around the same time that the film industry started to take off, making it even more incredible that many women were blazing a creative trail before they even had the right to vote. And, of course, the obstacles were only multiplied for women of color. While we still have a long way to go, we have these incredible pioneers to thank for the growing levels of equality and representation in the entertainment industry today.
From the first female directors to the first female media moguls, click through the gallery to learn about the women who changed Hollywood forever.
Alice Guy Blaché was the first female film director and producer, overseeing more than 1,000 films between 1896 and 1922. She is credited with creating the position of 'head of production,' which was the basis for the studio system that would define Hollywood for the following decades.
Mary Pickford was by far the biggest star of the silent movie era in Hollywood, but her influence stretched far beyond the silver screen. She co-founded the production company United Artists as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—the same organization that still hosts the prestigious Academy Awards each year!
Frances Marion was the most sought-after scriptwriter of the early 20th century, ahead of any of the numerous male scriptwriters working at the time. She worked on more than 130 films and was the first writer to win two Oscars.
Dorothy Arzner has been called “The most prolific woman studio director in the history of American cinema." She directed 20 feature films from the 1920s to the 1940s and was best known for depicting complex female characters and realistic female friendships.
Arzner once said, "Try as a man may, he will never be able to get the woman’s viewpoint in telling certain stories.” She was the first woman to join the Directors Guild of America, and was also credited with creating the boom microphone.
Although her roles were ultimately limited by racist laws that made interracial relationships illegal both on- and off-screen, Anna May Wong firmly earned her place in history as the first Chinese-American movie star.
Edith Head is widely considered to be one of the most influential costume designers of all time. She first got hired by Paramount in 1924 using a sketchbook of work she borrowed from an art student, and went on to become the most important costume designer of the 20th century.
Head worked on more than 1,000 movies and designed costumes for every star of the day, from Bette Davis to Audrey Hepburn. She won eight Oscars and was nominated 35 times in total. She was the first female head designer at a major studio. Fun fact: she's widely be considered to be the inspiration for the character Edna Mode in the 2004 animated movie 'The Incredibles.'
Ida Lupino was a popular actress in the 1930s and 1940s, but she decided she wanted to make a career change and try her hand at "the interesting work" on set. She formed an independent production company so she could start making her own movies. She started writing, directing, and producing her own features.
Lupino was the first woman to direct a film noir with her 1953 feature 'The Hitch-Hiker.' She produced eight films, all of which dealt with complex, taboo subjects like unwed motherhood and bigamy. She prided herself on being a "bulldozer" in business meetings but took a more nurturing approach with her cast and crew on set.
When Ball and Arnaz divorced, she bought out his stake in their company Desilu Productions. This made her the first woman in Hollywood to lead a major production company.
Hedy Lamarr was one of the biggest actresses of her time and was often called "the most beautiful woman in the world." Despite the success she enjoyed as an actress, she had other, far more captivating interests off-screen. She had a flair for working with technology and picked up a few things from her arms-dealer ex-husband.
Lamarr designed a radio-guided torpedo that used the same technology now used in cell phones and WiFi. She didn't gain recognition for her invention until 1997, a few years before her death. Lamarr broke the stereotype of the vapid actress and was a pioneer for women in STEM. She once said, "[Beauty] brought me tragedy and heartache for five decades. My face is a mask I cannot remove.”
Rita Moreno made history as the first Latinx woman to win an Oscar for her performance as Anita in 'Westside Story' (1961). She later became one of only 16 people in history to be an EGOT winner, meaning she has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award. She is still the only Latinx woman to hold this title.
Fonda has always been an outspoken activist for many social issues, particularly women's rights, and has famously been arrested on several occasions! She has also been extremely open about her experiences with her body image and eating disorders in order to educate younger women and help them avoid the same path.
Sherry Lansing started out as an actress in the 1970s, but quickly moved behind the scenes and up the ladder. She broke a number of glass ceilings in Hollywood, becoming the first female president of 20th Century Fox in 1980.
Lansing moved to Paramount Pictures in 1992 and became the first female studio head. She has overseen the release of more than 200 films, including Oscar winners like 'Forrest Gump' (1994) and 'Titanic' (1997).
It would take pages and pages to list all of Oprah Winfrey's accomplishments, firsts, and milestones. So, here are a few of the highlights: she revolutionized talk-television with her 26-season series 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,' which gained the highest ratings in TV history. She was also the first woman to own and produce her own talk show.
Her incredible business sense and the media empire she built made her the first African-American woman to appear on Forbes' 'World's Richest People' list. She was also North America's first Black multi-billionaire.
Shonda Rhimes is the mastermind behind some of the biggest shows on TV, including 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'How to Get Away with Murder,' and 'Scandal.' Her wildly popular productions have brought new levels of diversity to the mainstream and provided new possibilities for complex characters of all races and genders.
Ava DuVernay became the first Black woman to win the Dramatic Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival for her 2012 film 'Middle of Nowhere.' She later became the first Black woman to direct a studio film with a budget of more than US$100 million with the 2018 Disney movie 'A Wrinkle in Time.' She has also used her platform to tell a number of powerful stories that deeply impacted the African-American community. The Oscar-nominated movie 'Selma' (2014) follows Dr. Martin Luther King on a historical march, and the series 'When They See Us' tells the heartbreaking story of the Central Park Five.
Alison Bechdel may not be a familiar face to many, but the Bechdel Test is fast becoming part of the modern vernacular. Bechdel created a screenwriting lab and conducted research into gender equality and on-screen representation in Hollywood. Through her research, she created a simple metric to measure whether women were being properly represented in a story.
The main question is this: are there more than two female characters, and do they talk about anything other than a man? If not, that story fails the test. It has become the new measure for holding members of the entertainment industry accountable for neglecting real, complex female characters. Major feature films released in recent years have failed the test, including 'The Magnificent Seven' (2016), 'The Legend of Tarzan' (2016), and 'Doctor Strange' (2016).
Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director ever to win the Oscar for Best Director in 2010. She was the fourth woman ever to be nominated. The film she directed was the war thriller 'Hurt Locker.' Not only did she achieve this historical first, she also broke down the stereotype about the kind of movies women direct.
Sources: (Vanity Fair) (Refinery29)
See also: A timeline of female firsts in Hollywood
The women who changed Hollywood forever
Learn more about the female pioneers of the entertainment industry
CELEBRITY Feminism
There are countless women who left their own indelible mark on Hollywood over the past century. The fight for women's rights rose to the forefront around the same time that the film industry started to take off, making it even more incredible that many women were blazing a creative trail before they even had the right to vote. And, of course, the obstacles were only multiplied for women of color. While we still have a long way to go, we have these incredible pioneers to thank for the growing levels of equality and representation in the entertainment industry today.
From the first female directors to the first female media moguls, click through the gallery to learn about the women who changed Hollywood forever.