Dorothy Arzner

Dorothy Arzner
Arzner in 1934
Born	Dorothy Emma Arzner (1897-01-03)January 3, 1897 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	October 1, 1979(1979-10-01) (aged 82) La Quinta, California, U.S.
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1922–1943
Partner	Marion Morgan (1927–1971; her death)

Dorothy Emma Arzner (January 3, 1897 – October 1, 1979) was an American film director whose career in Hollywood spanned from the silent era of the 1920s into the early 1940s.^[1][2] With the exception of long-time silent film director Lois Weber, from 1927 until her retirement from feature directing in 1943, Arzner was the only female director working in Hollywood.^[3][4][5] She was one of a very few women able to establish a successful and long career in Hollywood as a film director until the 1970s.^[6][7] Arzner made a total of twenty films between 1927 and 1943 and launched the careers of a number of Hollywood actresses, including Katharine Hepburn, Rosalind Russell, and Lucille Ball.^[8] Arzner was the first woman to join the Directors Guild of America and the first woman to direct a sound film.^[9][10]