Lucita Squier (sometimes credited as Lucita Squier Williams) was an American screenwriter active during Hollywood's silent era. She wrote more than 50 scripts during the course of her career, working in the U.S., Britain, and Russia.[1]

Lucita Squier
BornApril 9, 1889
Buffalo, New York, USA
DiedNovember 1980 (aged 91)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
OccupationScreenwriter
SpouseAlbert Rhys Williams

Biography edit

Lucita was born in Buffalo, New York, to George Squier and Lucinda Lilliendahl. Her family had been wealthy thanks to the Mexican railroads they owned, but they lost most of their money during the Mexican Revolution, as she would later recount.[1][2] She grew up speaking Spanish and vacationing in Mexico, attending school in New York City. At one point, she was the only girl attending the exclusive Horace Mann School.[1]

After getting a job as a secretary in Hollywood through her family's connection to Cecil B. DeMille, she began writing scripts for Marshall Neilan's company, where she became lifelong friends with Mary Pickford.[3] At the time, newspapers reported that with the release of her first script, Bits of Life, she was the youngest scenario writer to have a produced film under her belt.[4] After heading back to New York City, she met and married journalist Albert Rhys Williams, and the pair later lived in Soviet Russia for seven years.[1][5][6]

After their son was born, she moved to San Francisco, where she focused on raising her family. She made an attempt to break back into movies, which didn't pan out as script structure had changed with the advent of talkies.[1] After her husband died, she moved to Boston.[7]

She died in November 1980, and was survived by her son.[7]

Squier appeared posthumously as one of the Witnesses in Warren Beatty’s 1981 film Reds.

Selected filmography edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e "19 Jun 1979, 25 - The Boston Globe at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  2. ^ "5 Oct 1921, 10 - The Buffalo Enquirer at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  3. ^ "2 Jul 1922, 34 - The Morning Call at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  4. ^ "28 Jul 1921, 7 - The Montgomery Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  5. ^ "6 May 1928, Page 79 - The Indianapolis Star at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  6. ^ Ilf, Ilya; Petrov, Eugene (2018-03-29). Revival: Little Golden America (1944). Routledge. ISBN 9781351341400.
  7. ^ a b "17 Nov 1980, 23 - The Boston Globe at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  8. ^ "27 Feb 1927, 21 - The Billings Gazette at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.