Jeanie MacPherson

Jeanie MacPherson
Jeanie MacPherson, circa 1920s
Born	Abbie Jean Macpherson (1886-05-18)May 18, 1886 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	August 26, 1946(1946-08-26) (aged 60) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Cancer
Resting place	Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Occupation	Actress, screenwriter, director
Years active	1908–1917 (acting) 1913–1946 (screenwriting)
Notable work	Her collaborations with director Cecil B. DeMille

Jeanie MacPherson (May 18, 1886 – August 26, 1946) 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 life's 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. She 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 DeJacque's 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. It was there, in the windy city of 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 theater-related jobs that she could find. However, she quickly became infatuated with film.

She was quoted as saying, "All I knew was that I wanted to act. Then someone told me about motion pictures, how drama was filmed. I was fascinated. I like mechanics anyway. I hunted all over New York for a studio—and couldn't find one. At last a super told me a man named Griffith was doing pictures for the Biograph Company. Mr. Griffith wasn't in. His assistant was. I told him my stage experience. He ignored it, scorned it. 'We want to know what you can do before a camera.'"

She made her film debut in 1908 with a short film called the Fatal Hour directed by D. W. Griffith. For the next year she acted in many controversial roles in which she had to portray ethnicities other than her own for Griffith's films. MacPherson had dark hair, so she was often cast in gypsy or Spanish roles, even though she was of Scotch and French origin. From 1908 to 1917 she is accredited with 146 acting credits. She was quoted as looking back on her time with Griffith as her "first glimmer of the possibilities in the new industry [and] from those days on [she had] seen a variety of attitudes toward the script writers."