Ouida Bergère
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Ouida Bergère a.k.a Ida Berger (14 December 1886 - 29 November 1974) was an American scriptwriter and actress.
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[edit] Biography
Ouida DuGaze was the daughter of Stephen and Marion DuGaze. Her father was Spanish, and her mother of French and English ancestry. Ouida was born, somewhat unexpectedly, on a railroad train enroute to Madrid, Spain.
She spent the first four years of her life at the home of her paternal grandparents in Madrid, while her parents travelled extensively. She spoke only Spanish, and thus was not able to understand her mother when she returned and spoke to her in English. Between the ages of four and six she lived with her parents in Paris, and then in England until she was eleven. The family then moved to the United States, where she attended the "Potter School" at Bowling Green, Kentucky, the National Park Seminary in Washington, D. C., and an exclusive school on the Hudson River in New York. She lived for a time in Connecticut, at the home of an aunt in Virginia, then in New Orleans, Arkansas, as well as in Kentucky.
[edit] Career
Bergère began her career as an actor. Playwright Winchell Smith gave her her first role, but she eventually abandoned her stage career and turned her attention to writing. She wrote for the New York Herald and for various magazines, besides writing the stories (or 'scenarios') for silent film productions.
She wrote most of the stories for the films of Elsie Ferguson, and many for Mae Murray, including On With the Dance. She also wrote for Pola Negri, Corinne Griffith, Bert Lytell, and Betty Compson, many of which were directed by her first husband, George Fitzmaurice.
In 1920 she wrote the screen version of Peter Ibbetson, starring Elsie Ferguson and Wallace Reid. During this time she met Basil Rathbone, who was playing the lead role in the stage production of the play, whom she eventually married in 1926.
As well as the United States, Bergère also worked on films in England, France and Italy. While in Rome in 1923 she wrote a film entitled The Eternal City, which enlisted the assistance of the Fascists, and of Mussolini himself, with the help of the American ambassador in Rome. The film included a scene in which Mussolini appeared writing a letter and summoning a man to post it. Ten thousand Blackshirts appeared in the Coliseum scenes for the film.
After her marriage to Basil Rathbone, Bergère gave up her film work to assist him in his work and in the management of his business affairs.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Writer
- The Eternal City (1923)
- Six Days (1923)
- The Cheat (1923)
- The Rustle of Silk (1923)
- Bella Donna (1923)
- Kick In (1922)
- To Have and to Hold (1922)
- The Man from Home (1922)
- Peacock Alley (1922)
- Three Live Ghosts (1922)
- Peter Ibbetson (1921)
- Paying the Piper (1921)
- Idols of Clay (1920)
- The Right to Love (1920)
- On with the Dance (1920)
- The Broken Melody (1919)
- Counterfeit (1919)
- The Witness for the Defense (1919)
- A Society Exile (1919)
- Our Better Selves (1919)
- The Avalanche (1919)
- The Profiteers (1919)
- The Cry of the Weak (1919)
- Common Clay (1919)
- The Narrow Path (1918)
- A Japanese Nightingale (1918)
- More Trouble (1918)
- The Hillcrest Mystery (1918)
- The On-the-Square Girl (1917)
- The Iron Heart (1917)
- Kick In (1917)
- The Romantic Journey (1916)
- Arms and the Woman (1916)
- Big Jim Garrity (1916)
- Virtue Triumphant (1916)
- New York (1916)
- Wasted Lives (1915)
- At Bay (1915)
- Saints and Sinners (1915)
- The Esterbrook Case (1915)
[edit] Casting Director
- At Bay (1915)
[edit] Actress
- Getting Even (1912)
- Mates and Mis-Mates (1912)
