Meredyth, Bess (1890–1969)

American screenwriter . Born Helen MacGlashan in Buffalo, New York, in 1890; died in 1969.

Selected filmography:

The Twin Triangle (1916); Spellbound (1916); Bring Home Father (1917); The Little Orphan (1917); Pay Me (1917); Scandal (1917); The Grain of Dust (1918); (also co-directed with Lucas) Morgan's Raiders (1918); The Romance of Tarzan (1918); The Girl From Nowhere (1919); The Grim Comedian (1921); The Dangerous Age (1922); One Clear Call (1922); Rose o' the Sea (1922); The Woman He Married (1922); The Song of Life (1922); Stranger of the Night (1923); The Red Lilly (1924); Thy Name Is Woman (1924); A Slave of Fashion (1925); The Love Hour (1925); Ben-Hur (1926); The Sea Beast (1926); Don Juan (1926); When a Man Loves (1927); The Magic Flame (1927); Rose of the Golden West (1927); The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1928); The Yellow Lily (1928); The Mysterious Lady (1928); A Woman of Affairs (1928); Wonder of Women (1929); Chasing Rainbows (1930); In Gay Madrid (1930); The Sea Bat (1930); Our Blushing Brides (1930); Romance (1930); The Prodigal (The Southerner, 1931); West of Broadway (1931); Cuban Love Song (1931); Laughing Sinners (1931); The Phantom of Paris (1931); Strange Interlude (1932); Looking Forward (1933); The Affairs of Cellini (1934); The Mighty Barnum (1934); Folies Bergere (1935); Metropolitan (1935); Half Angel (1936); Under Two Flags (1936); (story only) Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936); The Great Hospital Mystery (1937); (co-adaptation only) The Mark of Zorro (1940); That Night in Rio (1941); The Unsuspected (1947).

Although she began her career as an extra for D.W. Griffith at Biograph, Bess Meredyth made her greatest contribution as a screenwriter. Her credits are numerous, and include scripts for some of the most notable silent and sound pictures of her era, including Ben-Hur and The Sea Beast. Unfortunately, Meredyth's name slipped into obscurity and little was recorded about her life.