| Dorothy Arzner |
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CAREER She began her Hollywood career as a script writer and editor, and eventually was promoted to directing. However, Arzner faced significant hurdles to fully capitalizing on her skills and talents. In addition to being a woman, she was a Lesbian who was unwilling or unable to disguise her sexuality ( Joan Crawford once quipped, "I think all my directors fell in love with me; I know Dorothy Arzner did!"), which made it additionally difficult for Arzner to succeed, and may have contributed to her departure from Hollywood . Nonetheless, she frequently worked with first-rate actors and often was one to help a talent become a star, such as with Sylvia Sidney whom Arzner directed in ''Merrily We Go to Hell'', and whose talent and mettle she recognized under Sidney's frail appearance, although Sidney could be difficult to work with, a fact Sidney herself acknowledged late in life blaming it on her early movie fame which she was not ready to handle. Arzner also had some difficulties with the notoriously headstrong Katharine Hepburn until Hepburn "was told by the front office who was the film's director". Dorothy Arzner, who never married or had children, died on October 1 , 1979 , at the age of 82 in La Quinta , California . PARTIAL FILMOGRAPHY
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