Zelda Sears

Scénariste, Acteur

21 janvier 1873 — 19 février 1935 (62 ans)
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Zelda Sears (née Paldi; January 21, 1873 — February 19, 1935) was an American stage actress, screenwriter, novelist and businesswoman.

Zelda had various odd jobs, including a writer for a Chicago newspaper, before becoming an actress and writer. In New York she played comic roles on stage, learned shorthand, and even opened her own typewriting business. The impetus of her writing career occurred when she began to copy scientific articles for the noted surgeon Dr. William Bull. Sears observed life in his sanitarium and turned what she saw into a fictional story, which she sold to a magazine. Readers became privy to the inner workings of the institution by reading Zelda's The Name Above The Door. Her income grew after several more short stories were accepted for publication.

Dissatisfaction led Sears to return to Chicago, where she joined the acting troupe of John Stapleton. Sears' stage career was boosted by her acting in a production of Lovers Lane. Other plays in which she appeared were Women and Wine, Girls, The Blue Mouse, Love Among The Lions, The Girl He Couldn't Leave Behind Him, Keeping Up Appearances, The Nest Egg, Standing Pat, The Truth, The Show Shop, The Scarlet Woman, and Undertow.

Playwrights began to trust her to add dialogue to her roles in stage productions. Sears learned to write stage speeches and construct scenes. Over a period of eleven years she read more than one hundred plays. She embellished ten of these for production. As a writer she benefited greatly from her association with Clyde Fitch. Earlier he had cast her in Lovers Lane. Sears wrote dialogue for theatrical shows like Lady Billy, Cornered, The Clinging Vine, and The Magic Ring. She came to Hollywood to be a scenarist for Cecil B. DeMille and MGM in the early 1930s. Sears co-wrote The Divorcee, a 1930 American Pre-Code drama film, along with Nick Grindé and John Meehan.

She died, age 62, at her Hollywood home in 1935 and was survived by her second husband, Louis Wiswell, and a sister, Marie Paldi. She had taken her professional name from her first husband, Herbert E. Sears.

Connue pour

  • La Divorcée
    La Divorcée1930
  • La Courtisane
    La Courtisane1931
  • Mes petits
    Mes petits1932
  • L'agent N° 13
    L'agent N° 131934
  • Beauté à vendre
    Beauté à vendre1933
  • Le tourbillon de la danse
    Le tourbillon de la danse1933
  • Tugboat Annie
    Tugboat Annie1933
  • Vivre et aimer
    Vivre et aimer1934
  • Ma soeur masseuse
    Ma soeur masseuse1931
  • The Bishop Murder Case
    The Bishop Murder Case1929
  • Road to Paradise
    Road to Paradise1930
  • Prospérité
    Prospérité1932
  • La bataille des dames
    La bataille des dames1929
  • Rubber Tires
    Rubber Tires1927

Filmographie

1934
A Wicked Woman · as Screenplay
1934
Operator 13 · as Screenplay
1933
1933
Day of Reckoning · as Screenplay
1933
Beauty for Sale · as Screenplay
1933
1932
Prosperity · as Screenplay
1930
The Divorcee · as Screenplay

1934
A Wicked Woman · as Gram Teague
1934
Sadie McKee · as Mrs. Craney
1931
Daybreak · as Undetermined Minor Role
1931
Inspiration · as Aunt Pauline
1930
The Divorcee · as Hannah
1929
The Bishop Murder Case · as Mrs. Otto Drukker

1934
The Cat and the Fiddle · as Screenplay Contributor
1934
This Side of Heaven · as Adaptation
1934
You Can't Buy Everything · as Adaptation
1932
New Morals for Old · as Additional Dialogue
1932
Emma · as Dialogue
1931
1931
Politics · as Story
1931
Reducing · as Additional Dialogue
1930
Road to Paradise · as Theatre Play
1929
Devil-May-Care · as Dialogue
1927
The Rush Hour · as Adaptation
1927
Rubber Tires · as Adaptation
1926
1926
The Clinging Vine · as Theatre Play