Margery Wilson

Wilson was born in Gracey, Kentucky. She received higher education in philosophy and literature while also pursuing social service work.

Starting out, Wilson gave public performances in Cincinnati at clubs, schools, and churches. Later, she was able to tour from Ohio to Atlanta with the John Lawrence Players as the leading lady.

By the age of 16, she founded her own theater company. She and her sister left for London on a world tour as musical entertainers.[1]

In 1914, Wilson traveled to Los Angeles to pursue a career in Hollywood. She was in a wide range of motion pictures but is best known for her portrayal of Brown Eyes, a character D.W. Griffith film Intolerance. She had three dozen roles, many she starred in.[2]

Wilson also was one of Hollywood's earliest woman directors. Her career as a film writer, director, and producer was short, lasting from 1920 to 1922. Those three years did not include the few that she toured with her films. She directed at least three movies: That Something (1920), The Offenders (1921), and Insinuation (1922). There are no surviving prints of any of her directing efforts.[3] She finished her work as a film director by her late 20s.

Wilson was married more than once and had two children. Both of her children died before she did. She left the film production business to take care of her children after marrying Otto Meeks, the owner of a ranching empire.[4] Although she was no longer in film production, she stayed connected to the business by contributing to pamphlets about famous people. Because of her Hollywood connections, she was able to write 50 of the pamphlets.[5]