Jeanie Macpherson was thirty-two years old when she met Cecil B. De Mille, the director with whom she would be most closely identified. Though it was through De Mille that she would become known as a screenwriter, Macpherson had already enjoyed a remarkable career in other areas of motion pictures, including acting and directing.

Born in 1884 in Boston, Massachusetts, to a wealthy family, Macpherson was a petite, fiery girl of Spanish, Scottish, and French descent. As a teenager, she was sent to Mademoiselle DeJacques's school in Paris but was forced to leave when her family lost their money. Returning to the United States, she began to look for a job.

Macpherson was drawn to the stage and began her theatrical career in the chorus of the Chicago Opera House. For the next few years, while taking singing lessons, she took whatever theater-related jobs she could find. Slowly, she...