Beatrice Banyard

Beatrice Banyard was an American screenwriter and actress active in the late '30s and early '40s.

Biography[]

Beatrice was born in Spring Valley, Iowa, to A.T. Banyard and Ida Burnett, the second of two daughters. She grew up primarily in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she was a well-known society girl.^[1] She began acting in plays in the area as a young teenager.^[2]

She married John Stone in 1917; the pair had two children but were soon divorced.^[3][4] After the split, she began a career on the stage, at which point she was reacquainted with playwright, film director, and actor Willard Mack, whom she met when she was 12.^[5][6] He made her his fourth (and final) wife in 1927.^[7] She left him soon afterward, but the pair reconciled and remained married until his death in 1934.^[8]

She continued acting through the 1920s and early 1930s,^[9] and around 1931, she began writing film scenarios after she and Mack moved to Los Angeles, where he was contracted by MGM as a writer.^[10] She also appeared in a few films as an actress, including What Price Innocence? and The Voice of the City, both of which Mack directed.^[11][12]

She enjoyed car-racing, and was noted as one of the best women racers in the U.S. She also held a number of dirt-track records on the West Coast.^[13][9]

Selected filmography[]

As a writer:

• Myrt and Marge (1933)
• Strictly Personal (1933)
• The Billion Dollar Scandal (1931)
• (1931) (dialogue)

As an actress:

• What Price Innocence? (1933)
• The Voice of the City (1929)

References[]