Ruth Wightman

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Ruth Wightman
Born
Ruth C. Wightman

(1897-08-15)August 15, 1897
Jamestown, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 19, 1939(1939-04-19) (aged 41)
Alameda, New Mexico, U.S.
OccupationNovelist, screenwriter
Spouse(s)Gouverneur Morris (m. 1923)

Ruth Wightman (August 15, 1897 – April 19, 1939) was an American screenwriter and race car driver who was married to the novelist Gouveneur Morris.

Biography[]

Ruth, an only child, was born in Jamestown, New York, to John Wightman and Lulu Russell.

Ever the adventurer, she had a passion for flying, and was noted as being one of the first women in the United States to be granted a pilot's license.[1] She also competed in car races in Stockton, California, as a young woman, and was involved in a fatal crash in 1918.[2]

In 1923, she married author Governeur Morris, for whom she had formerly worked as a secretary before beginning a career in the scenario department at Samuel Goldwyn Studio.[3] The pair kept their marriage out of the newspapers for a year, as Morris was still waiting to be granted a divorce from his first wife, Elsie; they then held a second marriage ceremony to seal the deal and comply with California law.[4]

Wightman died at a sanitarium in Alameda, New Mexico, in 1939 after a brief illness.[5] She was survived by her husband; the pair had no children.

Selected filmography[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Late Deaths". The Casper Star-Tribune. 20 Apr 1939. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
  2. ^ "Woman Auto Racer Killed; Five Other Persons Hurt". The New York Tribune. 4 Mar 1918. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
  3. ^ "Writers Will Eschew Golf on Second Honeymoon". The Evening Sun. 28 Jul 1924. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
  4. ^ "Man Weds Wife". The Morning Register. 27 Jul 1924. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
  5. ^ "Obituary: Wife of Noted Writer". The Daily News. 20 Apr 1939. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
  6. ^ "Screen Plays". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 20 Aug 1922. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
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