Zelda Sears

Known for WritingBorn 1873-01-21Died 1935-02-19Near Brockway Township, Michigan, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 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.Read more

Movies & web series

No Control

The Highest Bidder

Cornered

The Truth

You Can't Buy Everything

This Side of Heaven

Tugboat Annie

Beauty for Sale

The Cruise of the Jasper B

Sadie McKee

The Wise Wife

Politics

Emma

The Clinging Vine

Road to Paradise

Rubber Tires

The Divorcee

Devil-May-Care

Susan Lenox

Operator 13

Inspiration

Prosperity

The Bishop Murder Case

Day of Reckoning

Reducing

A Wicked Woman

New Morals for Old

Corporal Kate