Luci Ward | |
Birth Name: | Lucille Ward |
Birth Date: | November 30, 1907 |
Birth Place: | Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, US |
Death Date: | November 30, 1969 (aged 62) |
Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, US |
Othername: | Brooks Nevins |
Occupation: | Writer |
Yearsactive: | 1936–1967 |
Spouse: | Jack Natteford |
Luci Ward (1907–1969) was an American screenwriter.[1] She mostly worked on crime B movies and Western films.
Ward was born and raised in Monroe, Louisiana, the daughter of Edgar Ward and Lucille Pipes. She had a brother, Royce, and two step-siblings from her father's second marriage (her mother died when she was young).
Ward began her career as a secretary to First National executives[2] and screenwriters (including Ben Markson)[3] before becoming a script girl.[4] Later, she got a chance to pen her own scripts. She also wrote articles for publications like Cosmopolitan, sometimes using the pen name Brooks Nevins.[5]
She testified at a National Labor Relations Board hearing that she was hired as a stenographer at Warner Brothers for $25 a week and wasn't given a raise when she was promoted to screenwriter. Warner Brothers then hired her a personal secretary at $32.50 a week.[6]
She was married to fellow screenwriter Jack Natteford and co-wrote several films with him.[7]