Widely regarded as one of the most prominent female filmmakers working during the 1950s in the Hollywood studio system.

Ida Lupino (February 4 1918 – August 3 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, director, and producer. She is widely regarded as one of the most prominent female filmmakers working during the 1950s in the Hollywood studio system. With her independent production company, she co-wrote and co-produced several social-message films and became the first woman to direct a film noir with The Hitch-Hiker in 1953. Among her other directed films the best known are Outrage (1950), The Bigamist (1953) (which was named in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) and The Trouble with Angels (1966).

Throughout her 48-year career, she made acting appearances in 59 films and directed eight others, working primarily in the United States, where she became a citizen in 1948. As an actress her best known films are The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra (1941), The Sea Wolf (1941), Ladies in Retirement (1941), Moontide (1942), The Hard Way (1943), Deep Valley (1947), Road House (1948), While the City Sleeps (1956) and Junior Bonner (1972).

She also directed more than 100 episodes of television productions in a variety of genres including westerns, supernatural tales, situation comedies, murder mysteries, and gangster stories. She was the only woman to direct an episode of the original The Twilight Zone series ("The Masks"), as well as the only director to have starred in the show.