Cari Beauchamp (1949–2023), feminist Hollywood historian
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3 min readCari Beauchamp was an author and Hollywood historian whose works, such as “Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood,” often spotlighted the overlooked influence of women on the film industry.
- Died: December 14, 2023 (Who else died on December 14?)
- Details of death: Died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 74.
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Cari Beauchamp’s legacy
Beauchamp’s early career as a researcher and writer began in politics, not Hollywood. She earned a degree in political science from San Jose State University, worked as a private investigator for a series of defense attorneys, and was involved in several political campaigns in the 1970s. Notably, she managed the campaign of Janet Gray Hayes, who in 1976 became the first woman in the country elected mayor of a city with a population over 500,000 people. She was also the press secretary for California Governor Jerry Brown, an early advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment, and the first President of National Women's Political Caucus of California.
After taking some time off, Beauchamp turned her investigative skills toward the film industry with her first book, “Hollywood on the Riviera: The Inside Story of the Cannes Film Festival.” In 1998, she released her influential book, “Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and The Powerful Women of Early Hollywood,” which chronicled the life of two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter Frances Marion and the women who helped shape the early days of Hollywood cinema. The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both named it one of the 100 Most Notable Books of the Year. It was also awarded Book of the Year by the National Theater Arts Association. She wrote and produced a Turner Classic Movies (TCM) documentary of the same name adapting the book.
Beauchamp’s other notable works include serving as editor on “Anita Loos Rediscovered” and “Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary: Her Private Letters from Inside the Studios of the 1920s,” as well as writing for Vanity Fair, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, and others. Beauchamp was also a two-time resident film scholar for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and resident scholar of the Mary Pickford Foundation, among other honors.
Notable quote
“The ripple effect of that book has been so fabulous on two levels: One is I can't believe how many people I continue to hear from who never knew these women once walked the earth. But also what it means to them today. I meet women who say I'll never feel alone again knowing that this many women (were involved in filmmaking).”— from a May 2003 interview with Cari Beauchamp
Tributes to Cari Beauchamp
Full obituary: The Hollywood Reporter
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