Carrie Beauchamp, who tracked strong women in early Hollywood, has died at the age of 74

Ms. Beauchamp (pronounced Beesham) helped revive interest in an often overlooked chapter in cinema when dozens of women rose to the top of the profession, winning awards and acclaim for films that offered sometimes scathing commentary on the limits and expectations placed on women.

Her work also explored the lost stories of how women in the film industry—writers, directors, and others—formed connections to advance their careers and build solidarity during the silent film era and the pre-war years. The arc extended from screenwriters like Anita Loos (with dozens of credits in silent films and author of the 1925 novel-turned-film, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”) to director Dorothy Arzner, with female-empowerment films including the groundbreaking feminist buddy film, “Dancing, “Girl, Dance” (1940) starring Lucille Ball and Maureen O’Hara.

Ms. Beaucham became increasingly fascinated with film during her years as a private investigator for defense attorneys and her stints in politics, including her work as press secretary for California Governor Jerry Brown from 1979 to 1982 and working on efforts to pass the Equal Rights Amendment alongside Gloria Steinem. And others.

Ms. Beauchamp told her friends that those jobs — spying as a private eye, dealing with infighting and the arrogance of politics — were good primers for understanding the world of cinema. “The information is out there. You just have to dig,” she told Vanity Fair.

Her first target was the extravagant annual film festival in Cannes, the French Riviera resort where Ms. Beauchamp spent time in the 1970s. The 1992 book by journalist Henri Béhar, “Hollywood on the Riviera: The Inside Story of the Cannes Film Festival,” was an ode to the excess and artistry on display each May.

Film producer Menachem Golan was quoted as saying: “It was our birthday.” Reviewers have embraced the book’s anecdote-based rhythm: Egyptian-French actress Simone Silva takes off her shirt; Director François Truffaut laments the quality of the films. Shiny yachts and buzzy Lamborghinis.

Ms. Beauchamp wanted her next project to go back to the early years of American cinema. Months of searching led her to Frances Marion, one of the deans of the era. Marion, a former San Francisco reporter, became among the highest-paid screenwriters in Hollywood and won Academy Awards for the prison drama The Big House (1930) and the ex-boxer epic The Champion (1931). ).

Marion often said that she was always looking “for a man to look up to without lying down.” That became the title of Ms. Beauchamp’s 1997 book, “Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and Powerful Women in Early Hollywood.” For Ms. Beauchamp, Marion became her mentor through a mostly forgotten Hollywood sisterhood.

Every week, Marion joined weekly gatherings with her circle of friends. They exchanged news about potential upcoming movies and jobs — and tried to figure out how to get over the men who had once stood in their way. (Except for producer Irving Thalberg, who was keen to hire female writers.) The women also always enjoyed retelling stories about Marion and her best friend, Mary Pickford, the silent film star who was one of the first in the country. Idols as “America’s Sweetheart”.

In 1917, Pickford and Marion exercised almost complete control over the making of Poor Little Rich Girl, the story of an heiress (Pickford) neglected by her parents. When the film was shown to executives at the all-male studio, they deemed it so bad that they wanted to make it bigger, Ms. Beauchamp recounted. It was eventually released and became a hit with critics and audiences. Pickford went on to stardom and Marion’s career took off.

Ms. Beauchamp’s research concluded that about half of the films copyrighted between 1911 and 1925 were written by women. “For Frances and her friends, virtue derived from injustice; “With so much not expected of them, they are free to accomplish so much,” Ms. Beauchamp wrote. “They were attracted to businesses that, for a time, not only allowed women, but welcomed them.”

Some reviewers have objected to Ms. Beauchamp’s writing style as rough and repetitive. However, the depth of her research has always been praised. Beauchamp reminds us… “Women have risen to the highest levels of children’s filmmaking because no one took it seriously,” Wendy Smith wrote in the Washington Post. As the studio system took hold, they found it increasingly difficult to maintain the independence and power they had gained as pioneers.”

like Ms Beauchamp, a resident scholar at the Mary Pickford Foundation, believes there is still inspiration to be drawn from the actress’s life more than a century later. “She was a woman in a man’s world, who learned to use her power effectively at a time when there were no paths to follow,” Ms. Beauchamp wrote.

In 2003, Ms. Beauchamp edited and annotated “The Rediscovery of Anita Loos,” a collection of film treatments, plays and other works by the screenwriter Loos, whose films included the provocative “The Red-Headed Woman” (1932) in which she played a woman (Jean Harlow). ) seeks to seduce a married man (Chester Morris). Luce also collaborated with “Gigi” author Colette on a 1951 Broadway stage version of the novella, starring Audrey Hepburn.

“Just the idea of ​​being a fly on the wall with Anita and Colette,” Ms. Beauchamp said in an interview. “…Just imagine these two women sitting together in their old age and swapping stories.”

Carolann Beauchamp was born on September 12, 1949 in Berkeley, California. Her father worked for the police department in Stockton, California, and later worked in the insurance industry. Her mother was an administrator at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

She attended Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California, and began working in 1967 on the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-Minnesota).

She then worked at various jobs—including modeling fur coats—before earning a degree in political science and U.S. history in 1972 from San Jose State University. She planned to go to law school but chose to work for six years as a private investigator for defense attorneys and the Legal Aid Society of Santa Clara County.

She also returned to political campaigns, helping to direct Janet Hayes’ successful 1976 mayoral campaign in San Jose.

Ms. Beauchamp’s other books include “Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years” (2009) about the Kennedy patriarch’s vast influence on the film industry from 1926 to 1930 as head of three studios.

For screen, she wrote and produced a 200 feature documentary for Turner Classic Movies based on Without Lying Down, and wrote a PBS documentary The Day My God Died (2004) about sex trafficking in Nepal and India. Both were nominated for Emmys.

Ms. Beauchamp’s marriage to Tom Flynn ended in divorce. Survivors include sons Jake Flynn and Theo Flynn;

At the TCM Classic Film Festival earlier this year, Ms. Beauchamp presented the 1932 film “The Wiser Sex,” starring Claudette Colbert as a woman who goes undercover after her boyfriend is framed for murder. The film sparked complaints from Joseph Breen, who was responsible for enforcing the newly enacted Hays Act, which sought to censor racy, politically sensitive, or other controversial content. One issue Breen brought up was that Colbert was showing too much leg.

Ms Beauchamp told the audience: “I think about (Brain’s) impact today, when considering the damage caused by book bans and the other challenges we face.”