Hollywood historian and author Cari Beauchamp passes away at 74. Known for her successful books that focused on female pioneers, her contribution to the Turner Classics Movies programming, and as a commentator for documentaries, Beauchamp’s legacy will forever be imprinted in the industry.
Born in Berkeley, California, Beauchamp worked as a private investigator, press secretary to California Gov. Jerry Brown, and a campaign manager before becoming a full-time writer in 1990. Her most noted works, which focused on women’s roles in Hollywood, including Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and The Powerful Women of Early Hollywood (1997), Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary: Her Private Letters from Inside the Studios of the 1920s (2006) and Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years (2009). Beauchamp also co-wrote Hollywood on the Riviera: The Inside Story of the Cannes Film Festival (1992) and edited Anita Loos Rediscovered: Film Treatments and Fiction by the Creator of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (2003).
In 2001, Beauchamp was nominated for a WGA Award for co-writing the documentary version of Without Lying Down. In 2003, she wrote the documentary The Day My God Died, earning a Best Documentary Emmy nomination.
Journalist and longtime friend of Beauchamp Annie Thompson wrote a tribute post on IndieWire about the late author, saying, “Her heart was in the classics. She served for years as the resident scholar of the Mary Pickford Foundation. She was friends with many Hollywood veterans. She was writing a book about Gloria Swanson. And every spring she looked forward to moderating countless panels at the TCM Film Festival. These were her people….She understood better than most exactly how Hollywood functions, the psychology of the people who run the industry and make the movies. She will be sorely missed.”
Hollywood is mourning Beauchamp as she was a voice for female creatives in history, but her impact will never be forgotten.
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