Screen Writers Guild President, 1942-1944, 1951-1952
Mary C. McCall Jr.
First woman president of the Screen Writers Guild, Mary Caldwell McCall Jr. wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), Craig’s Wife (1936), The Sullivans (1944), Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949), and eight of the 10 Maisie films. She also wrote episodes for the television series Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeannie, Sea Hunt, and The Millionaire. McCall received the WGAw Valentine Davies Award in 1962.
During World War II, she was the West Coast head of the war activities committee of the motion picture industry. In 1954, she testified before the State Senate fact-finding committee on un-American activities, denying reports that she was a communist sympathizer and condemning political extremism.
McCall was born on April 4, 1904, in New York City, and got her start as a film writer in the 1930s when Warner Bros. hired her to collaborate on a script based on her novel Revolt. She died on April 3, 1986, in Woodland Hills.