Born: 30 January 1887, United States
Died: 26 July 1927
Country most active: United States
Also known as: June Beulah Hughes
This entry is reprinted in full with permission from the National Women’s History Museum (United States of America). It was written by Mollie Gregory. All rights reserved.
In the early years of filmmaking, almost all scenario writers were women who wrote the subtitles for films. June Mathis was one of them. In her youth, she had performed on the stage before she found a way to break into the work she really wanted–screenwriting. When she joined Metro studios in 1918, she must have burst on the studio scene like a rocket flare. “As one of the first screenwriters to include details such as stage directions and physical settings in her work, Mathis saw scenarios as a way to make movies into more of an art form.” In 1920, she headed Metro’s scenario department, the first female executive at that studio. She is credited with discovering Rudolf Valentino. She wrote Camille (1921), Blood and Sand (1922), adapted Ben-Hur (1925). By this time, she was more than a writer. “Miss Mathis, responsible for the scenario of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) and for the casting of Rudolph Valentino, was one of the most important figures in the industry . . . A woman of indomitable strength and energy. . . ” Kevin Brownlow wrote, noting Mathis’ huge difficulties on Ben Hur. She scripted a half-dozen other films, but at the height of her career, she died of a heart attack.
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