Ruth Harriet Louise(1903-1940)

Ruth Harriet Louise was a professional photographer in the 1920s. It was unusual enough for a woman to be in that profession at that time, but what was even more unusual was that she was the official photographer at MGM Studios from 1925 to 1930, a time when MGM's prestige was at its peak and its stars were the biggest in Hollywood--John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Marion Davies, Lon Chaney, among others--and she photographed them all, and often: it's estimated that she took more than 100,000 photos during her tenure at MGM. Today she is considered an equal with George Hurrell Sr. and other renowned glamor photographers of the era.