Ida Lupino Part II
Television acting lead to offers for directing jobs. As she did in the movies, Ida quickly established a reputation as a hardworking and effective director. She became known as the "Female Hitch" for her taut camera work in dramas, westerns and thrillers such as The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Untouchables. Occasionally, she also got to helm comedy shows such as Gilligan's Island and Bewitched.
Ida was well aware of how uneasy her male coworkers felt about taking orders from a woman. Ida never gave orders; she suggested ideas to her cast and crew. She was given the nickname "Mother" and she adored playing that role on her sets. In recent years, feminists who look to see Ida as a role model for her groundbreaking accomplishments have struggled with the fact that she was emphatically not a feminist and believed that "women should be struck regularly. . .like a gong."
Duff didn't want his wife direct him, which meant that Ida would only act for their most significant project together, the television show Mr. Adams and Eve. They starred as married movie stars who constantly argued; many of the plots were extremely close to reality. Though the show was a modest success at first, the in-jokes eventually fell flat with the general public. The show only aired from 1957-58.
Ida spent the remainder of the fifties and the sixties directing and appearing in television productions. In 1966, she directed one last feature movie, The Trouble With Angels, Rosalind Russell as a nun and Hayley Mills as a rebellious convent school student. Ida increasingly preferred directing to performing and often had to be convinced to take acting roles.
In 1972, Ida was shocked to realize Duff had left her for the last time. He left Hollywood to perform in summer theater and was soon living with a younger and less accomplished woman than his famous wife. Though the marriage had been tumultuous, Ida was saddened to suddenly be alone. The pair would not officially
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