F. McGrew Willis (1891–1957): Screen Writer in Early Hollywood

 

F. McGrew Willis and Midshipman movie poster

Plot 36, Lot 268 W ½ - Wilson Family Plot

Frank McGrew Willis was a prolific American screenwriter and occasional producer whose career spanned the silent and early sound film eras. Born Frank McGrew Willis in Pleasanton, Iowa, he emerged as a prominent voice in early Hollywood, beginning his career writing film shorts in 1914 and 1915. His first credited feature film, The Quest, appeared in 1915, launching a productive career that included screenwriting or story credits for more than 60 films over three decades.

Willis made his mark in the silent film industry with 43 scripts or stories, including The Girl in the Pullman (1927), Annapolis (1928), and A Blonde for a Night (1928). One of his most successful and enduring works was The Midshipman (1925), a romantic drama set at the U.S. Naval Academy and starring Ramón Novarro. The film was a significant box office hit and is often considered one of Willis’s biggest commercial successes. Notably, it also featured an early uncredited appearance by Joan Crawford, who would go on to become one of Hollywood’s most iconic actresses.

F. McGrew Willis and Secret Sinners movie poster

During this prolific period, Willis worked with major production houses such as De Mille Pictures and Pathé Exchange, and he occasionally produced films himself. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he successfully transitioned into the era of talking pictures, continuing to write screenplays for another 18 films. He later spent time in England in the late 1930s, scripting six more features before returning to the U.S. for his final screenwriting credit on Sis Hopkins (1941).

Later in life, Willis settled in Menlo Park, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He died there in 1957 at the age of 66 and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. His work helped shape the formative years of Hollywood, bridging the silent and sound eras with a talent for storytelling that remains part of cinema history.

Willis was married to Viola Barry (nee Wilson), a prominent silent film actress known for her roles in early 20th-century cinema. He is buried in the Wilson family plot along with her father Jackson Stitt Wilson, the socialist Mayor of Berkeley, who died 1942; Violette Wilson, a noted B-actress, who died 1964; and, Irving Pichel, an actor and director who was blacklisted, who died 1954.