Ruth Wightman
# Ruth Wightman

Ruth Wightman (August 15, 1897 – April 19, 1939) was an American screenwriter and race car driver who was married to the novelist Gouveneur Morris.

## Biography

Ruth, an only child, was born in Jamestown, New York, to John Wightman and Lulu Russell.

Ever the adventurer, she had a passion for flying, and was noted as being one of the first women in the United States to be granted a pilot's license. She also competed in car races in Stockton, California, as a young woman, and was involved in a fatal crash in 1918.

In 1923, she married author Governeur Morris, for whom she had formerly worked as a secretary before beginning a career in the scenario department at Samuel Goldwyn Studio. The pair kept their marriage out of the newspapers for a year, as Morris was still waiting to be granted a divorce from his first wife, Elsie; they then held a second marriage ceremony to seal the deal and comply with California law.

Wightman died at a sanitarium in Alameda, New Mexico, in 1939 after a brief illness. She was survived by her husband; the pair had no children.

## Selected filmography

* The Beautiful Liar (1921)
* The Ace of Hearts (1921)
