Leah Baird (1883-1971) was born Ada Frankenstein in Chicago to German parents. Baird began her acting career in stock theater, working with companies in Toronto and New York. In 1908, she was cast opposite Douglas Fairbanks in “The Gentleman from Mississippi,” and the two performed the show on Broadway for two years. She is rumored to have appeared in Independent Moving Picture Co.’s HIAWATHA (1909) for Carl Laemmle, but her first official credit is in JEAN AND THE WAIF (1910), one of the Vitagraph Company of America’s series of shorts featuring Jean the Dog. For the next several years, she appeared in over 100 shorts, primarily for Vitagraph, Independent Moving Pictures Co., and Universal Film Manufacturing Company. In addition to acting, she also wrote seven shorts for Vitagraph during this time.

In 1914 she married producer Arthur F. Beck. She continued to appear in shorts, features, and serials for the remainder of the decade, and in 1919, signed with both W. W. Hodkinson Corporation and Artco Productions, Inc., Beck’s production company. In 1921, Baird and Beck founded Leah Baird Productions in Cliffside, New Jersey. With her production company, Baird wrote and starred in seven feature length films, as well as the serial CYNTHIA OF THE MINUTE. Baird’s productions, such as DON’T DOUBT YOUR WIFE (1922), WHEN HUSBANDS DECEIVE (1922), and IS DIVORCE A FAILURE? (1923), were melodramas concerned with double-standards and morality in marriage.

Apart from these films, Baird’s acting credits during the decade were sparse, ending with three shorts pairing her with Taylor Holmes in 1927. In the meantime, she continued to write and produce. Her screenplays during this time include THE PRIMROSE PATH (1925) and SHADOW OF THE LAW (1926), both starring Clara Bow. Following her screenplay for JUNGLE BRIDE (1933), Baird retired from screenwriting. In 1941, after over a decade away from the screen, Baird returned to acting with the help of her friend, Harry Warner. Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, she appeared in small, uncredited roles in over three dozen films, primarily for Warner Bros., and made her final appearance in THE HARD MAN (1957).