Margaret Turnbull (screenwriter)

Turnbull was born in Glasgow, Scotland.^[2] She was the older sister of producer Hector Turnbull and sister to Jean, Mary, Alice, Donald,^[3] and Isabel.^[4] Her family moved to the United States during her childhood, and she attended school in New Jersey.^[5]

Turnbull wrote plays, including Genessee of the Hills (1905), A Society Policeman (1905), Classmates (1907, with William C. deMille), On the Square (1913, with her brother), The Deadlock (1913), and At the Mitre (1914). In 1912, a script she submitted anonymously was produced in New York by Henry Wilson Savage, as The Stronger Claim.^[6]

Turnbull wrote for 51 films between 1914 and 1939. She worked for Paramount Pictures and the Famous Players–Lasky studios in Islington, and also spent some of her career in Hollywood.^[7] In 1915, she wrote at least three films that starred Blanche Sweet; she also wrote films starring Edna Goodrich and Enrico Caruso. She was described as a "popular writer" and William C. deMille's assistant in a 1915 article about film dramas.^[8]

Turnbull also wrote novels, including W. A. G.'s Tale (1913),^[9] Looking After Sandy (1915),^[10][11] The Close Up (1918),^[12][13] Alabaster Lamps (1925)^[14] Madame Judas (1926),^[2] The Left Lady (1926),^[15]The Handsome Man (1930),^[16] and The Bride's Mirror (1934).^[17] "I am sure," she told an interviewer in 1926, "that I get much more pleasure in writing a book or play than Mr. Ford has ever gotten from all the machines he has put on the market."^[2]

Turnbull lived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.^[2] She died in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts in 1942, aged 69 years.^[1]