Women in horror: Lil Dagover

LITTLE ROCK — February marks the ninth anniversary, and the beginning of year 10 for Women in Horror Month. The purpose of WiHM is to salute the fantastic contributions of women in all realms of horror whose work still finds itself marginalized. Such an example of belittlement happened all too recently when Blumhouse's CEO, founder and producer Jason Blum made the following statement last October.

"There are not a lot of female directors period," Blum said. "And even less who are inclined to do horror."

It is hard to believe such an attitude still exists, but unfortunately a bias toward female artisans of scary movies still haunts modern times. Surely, enough is enough. WiHM is well-known for its tireless efforts spotlighting women in horror, and this 28-day celebration will focus on film and television. As such, each day this month will celebrate a different woman whose contributions have left an irrevocable mark on the horror genre.

3.

LIL DAGOVER

Lil Dagover was a prolific German actress born in what is now Indonesia in 1887. Her career spans 63 years and approximately 150 film, television and theater credits. Dagover only deviated from German cinema for work in other countries on three occasions which includes her 1931 American motion picture appearance in "The Woman from Monte Carlo." Dagover often found herself typecast as the damsel in distress or, unfortunately, as other frail female characters. Dagover holds the distinction of starring in the first feature-length horror film: "Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari" aka "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920). Lil Dagover passed away in 1980 at the age of 92.

For more information on #WiHM, please visit their Facebook page.