Luci Ward (1907âÂÂ1969) was an American screenwriter. She mostly worked on crime B movies and Western films.
Ward was born and raised in Monroe, Louisiana, the daughter of Edgar Ward and Lucille Pipes. She had a brother, Royce, and two step-siblings from her father's second marriage (her mother died when she was young).
Ward began her career as a secretary to First National executives and screenwriters (including Ben Markson) before becoming a script girl. Later, she got a chance to pen her own scripts. She also wrote articles for publications like Cosmopolitan, sometimes using the pen name Brooks Nevins.
She testified at a National Labor Relations Board hearing that she was hired as a stenographer at Warner Brothers for $25 a week and wasn't given a raise when she was promoted to screenwriter. Warner Brothers then hired her a personal secretary at $32.50 a week.
She was married to fellow screenwriter Jack Natteford and co-wrote several films with him.