SHE was the first woman screenwriter to win an Oscar and two of her works hang in the National Gallery.

Noel Coward was among her friends and she wrote more than 30 plays and books including a smash-hit that was adapted for a film starring Katharine Hepburn.

Yet Clemence Dane’s name has largely been forgotten since her death in 1977 – something one acclaimed Brighton performer is now planning to change with a play and some library talks.

Brighton performer Rose Collis is leading the re-discovery of the late “invisible woman” Ms Dane, who had a country getaway in a Midhurst caravan when she was not living in London.

Miss Collis said: “She was fearless and nothing fazed her. She did not expect things to always go right and was not disappointed if they did not.

“I think that is a very difficult attitude, which I would find hard. She stuck to her convictions. And she was a good friend; she was absolutely devoted to her friends.”

Miss Collis is preparing a one-woman play about Miss Dane’s life that she will perform in January and is also due to speak about her at Brighton and Worthing libraries.

Miss Dane's first book Regiment of Women, published in 1917, was a controversial exploration of relationships between teachers at a girls' school, setting up her reputation for controversy.

She co-wrote the screenplay for Anna Karenina starring Greta Garbo and became the first British woman screenwriter to win an Academy Award, for Vacation from Marriage, with Anthony Pelissier.

Miss Collis started researching her for a biography she is working on and became fascinated with her life and prolific output.

She said: "She had no interest in romance or anything like that. She made a conscious decision I think to put all her passion and energy into her work. She decided that was more fun and she had lots to say.

"In the 1960s' she was one of the first Hollywood writers to say that they would not allow their works to be performed in South Africa or anywhere else that operated racial segregation.

"She was very concerned with what was going on in the world."