American playwright and author of short stories, sentimental novels and Hollywood screenplays. She graduated with a BA from Washington University in 1909. Hurst was a noted philanthropist and leader in civic affairs, chairman of the National Housing Commission (1936-1937), a member of the National Committee to The Works Progress Administration (1940-1941), and, later, a delegate to the World Health Organization Assembly (1952). She was also one of the leading feminists of her day, member of the intellectual group Heterodoxy in Greenwich Village.