Laura Eugenia Bayley was a British actress and filmmaker, active in the Brighton School of early cinema pioneers. Together with her three sisters she often performed in Brighton at the Aquarium Theatre specialising in revues, burlesque and pantomime. Laura married George Smith in 1888. George was a hypnotist and showman and early film maker. They took out a lease on St Ann’s Well Gardens in Hove and produced many productions together. Despite sometimes being referred to as ‘Smith’s wife’ etc. it is becoming increasing evident that Laura independently brought her acting, writing, producing and comedic skills to these productions.
The film writer Ellen Cheshire, in a 2016 study of women working behind the camera in early film, identified Bayley as film history’s first woman cinematographer. Bayley died at home at 7 Melville Road, Hove on 25th October 1938.
