With a letter of recommendation to the DeMille Studios from a film distributor in hand, and a loan of $100 from relatives, she boarded a train in August bound for Hollywood.

Ayn rented a room at the Studio Club apartments, a residence for young women who hoped to make careers in the film industry...such as Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak to name a few.

On September 4th she visited the DeMille Studios for an interview but was told there were no jobs available. On a chance meeting while walking across the studio lot, Cecil B. DeMille took notice of this young dark eyed woman and struck up a conversation. He invited Ayn onto the set of "The King of Kings" and arranged for her to become an extra in several scenes. DeMille later hired her as a junior screenwriter.

At this time she met a bit player in "The King of Kings" by the name of Frank O'Conner and described him as having the "ideal" face. For Ayn it was "love at first sight". Later she was tempted to put him on the cover of one of her novels saying...

"...All my heros will always be reflections of Frank..."

Frank and Ayn dated for the next few years and married on April 15, 1929, before the final extension to her visa expired...becoming the wife of an American. She became a naturalized citizen in 1931.

"You fall in love with a person because you regard him or her as a value and because they contribute to your personal happiness."

DeMille was forced to close his studio in 1929 and Ayn was hired as a filing clerk in RKO's wardrobe department, and became head of the department a year later. Frank was working steadily and so the O'Conners bought their first automobile, and Ayn her first portable typewriter.

She worked on several screen plays and short stories in her spare time and began her first major novel "We the Living" (originally named "Airtight") and sold a story "The Red Pawn" to Universal Studios for $1,500 enabling her to quit her job at RKO and write full time. During this time she wrote a play which was produced as "Woman on Trial" at the Hollywood Playhouse in 1934. Later it would play on Broadway for 7 months as "Night of January 16th" with good reviews. The interesting thing about this play was that members of the audience served as jurors so the play had two different endings depending on the jurors verdict.

Ayn and Frank move to New York in 1934 where she works on the script for Night of January 16th. We the Living was published in 1936, its theme was...

"...the right of the individual to the pursuit of his own happiness. It portrays the impact of the Russian Revolution on three people who demand the right to live their own lives."

Ayn tried unsuccessfully to bring her family to America. They even started to learn English in preparation for the trip. But it became virtually impossible for people to get out of Russia under Stalin's rule. Many years later her sister Nora did come to America, but returned to Russia after a short visit.

"Anthem" written in 1937, was published in England in 1938, and later in America in 1945.

"...a story of courage and rebellion against totalitarian collectivism...a fearful society that one man dares to defy"

Ayn began one of her most popular novels "The Fountainhead" (originally named Second-hand Lives) in 1938, a story of an architect of unbending principal, which was published in 1943. She returned to Hollywood to write the screen adaptation of the book. But it would not be until after the War in 1948 before the movie, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal, would be released. The book was dedicated to her husband Frank O'Conner...

"He is my best proof that people such as I write about can and do exist in real life."

Ayn made attempts to contact Frank Lloyd Wright while writing The Fountainhead but got no response. It was only after publication the she got a very positive response from Frank Lloyd Wright after he read the book. Ayn responded by saying...

"I felt that The Fountainhead had not quite completed its destiny until I had heard from you about it, Now it is completed."

We the Living was filmed in Italy by an Italian film company in 1943 without Ayn's approval or knowledge. Mussolini banned the film as being anti-fascist. She would only learn of it in 1946. Legal action against the company would not be settled until 1961, and then out of court. Ayn eventually approved the film for showing in America, and it is available now on videotape (subtitled).

Ayn began writing her major novel "Atlas Shrugged" on September 3, 1946.

Rand testified in front of the "House Committee on Un-American Activities" in Washington in 1947 as a "friendly witness" to the investigation of communist infiltration in the movies. She had written the pamphlet "Screen Guide for Americans"...mainly for filmmakers to monitor communist propaganda in their movies, a subject she felt very strongly about.

Ayn and Frank would return to New York City's Manhattan Island for good in October 1951.