Alice Terry

Alice Frances Taaffe (July 24, 1899 – December 22, 1987), known professionally as Alice Terry, was an American film actress and director. She began her career during the silent film era, appearing in thirty-nine films between 1916 and 1933. While Terry's trademark look was her blonde hair, she was actually a brunette, and put on her first blonde wig in Hearts Are Trumps to look different from Francelia Billington, the other actress in the film. Terry played several different characters in the 1916 anti-war film Civilization, co-directed by Thomas H. Ince and Reginald Barker. Alice wore the blonde wig again in her most acclaimed role as "Marguerite" in the film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), and kept the wig for any future roles. In 1925 her husband Rex Ingram co-directed Ben-Hur, filming parts of it in Italy. The two decided to move to the French Riviera, where they set up a small studio in Nice and made several films on location in North Africa, Spain, and Italy for MGM and others. In 1933, Terry made her last film appearance in Baroud, which she also co-directed with her husband.

Early years Terry was born Alice Frances Taaffe in Vincennes, Indiana, on July 24, 1899. In the early 1910s she and her family moved to southern California.

Margrethe Mather, Alice Terry, December 1922, in Motion Picture Classic, vol. 10, no. 4

Career Terry made her film debut in 1916 in Not My Sister, opposite Bessie Barriscale and William Desmond.

Terry started in films as an extra during her mid-teens, working at Thomas Ince Studio.

Terry was married to Rex Ingram, a prominent director who directed most of the films that she played in. She gained recognition for her performances in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Prisoner of Zenda. Terry was recognized for her beauty and screen presence, and often played lead roles.

Ingram altered her appearance, encouraging her to wear blonde wigs, get dental work, and lose weight. Ingram also hired male stars who outshone her, such as in The Conquering Power (1921) and The Prisoner of Zenda.

In 1923 Terry and Ingram decided to move to the French Riviera. They formed a small studio in Nice and made several films on location in North Africa, Spain, and Italy for MGM and others.

During the making of The Arab in Tunisia, they met a street child named Kada-Abd-el-Kader, whom they adopted upon learning that he was an orphan. Allegedly, he misrepresented his age to make himself seem younger to his adoptive parents.

Terry was close with her frequent co-star Ramón Novarro. In the 1930s she went with Novarro, Barry Norton, and other queer actors to Hollywood nightspots in order to act as a cover, and received backlash for this in The Hollywood Reporter. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Alice Terry has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6626 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography