Alice Terry Movies
American actress
Alice Terry began her successful film career at age 14 as an extra billed under her original name,
Alice Taafe. Between 1916 and 1919, she worked for
D.W. Griffith's Triangle studios; films from this period included
Not My Sister and
Old Wives for New. In 1920, she won a small part in director
Rex Ingram's
Shore Acres. An extraordinary beauty, known for intelligence, sophistication, and dignity, she caught
Ingram's eye and after playing a major supporting role (billed as "Alice
Terry") in his feature
Hearts Are Trumps, his heart as well. They married in 1921 and remained together until
Ingram's death in 1950. The year of their wedding,
Ingram starred her in
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse opposite an as yet unknown
Rudolph Valentino. Blonde and icy
Terry (though a natural redhead,
Terry always appeared onscreen in blonde wigs) and dark and fiery
Valentino's onscreen chemistry was dynamite and the romantic adventure made both of them stars. Later that year, the two co-starred for the last time in
Ingram's
The Conquering Power.
Terry would star in nine more of
Ingram's features before the decade's end. In 1922,
Terry appeared in her husband's
The Prisoner of Zenda opposite handsome
Ramon Novarro. He became her favorite leading man and they appeared in four more films together.
Terry also occasionally appeared in films directed by others including
The Great Divide (1924) and
Confessions of a Queen (1925). In the mid-'20s,
Ingram and
Terry moved to Nice, France, where they started their own studio. Following the advent of sound, both
Terry and
Ingram, despite considerable protestation, chose to retire. She did make a film in 1935, Asilo Naval. When WWII began, the two returned to the U.S.
Terry never remarried following
Ingram's death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide