Agnes Ayres
Birth : 1898-04-04, Carbondale, Illinois, USA
Death : 1940-12-25
History
From Wikipedia
Agnes Ayres (April 4, 1898 – December 25, 1940) was an American actress who rose to fame during the silent film era. She was known for her role as Lady Diana Mayo in The Sheik and The Son of the Sheik opposite Rudolph Valentino.
She was born Agnes Eyre Henkel in Carbondale, Illinois to Solon and Emma Slack Henkel on April 4, 1898. She had an older brother named Solon William Henkel born in 1888.
Ayres began her career in 1914 when she was noticed by an Essanay Studios staff director and cast as an extra in a crowd scene. After moving to New York City with her mother to pursue a career in acting, Ayres was spotted by actress Alice Joyce. Joyce noticed the physical resemblance the two shared, which eventually led to Ayres being cast in Richard the Brazen (1917) as Joyce's character's sister. Ayres' career began to gain momentum when Paramount Pictures founder Jesse Lasky began to take an interest in her. Lasky gave her a starring role in the Civil War drama Held by the Enemy (1920), and also lobbied for parts for her in several Cecil B. DeMille productions. It was during this time that Ayres married, and quickly divorced, Captain Frank P. Schuker, an army officer whom she had wed during World War I. She also began a romance with Lasky.
In 1921, Ayres shot to stardom when she was cast as Lady Diana Mayo, an English heiress opposite "Latin lover" Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik. Ayres later reprised her role as Lady Diana in the 1926 sequel Son of the Sheik. Following the release of The Sheik, she went on to have major roles in many other films including The Affairs of Anatol (1921) starring Wallace Reid, Forbidden Fruit (1921), and Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments (1923).
By 1923, Ayres' career began to wane following the end of her relationship with Jesse Lasky. She married Mexican diplomat S. Manuel Reachi in 1924. The couple had a daughter before divorcing in 1927. In 1929, Ayres lost her fortune and real estate holdings in the Crash of '29. That same year, she also appeared in her last major role in The Donovan Affair, starring Jack Holt. To earn money, she left acting and played the vaudeville circuit. She returned to acting in 1936, confident that she could make a comeback. Unable to secure starring roles and somewhat overweight, Ayres appeared in mostly uncredited bit parts, and finally retired from acting for good in 1937.
After her retirement, Ayres became despondent and was eventually committed to a sanatorium. She also lost custody of her daughter to Reachi, in 1939. She died from a cerebral hemorrhage on December 25, 1940 at her home at the age of 42. She is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
For her contribution to motion pictures, Agnes Ayres has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6504 Hollywood Boulevard.
(archive footage)
This insightful documentary features some of the major and most beautiful actresses to grace the silver screen. It shows how the movie industry changed its depiction of sex and actresses' portrayal of sex from the silent movie era to the present. Classic scenes are shown from the silent movie 'True Heart Susie,' starring Lillian Gish, to 'Love Me Tonight' (1932), blending sex and sophistication, starring Jeanette MacDonald (pre-Nelson Eddy), and to Elizabeth Taylor in 'A Place in the Sun' (1951), plus much , much more.
Self (archive footage)
A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life, and his premature death.
Self (archive footage)
The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of edition #1, then a tribute to movie people who have died in those 25 years. Finally there are tributes to the Screen Snapshots series by Cecil De Mille, Walt Disney, Louella Parsons and Rosalind Russell.
Society Woman
A federal agent goes to work for a taxi company believing it to be a front for a gang of counterfeiters.
Townswoman (Uncredited)
When a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes a scandal in the Puritanical town of Salem, Massachusetts. After a meddling girl arouses their suspicions, the town's elders accuse Barbara of being a witch. She is tried, convicted of sorcery and sentenced to death. As the townspeople prepare to burn Barbara at the stake, Roger tries desperately to save the woman he loves.
Catherine (uncredited)
Kay is a girl living in a small rural town whose life is just too dull and repetitious to bear. One night, she meets young, handsome, and rich Bob Dakin, who asks her for directions while drunk and then proceeds to take her out on a night on the town. Kay likes the stranger, and when the drunken Bob decides that they should get married, Kay hesitates little before consenting. The morning after the affair, Bob, once sober, regrets his mistake. His strict and upright parents, however, insist that the young couple pretend marriage for 6 months before divorcing, in order to avoid bad publicity. Bob resents Kay for standing in the way of him and his fiancée, Priscilla, but Kay still hopes that he'd have a change of heart.
Lydia Rankin
Inspector Killian tries to solve a murder case with his assistant Carney.
Herself
Part of a 7-part series exploring all aspects of Hollywood.
The wife
Agnes Ayres was apparently a star of feature film who is top billed in this one-off Hal Roach short. She does well as the woman at the centre of the story, but it's pretty plain that it's actually the comic mind and performing talents of Stan Laurel, who plays her butler, that make this two-reel short shine.
Diana - Wife of the Sheik
Ahmed, son of Diana and Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, falls in love with Yasmin, a dancing girl who fronts her father's gang of mountebanks. She and Ahmed meet secretly until one night when her father and the gang capture the son of the sheik, torture him, and hold him for ransom.
Bessie Hayes
Lucy Satterlee
Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings.
Nancy Dumont
Her Market Value is a 1925 American silent melodrama film directed by Paul Powell and starring Agnes Ayres. Powell produced the picture and distributed through Producers Distributing Corporation.
Mary Walsworth
Alan Holt (Antonio Moreno) is a radio expert who has invented a death ray machine for the U.S. government. International spy Drakma (Tyrone Power Sr.) wants to get his hands on the invention and he sends his henchmen to attack Holt in his laboratory.
When a convict forcibly changes places with our hero Stan, he's taken to the pokey in the prisoner's place. Run-ins with pies, pickaxes, and the electric chair follow. Will the warden find Stan innocent or presume him guilty?
Irene Short
The Guilty One is a 1924 mystery film.
Alice Meldrum
Don't Call It Love (1923)
The Outcast
The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.
Alexandra Vancy
A matchmaker sets out to have a rich woman marry the not-so-rich boy she loves, and tries to persuade a poverty-stricken nobleman to marry the commoner he loves.
Agnes Ayres
Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves an Aunt, a brother, Grandma, and her longtime boyfriend back in Centerville. Despite seeing major movie stars around every corner, and knocking on every casting office door in town, at the end of her first day she is still unemployed. To her horror, when she arrives back at their hotel, she finds that Grandpa has been cast in a movie by William DeMille and quickly becomes a star during the ensuing weeks. Her family, worried that Angela and Grandpa are getting into trouble, come to Hollywood to drag them back home. In short order Aunt, Grandma, brother, boyfriend and even the parrot become superstars, but Angela is still unemployed...
Virginia Kent
Automobile maker John Kent is an old-fashioned sort who refuses to advertise his car line. His daughter Ginger, however, is determined to get him some publicity and goes speeding around town in one of his cars, hoping to get arrested. Roddy Smith, posing as a cop, stops her. His father owns a rival firm and he suggests that Ginger convince her father to enter his car in the Vanderbilt road race.
Muriel Gray (a speed girl)
A young troublemaker sets her eyes on a confirmed bachelor.
Self
Another entry in the popular one-reel series.
Violet Pinney
Clarence Smith is an ex-soldier who is hired for odd jobs by Mr. Wheeler primarily because he has overheard a family argument. And the Wheeler household is going through quite a bit of turmoil -- Mrs. Wheeler feels neglected by her husband and is jealous of Violet Pinney, the governess. Daughter Cora is planning to elope with her father's secretary, Hubert Stem. Son Bobby, meanwhile, has been making passes at the maid.
Sybil Bruce
Sybil marries George Bruce, an alcoholic 20 years her senior, In order to provide for her crippled sister, Helen, and her brother, Geoffrey. Bruce becomes jealous of Sybil's attentions to young physician Robert Acton, and when Bruce suffers a heart attack and calls for digitalis, Sybil allows the vial to break and he dies.
Virginia Blaine
Jimmy Gilley is engaged to Fanny Blaine. Jimmy would like to live in a more luxurious style, so he and Fanny urge her sister Virginia to marry the wealthy Robert Stafford despite her lack of love for him. She does so and the couple is happy for a time. But Robert begins drinking and eventually mistreats Virginia until she is forced to leave him.
Mary Fenton
When a lawsuit deprives a rich woman, Mary Fenton, of her wealth, she decides to impersonate another woman, Mary Cosgrove. The situation becomes sticky when Cosgroge turns up and demands Fenton be arrested.
Lady Diana Mayo
Sheik Ahmed desperately desires feisty British socialite Diana, so he abducts her and carries her off to his luxurious tent-palace in the desert. The free-spirited Diana recoils from his passionate embraces and yearns to be released. Later, allowed to go into the desert, she escapes and makes her way across the sands...
Annie Elliott
Socialite Anatol Spencer, finding his relationship with his wife lackluster, goes in search of excitement. After bumping into old flame Emilie, he lets an apartment for her only to find that she cheats on him. He is subsequently robbed, conned, and booted from pillar to post. He decides to return to his wife and discovers her carousing with his best friend Max.
Florrie Ricks
When seaman Matt Peasley and his friend, Murphy (Hugh Cameron), go ashore in San Francisco, they save Florrie Ricks (Agnes Ayers) from a couple of robbers. Matt falls in love with Florrie, whose father is ship owner Cappy Ricks (Charles S. Abbe).
Virginia MacMurran
Egotistical race-car driver Dusty Rhoades learns that humility pays off even better than acclaim.
Laura Gage
Jim Glover is an engineer in charge of constructing a railroad to the sea. He gives the company president Gage a tour of the area of land coveted for its use as a short cut that can save hours on the journey. After the officials visit a recently constructed dam, the train makes a stop in a dull town, and Gage's daughter Laura throws a charity bazaar to combat the boredom. Jim puts together a mock-holdup that saves the event from financial ruin, endearing Laura to him. Later, an accident traps three workers in a cave, and Jim is called away to rescue the victims.
Mary Maddock
Mary Maddock works as a seamstress to bring home money while her husband Steve, unemployed, has no real prospects of earning money. Mary's employers, are trying to strike an oil related business deal with a rich man by the name of Nelson Rogers. The deal does not seem to be on the table, as Mr. Rogers is leaving town shortly and does not have the time to work out the details of such a deal. In an order to entice him to stay, Mrs. Mallory - wife of Mr. Mallory who is proposing the business deal - convinces Mary to be her guest at a dinner party with the intent of making Mr. Rogers fall for her and thus stay long enough for Mr. Mallory to make him agree to a business deal.
Rachel Hayne
During the Civil War, Rachel Hayne, a young widow, is among those "held by the enemy" when her old family home is within the lines occupied by the Northern troops. Protected by Colonel Prescott from looters and the unwelcome attentions of Surgeon Fielding, Rachel begins to fall in love with the gallant Yankee officer. Their romance is disrupted when Rachel's husband Gordon, long reported dead, is captured as a spy and condemned to death.
Helen Allen
Wrestling legend Bull Montana plays a murderous gorilla with a human brain transplant who is tracked by a feisty newspaper reporter.
Madge Summers
Lieut. Ralph Harrison is in love with Major Marston's wife, who pretends to love him. Harrison's mother implores Capt. Jim Craig to intervene to save her son from dishonor. When Craig visits Mrs. Marston, Harrison appears, precipitating a quarrel during which Harrison is wounded in the shoulder. Craig then leaves, and the major discovers Harrison. The major kills Harrison, and places the blame on Craig. To avoid a scandal, Craig runs away. Madge Summers of the Secret Service tracks him down and the two fall in love, but Craig is arrested and taken back to the army post.
Mary Marsden
The one was a venturer - the other an adventurer - the one a man who wanted to see adventure, but who had never been beyond the city limits - the other a man who had seen adventure in all parts of the world, and who assured the venturer that things were just as monotonous every place in the world as in the city. So they met, each seeking for the unconventional, on a New York street, and dined together as men out of luck, with two cents between them - and still nothing happened. They both had credit at the hotel. Then into their lives came the feminine influence - a sweet girl who lived in a house which was irrevocably a household. The adventurer hesitated - he had yet to satisfy his longing for the incalculable. Suddenly love changed the venturer into an adventurer, and settled the adventurer into a venturer.
Alys Crumley
Mrs. Balfame is a 1917 Mystery Drama
