Alice Joyce

Actress. A popular star of the silent film era, she was called “The Madonna of the Screen” for her ethereal beauty and the serene aura she projected, regardless of the roles she played. Joyce was born in Kansas City, Missouri. After working as a telephone operator and fashion model, she entered films with the Kalem Co. in 1910. Her patrician poise was best-suited to films with high society settings, such as “Whom the Gods Destroy” (1916), “Within the Law” (1917), and “The Green Goddess” (1923). Switching to character parts in the mid-1920s, Joyce continued to score in “Stella Dallas” (1925); “So’s Your Old Man” (1926), one of her few comedies, with W. C. Fields; and as Clara Bow’s mother in “Dancing Mothers” (1926). In the latter she was a put-upon society matron who abandons her selfish family to live her own life, a startlingly feminist statement for the time. She retired in 1930, with the arrival of talkies. Joyce was married to actor Tom Moore, her frequent leading man at Kalem, from 1914 to 1920, and to director Clarence Brown from 1933 to 1945. Although she was already forgotten by the time of her death, Joyce’s minimalist acting style has dated rather well and her surviving films are worth rediscovering. (bio by: Bobb Edwards)  Family links:  Parents:  Vallie Olive McIntyre Joyce (1873 – 1938)  Spouses:  Thomas J. Moore (1883 – 1955)*  Clarence Brown (1890 – 1987)*  Sibling:  Alice Joyce (1890 – 1955)  Frank Coleman Joyce (1892 – 1935)* *Calculated relationshipCause of death: Heart disease