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Alice Guy-Blaché

Alice Guy-Blaché

Director · 1873–1968 · Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, France

IMDb

Biography

Alice Guy-Blaché (July 1, 1873 – March 24, 1968) is generally considered to be the world's first female director. French-born Alice Guy entered the film business as a secretary at Gaumont-Paris in 1896. The next year Gaumont changed from manufacturing cameras to producing movies, and Guy became one of its first film directors. She impressed the company so much with the output (she averaged two two-reelers a week) and quality of her productions that by 1905 she was made the company's production director, supervising the company's other directors. In 1907 she married Herbert Blaché, an Englishman who ran the company's British and German offices. The pair soon went to the U.S. to set up the company's operations there. In 1910 she set up her own production company in New York and built a studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. After a period of critical and financial success, her company's fortunes declined and she eventually shut down the studio. Although she secured work directing films for several major Hollywood studios, she returned to France in 1922 after her divorce from Blache. She was never able to secure any directorial jobs there, and never made a film again. In 1964 she returned to the U.S. and lived in Mahwah, New Jersey - not far from where her original studios were - with her daughters, where she died in 1968.

Directed 132

2020s

  1. 2025

    Fantastic Flowers

    Director

2000s

  1. 2005

    Gaumont Treasures 1897-1913

    Director

1920s

  1. 1920

    Tarnished Reputations

    Director

1910s

  1. 1918

    The Great Adventure

    Director

  2. 1917

    Behind the Mask

    Director

  3. When You and I Were Young

    Director

  4. House of Cards

    Director

  5. The Empress

    Director

  6. The Adventurer

    Director

  7. 1916

    The Ocean Waif

    Director

  8. The Scarlet Woman

    Director

  9. What Will People Say?

    Director

  10. 1915

    My Madonna

    Director

  11. The Song of the Wage Slave

    Director

  12. The Vampire

    Director

  13. Heart of a Painted Woman

    Director

  14. 1914

    The Tigress

    Director

  15. The Lure

    Director

  16. The Woman of Mystery

    Director

  17. The Dream Woman

    Director

  18. 1913

    The Pit and the Pendulum

    Director

  19. Matrimony's Speed Limit

    Director

  20. A House Divided

    Director

    59

  21. A Severe Test

    Director

  22. Dick Whittington and His Cat

    Director

  23. Burstup Homes' Murder Case

    Director

  24. Officer Henderson

    Director

  25. The Thief

    Director

  26. The Coming of Sunbeam

    Director

  27. The Roads That Lead Home

    Director

  28. Cousins of Sherlocko

    Director

  29. 1912

    The Girl in the Arm-Chair

    Director

  30. The Hater of Women

    Director

  31. A Comedy of Errors

    Director

  32. Making an American Citizen

    Director

  33. The High Cost of Living

    Director

  34. Canned Harmony

    Director

  35. The Fight in the Dark

    Director

  36. Playing Trumps

    Director

  37. His Double

    Director

  38. The Strike

    Director

  39. Two Little Rangers

    Director

  40. Broken Oaths

    Director

  41. For Love of the Flag

    Director

  42. Fra Diavolo

    Director

  43. In the Year 2000

    Director

  44. Souls in the Shadow

    Director

  45. Falling Leaves

    Director

  46. Algie, the Miner

    Director

  47. The Detective's Dog

    Director

  48. A Terrible Lesson

    Director

  49. Frozen on Love's Trail

    Director

  50. A Man's a Man

    Director

  51. Parson Sue

    Director

  52. A Fool and His Money

    Director

  53. 1911

    His Mother's Hymn

    Director

  54. Outwitted by Horse and Lariat

    Director

  55. Starting Something

    Director

  56. Greater Love Hath No Man

    Director

  57. Cupid and the Comet

    Director

  58. Across the Mexican Line

    Director

  59. Tramp Strategy

    Director

  60. Mixed Pets

    Director

  61. When Marian was Married

    Director

1900s

  1. 1909

    What Is a Flag?

    Director

  2. 1907

    On the Barricade

    Director

  3. The Banknote

    Director

  4. The Race for the Sausage

    Director

  5. Alice Guy Films a 'Phonoscène' in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris

    Director

  6. 1906

    The Consequences of Feminism

    Director

  7. Man Monkey

    Director

  8. The Dirigible 'Homeland'

    Director

  9. Dranem Performs "Five O'Clock Tea"

    Director

  10. The Drunken Mattress

    Director

  11. Anna, what are you waiting for?

    Director

  12. The Stepmother

    Director

  13. The Hierarchies of Love

    Director

  14. A Sticky Woman

    Director

  15. The Mouse in the Crinoline

    Director

  16. Madame's Cravings

    Director

  17. The Game-Keeper's Son

    Director

  18. A Priest's Conscience

    Director

  19. The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ

    Director

  20. An Obstacle Course

    Director

  21. Ocean Studies

    Director

  22. 1905

    Esmeralda

    Director

  23. The Magician's Alms

    Director

  24. Tango

    Director

  25. The Statue

    Director

  26. Spain

    Director

  27. The Bricklayers

    Director

  28. Clown, Dog and Balloon

    Director

  29. Le Cake-walk de nouveau cirque

    Director

  30. Saharet Performs the Bolero

    Director

  31. Polin Performs "The Anatomy of a Draftee"

    Director

  32. Dranem Performs The True Jiu-Jitsu

    Director

  33. Félix Mayol Performs "Indiscreet Questions"

    Director

  34. Félix Mayol Performs "The Trottins' Polka"

    Director

  35. Félix Mayol Performs "White Lilacs"

    Director

  36. The Malagueña and the Bullfighter

    Director

  37. In a Bamboo Hut

    Director

  38. 1904

    Token of Love

    Director

  39. 1903

    Faust and Mephistopheles

    Director

  40. How Monsieur Takes His Bath

    Director

  41. 1902

    An Untimely Intrusion

    Director

  42. Midwife to the Upper Class

    Director

  43. Eccentric Dance

    Director

  44. Serpentine Dance

    Director

  45. Miss Dundee and Her Performing Dogs

    Director

  46. 1901

    Danse basque

    Director

  47. 1900

    Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance

    Director

  48. At the Photographer's

    Director

  49. At the Floral Ball

    Director

  50. Avenue de l'Opéra

    Director

  51. The Landlady

    Director

  52. Pierrette's Escapades

    Director

    55

  53. The Cabbage-Patch Fairy

    Director

  54. Automated Hat-Maker and Sausage-Grinder

    Director

1890s

  1. 1899

    At the Club

    Director

  2. Wonderful Absinthe

    Director

  3. 1898

    Surprise Attack on a House at Daybreak

    Director

  4. At the Hypnotist's

    Director

  5. Disappearing Act

    Director

  6. The Burglars

    Director

  7. The Turn-of-the-Century Blind Man

    Director

  8. 1897

    Danse Fleur de Lotus

    Director

  9. Ballet Libella

    Director

  10. The Fisherman at the Stream

    Director

  11. Bathing in a Stream

    Director

  12. Serpentine Dance by Mme. Bob Walter

    Director

  13. 1896

    The Cabbage-Patch Fairy

    Director

No release date

  1. Alice Guy - 13 Courts-métrages

    Director

Produced 20

1920s

  1. 1920

    Tarnished Reputations

    Producer

1910s

  1. 1916

    The Scarlet Woman

    Producer

  2. 1915

    Barbara Frietchie

    Producer

  3. The Vampire

    Producer

  4. 1914

    The Woman of Mystery

    Producer

  5. 1913

    Matrimony's Speed Limit

    Producer

  6. A House Divided

    Producer

    59

  7. The Roads That Lead Home

    Producer

  8. Beasts of the Jungle

    Producer

  9. 1912

    The Girl in the Arm-Chair

    Producer

  10. A Comedy of Errors

    Producer

  11. Making an American Citizen

    Producer

  12. Canned Harmony

    Producer

  13. Dublin Dan

    Producer

  14. The Sewer

    Producer

  15. Algie, the Miner

    Producer

  16. A Fool and His Money

    Producer

  17. 1911

    Greater Love Hath No Man

    Executive Producer

  18. Cupid and the Comet

    Producer

1900s

  1. 1902

    Midwife to the Upper Class

    Producer

Wrote 18

1910s

  1. 1917

    House of Cards

    Writer

  2. The Empress

    Writer

  3. 1915

    My Madonna

    Writer

  4. 1914

    The Lure

    Writer

  5. The Woman of Mystery

    Scenario Writer

  6. The Dream Woman

    Screenplay

  7. 1913

    Dick Whittington and His Cat

    Writer

  8. Beasts of the Jungle

    Writer

  9. 1912

    Making an American Citizen

    Writer

  10. Fra Diavolo

    Writer

  11. Falling Leaves

    Writer

  12. 1911

    Greater Love Hath No Man

    Writer

1900s

  1. 1906

    The Consequences of Feminism

    Writer

  2. Madame's Cravings

    Writer

  3. A Priest's Conscience

    Writer

  4. The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ

    Writer

  5. 1900

    The Cabbage-Patch Fairy

    Writer

1890s

  1. 1896

    The Cabbage-Patch Fairy

    Writer

Acted in 1

1890s

  1. 1896

    The Cabbage-Patch Fairy

    Movie

Camera 1

1890s

  1. 1896

    The Cabbage-Patch Fairy

    Director of Photography

Other crew 1

2020s

  1. 2025

    Imitation of Waves - Guy's Visions

    Cinematography

Appearances9

2020s

  1. 2021

    Alice Guy, the First Female Filmmaker

    Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)

2010s

  1. 2018

    Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché

    Self (archive footage)

  2. 2016

    The Women Who Run Hollywood

    Self (archive footage)

1990s

  1. 1995

    The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché

    Self (archive footage)

1970s

  1. 1976

    Qui est Alice Guy?

    Self

1900s

  1. 1907

    Alice Guy Films a 'Phonoscène' in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris

    Herself, the director

  2. 1905

    Spain

    Self - Presenter

1890s

  1. 1895

    Animated Portrait Shot by L and A Lumière

    Herself