Serene is the adjective most writers choose to describe the lovely Alice Joyce. With a serious and usually placid demeanor, Joyce was an unusual star in the 1920s. She started in films in 1910, and swiftly advanced in popularity, dropped out of films in the mid teens and again in the early 20s to care for her children, then returned to the screen in more important films than ever. After having been a contract player in routine programmers in the teens, she now freelanced, and was in demand whenever an actress of particular distinction and dignity was required. Unlike most stars, she was willing the play the mother of adult children, roles which were older than her real years. She nabbed some plum roles in great films in the 20s, including two memorable proto-feminist parts in Dancing Mothers (1926) and The Homemaker (1925). Thoughout her career she was referred to as "the Madonna of the Screen.

Created and maintained by Greta de Groat,
Photos from the author's collection

Many thanks to Derek Boothroyd for most of the contemporary print materials (and also for proofreading)


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
©2003, by Greta de Groat