Agnes Ayres
Actor · 1892 – 1940 · Carbondale, Illinois, USA
From Wikipedia Agnes Ayres (April 4, 1892 – 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.
Movies24
Movie6.5DramaHistoryThe 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.
The Ten Commandments
1923 · 94 votes
Movie6.1ActionAdventureAhmed, 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.
The Son of the Sheik
1926 · 34 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryTV MovieA documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life, and his premature death.
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
1961 · 1 votes
Movie5.9DramaComedySocialite 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 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.
The Affairs of Anatol
1921 · 12 votes
MovieDocumentaryThe 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.
Movie10.0DramaDesperately needing money for her sick brother, Betty Hallowell passes herself off as missing fashion designer Nina Loring. She becomes successful, but suddenly she is arrested--the real Nina Loring turns out to have been an embezzler.
Bluff
1924 · 1 votes
Movie6.6DramaRomanceMary 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.
Forbidden Fruit
1921 · 12 votes
Movie5.9AdventureDramaSheik 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...
The Sheik
1921 · 63 votes
Movie10.0RomanceDramaThe revolution causes Sasha Boroff's wealthy family to lose its fortune; and her lover, Count Michael, is sentenced to death by Rogojin, the Boroffs' former coachman. Rogojin's sudden death saves Sasha from marriage to the despot, and the Boroffs escape to the United States, where Sasha marries Dr. Godfrey Luke to please her family. Later Sasha discovers that Michael survived, fled to the United States, and married Helen, an American. When Helen has a love affair with Dr. Luke, Michael challenges him to a duel. Sasha is wounded in the exchange of gunfire, the shock prostrates Michael, and Grishka cures him with a radio-vibration device. At the end, Sasha and Michael are still happily married to their respective American spouses.
When a Girl Loves
1924 · 1 votes
Movie7.5MysteryComedyWrestling legend Bull Montana plays a murderous gorilla with a human brain transplant who is tracked by a feisty newspaper reporter.
Go and Get It
1920 · 2 votes
Movie6.6ComedyAgnes 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.
Eve's Love Letters
1927 · 5 votes
Movie6.0ComedyRomanceKay 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.
Small Town Girl
1936 · 13 votes
MovieMysteryYoung society rake Gerard Buckland spies a pretty girl walking down the street. As he tries to figure out a way to approach her, he sees a disreputable-looking man surreptitiously hand her a diamond necklace, which she hides on her person before fading into the crowd and disappearing from sight. Later that day he visits a friend's home, and is astounded to meet that same girl. During their conversation she claims that, as a lark, she picks her friends' pockets of valuables and gives them back later--but Gerard doesn't quite buy it. It turns out that she is, in fact, not what she says she is, but not in the way Gerard thinks.
Movie6.2DramaCrimeA federal agent goes to work for a taxi company believing it to be a front for a gang of counterfeiters.
Midnight Taxi
1937 · 4 votes
Movie9.0DramaDuring 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.
Held by the Enemy
1920 · 1 votes
MovieDocumentaryAnother entry in the popular one-reel series.
Movie9.0ComedyPhoebe-Ann assumes her ill mother's duties as caretaker of the Washington Square studio of Worthington Bryce, who in attempting to become an artist against his wealthy father's wishes, has succeeded only in painting the town red. After her mother dies, Phoebe-Ann moves in with Worthy and his valet Jenkins, and although she is the reason for Worthy's subsequent serious pursuit of art, he credits his improvement to his fiancée Lela Trevor. Lela, however, merely desires his father's money, and really loves Worthy's friend Dick Moreland.
A Stitch in Time
1919 · 1 votes
- Movie
1928 Short Film
MovieDocumentaryPart of a 7-part series exploring all aspects of Hollywood.
Movie6.2DramaWhen 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.
Maid of Salem
1937 · 8 votes
Movie10.0ActionDramaAlan Holt is a radio expert who has invented a death ray machine for the U.S. government. International spy Drakma wants to get his hands on the invention and he sends his henchmen to attack Holt in his laboratory.
The Story Without a Name
1924 · 1 votes
Movie9.0ComedyDramaAngela 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...
Hollywood
1923 · 3 votes
Movie10.0DramaWealthy businessman Frank Powell falls in love late in life with Olive Meade, the sister of Governor Carroll Carson's wife Irene. One day Frank sees Olive embracing his younger brother Bert. As he leaves dejectedly, Frank discovers Irene, whose busy elderly husband neglects her, with society idler Rodney Foster.
In Honor's Web
1919 · 1 votes
Movie7.0DramaJimmy 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.
Bought and Paid For
1922 · 1 votes