Alma Tell
{{Short description|American actress (1898–1837)}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Alma Tell
| image = Alma Tell by White Studios, NY.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Tell {{circa}} 1920
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|03|27|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1937|12|29|1898|03|27|mf=yes}}
| death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S.
| resting_place = Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1915{{ndash}}1934
| spouse = {{marriage|Stanley Blystone
|1932}}
| children =
| relatives = Olive Tell (sister)
}}
Alma Tell (March 27, 1898 – December 29, 1937){{cite book |last1=Ellenberger |first1=Allan R. |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory |date=2001 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786409839 |page=208 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bOJCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Alma+Tell%22+actress&pg=PA208 |accessdate=23 July 2019 |language=en}} was an American stage and motion picture actress whose career in cinema began in 1915 and lasted into the sound films of the early 1930s.
Early years
Tell was born in New York City, the younger sister of stage and film actress Olive Tell. She attended schools in London and Paris{{cite news |title=Alma Don't Tell Anything but Her Stage Cognomen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34142701/alma_tell/ |accessdate=23 July 2019 |work=The Washington Herald |date=January 4, 1920 |location=D.C, Washington |page=15|via = Newspapers.com}} and, with her sister, Olive, graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1915.{{cite journal |title=Credit to American Academy of Dramatic Arts |journal=The Musical Leader |date=July 18, 1918 |volume=36 |issue=3 |page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L19FAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Alma+Tell%22+actress&pg=PA52 |accessdate=23 July 2019}}
Career
Tell began her career as an actress in Syracuse, working for 12 weeks in stock theater. She acted in Boston and headed a stock company in Newark.
She made her screen debut in the Edward José-directed drama Simon, the Jester, released in September 1915. Tell's career never paralleled that of her older sister, and she often was cast in films as the second leading lady.[http://www.allmovie.com/artist/alma-tell-70211 Alma Tell profile], AllMovie.com; accessed March 27, 2016.
Throughout the 1920s, Tell appeared opposite such leading silent film actresses as Mae Murray, Corinne Griffith and Madge Kennedy and then achieved leading lady status in 1923's The Silent Command, opposite actors Edmund Lowe, Martha Mansfield and Béla Lugosi, in his first American film role.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}
Tell made her last film appearance in the 1934 romantic-drama Imitation of Life, which starred Claudette Colbert.{{Citation needed |date=April 2021}}
Personal life and death
Tell was married to actor Stanley Blystone from 1932{{cite news |title=Alma Tell Wed by Film Actor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34142841/star_tribune/ |accessdate=23 July 2019 |work=Star Tribune |agency=Associated Press |date=December 19, 1932 |location=Minnesota, Minneapolis |page=9|via = Newspapers.com}} until her death. She died in 1937 and was buried at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.{{cite news|title=Funeral Services Slated for Actor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5151022/stanley_blystone_18941956/|newspaper=Valley News |date=July 19, 1956|page=53|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = May 4, 2016}} {{Open access}}
Selected filmography
- The Smugglers (1916)
- Nearly Married (1917)
- Right to Love (1920)
- On with the Dance (1920)
- Paying the Piper (1921)
- The Iron Trail (1921)
- Broadway Rose (1922)
- The Silent Command (1923)
- San Francisco Nights (1928)
- Love Comes Along (1930)
Theater appearances
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Alma Tell}}
- {{IBDB name|62005}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0854374|name=Alma Tell}}
- {{Find a Grave|6674517}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tell, Alma}}
Category:American film actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American silent film actresses
Category:Actresses from New York City