Alice Guy-Blaché

Directing·Jul 1, 1873·Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, France

Rate

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.

Film	Credit
Fantastic Flowers2025 · Director	Director
Alice Guy, the First Female Filmmaker2021 · Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)	Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché2018 · Self (archive footage)	Self (archive footage)
The Women Who Run Hollywood2016 · Self (archive footage)	Self (archive footage)
BButterfly Dances2007 · Director	Director
Gaumont Treasures 1897-19132005 · Director	Director
The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché1995 · Self (archive footage)	Self (archive footage)
QQui est Alice Guy?1976 · Self	Self
Tarnished Reputations1920 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Great Adventure1918 · Director	Director
Behind the Mask1917 · Director	Director
When You and I Were Young1917 · Director	Director
House of Cards1917 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Empress1917 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Adventurer1917 · Director	Director
The Ocean Waif1916 · Director	Director
The Scarlet Woman1916 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
What Will People Say?1916 · Director	Director
Barbara Frietchie1915 · Producer	Producer
My Madonna1915 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Song of the Wage Slave1915 · Director	Director
The Vampire1915 · Producer, Director	Producer, Director
Heart of a Painted Woman1915 · Director	Director
The Tigress1914 · Director	Director
The Lure1914 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
The Woman of Mystery1914 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
TThe Monster and the Girl1914 · Director	Director
The Dream Woman1914 · Screenplay, Director	Screenplay, Director
TThe Rogues of Paris1913 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Pit and the Pendulum1913 · Director	Director
Matrimony's Speed Limit1913 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
KKelly from the Emerald Isle1913 · Writer	Writer
A House Divided1913 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
A Severe Test1913 · Director	Director
Dick Whittington and His Cat1913 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Burstup Homes' Murder Case1913 · Director	Director
Officer Henderson1913 · Director	Director
NNapoleon1913 · Director	Director
BBurstup Homes1913 · Director	Director
The Thief1913 · Director	Director
The Coming of Sunbeam1913 · Director	Director
The Roads That Lead Home1913 · Producer, Director	Producer, Director
Beasts of the Jungle1913 · Writer, Producer	Writer, Producer
Cousins of Sherlocko1913 · Director	Director
TThe Woman Behind the Man1912 · Director	Director
HHearts Unknown1912 · Director	Director
The Girl in the Arm-Chair1912 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Hater of Women1912 · Director	Director