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 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.
Full Filmography
Directing
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
(1896)
Director
Les démolisseurs
(1896)
Director
Les congierges
(1896)
Director
The Fisherman at the Stream
(1897)
Director
Bathing in a Stream
(1897)
Director
Serpentine Dance by Mme. Bob Walter
(1897)
Director
The Burglars
(1897)
Director
Danse Fleur de Lotus
(1897)
Director
L'arroseur arrosé
(1897)
Director
Ballet Libella
(1897)
Director
La cène
(1898)
Director
The Turn-of-the-Century Blind Man
(1898)
Director
At the Hypnotist's
(1898)
Director
Disappearing Act
(1898)
Director
L'utilité des rayons x
(1898)
Director
Surprise Attack on a House at Daybreak
(1898)
Director
At the Club
(1899)
Director
Wonderful Absinthe
(1899)
Director
Entrée Et Sortie De La Mine
(1899)
Director
La Sortie du Bain
(1899)
Director
Avenue de l'Opéra
(1900)
Director
Automated Hat-Maker and Sausage-Grinder
(1900)
Director
At the Photographer's
(1900)
Director
Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance
(1900)
Director
The Landlady
(1900)
Director
Turn-of-the-Century Surgery
(1900)
Director
Pierrette's Escapades
(1900)
Director
At the Floral Ball
(1900)
Director
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
(1900)
Director
Danse du papillon
(1900)
Director
Danse Serpentine (In a Lion's Cage)
(1900)
Director
Little Tich and His Funny Feet
(1900)
Director
Coucher d'une Parisienne
(1900)
Director
Danse basque
(1901)
Director
Serpentine Dance by Lina Esbrard
(1902)
Director
Midwife to the Upper Class
(1902)
Director
An Untimely Intrusion
(1902)
Director
Miss Dundee and Her Performing Dogs
(1902)
Director
Les malabares, acrobats
(1902)
Director
Serpentine Dance by Lina Esbrard
(1902)
Director
How Monsieur Takes His Bath
(1903)
Director
Faust and Mephistopheles
(1903)
Director
Electrocution
(1904)
Director
The First Cigarette
(1904)
Director
The Crime on Temple Street
(1904)
Director
Cook & Rilly's Trained Rooster
(1905)
Director
Cake-walk nègre
(1905)
Director
Saharet Performs the Bolero
(1905)
Director
Polin Performs "The Anatomy of a Draftee"
(1905)
Director
Dranem Performs The True Jiu-Jitsu
(1905)
Director
Dranem Performs "Five O'Clock Tea"
(1905)
Director
Félix Mayol Performs "Indiscreet Questions"
(1905)
Director
Félix Mayol Performs "The Trottins' Polka"
(1905)
Director
Félix Mayol Performs "White Lilacs"
(1905)
Director
The O'Mers in 'The Bricklayers'
(1905)
Director
The Statue
(1905)
Director
The Magician's Alms
(1905)
Director
Clown, Dog and Balloon
(1905)
Director
Spain
(1905)
Director
The Tango
(1905)
Director
The Malagueña and the Bullfighter
(1905)
Director
Esmeralda
(1905)
Director
Cake Walk, Performed by Nouveau Cirque
(1905)
Director
In a Bamboo Hut
(1905)
Director
Le cireur distrait
(1905)
Director
Faust
(1905)
Director
Déménagement à la cloche de bois
(1905)
Director
The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ
(1906)
Director
An Obstacle Course
(1906)
Director
A Sticky Woman
(1906)
Director
The Hierarchies of Love
(1906)
Director
The Stepmother
(1906)
Director
A Story Well Spun
(1906)
Director
The Drunken Mattress
(1906)
Director
The Parish Priest's Christmas
(1906)
Director
The Truth Behind the Ape-Man
(1906)
Director
The Consequences of Feminism
(1906)
Director
Ocean Studies
(1906)
Director
The Game-Keeper's Son
(1906)
Director
La chaussette
(1906)
Director
Good Evening, the Flower Fairy
(1906)
Director
Mireille
(1906)
Director
Course de taureaux à Nîmes
(1906)
Director
La crinoline
(1906)
Director
A Priest's Conscience
(1906)
Director
L'Honneur du Corse
(1906)
Director
Les Druides
(1906)
Director
Madame's Cravings
(1907)
Director
The Race for the Sausage
(1907)
Director
The Glue
(1907)
Director
A Four-Year-Old Heroine
(1907)
Director
The Rolling Bed
(1907)
Director
The Irresistible Piano
(1907)
Director
On the Barricade
(1907)
Director
The Dirigible 'Homeland'
(1907)
Director
The Fur Hat
(1907)
Director
The Banknote
(1907)
Director
The Cleaning Man
(1907)
Director
Alice Guy Films a 'Phonoscène' in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
(1907)
Director
What is a flag?
(1909)
Director
The Standing Cock
(1910)
Director
Greater Love Hath No Man
(1911)
Director
Across the Mexican Line
(1911)
Director
Cupid and the Comet
(1911)
Director
Tramp Strategy
(1911)
Director
His Mother's Hymn
(1911)
Director
Mixed Pets
(1911)
Director
Starting Something
(1911)
Director
When Marian was Married
(1911)
Director
Falling Leaves
(1912)
Director
Canned Harmony
(1912)
Director
Making an American Citizen
(1912)
Director
The Girl in the Arm-Chair
(1912)
Director
In the Year 2000
(1912)
Director
Two Little Rangers
(1912)
Director
A Fool and His Money
(1912)
Director
Algie, the Miner
(1912)
Director
The Detective's Dog
(1912)
Director
His Double
(1912)
Director
The High Cost of Living
(1912)
Director
The New Love And The Old
(1912)
Director
God Disposes
(1912)
Director
Fra Diavolo
(1912)
Director
For Love of the Flag
(1912)
Director
A Terrible Lesson
(1912)
Director
A Comedy of Errors
(1912)
Director
Parson Sue
(1912)
Director
Frozen on Love's Trail
(1912)
Director
A Man's a Man
(1912)
Director
The Strike
(1912)
Director
Broken Oath
(1912)
Director
Playing Trumps
(1912)
Director
The Hater of Women
(1912)
Director
Matrimony's Speed Limit
(1913)
Director
Burstup Homes' Murder Case
(1913)
Director
A House Divided
(1913)
Director
The Pit and the Pendulum
(1913)
Director
A Severe Test
(1913)
Director
The Coming of Sunbeam
(1913)
Director
The Roads That Lead Home
(1913)
Director
Dick Whittington and His Cat
(1913)
Director
The Thief
(1913)
Director
Cousins of Sherlocko
(1913)
Director
Officer Henderson
(1913)
Director
Napoleon
(1913)
Director
The Monster and the Girl
(1914)
Director
The Lure
(1914)
Director
The Dream Woman
(1914)
Director
Mr. Bruce Wins at Cards
(1914)
Director
The Woman of Mystery
(1914)
Director
The Tigress
(1914)
Director
The Vampire
(1915)
Director
The Song of the Wage Slave
(1915)
Director
My Madonna
(1915)
Director
Heart of a Painted Woman
(1915)
Director
The Ocean Waif
(1916)
Director
What Will People Say?
(1916)
Director
The Adventurer
(1917)
Director
House of Cards
(1917)
Director
The Empress
(1917)
Director
The Great Adventure
(1918)
Director
Gaumont Treasures 1897-1913
(2005)
Director
Butterfly Dances
(2007)
Director
Acting
Animated Portrait Shot by L and A Lumière
(1895)
Herself
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
(1896)
Spain
(1905)
Self - Presenter
Mireille
(1906)
Alice Guy Films a 'Phonoscène' in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
(1907)
Herself, the director
The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché
(1995)
Self (archive footage)
The Women Who Run Hollywood
(2016)
Herself (archive footage)
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché
(2018)
Self (archive footage)
Alice Guy, the First Female Filmmaker
(2021)
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Writing
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
(1896)
Writer
Coucher d'une Parisienne
(1900)
Scenario Writer
The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ
(1906)
Writer
A Sticky Woman
(1906)
Writer
A Priest's Conscience
(1906)
Writer
The Consequences of Feminism
(1906)
Writer
The Fur Hat
(1907)
Writer
Madame's Cravings
(1907)
Writer
Greater Love Hath No Man
(1911)
Writer
Fra Diavolo
(1912)
Writer
Making an American Citizen
(1912)
Writer
Falling Leaves
(1912)
Writer
Dick Whittington and His Cat
(1913)
Writer
Beasts of the Jungle
(1913)
Writer
The Lure
(1914)
Writer
The Dream Woman
(1914)
Screenplay
My Madonna
(1915)
Writer
The Empress
(1917)
Writer
House of Cards
(1917)
Writer
Camera
Production
Midwife to the Upper Class
(1902)
Producer
Cupid and the Comet
(1911)
Producer
Algie, the Miner
(1912)
Producer
A Fool and His Money
(1912)
Producer
Canned Harmony
(1912)
Producer
The Girl in the Arm-Chair
(1912)
Producer
The New Love And The Old
(1912)
Producer
The Sewer
(1912)
Producer
Making an American Citizen
(1912)
Producer
A House Divided
(1913)
Producer
The Roads That Lead Home
(1913)
Producer
Matrimony's Speed Limit
(1913)
Producer
The Vampire
(1915)
Producer