Olive Ann Alcorn (March 10, 1900 – January 8, 1972) was an American dancer, model, and

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

of the 1910s and 1920s. She is better remembered today for the numerous nude photographs of her from the era than for her film work.

Life

Olive Ann was born in

Stillwater, Minnesota Stillwater is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Washington County. It is in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, on the west bank of the St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota), St. Croix River, across from H ...

. She graduated from the

Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts The Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, founded in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in Los Angeles, California, helped many perfect their dancing talents and became the first dance academy in the United States to produce a professiona ...

, and was a member of the Denishawn Players which toured across the nation putting on performances in theaters and auditoriums. After 1928 little is known about Olive Ann Alcorn, though it is believed she continued her involvement in dance. She married twice, her first husband being Louis H. Scherer (divorced 1925) and her second husband being Harry Singer (married May 22, 1928). She died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1972 after being diagnosed with

anal cancer Anal cancer is a cancer which arises from the anus, the distal opening of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms may include bleeding from the anus or a lump near the anus. Other symptoms may include pain, itchiness, or discharge from the anus. A ...

. She was cremated at Roosevelt Cemetery in Gardena. Her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean off

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...

.Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14000 Famous Persons by Scott Wilson

Works

She appeared in her first film '' Sunnyside'' in 1919, a film short that starred Charlie Chaplin. She then appeared the same year in the two silent films ''The Long Arm of Mannister'', which starred

Henry B. Walthall Henry Brazeale Walthall (March 16, 1878 – June 17, 1936) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared as the Little Colonel in D. W. Griffith's ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915). Early life Henry B. Walthall was born March 16, 1878 on a ...

and

Helene Chadwick Helene Chadwick (November 25, 1897 – September 4, 1940) was an American actress in silent and in early sound films. Early life and career Chadwick was born in the small town of Chadwicks, New York, which was named for her great-grandfather ...

, and ''For a Woman's Honor''. In 1923 she appeared in "The Illustrators Show", a collection of one-act plays. She modeled, mostly nude, between 1919 and 1925 for Chatiau Art Studios, and she later appeared uncredited in two more films in 1925. Those productions were ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

'' and ''Up the Ladder''. Most of her nude modeling was utilized in the illustration Alta Art Studies Volume I, published by Alta Studios in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and photographed by Xan (Alexander) J. Stark of Alta Studios San Francisco. Olive Ann Alcorn by Witzel

References

Olive Ann Alcorn
at silentera.com

at Noir and Chick Flicks

External links

''Alta Art Studies'', San Francisco: Alta Studios
at the Historical Ziegfeld Group (photographs) {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcorn, Olive Ann American silent film actresses Actresses from Minnesota Female models from Minnesota American female dancers 1900 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American actresses Deaths from anal cancer 20th-century American dancers Deaths from cancer in California