Olive Ann Alcorn
Olive Ann Alcorn was born in Stillwater on Oct. 2, 1900. She moved with her family to the St. Joe Valley in Idaho after her father found work there as a timber buyer. Olive went through local schools in St. Maries, Idaho and eventually enrolled in the Denishawn School of Aesthetic Dancing. The Denishawn School was started by Ruth St. Denis and her husband Ted Shawn in 1915. Olive was an outstanding student. She went on to join the Denishawn Players and toured across the country performing in theaters and auditoriums.
nymphs appear at about 9:15
In 1919 Olive appeared as a dancing nymph beside the great Charlie Chaplin in her first film, “Sunnyside”. That same year she appeared in the silent films “The Long Arm of Mannister” which starred Henry B. Walthall and Helene Chadwick followed by “For a Woman’s Honor”. In 1923 Olive moved to New York and appeared on Broadway in “The Illustrators Show”, a collection of one-act plays. A review of a “playlet” she performed in called “Murder” appeared in the Bulletin of the Art Center. the reviewer remarked, “the little drama was acted with fine spirit and dignity, and the oriental dance by Olive Ann Alcorn which was introduced delighted the audience with its grace and the beauty of the performer.” Later that year she was in the cast of a play titled “The Passing Show of 1923” which played at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway from June through September.In 1925 she appeared uncredited in uncredited in Lon Chaney’s “Phantom of the Opera” and “Up the Ladder”
These days Olive is better remembered for her numerous nude photographs than for her film work. Most of her modeling was utilized in the illustration of Alta Art Studies Volume I, photographed by Xan Stark and published by Alta Studios in San Francisco. She also posed as a model for a model at the Chatiau Art Studios. It is believed she continued to dance after her brief acting and modeling career. She married twice and died in Hollywood in 1975.
