Alice Howell
Alice Howell (born Alice Florence Clark; May 20, 1886 – April 12, 1961) was a silent film comedy actress from New York City. She was the mother of actress Yvonne Howell.
Alice Howell

Albert Witzel (1879-1929) · Public domain
- Name
- Alice Howell
- Birth Name
- Alice Florence Clark
- Birthplace
- New York City, U.S.
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Actress
- Died
- 1961 · Los Angeles.
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Alice Howell (born Alice Florence Clark; May 20, 1886 – April 12, 1961) was a silent film comedy actress from New York City. She was the mother of actress Yvonne Howell.
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Note VALÉORINE
Alice Howell (1888–1961) was an actress, of American nationality. The actress was born in New York City and died in Los Angeles. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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wikidata · Q2836594 · wikipedia · Alice Howell
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Alice Howell • Birth Name — Alice Florence Clark • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Resting Place — Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1914–1933 • Children — Yvonne Howell
Biography
Biography
Early reviews of her movies describe her as "the scream of the screen". One reviewer likened her to a "sort of Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and Max Linder." All this was compressed into "one more or less diminutive package of femininity". Sometimes called "the girl Charlie Chaplin", she worked for Mack Sennett and later L-KO Kompany. Her early comedies were often produced by Universal Pictures.
Career
Career
• Illustration — Alice Howell in 1920 At Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company, Howell quickly worked her way up from crowd scenes to featured parts in shorts such as Charlie Chaplin's Laughing Gas (1914 film), and starred in at least one, Shot in the Excitement (1914). Hired away by Sennett's former second-in-command, Henry Lehrman, when he set up the L-KO Kompany, Howell was cast to support Billie Ritchie and became popular in her own one-reelers. By 1917, she was such an audience favorite that Julius and Abe Stern formed Century Comedies to showcase her talents, making her, along with Mabel Normand and Marie Dressler, the third comedienne to have her own exclusive production unit. After Howell and Century parted ways in 1919, the company continued turning out comedy shorts and was renamed Stern Brothers Comedies in 1926. In 1919, Howell moved to the independent Emerald Company, which became part of the Reelcraft Corporation and released her still extant film, Distilled Love (1920). Howell's last starring series was a group of 1924–25 domestic comedies for Universal Pictures featuring a married couple and their goofy butler. When this series ended, she appeared in one last short, Madame Dynamite (1926), for Fox Film Corporation. • Illustration — Ad for the American comedy short film Her Lucky Day (1920) with Alice Howell, on page 4275 of the May 22, 1920 Motion Picture News. Among more than 100 screen credits, Howell made such motion pictures as Caught in a Cabaret (1914), Mabel and Fatty's Married Life (1915), Neptune's Naughty Daughter (1917), Green Trees (1924), and Madame Dynamite (1926). Her Bareback Career (1917) was the first of 12 two-reel comedies for a new corporation which was formed to manufacture and distribute Alice Howell comedies. Howell's film career continued into the sound-movie era with a role as a mute servant of the master murderer in the motion picture The Black Ace (1933).
Death
Death
Howell died in Los Angeles, California, in 1961, aged 74.
Partial filmography
Partial filmography
• Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) as Guest (uncredited) • Bombs and Bangs (1914) • Lover's Luck (1914) • Laughing Gas (1914) • Caught in the Rain (1914) • Shot in the Excitement (1914) * • Illustration — Advertisement promoting the comedy films of Alice Howell, on page 19 of the April 24, 1920 Exhibitors Herald. Caught in a Cabaret (1914) • Mabel and Fatty's Married Life (1915) • Father was a Loafer (1915) • Under new Management (1915) • How Stars are Made (1916) • Her Bareback Career (1917) • Neptune's Naughty Daughter (1917) • In Dutch (1918) • Distilled Love (1920) • His Wooden Legacy (1920) • Her Lucky Day (1920) • Cinderella Slippers (1920) • A Convict's Happy Bride (1920) • Love Is an Awful Thing (1922) • Wandering Daughters (1923) • Green Trees (1924) • The Pride of the Force (1925) • Under a Spell (1925) • Madame Dynamite (1926)

Advertisement in The Moving Picture World
Internet Archive

Ad for the American comedy short film Her Lucky Day (1920) with Alice Howell, on page 4275 of the May 22, 1920 Motion Picture News.
Reelcraft Pictures · Motion Picture News (Mar. - Jun. 1920) at the Internet Archive
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
New York City.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Alice Howell”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2836594: Alice Howell
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Slide, Anthony. Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2002. p. 185.
- 2.Massa, Steve. Alice Howell - Women Film Pioneers Project. Women Film Pioneers Project.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 6
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa Republican, At The Theaters, October 8, 1926, Page 3.
- Elyria, Ohio Chronicle Telegram, Public Will Always Love Laughmakers, July 6, 1978, Page 24.
- Janesville, Wisconsin Daily Gazette, News Notes From Movieland, August 31, 1917, Page 6.
- Los Angeles Times, Book Alice Howell Comedies-Superba, September 23, 1917, Page III17.
- Los Angeles Times, Actress Gets Half Job, March 24, 1933, Page 7.
- Slide, Anthony: She Could Be Chaplin!: The Comedic Brilliance of Alice Howell. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2016.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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