Carmel Myers

Carmel Myers was an American actress who worked chiefly in silent movies.

Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of an Australian rabbi and Austrian Jewish mother. Her father became well-connected with California’s emerging film industry, and introduced her to film pioneer D. W. Griffith, who gave Carmel a small part in Intolerance. Myers also got her brother Zion Myers into Hollywood as a writer/director.

From this beginning, Myers left for New York, where she acted mainly on stage for the next two years. She was signed by Universal, where she emerged as a popular actress in vamp roles. Her most popular film from this period is probably the romantic comedy All Night, opposite Rudolph Valentino. By 1924 she was working for MGM, making such films as Broadway After Dark, which also starred Adolphe Menjou, Norma Shearer and Anna Q. Nilsson.

In 1925, she appeared in arguably her most famous role, that of the Egyptian vamp Iras in Ben-Hur, who tries to seduce both Messala and Ben-Hur himself. This film was a boost to Myers’ career, and she appeared in major roles throughout the 1920s, including Tell It to the Marines in 1926 with Lon Chaney, Sr., William Haines and Eleanor Boardman. Myers appeared in Four Walls and Dream of Love, both with Joan Crawford in 1928; and in The Show of Shows, a showcase of popular contemporary film actors.