{{short description|American actress}} thumb|right|Rex and Irma Taylor
'''Irma Taylor''' (14 December 1890 – 17 April 1974) was an American screenwriter and actress of the silent era notable for playing Jane Eyre in ''Jane Eyre'' (1910), the English language film of the novel of the same name.<ref>Karen E. Laird, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RvmqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT76 ''The Art of Adapting Victorian Literature, 1848-1920: Dramatizing Jane Eyre, David Copperfield and The Woman in White''], Routledge (2016) – Google Books</ref><ref name=Biog>[https://www.thanhouser.org/TCOCD/Biography_Files/key4dbssf.htm Biographies: Irma Taylor] – Thanhouser Company website</ref> [[File:Jane Eyre Thanhouser.jpg|thumb|left|160px|Irma Taylor as Jane and Charles Compton as John Reed in ''Jane Eyre'' (1910)]] Born in Michigan in the United States in 1890 as Irma Whepley, the daughter of Dora Alice Smith ''née'' Beardsley and William Long Whepley, she married the screenwriter Rex Allison Taylor in about 1910. The marriage was later dissolved, following which she married George Fife, which lasted until her death. She was an actress with the Thanhouser Company for whom she appeared in various films released from 1910 through 1912. In the latter year she went to St. Augustine with the Thanhouser players.<ref name=Biog/>
With the Thanhouser Company she played the title role in ''Jane Eyre'' (1910)<ref>Christine Alexander and Margaret Smith (eds) [https://books.google.com/books?id=wHpVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT282 ''The Oxford Companion to the Brontës: Anniversary edition''], Oxford University Press (2018) – Google Books</ref> and appeared in ''The Lady from the Sea'' (1911), and as Ustane in ''She'' (1911). She provided the story to the screenplay by her husband for the films ''The Menace'' (1918), ''The Other Man'' (1918),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-gsDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA74 Catalogue of Copyright Entries: Pamphlets, leaflets for the Year 1918, Volume 15, Issue 1], Government Printing Office (1919) – Google Books p. 1665</ref><ref>[http://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/15121 ''The Other Man'' (1918) – American Film Institute – Catalog of Feature Films – The First 100 Years 1893–1993]</ref> ''Leave It to Susan'' (1919) and ''They Like 'Em Rough'' (1922).<ref name=Biog/> In 1944, to a melody by her relative Harry James Beardsley she wrote the lyrics to the published song "All of my heart went with you".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=yj5jAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1481 ''Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions, Part 3''], The Library of Congress Copyright Office (1944) – Google Books p. 41562</ref>
She died in Glendale in California in 1974.
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852476/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm Irma Taylor] on the Internet Movie Database
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Irma}} Category:1890 births Category:1974 deaths Category:Actresses from Michigan Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:American film actresses Category:American women screenwriters Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century American screenwriters Category:Screenwriters from Michigan