Cecyl Tryan

French-born actress Cecyl Tryan (1897-?) had a prolific career in Italian silent cinema, from 1913 until the late 1920s, first at Cines, later also at companies like Gladiator Film and Fert.


Italian postcard by Ed. A Traldi, Milano, no. 399. Photo: Pinto, Roma.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 447.


Italian postcard by Fotocelere, Turin.

The only actress with whom Maciste fraternised

Cecyl Tryan was born in Saint-Julien, France, in 1897.

She started out in the French theatre, e.g. performing in Louis Aubert's 'La foret bleue' (The Blue Forest, 1913).

From 1913 until the late 1920s, she had a prolific career in Italian silent cinema. First, she worked at Cines. She played secondary parts in dramas, but also in comedies with Kri Kri (Raymond Dandy) and Bidoni (Primo Cuttica).

She joined the cast and crew, that Cines sent to Spain to film Carmen (Giovanni Doria, Augusto Turqui, 1914) there. She became a protagonist in two medium-length films by Augusto Genina, the comedy La moglie di Sua Eccellenza/His Excellency's wife (Augusto Genina, 1913), and the drama Catena spezzata/The Broken Chain (Augusto Genina, 1913).

In 1914 she appeared opposite diva Pina Menichelli in I misteri del castello di Monroe/The Munroe Manor Mystery (Augusto Genina 1914) and Alla deriva/Adrift (Enrico Guazzoni, 1915).

Nino Oxilia directed her opposite another diva, Lyda Borelli, in the touching melodrama Fior di male/Flower of Evil (Nino Oxilia, 1914). Here she plays Borelli's delicate foster daughter who marries the man (Ruggero Barni) Borelli has cared for after a car accident. Not recognising the love of Borelli's character, the man falls in love with the daughter, and with pain in her heart, the mother gives them her blessing.

Although her acting in these three films was overshadowed by the two divas, her roles were still memorable. While continuing at Cines, Tryan also acted as a protagonist at companies like Fulgor in L'impossibile/The impossible (Guglielmo Zorzi, 1915), Gloria in La danzatrice mascherata/The masked dancer (Pier Antonio Gariazzo, 1916), and Pasquali in La madre folle/The crazy mother (Domenico Gaido, 1916).


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 237.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Fert. Maria Jacobini and Cecyl Tryan in Il richiamo/The Recall (Gennaro Righelli, 1921), scripted by Fausto Maria Martini. A print of this film is in the Komiya Collection at the National Film Center in Tokyo. A restored version was shown at the festival Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna (June/July 2012).

The only actress with whom Bartolomeo Pagano fraternised

By the late 1910s Cecyl Tryan acted often in adventure and action films. At Ambrosio, she starred in Il siluramento dell'Oceania/The torpedoing of the Oceania (Augusto Genina, 1917) also with Alfredo Boccolini and Ileana Leonidoff, La spirale della morte/The Death Leap (Filippo Costamagna, Domenico Gambino, 1917) the debut of Luciano Albertini in film, and Galaor (Emilio Graziani-Walter, Mario Restivo, 1918), with Alfredo Boccolini.

In 1919, she made two more dramas at Cines and one at Aristos, Per la sua bocca/For his mouth (Gianpaolo Rosmino, 1919). Tryan acted in various films at Gladiator Film in 1919-1920, often directed by Giuseppe De Liguoro, such as Anna (1920), based on a story by Henryk Sienkiewicz. At Gladiator, she was often paired with actor Guido Trento.

In 1921-1922, Tryan was active at the company FERT in Turin and Rome, where she was directed by men like Giovanni Doria, Gennaro Righelli, Guglielmo Zorzi, Giuseppe Sterni and Augusto Genina. A good example from this time is Il richiamo/The Recall (Gennaro Righelli, 1921) starring Maria Jacobini and Lido Manetti.

In 1924 Tryan also had her own company Cecyl Tryan Film, for which she made only one film, Il barcaiuolo d'Amalfi/The boatman of Amalfi (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1924) with Livio Pavanelli and herself. Ruggeri afterward directed Pavanelli and Tryan again in La muta di Portici/The pack of Portici (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1924), and coupled her with Gustavo Serena in Il pane altrui/Other people's bread (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1924).

In Marco Visconti (Aldo de Benedetti, 1925) she played a double role of mother and daughter, while she also acted in La via del peccato/The way of sin (Amleto Palermi, released 1925). Her last part in Italian silent cinema was in Maciste contro lo sceicco/Maciste in Africa (Mario Camerini, 1926) featuring Bartolomeo Pagano. Supposedly she was the only actress with whom Pagano fraternised, as he was not fond of the exalted divas.

After one French silent film, La venenosa/Poison Ivy (Roger Lion, 1928) starring Raquel Meller, Tryan played a handful of small parts in the Italian sound films of the 1930s. She played a seamstress in Pergolesi (Guido Brignone, 1932) with Elio Steiner in the title role, a society lady in T'amerò sempre/I will always love you (Mario Camerini, 1933) starring Elsa De Giorgi, and a Turinese aristocrat in Cavalleria/Cavalry (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1936), starring Amedeo Nazzari and Elisa Cegani.

Her last (bit) part Tryan played after the war in the Italo-French-American coproduction Difendo il mio amore/Defend My Love (Giulio Macchi, 1956) starring Martine Carol. It is unknown when and where Cecyl Tryan died.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 787. Photo: Pittaluga Films, Torino (Turin). Cecyl Tryan in the Fert production Maciste contro lo sceicco/Maciste in Africa (Mario Camerini, 1926). Tryan is the young girl whose tutor (Franz Sala) and his spendthrift mistress (Rita d'Harcourt) want to steal her inheritance, and sell her to a sheik. Aboard the ship, she is menaced by the crew but a young sailor (Lido Manetti) and Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano) rescue her. In the harbour, the sheik manages to abduct the girl and place her in his harem, but Maciste and the young man use power and wits to liberate her, defeat the sheik and sail back to Italy to set things straight there too.


Italian postcard. Photo: Fert / Pittaluga Films, Torino. Cecyl Tryan and Alex Bernard in Maciste contro lo sceicco/Maciste Against the Sheik (Mario Camerini, 1926). Here the kidnapped young girl (Cecyl Tryan) is menaced by the captain (Alex Bernard).


Italian postcard by Ed. G. Vettori, Bologna.

Sources: Aldo Bernardini (Cinema muto italiano protagonisti - Italian), Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto Italiano - Italian), Wikipedia (English and Italian), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 31 August 2021.