Ally Acker

Ally Acker (born August 17, 1954, New York) is an American filmmaker, poet, author, and film historian.

At WOR, Acker worked closely with radio legends Jean Shepherd, Joe Franklin, and Arlene Francis.

[citation needed] After graduating from Northwestern University in 1976, Acker made the foray into television as a video editor for WRC-TV, the NBC affiliate station in Washington, D.C. From 1977 to 1980, Acker also worked as a freelance radio producer for the Feminist Radio Network, where she interviewed Alice Walker, who had just completed her second novel, Meridian.

[citation needed] In 1978 Acker directed, produced, shot and edited the 16mm film, Silver Apples of the Moon, which later became a finalist for a Student Academy Award.

Produced from 1985 to 1994, the interviewees include: Dede Allen, Margaret Booth, Kevin Brownlow, Martha Coolidge, Roger Corman, Donna Deitch, Lauren Shuler-Donner, Nora Ephron, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Jodie Foster, Harriet Frank Jr., Lillian Gish, Lee Grant, Molly Haskell, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Kanin, Sherry Lansing, Carol Littleton, Rita Moreno, Brianne Murphy (with Michael Landon), Marcia Nasatir, Euzhan Palcy, Mala Powers, Buddy Rogers, Susan Seidelman, Fina Torres, Margarethe von Trotta, and Paula Weinstein.

[citation needed] In 1987, Acker obtained her Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in film and poetry from Columbia University.

Her thesis screenplay, The Mathematical Mermaid about the life of Sonya Kovalevsky, was a 1988 finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, administered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

All photos included in Acker's Reel Women films and books are from Wanamaker's famed Bison Archives.