European Film Star Postcards

American film, stage and television actor Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair. He first gained worldwide fame in the Orson Welles films Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1943), for which Cotten was also credited with the screenplay. He went on to become one of the leading Hollywood actors of the 1940s, appearing in films such as Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Duel in the Sun (1946) and the British classic The Third Man (1949).

Dutch postcard, no. 3067. Photo: RKO Radio Films.

Dutch postcard by Foto Archief Film en Toneel, no. 3335. Photo: RKO Radio Films.

Dutch postcard, no. 2419. Photo: RKO Radio Films.

A brilliant comic actor

Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Jr. was born in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1905 to a prosperous Southern family. He was the first of three sons of Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Sr., an assistant postmaster, and Sally Willson Cotten. At an early age, Joseph already showed a passion for story-telling, reciting, and performing acts for his family.

In 1923, when Cotten was 18, he went to Washington D.C. to study at the Hickman School of Expression and then moved to New York City in 1924 to make his way in the theatre world. This was tougher than Cotten had hoped. He ended up working as a shipping clerk for a year before heading south to Miami with friends. In Florida, Cotten supported himself with an odd assortment of jobs, including lifeguard, potato salad merchandiser and as a drama critic for the Miami Herald. That evidently led to appearance in plays at the Miami Civic Theater.

Through a connection at the Miami Herald he managed to land an assistant stage manager job in New York. In 1929 he was engaged for a season at the Copley Theatre in Boston, and there he was able to expand his acting experience, appearing in 30 plays. Cotten made his Broadway debut in 1930 and he began working on radio shows soon after. He also married pianist Lenore La Mont in 1931 and they remained together until her 1960 death.

On the cast of CBS Radio's The American School of the Air, Cotten met in 1934 Orson Welles and the two became friends. Welles regarded Cotten as a brilliant comic actor, and gave him the starring role in his Federal Theatre Project farce, Horse Eats Hats (1936). In 1937, Cotten joined Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre company, where he took the lead in such plays as Shoemaker’s Holiday and Julius Caesar.

Cotten made his film debut in the short, Too Much Johnson (Orson Welles, 1938), a comedy based on William Gillette's 1890 play. The short was occasionally screened before or after Mercury productions, but never received an official release. It was considered lost until it surfaced in 2013.

Cotten appeared in the original Broadway production of The Philadelphia Story (1939–1940) as C. K. Dexter Haven opposite Katharine Hepburn's Tracy Lord. Cotten jumped off the radio and stage and onto the big screen in 1941, making his Hollywood feature debut in Welles’ film debut, Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941). The epic, portrayed the life of a press magnate (played by Welles) who starts out as an idealist but eventually turns into a corrupt, lonely old man. Cotten played the role of Kane's best friend Jedediah Leland, eventually a drama critic for one of Kane's papers.

Cotten would find his finest roles in Welles’ films, and the pair followed Citizen Kane with another masterpiece, The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942), and the Nazi-related thriller Journey Into Fear (Norman Foster, 1943), which was co-written by Cotten and Welles.

Belgian collectors card by De Beukelaer, Antwerp, no A 45. Photo: Warner Bros.

Small German collectors card by Greiling Sammelbilder, Serie E, no. 103. Photo: Paramount.

Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 83.

A very popular romantic leading man

Joseph Cotten had a remarkable film career during the 1940s. He starred as a serial killer in Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943). He then played an eager police detective in the mystery thriller Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944) opposite Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman.

Producer David O. Selznick then launched him successfully as a romantic leading man. Cotten starred with Jennifer Jones in four films for Selznick International Pictures: the wartime domestic drama Since You Went Away (John Cromwell, 1944), the romantic drama Love Letters (William Dieterle, 1945), the box office hit Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946), and the critically acclaimed Portrait of Jennie (William Dieterle, 1948), in which he played a melancholy artist who becomes obsessed with a girl who may have died many years before.

He reunited with Hitchcock in the British historical thriller Under Capricorn (Alfred Hitchcock, 1949) as an Australian landowner with a shady past. Another British classic is The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949), in which Orson Welles also plays a pivotal role. Cotten portrays a writer of pulp fiction who travels to postwar Vienna to meet his friend Harry Lime (Welles). When he arrives, he discovers that Lime has died, and is determined to prove to the police that it was murder, but uncovers an even darker secret.

Coten then made a string of less high-profile roles in films such as the dark Civil War Western Two Flags West (Robert Wise, 1950), the Joan Fontaine romance September Affair (William Dieterle, 1950), and the Film Noir Niagara (Henry Hathaway, 1953) in which he played Marilyn Monroe’s jealous husband. He also had a brief role as a member of the Roman Senate in Orson Welles’ The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1951). On Broadway, Cotten created the role of Linus Larrabee, Jr., in the original 1953 production of Sabrina Fair, opposite Margaret Sullavan.

His film career floundered and Cotten found a new home on TV. He appeared on such shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and hosting The 20th Century-Fox Hour and The Joseph Cotten Show. In the cinema, Cotten had an uncredited cameo in Welles’ Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) and a starring role in the film adaptation of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (Byron Haskin, 1958).

During the 1960s and 1970s, he appeared in a long array of TV and film projects. His most memorable films include the horror classic Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (Robert Aldrich, 1964), with Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, The Money Trap (Burt Kennedy, 1965), the war film Tora! Tora! Tora! (Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku, 1970), the British horror film The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Robert Fuest, 1971) featuring Vincent Price, the Italian horror film La Figlia di Frankenstein/Lady Frankenstein (Mel Welles, 1971) starring Rosalba Neri, The Science Fiction thriller Soylent Green (Richard Fleischer, 1973) and the all-star disaster film Airport '77 (Jerry Jameson, 1977).

One of Cotten's last films was the epic flop Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino. 1980). An on-and-off writer, Cotten published his autobiography, Vanity Will Get You Somewhere (1987), just a few years after suffering a stroke and heart attack. Joseph Cotten died of pneumonia in Los Angeles in 1994. He was survived by his second wife, British actress Patricia Medina.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès, no. 343, 1953. Photo: Warner Bros.

Joseph Cotten and Shirley Temple in I'll Be Seeing You (1944)

Dutch postcard by J. Sleding N.V., Amsterdam, no. 31 HL. Photo: Nederland Film. Publicity still for I'll Be Seeing You (William Dieterle, 1944) with Shirley Temple.

Publicity still of Alida Valli and Joseph Cotten in The Third Man (1949). Collection: Doctor Macro's.

Sources: Biography.com, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Blue-eyed dreamboat Riccardo Scamarcio (1979) is one of the leading stars of the contemporary Italian cinema. He is known for successful Italian films as Romanzo criminale/Kings of Crime (2005), Mio fratello è figlio unico/My Brother Is an Only Child (2007) and Mine vaganti/Loose Cannons (2010) but also works abroad. He is also a film producer.

Italian postcard in the Collection Cards series, a supplement to the weekly Cioè.

Fodder for the gossip magazines

Ricardo Scamarcio was born in 1979 in Andria, Puglia, Italy. His mother Irene is a painter.

At the age of 16, he left school and went to Rome to train as an actor at the Scuola Nazionale di Cinema. His acting debut was in the TV series Compagni di scuola/Classmates (Tiziana Aristarco, Claudio Norza, 2001).

In 2003 followed a part in La meglio gioventù/The Best of Youth (2003), a four-part mini-series directed by Marco Tullio Giordana that covers expansive times of Italian history through the story of one family. The series was presented at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Un Certain Regard award, and was then given an international theatrical release.

Scamarcio’s first lead role in a feature film was in the teen romance Tre metri sopra il cielo/Three Steps Over Heaven (Luca Lucini, 2004). His role as a handsome bad boy made him immediately a sex symbol in Italy. He co-starred with Italian-Greek actress Valeria Golina in Texas (Fausto Paravidino, 2005). He fell in love with his 14-years older costar and their affair was fodder for the gossip magazines and made him well-known.

He then starred in the criminal drama Romanzo criminale/Kings of Crime (Michele Placido, 2005), with Kim Rossi Stuart. In this highly acclaimed portrait of a Mafiosi community in the 1970s, he played a monosyllabic, enigmatic thug. In 2006 he acted in the TV Mini-series La freccia nera/The Black Arrow (Fabrizio Costa, 2006), adapted from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.

He played one of two brothers coming of age in a small Italian town in the 1960s and 1970s in Mio fratello è figlio unico/My Brother Is an Only Child (Daniele Luchetti, 2007), based on the novel Il Fasciocomunista by Antonio Pennacchi. Brothers Accio (Elio Germano) and Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) embody and celebrate opposing political stances, but share an impassioned love of the same woman that threatens to drive them to blows. Luchetti's political comedy observes the brothers over the course of 15 years, against the ever-shifting backdrop of tumultuous Italian sociopolitical history.

Scamarcio played in the local box-office hit Manuale d'amore - Capitoli successivi/Manual of Love 2 (Giovanni Veronesi, 2007), a romantic comedy with Monica Bellucci. Then followed Ho voglia di te/I want you (Luis Prieto, 2007), a sequel to his breakthrough film, Tre metri sopra il cielo/Three Steps Over Heaven (2004), and Go Go Tales (Abel Ferrara, 2007), starring Willem Dafoe.

In the following years, he made the thriller Colpo d'occhio/At a Glance (Sergio Rubini, 2008), the comedy Italians (Giovanni Veronesi, 2009) with Carlo Verdone, and with Luca ArgenteroIl grande sogno/The Big Dream (Michele Placido, 2009), set at a Roman university in 1968. Scamarcio played an illegal immigrant-cum-innocent abroad in Eden à l'Ouest/Eden Is West (2009), directed by celebrated filmmaker Costa-Gavras. Scamarcio's partner, Valeria Golino, played his sister in the comedy-drama L'uomo nero/The Cézanne Affair (Sergio Rubini, 2009).

Italian postcard in the Collection Cards series, a supplement to the weekly Cioè.

A gay son of a conservative bourgeois family

Riccardo Scamarcio was very successful as a gay son of a conservative bourgeois family in the comedy Mine vaganti/Loose Cannons (Ferzan Özpetek, 2010). The film was highly praised by film critics and got nominated for thirteen David di Donatello Awards, the Italian Oscars.

In France, Scamarcio appeared in the drama Polisse (2011), written, directed by and starring Maïwenn. The film centres on the Child Protection Unit (Brigade de Protection des Mineurs) of the Paris Police.

Woody Allen directed him in the magical realist romantic comedy To Rome with Love (2012), set in Rome. He had small parts in the British biographical drama Effie Gray (Richard Laxton, 2014), featuring Dakota Fanning, and the British-German-American romance Third Person (Paul Haggis, 2013), starring Liam Neeson.

Back in Italy, he starred in the comedy Una piccola impresa meridionale/A Small Southern Enterprise (2013), written, directed and starred by Rocco Papaleo. He reunited with Willem Dafoe and director Abel Ferrara for Pasolini (2014) about the final days of film director Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Scamarcio starred opposite Sharon Stone in the comedy-drama Un ragazzo d'oro/A Golden Boy (2014), written and directed by Pupi Avati. Then followed Maraviglioso Boccaccio/Wondrous Boccaccio (Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, 2015) loosely based on stories from The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.

He got a David di Donatello Award nomination for best actor for the romantic drama Nessuno si salva da solo/You Can't Save Yourself Alone (Sergio Castellitto, 2015). Other recent films in which he appeared are the Italian drama La prima luce/The First Light (Vincenzo Marra, 2015), the American drama Burnt (John Wells, 2015), starring Bradley Cooper, the romantic comedy-drama Io che amo solo te/I only Love You (Marco Ponti, 2015) – a box office hit in Italy, the Italian crime-drama Pericle il nero/Pericle (Stefano Mordini, 2016) and the upcoming American action thriller John Wick: Chapter Two (Chad Stahelski, 2017) in which Keanu Reeves returns as hitman John Wick.

Since 2006, Riccardo Scamarcio is engaged to Valeria Golino. In 2010 they set up the film production company, Buena Onda, with Viola Prestieri. Scamarcio produced Golina’s euthanasia-themed directorial debut Miele/Honey (Valeria Golina, 2013). Scamarcio and Golina live in Rome.

Trailer My Brother Is an Only Child (2007). Source: MovieTrailerNetwork (YouTube).

Trailer Mine vaganti/Loose Cannons (2010). Source: peccadillopictures (YouTube).

Official Trailer Burnt (2015). Source: Movieweb (YouTube).

Sources: AllMovie, Wikipedia (Italian and English), and IMDb.

Distinguished, attractive, athletic Jean Angelo (1875-1933) was a superstar of the French silent cinema. He was the ultimate leading man of several adventure films of the 1920s. Jean Renoir and Jacques Feyder are among the noted directors that Angelo has worked with.

French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leur loge series by Editions La Fayette, Paris, no. 110. Photo: Comoedia.

French postcard by Editions Film, in Les Vedettes de l'Ecran series, no. 107. Publicity still for L’Atlantide/Lost Atlantis (Jacques Feyder, 1922).

French postcard by Editions Filma, no. 106. Caption: Les Vedettes de l'Ecran: Jean Angelo. Looks like Angelo's colonial outfit in L'Atlantide (Jacques Feyder, 1921).

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 297. Photo: publicity still for Surcouf (Luitz-Morat, 1925).

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 229. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for La Ronde Infernale (1928).

A Respectable and Commercially Viable Industry

Jean Angelo was born Jean Jacques Barthelemy in Paris, France in 1875. IMDb notes 1875; according to Ciné-Artistes it is 1888.

In 1903, he made his stage debut in Lucrèce Borgia under the guidance of the great stage actress Sarah Bernhardt. He made his film debut in 1908.

That year he appeared in the short film L'Assassinat de Duc de Guise/The assassination of the Duke de Guise (André Calmettes, Charles Le Bargy, 1908). This prestigious Film d’Art production reunited several leading figures of the French theatre, such as Charles Le Bargy, Albert Lambert and Gabrielle Robinne of the Comédie-Française. The acting, the photography and the set design are impressive for the period, as is the music by Camille Saint-Saëns, which was written especially for the film.

James Travers at Films de France writes: “L’Assassinat du duc de Guise is a film of immense historic importance. One of the first films to use the narrative form, it proved to be an immense international success for its production company, Film d’Art, and, by dint of its popularity, helped to propel cinema from its early pioneering endeavors into a respectable and commercially viable industry.”

Angelo was discovered by director Albert Capellani. Together they made several films, including the Victor Hugo adaptation Notre Dame de Paris/The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Albert Capellani, 1911) starring Henry Krauss as Quasimodo, and the four-part serial Les Misérables (Albert Capellani, 1913) with Henry Krauss as Jean Valjean and Mistinguett as Éponine Thénardier.

Angelo also played a supporting part in the serial Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (Albert Capellani, 1911) starring Paul Capellani. The First World War interrupted his career. In 1914 he abandoned the film sets for the battlefield, and went to fight. He returned with combat injuries.

In 1917 he contributed to the war propaganda film Mères françaises/Mothers of France (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917), starring Sarah Bernhardt. That year Angelo also went to the US to perform at Fort Lee, New Jersey, in the World Film production The Divine Sacrifice (George Archainbaud, 1918). It was Angelo’s first major role, and also his only American performance.

He returned to France before the war was over, to play in the Pathé production L’expiation/The Expiation (Camille de Morlhon, 1918), adapted from Guy de Maupassant and starring Gabrielle Robinne. In 1920 he starred in Les chères images/The expensive images (André Hugon, 1920) costarring Maxa.

French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 64, Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères.

French postcard in the Les vedettes de Cinema series by A.N., Paris, no. 162. Photo: Sartony.

French postcard in the Les vedettes de Cinema series by A.N., Paris, no. 163. Photo: Sartony.

French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 164. Photo: Sartony.

French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 611, Photo: Braunberger / Richebé.

Superstar the of Silent Film

In the 1920s, Jean Angelo became a superstar the of silent film. He was the ultimate leading man: distinguished, attractive, athletic, virile and powerful. He was a brilliant fencer, and he became the hero of several successful adventure films. He played Captain Morhange in L'Atlantide/Lost Atlantis (Jacques Feyder, 1921) with Georges Melchior and Stacia Napierkowska as the ageless queen Antinéa.

James Travers reviews: “Jacques Feyder’s first notable film was this grand adaptation of Pierre Benoît’s controversial and popular novel of the same title. What is most striking about this film is its truly epic scale. With most of the film shot on location in the Sahara desert – an extraordinary achievement for the time – L’Atlantide has a breathtaking realist feel that is almost unique in silent cinema.”

In 1924, Angelo played the legendary corsair Surcouf, the intrepid sailor who fought the British marines, in the historical adventure serial Surcouf (Luitz-Morat, 1924). That same year he also played the role of the crook Robert Macaire in Les Aventures de Robert Macaire/The Adventures of Robert Macaire (Jean Epstein, 1925) opposite Suzanne Bianchetti.

Jean Renoir then called on him for his second film, the silent masterpiece Nana (Jean Renoir, 1926). In this lavish and fairly faithful adaptation of Emile Zola’s classic novel, Angelo played one of the love-struck admirers of Nana (Catherine Hessling - Renoir’s wife at the time). Angelo was very at ease in these period films, and quickly he became very popular, despite his very stylized acting style, which may seem old-fashioned and theatrical today.

Another success was his role as Edmond Dantes, a naval officer betrayed by his friends and falsely imprisoned at the Chateau d'If, in Monte Cristo (Henri Fescourt, 1928). At Cineartistes, Simon Benattar-Bourgeay writes: “This superb adaptation, benefited from a huge budget, and still strikes today by the sumptuousness of its staging and the refinement of its images. Again, Jean Angelo made a strong impression and the actor fills the screen. More than his co-stars Lil Dagover and Gaston Modot, he here confirms his status of great romantic actor. His fame was at its height.”

French postcard by Sélections Cinégraphiques Maurice Rouhier, no. 227. Photo: Europe Film. Jean Angelo and Francesca Bertiniin the late silent film La fin de Monte-Carlo (Henri Etievant, Mario Nalpas, 1927).

French postcard by Cinemagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 120.

French postcard by Cinemagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 415. Photo: Sartony.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3612/1, 1928-1929. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères, Paris.

British postcard. Photo: Alban, Bruxelles.

A Compelling Film With a Strong Visual Style

The arrival of sound, somewhat hampered Jean Angelo’s film career. France shifted to sound around 1929-1930.

Angelo's first sound film was Mon coeur incognito/My heart incognito (Manfred Noa, André-Paul Antoine, 1930), a Franco-German production co-starring Florelle, Tréville, and Mady Christians. The film, shot at the Aafa studios in Berlin, had its premiere at the Paris Moulin Rouge in 1930.

Angelo was one of the numerous actors who was not comfortable with sound film. His acting became less powerful. This did not prevent him from continuing to make films. In 1932, he played for the second time Captain Morhange in L'Atlantide/Lost Atlantis (G.W. Pabst, 1932).

James Travers: “Although considerably less polished and memorable than some of Pabst’s other works, L’Atlantide is a compelling film with a strong visual style throughout. The film is a remake of Jacques Feyder’s 1921 adaptation of Pierre Benoît’s novel, with some striking differences, particularly in the portrayal of the queen Antinea (Brigitte Helm). As was the case with Feyder’s film, this film uses extensive location photography and cost a fortune to make, even though its runtime is much shorter.”

The film was made in three versions, one in French, one in German, Die Herrin von Atlantis, and another in English, The Mistress of Atlantis. In the German and English version, Angelo’s role was played by Gustav Diessl.

This was one of Angelo’s last roles. The following year, he contracted pneumonia during the filming of the Prosper Mérimée adaptation Colomba (Jacques Séverac, 1933) with Josette Day.

Jean Angelo died in 1933, in Paris. He was 58.

French postcard by A.N. Paris, no. 613. Photo: Braunberger / Richebé. Publicity still for L'homme qui assassina/The Man who killed (Kurt Bernhardt, Jean Tarride, 1931).

L'Assassinat de Duc de Guise/The assassination of the Duke de Guise (1908). Source: A cinema history (YouTube).

Scene from L'Atlantide (1921). Source: Astique 333 (YouTube).

Scenes from Nana (1926). Music: Bando da Lua (1938). Source: Radio Santos (YouTube).

Sources: Simon Benattar-Bourgeay (Ciné-Artistes - French), James Travers (Le Film Guide), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

Last weekend, German actress and singer Gisela May (1924) passed away. May was the first lady of the political song and a German national treasure, famous for her work at Bertolt Brecht's theatre group, the Berliner Ensemble. She was a diseuse (singing actress) in the tradition established by Lotte Lenya and Marlene Dietrich, and expert interpreter of the work of Brecht, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Kurt Tucholsky, and Jacques Brel. She appeared in several DEFA productions and a few international films. Gisela May was 92.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 1684 1962. Photo: Georg Meyer-Hanno.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 3318, 1968. Photo: Winkler.

A Hidden Gem

Gisela May was born, in Wetzlar, Germany, in 1924. She was the daughter of author Ferdinand May and actress Käte May. Between 1942 and 1944, May studied at the drama school in Leipzig.

She was employed for nine years at various theatres, including the State Theatre of Schwerin and the State Theatre in Halle. Starting in 1951, she performed at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Max Reinhardt's former workplace, where she played a variety of roles.

In 1962, May moved to Bertolt Brecht's theatre group, the Berliner Ensemble, and stayed for 30 years. While there she played a variety of roles in Brecht’s plays, including Madame Cabet in Die Tage der Commune/The Days of the Commune, Mrs Peachum in Die Dreigroschenoper/The Threepenny Opera, Mrs Kopecka in Schweyk im Zweiten Weltkrieg/Schweik in the Second World War, and as Mother Courage in Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder/Mother Courage in Mother Courage and Her Children, her most famous role, which she played for 13 years.

She also worked as a ‘diseuse’ with Austrian composer Hanns Eisler on a programme with chansons, political songs and poems. Later she appeared on the Berlin stage in the musicals Hallo Dolly!/Hello Dolly and Cabaret.

Since 1951, Gisela May appeared in dozens of East-German films and TV productions. She made her film debut in the drama Das Beil von Wandsbek/The Axe of Wandsbek (Falk Harnack, 1951), starring Erwin Geschonneck and Käthe Braun. At IMDb, all the reviewers consider this film as a hidden gem. Reviewer Hasosch: “I consider Dr. Falk Harnack's "Das Beil Von Wandsbek", together with "Obchod Na Korze/The Shop On Main Street" by Jan Kadar, and "Der Verlorene" by and with Peter Lorre as a Triptychon of the best World War II movies. (...) This movie belongs without doubt to the greatest rediscoveries in film history. After having watched it, you will not be the same anymore.”

Other interesting DEFA productions with May are the crime film Treffpunkt Aimée/Meeting Point Aimée (Horst Reinecke, 1956), the forbidden film Die Schönste/The Most Beautiful (Walter Beck, 1957/2002) with Manfred Krug, and Eine alte Liebe/An Old Love (Frank Beyer, 1959), in which she played her first leading part in the cinema.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 329/182, 1956. Photo: DEFA / Kroiss.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 214/56, 1956. Photo: Georg Meyer-Hanno.

The times are changing

During the 1960s and and 1970s, Gisela May mostly worked for television and the stage. Among her few film appearances was Fleur Lafontaine (Horst Seemann, 1978), in which she played the mother of the title figure played by Angelica Domröse. She also appeared in the Hungarian film Csak egy mozi/Just a movie (Pal Sandor, 1985) with Jean-Pierre Léaud.

Gisela May won many awards for her work during the GDR period, but also afterwards. In 1991 she got the Deutscher Filmpreis in Gold (major German Film Award) for her role as Maika in the film Die Hallo-Sisters (Ottokar Runze, 1990). She shared the award with her co-stars in the film, Harald Juhnke and Ilse Werner. They play a run-down former radio producer and two quarrelsome 1950s stars who try their comeback on nationwide television.

Later films include the Greek production O Tzonys Keln, kyria mou/Johnny Keln, Madam (Thanassis Scroubelos, 1991) and the French-German drama Le silence du Coeur/The silence of the heart (Pierre Aknine, 1994) with Claude Piéplu.

Since 1992, May has free-lanced, often working at Berlin's Renaissance Theatre. May was able to pursue her career as a diseuse on an international basis, touring through Europe, Australia and the United States. She also appeared in 65 episodes of the TV Krimi-comedy Adelheid und ihre Mörder (1993-2007) featuring Evelyn Hamman. Since 2000, she regularly performs the show Gisela May singt und spricht Kurt Weill at the Berliner Ensemble.

In 2002 she was awarded with the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit), the only federal decoration of Germany. That year, she also published her memoir Es wechseln die Zeiten (The times are changing). She also held master classes and workshops in German on Brechtian theatre and cabaret performance. From 1956 till 1965 Gisela May was married to journalist Georg Honigmann and later she lived together with Wolfgang Harich. She passed away on 2 December 2016 in her hometown Berlin.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 1777, 1962. Photo: Georg Meyer-Hanno.

Gisela May sings Seeräuberjenny/Pirate Jenny from Die Dreigroschenoper/The Threepenny Opera. Source: Vaimusic (YouTube).

Sources: Uncle Dave Lewis (AllMusic), Gisela May homepage (German), Akademie der Künste (German), Marian Buijs (De Volkskrant - Dutch), Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.

In spite of her French name, Lucy Doraine (1898-1989) was a Hungarian actress and a major star of the Austrian and German cinema in the 1920s. When she moved to Hollywood, the revolution of the sound film finished her career.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 572/2, 1919-1924. Publicity still for Sodom und Gomorrha/Queen of Sin and the Spectacle of Sodom and Gomorrah (Michael Curtiz a.k.a. Mihály Kertész, 1922).

Lucy Doraine in Sodom und Gomorrha (1922)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 572/1, 1919-1924. Publicity still for Sodom und Gomorrha/Queen of Sin and the Spectacle of Sodom and Gomorrah (Michael Curtiz a.k.a. Mihály Kertész, 1922).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 542/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Alex Binder / Foreign Pictures.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 720/3, 1925-1926. Photo: Manassé, Wien / Lucy Doraine Film Ges. m.b.H.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1546/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Schneider, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1548/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Schneider, Berlin.

Double Name

Lucy Doraine was born Ilonka Kovacs Perenyi in Budapest, Hungary in 1898.

Italian film historian Vittorio Martinelli wrote in Le dive del silenzio (2001) that she was the daughter of a highly placed civil servant, baron Perenyi, but IMDb and Wikipedia state that she had the more common name of Kovacs. Filmportal.de indicates her double name.

In her teens, Ilonka showed her skills as a piano player, and she attended the actors school Association of Hungarian Actors.

When she was 18, Ilonka started to play small roles in films like A napraforgós hölgy/The Sunflower Woman (Mihaly Kertesz, 1918).

Like most of her early films it was directed by her future husband, Mihaly Kertesz. Eventually he would become the famous Hollywood director Michael Curtiz, the maker of such classics as Casablanca (1942) and Mildred Pierce (1945).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 503/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Atelier Adèle, Wien / Foreign Pictures.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 853/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Attelier Balasz, Berlin / Lucie Doraine Film Gmbh.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1391/1, 1927-1928. Photo H. Gärtner / Eichberg-Film. Doraine only made one film for Eichberg Film, Der Prinz und die Tänzerin (1926).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1391/2, 1927-1928. Photo: H. Gärtner / Eichberg Film GmbH. Doraine only made one film for Eichberg Film, so this card must be for Der Prinz und die Tänzerin (1926). Her name and the name of her film company are often misspelled as Dorraine.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1391/4, 1927-1928. Photo: Gärtner / Eichberg Film GmbH.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1397/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder.

Austrian postcard. Photo: Franz Löwy, Wien (Vienna), 1921. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Risque Image

After the fall of Bela Kun’s Republic and because of the turmoils of 1918-1919, Mihaly and Ilonka Kertesz fled Hungary and took up refuge in Vienna. There they both got a contract by count Kolowrat, the owner of Sascha Film.

Their first film in Vienna was Der Dame mit den schwarzen Handschuh/The Lady with the Black Gloves (Mihaly Kertesz, 1919). This was a fruitful period for the Austrian cinema, enforced by the contributions of another Hungarian refugee, Alexander Korda.

Ilonka took the stage name of Lucy Doraine and played in witty comedies by her husband, one even more brilliant than the other. These comedies include Miss Tutti Frutti (Mihaly Kertesz, 1921) and Herzogin Satanella/Cherchez la femme! (Mihaly Kertesz, 1921), in which she always starred opposite the Austrian actor Alphons Fryland.

Kertesz excelled in demonstrating his wife’s comic talents, but she also showed she was able to play serious, dramatic roles in Der Stern von Damaskus/The Star of Damascus (Mihaly Kertesz, 1920) and in particular in his monumental super-production Sodom und Gomorrha/Queen of Sin and the Spectacle of Sodom and Gomorrah (Mihaly Kertesz, 1922).

In Der Stern von Damaskus, Doraine played opposite the Hungarian star Iván Petrovich. In Sodom und Gomorrah she played a triple role: Mary Conway, Lot's wife and the Queen of Syria. Her co-stars were Richard Berczeller, Victor Varconi and Walter Slezak.

Lucy Doraine made 10 films with her husband between 1918 and 1923. She became known for her enticing, ‘risqué’ image. Though in the early 1920s Austria had a hard time exporting to the countries that had won the First World War, Vittorio Martinelli indicates that Doraine’s films were ‘Frenched’ to avoid Italian boycots: film titles were made French, if they did not already sound so, like Cherchez la femme!

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 592/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Lucy Doraine Film Ges. m.b.H.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1677/1, 1927-1928.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1129/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa. Collection: Didier Hanson.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1212/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Schneider, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3165/1, 1928-1929. Photo: C.O. Hoppé, London.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3295/1, 1928-1929. Photo: C.O. Hoppé, London.

From Munich to Hollywood

After Lucy Doraine divorced Kertesz in 1923, she moved to Munich. There she worked for the Emelka studio in Opfer der Liebe/Sacrifice for Love (Martin Hartwig, 1923) and for Messter-Ostermayr in Um ein Weibes Ehre/A Wife's Honour (Rudolf Biebrach, 1923) and Gehetzte Menschen/Hunted Men (Erich Schönfelder, 1924) with Johannes Riemann.

Around 1923 she founded in Munich her own company, Lucy Doraine-Film GmbH, for which she produced one film by Rudolf Biebrach, Die suchende Seele/The Searching Soul (1923) and three films directed by Felix Basch: Schicksal/Fate (1924), Finale der Liebe/Love's Finale (1925), Der Mann seiner Frau/His Wife's Husband (1925).

In the meantime, she continued to play in films by other companies such as Messter-Ostermayr, or Eichberg-Film in Der Prinz und die Tänzerin/The Prince and the Dancer (Richard Eichberg, 1926) opposite Hans Albers.

Like so many European actors, Doraine was invited to come to Hollywood, in this case by First National in 1927. German First National had been the distributor of her last two German films Eheskandal im Hause Fromont jun. und Risler sen./Mariage Scandal in the Fromont jr. and Risler Sr. Homes (A.W. Sandberg, 1927) and Alpentragödie/Alp Tragedy (Robert Land, 1927).

However, her American career dwindled down soon when sound film arrived. After supporting roles in the Billy Dove vehicle Adoration (Frank Lloyd, 1928) and the Janet Gaynor vehicle Christina (William K. Howard, 1929), Lucy only was allowed a bit part in Hell’s Angels (Howard Hughes, 1930).

Her last part was a supporting role in Mordprozeß Mary Dugan (Arthur Robison, 1931), the German version of The Trial of Mary Dugan (1931). Hereafter she withdrew from the film business, at the age of 33.

Lucy Doraine died at the high age of 91 in Los Angeles, in 1989.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 853/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Atelier Balazs, Berlin / Lucy Doraine Film GmbH. Collection: Didier Hanson.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 994/3, 1925-1926. Photo: d'Ora, Vienna.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1212/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Schneider, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1546/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Schneider, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3054/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Balazs, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3438/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3438/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4168/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount.

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Le dive del silenzio - Italian), IMDb, Wikipedia and Filmportal.de.

Alessandro Manzoni's historical novel I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), first published in 1817, is one of the most famous and widely read novels of the Italian language. It was many times adapted for the cinema in Italy. In the fifth silent film version, I promessi sposi (Mario Bonnard, 1922), Emilia Vidali played the female lead of Lucia, Domenico Serra played her beloved Renzo and Mario Parpagnoli was the evil don Rodrigo.

Emilia Vidali in I promessi sposi (1922)

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 181. Photo: U.C.I. Emilia Vidali in I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922).

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Emilia Vidali in I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922).

A love story jeapordised

I promessi sposi is set in northern Italy in 1628, during the oppressive years of direct Spanish rule. The two betrothed are Renzo Tramaglino and Lucia Mondella. Their love story is jeopardised by Don Rodrigo, the lord of the domain, who is infatuated with Lucia. His 'bravi' menace the local priest Don Abbondio to refuse Renzo and Luciana to marry, with some legal excuse.

On behalf of the couple, the monk Father Cristoforo visits Don Rodrigo to mediate in the affair but is brutally kicked out. When Rodrigo plots to assault the young couple, they flee over Lake Como. Lucia hides in a convent where, however, the scheming nun of Monza plots with Don Rodrigo.

Renzo searches for Lucia and while in Milan visits the fraudulent lawyer doctor Azzeccagarbugli to get his papers right. The police try to arrest him but he manages to flee again. Meanwhile Father Cristoforo is banned from the convent and the village on instigation of don Rodrigo.

A robber baron called l'Innominato or 'the unnamed' is sent by Don Rodrigo to abduct the girl and give her once and for all to Don Rodrigo. Yet, in a startling change of heart, inspired by a visit of Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, the Innominato undergoes a religious conversion and does the right thing by liberating Lucia.

This starts the downfall of the culprits. The Great Plague of Milan (1630) breaks out, imported by German mercenaries during the Thirty Years War. In Milan Renzo meets again Don Cristoforo who helps the dying masses and discovers Don Rodrigo is one of the victims. Renzo forgives him, Rodrigo dies, the Plague stops.

Father Cristoforo frees Lucia also from her vow of chastity she had made in the hope of being relinquished from the clutches of the Innominato. Renzo and Lucia return to their village, where they can finally marry, blessed by don Abbondio, who has bettered his life.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Don Abbondio (Umberto Scalpellini) is afraid Don Rodrigo's bravi may kill him, so he prevents the mariage between Renzo and Lucia. Right of the men stands Perpetua (Olga Capri), don Abbondio's maid. Caption: Do you want me dead?

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922), starring Domenico Serra as Renzo and Emilia Vidali as Lucia, here also Umberto Scalpellini as don Abbondio. Caption: Curate, in presence of these two witnesses, this is my wife...

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Domenico Serra as Renzo, Emilia Vidali as Lucia, and Ida Carloni Talli as Agnese, Lucia's mother. Caption: Rascal! Damned one! Murderer!, Renzo shouted.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Enzo Biliotti as Father Cristoforo. Caption: Father Cristoforo left his convent in Pescarenico, to ascend to the little house.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922), starring Domenico Serra as Renzo and Emilia Vidali as Lucia, on this card also with Ida Carloni Talli as Agnese and Enzo Biliotti as Father Cristoforo. Caption: Father, what do you say of such a rascal?

Emilia Vidali and Ida Carloni Talli in I promessi sposi

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922), starring Emilia Vidali, here with Ida Carloni Talli as her mother Agnese.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922), starring Domenico Serra, Emilia Vidali and with Enzo Biliotti as father Cristoforo and Ida Carloni Talli as Agnese, Luciana's mother. Caption: Listen, my dear children, father Cristoforo said, today I will visit that man.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Here we see father Cristoforo (Enzo Biliotti). Caption: The warden shows him to be obedient. It is a fierce blow to the poor monk.

Grand spectacle and richness of details

Italian filmmakers have many times adapted Alessandro Manzoni's novel I promessi sposi. The first film version was already made in 1908 by the company Comerio. In 1911 followed another short silent film adaptation by Film d'Arte Italiana.

In 1913, even two silent versions were directed by Eleuterio Rodolfi and by Eugenio Perego. About Rodolfi's version, which he filmed for the Ambrosio studio, see our blogpost I promessi sposi (1913). For the 1941 sound version, which was made by Mario Camerini, see our blogpost I promessi sposi (1941).

In 1922 former actor turned director Mario Bonnard shot his version of I promessi sposi. Bonnard had been Lyda Borelli's film partner in her sensational debut Ma l'amor mio non muore/Love Everlasting (Mario Caserini, 1913). Since that huge success he had spread his wings in the Italian silent cinema, both as an actor and a director.

Bonnard's film was produced by his own company Bonnard Film but distributed by the trust UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana) which company is credited for the photos at the postcards. Sets were by the renowned Italian painter Camillo Innocenti, who had specialised in set design for historical films. Cinematography was by Giuseppe-Paolo Vitrotti, the younger brother of the better known Italian cinematographer Giovanni Vitrotti. He already worked for Ambrosio since 1908 as a camera operator, but became director of cinematography around the time of I promessi sposi.

Star of the film is Italian silent film actress and opera singer Emilia Vidali. As an opera singer, she performed in international opera houses all over the world and was very popular in South America. Her co-star Domenico Serra was an Italian actor who starred in the Italian silent cinema and continued to play in Italian films for well over four decades. At the set of I promessi sposi, Vidali met her future husband Mario Parpagnoli, who played the evil Don Rodrigo. After one more film, Amore e destino (1923), directed by Parpagnoli, she left the Italian screen. Because of the crisis in the Italian cinema, the couple moved to Argentine.

I promessi sposi was censured in November 1922 but the film only had its first night in Rome more than a year after, on 27 December 1923, so just after Christmas. While Italian film critics complained about the lack of fidelity to the concept and the historical details in the novel, they also had to admit that the cinema audiences loved it, and took the deviations and historically incorrect details for granted. La vita cinematografica wrote that the cinema audience wanted to be emotionally involved by dramatic and comic scenes, grand spectacle, and the richness of details, and got it all. The film was awarded a golden medal at a film festival in Turin in 1923. I promessi sposi remained so popular in the following decade that a sound version of the film was released in 1934.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Lucia (Emilia Vidali) and fra Canziano. Caption: Lucia reappeared with her apron full of nuts (Ch. III).

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Renzo has no clue a police spy is sitting next to him, dealing with the innkeeper to have him arrested. Caption: What shall I do?, the innkeeper asks, looking at that stranger who was not really one to him...

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Renzo at the lying and cheating lawyer Azzeccagarbugli. Caption: To the lawyer we need to set things straight, so that we can mess them up.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Renzo (Domenico Serra) is sent away by the corrupt lawyer Azzeccagarbugli (actor unknown). On the left stands Luciana's mother Agnese (Ida Carloni Talli). Caption: Go, go; you don't know what you are talking about: I don't mess with children...

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Rodolfo Badaloni as L'Innominato kisses the hand of the Cardinal Federico Borromeo (actor unknown). Caption: As soon as the Innominato was introduced, Federico came forward to him.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Lucia's kidnapping by Nibbio, the bravo of the Innominato, with the help of Gertrude, the nun of Monza (Niní Dinelli). Caption: Come, my child, come with me, as I have orders to treat you well and give you courage.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). L'Innominato (Rodolfo Badaloni) and his aid Nibbio (actor unknown), who repents his kidnapping of Lucia. Caption: Compassion! What do you know of compassion? What is compassion? (Ch. XXI).

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). During the Milan plague corpses are collected. Caption: She descended from the threshold of one of those exits and came towards the convoy.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Renzo in the plague ridden Milan. Caption: He did a step back, lifting a knotty stick.

Mario Parpagnoli as Don Rodrigo in I promessi sposi (1922)

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Caption: "Let me kill that infamous traitor!" Milan is in the grip of the plague. After Don Rodrigo (Mario Parpagnoli) has confessed his aid Griso (Raimondo Van Riel) he is ill, the latter betrays him, He calls for the 'monatti' who will carry his master away to the 'Lazzaretto' and robs the wealth of Don Rodrigo. He won't enjoy his riches for long, as he too will be struck by the plague.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Renzo (Domenico Serra) and padre Cristoforo (Enzo Biliotti) in plague ridden Milan. Caption: You ask for a living person at a lazaret!...

Ida Carloni Talli, Domenico Serra and Emilia Vidali in I promessi sposi (1922)

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: U.C.I. Publicity still for I promessi sposi/The Bethrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922). Caption: If you want me to marry you, I'm here. The scene depicts the final scene of the story with Ida Carloni Talli (Agnese), Domenico Serra (Renzo), Emilia Vidali (Lucia) and Umberto Scalpellini (Don Abbondio).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, 1921-1922), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Carlo Romano (1908-1975) was an Italian actor in film, vaudeville, radio and television. He was also a highly active voice actor, and was the Italian voice of Fernandel in all the Don Camillo comedies.

Italian photo card by A. Scarmiglia Editore (Aser), Roma (Rome), no. 87. Photo: Aser.

Comical Sidekick

Carlo Romano was born in Livorno in 1908. He was the son of actress Dina Romano and the younger brother of Felice Romano, who was an actor as well. He started at the Teatro Minimo in Trieste when he was only five.

In 1929 Romano entered the Compagnia Talli-Capodaglio, and later he was active in vaudeville. Because of his young age and his style, which was theatrical and personal, expressing sympathy and warmth, he was nicknamed Carletto (little Carlo), a name that stuck on him. In 1933 Romano married actress Jone Bolghero but the couple divorced later.

In the cinema Romano started in 1934 with an uncredited part as a taxi driver in La signora di tutti/Everybody's Woman (Max Ophüls, 1934) starring Isa Miranda. After years of small parts, his roles slowly became bigger towards the end of the decade.

He played mostly in comedies by Guido Brignone, and Mario Bonnard. In dramas he was still often the comical sidekick. Romano played the protagonist of the comedies Il socio invisibile/The invisible partner (Roberto Roberti, 1939) co-starring Clara Calamai, and Un marito per il mese di aprile/A husband for the month of April (Giorgio Simonelli, 1941).

Between 1939 and 1943 he played in some 35 films. From these very active years, Romano is best remembered for Cavalleria rusticana (Amleto Palermi, 1939) - in which his mother also performed, for Quattro passi fra le nuvole/Four Steps in the Clouds (Alessandro Blasetti, 1942) in which he was the reckless bus driver Antonio, and for the Beniamino Gigli vehicle I pagliacci/Laugh Pagliacci (Giuseppe Fatigati, 1942) in which Romano played composer Ruggero Leoncavallo.

Clara Calamai. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3171/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz / DIFU.

Beniamino Gigli. Italian postcard. Photo: Nova Film.

Fellini

In the postwar era Carlo Romano would play in some 55 films more. Highlights are Campane a martello/Bells to hammer (Luigi Zampa, 1949) with Gina Lollobrigida, Domani è troppo tardi/Tomorrow Is Too Late (Léonide Péguy, 1950) starring Pier Angeli, Il cardinale Lambertini/Cardinal Lambertini (Giorgio Pastina, 1954) starring Gino Cervi, and the Aldo Fabrizi drama Accadde al penitenziario/It happened at the penitentiary (Giorgio Bianchi, 1955).

One of Romano’s best parts was as the lawyer Enzo La Rosa in the tragicomedy Luci del varietà/Variety Lights (Alberto Lattuada, Federico Fellini, 1950), about a young golddigger (Carla Del Poggio), who uses the head of a second-rate theatrical group (Peppino de Filippo) to launch her career.

With Alberto Lattuada, Romano continued to work in La spiaggia/Riviera, and with Federico Fellini in I vitelloni, both from 1953.

I Vitelloni follows the lives of five young vitelloni, or layabouts, who while away their listless days in their small seaside village. Romano plays Michele Curti, the owner of a shop in religious articles. He takes on one of the vitelloni, skirt chaser Fausto (Franco Fabrizi) whose father-in-law is his friend. Curti fires him when Fausto tries to seduce Curti’s wife (Lida Baarova) during the carnival. Later on Fausto steals a statue from Curti and tries to sell it to a monk. A hit in Italy upon its release, I Vitelloni secured Fellini's reputation as an up-and-coming talent, and it was his first international success.

Lattuada's La spiaggia was one of the first films shot in Ferraniacolor. It was a drama about a woman (Martine Carol) who is celebrated and then rejected by the local high society of a fashionable seaside village, when it is discovered she was a prostitute.

Gina Lollobrigida. Italian postcard by Rotalcolor, no. 17.

Martine Carol. German postcard by Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-2. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Gérard Décaux / Ufa.

Caricature-like Airs and Dialects

In addition to acting, Carlo Romano was even more active in dubbing. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he gave his voice to numerous foreign and Italian actors, enriching them with caricature-like airs and when necessary with dialects. Among those whose Italian voice he was, were Fred Astaire, James Cagney, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Fernandel (Romano was his voice in the Italian versions of all the Don Camillo films), Lou Costello (known in Italy as Pinotto) and Peter Lorre.

In later decades he was the Italian voice of Eli Wallach, Rod Steiger and Jason Robards in their Spaghetti Westerns.

For Disney he dubbed Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, 1940), the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1951), the Secretary Bird in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Robert Stevenson, 1971) and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1973).

From the mid-1950s on, Romano also often worked for TV, and he had an even bigger career on the radio, playing in various radio dramas such as La domenica della buona gente/The Sunday of the Good People (1952), directed by Anton Giulio Majano, who also directed him in the 1953 film adaptation.

For years Romano joined the Compagnia del Teatro Comico Musicale of Radio Roma, often directed by Riccardo Mantoni.

His last films were the Spaghetti Western Lo sceriffo di Rockspring/Sheriff of Rock Springs (Mario Sabatini, 1971) with Richard Harrison, and the drama Il venditore di palloncini/The Balloon Vendor (Mario Gariazzo, 1974) with Lee J. Cobb.

Carlo Romano died in Bracciano, Italy in 1975.

Trailer La domenica della buona gente (1953). Source: DiFilm (YouTube).

Trailer I Vitelloni (1953). Source: Argent Films (YouTube).

Sources: AllMovie, Wikipedia (English and Italian) and IMDb.

Danish Asta Nielsen was the first European film star, but the first diva of the silent cinema was an Italian actress, Lyda Borelli. Her ecstatic and aristocratic performance, mixing grand gesture with delicate small details, her elegant attire and her long blond hair caused a craze. In the 1910s girls dyed their hair, went on diets and strove to imitate her twisted postures. This phenomenon was described in Italy as Borellismo. Soon other Italian actresses like Francesca Bertini, Pina Menichelli and Rina de Liguoro also swept across the screen. Their film dramas of the 1910s and early 1920s were full of decadence and outrageous emotion, and they offered an extravaganza of costumes and gestures. Ivo Blom selected for EFSP 12 dazzling postcards of these divas who gave the early Italian cinema grandeur, sensuality and style.

Italian postcard, no. 118. Photo Ed. Soc. Anon. It. Bettini, Roma.

Lyda Borelli (1887-1959) was already an acclaimed stage actress before she became the first diva of the Italian silent cinema. The fascinating film star caused a craze among female fans called 'Borellismo'.

Italian postcard. Ufficio Rev. Stampa, no.894, Milano 25-5-1917. Portrait: Tito Corbella.

Francesca Bertini (1892-1985) had already a prolific career in one-, two- and three-reelers for the Italian companies Cines and Celio, before she received diva status in 1914. In 1921 she married count Paul Cartier and retired. After their divorce, she returned to the film sets. Her last film role was that of a nun in Bernardo Bertolucci's Novecento/1900 (1977).

Italian postcard by TM.

Fascinating and enigmatic Pina Menichelli (1890-1984) was the most bizarre Italian diva of the silent era. With her contorted postures and disdainful expression, she impersonated the striking femme fatale.

Italian postcard. Photo Ed. Emilio Sommariva, Milano, no. 1.

Polish actress Diana Karenne (1888-1940) was also one of the divas of Italian silent cinema. Between 1916 and 1920, Karenne fascinated audiences with her eccentric dresses and make-up, and with her primadonna behaviour. Afterwards she had a career in the German and French silent cinema.

Italian postcard. U.C.I., no. 942. Rina De Liguoro in the Italian silent film Quello che non muore (Wladimiro De Liguoro, 1926).

Rina De Liguoro (1892-1966) was the last diva of the Italian silent cinema of the 1920s. She had her breakthrough in 1924 as the sensual, untamed Roman empress Messalina, and the beautiful countess continued her glittering career in such epics as Quo Vadis (1924), Casanova (1927) and Cecil B. De Mille's notorious Madam Satan (1930).

Italian postcard. Photo DM.

Polish singer and actress Helena Makowska aka Elena Makowska (1893-1964) was a beautiful diva of the Italian silent cinema in the 1910s. During the 1920s she moved to Berlin and also became a star of the German cinema.

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 329. Photo Fontana, Roma.

Polish actress Soava Gallone (1880-1957) was directed in one silent film after another by her husband, Carmine Gallone. From the mid-1910s onwards, the diva starred in many Italian films as the 'femme fragile'.

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 154. Maria Jacobini with Carmela Bonicatti (Carmen Boni) in La preda (Guglielmo Zorzi, 1921).

Among the Italian divas, Maria Jacobini (1892-1944) was an island of serenity, as film historian Vittorio Martinelli expressed it. She was the personification of goodness, of simple love. Her weapon was her sweet and gracious smile. However, in some Italian and later also in German films, she could as well play the vivacious lady, the femme fatale, the comedienne, the hysterical victim, or the suffering mother or wife.

Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna. Foto Pinto, Roma.

Versatile actress Leda Gys (1892-1957) was the only Italian diva who never played vamp roles and the only one whose career lasted until the advent of sound films. She starred in some 80 dramas, comedies, action thrillers and even westerns of the Italian and Spanish silent cinema. Her claim to fame came with the film Christus (1916), shot in Egypt and Palestine, where Gys performed the Madonna.

Italian postcard by Foto Ebano, no. 1.

Elena Sangro (1896-1969) was one of the main actresses of the Italian cinema of the 1920s. In spite of the general film crisis then, she made one film after another. She was also one of the first female directors and she had a famous affair with the 64-year-old poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.

Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 529. Photo Scoffone. Italia Almirante in L'arzigogolo/The Court Jester (Mario Almirante, 1924), an adaptation of the play by Sem Benelli.

Italia Almirante (1890-1941) was one of the great divas of the Italian silent cinema. She starred in the classic epic Cabiria (1914). In the following decades she worked with some of the most important Italian directors of the silent era, including Roberto Roberti, Augusto Genina and Giovanni Pastrone. From 1935 on she played on stage in Brazil, where she suddenly died, when she was bitten by a poisonous insect.

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Roma. Photo Pinto, Roma.

Hesperia (1885-1959) was one of the Italian divas of the silent screen. She often worked with director Baldassarre Negroni, who later became her husband.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday, hosted by Beth at the The Best Hearts are Crunchy. You can visit her by clicking on the button below.

Source: Silents, Please!.

Handsome and distinguished, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (1909-2000) was much more than the son of his superstar father. He was a bright, multi-talent, who excelled in sports and sculpting, was involved in business and was knighted for his war efforts as a lieutenant. And he acted in approximately 100 films or TV shows.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7297/1, 1932-1933. Photo: First National Pictures.

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editr. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 2108. Photo: Paramount Films.

Dutch postcard by J.S.A., no. 192. Photo: Universal Film Booking Office.

Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. 1005. Photo: Universal International.

Noblesse oblige

Douglas Elton Ulman Fairbanks Junior was born in New York City in 1909 as the only child of the future Swashbuckler of silent films, Douglas Fairbanks, and Beth Sully, the daughter of a very wealthy cotton mogul. His parents divorced when he was nine years old, and both remarried.

He lived with his mother in New York, California, Paris and London. He soon proved a gifted boy. Guy Bellinger at IMDb: "Douglas Elton Ulman - better known as Douglas Fairbanks Jr. - never really intended to take up acting as a career. However, the environment he was born into and the circumstances naturally led him to be a thespian. Noblesse oblige."

'Doug' excelled at sports, notably during his stay at the Military Academy in 1919. Later his role in Claude Autant-Lara's L'athlète incomplete/Love Is a Racket (1932) illustrated these abilities. He also excelled academically, and attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly in Paris, where he had followed his divorced mother.

Very early in his life he developed a taste for the arts as well and became a painter and sculptor. Not content to limiting himself to just one field, he became involved in business, in fields as varied as mining, hotel management, owning a chain of bowling alleys and a firm that manufactured popcorn.

During World War II he headed London's Douglas Voluntary Hospital (an establishment taking care of war refugees), was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's special envoy for the Special Mission to South America in 1940 before becoming a lieutenant in the Navy and taking part in the Allies' landing in Sicily and Elba in 1943.

Fairbanks held the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit with V for valour in combat device from the U.S. government for his combat service. In 1949, he was created an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. A fervent Anglophile, he often entertained Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in his London mansion, 'The Boltons'. In 1954, Fairbanks was promoted to the rank of captain in the Navy.

French postcard in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma series by A.N. Paris, no. 71. Photo: Paramount.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 635. Photo: Fanamet Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1242/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Paramount Film.

British postcard in the Film Weekly series, London.

With Joan Crawford. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 4628/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The toast of the town

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. began his film career at the age of 13. Largely on the basis of his father's name, Fairbanks, Jr. was given a contract with Paramount Pictures.

He debuted in the silent comedy Stephen Steps Out (Joseph Henabery, 1923) but the film flopped and his career stagnated despite a critically acclaimed role in Stella Dallas (Henry King, 1925), in which he sported a moustache to play a rich husband. In 1929, he took to the stage, and appeared in Young Woodley and Saturday's Children in Los Angeles. He impressed his father, his stepmother Mary Pickford, and Charlie Chaplin, who encouraged him to continue with acting.

Things really picked up when he appeared in the silent drama Our Modern Maidens (Jack Conway, 1929) opposite Lucille Le Sueur, a young starlet who was soon to become better known as Joan Crawford. They married and the young couple became the toast of the town.

He demonstrated a well-modulated speaking voice and good parts followed in early sound films. He was an ace pilot in the World War I drama The Dawn Patrol (Howard Hawks, 1930), and the hapless partner of Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (Mervyn Leroy, 1931). His separation and 1933 divorce from Joan Crawford gained even more publicity than their courtship and marriage.

The 1930s were a fruitful period for Fairbanks who easily played a wide variety of roles. He was good as the mad Tsar in The Rise of Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934). He was even better as the irresistible villain Rupert of Hentzau in The Prisoner of Zenda (John Cromwell, 1937) starring Ronald Colman. But his most memorable role is probably that of the British soldier in Gunga Din (George Stevens, 1939) with Cary Grant and Victor McLaglen.

Till then Fairbanks had carefully tried to avoid comparisons with his father, but after Doug Senior's death, he proved himself zestful as a romantic adventurer. In films like The Corsican Brothers (Gregory Ratoff, 1942), The Exile (Max Ophüls, 1947) and Sinbad the Sailor (Richard Wallace,1947) the spirit of his father seemed to glow within him.

In the early 1950s, Fairbanks retired from the cinema and moved to London. He produced and was a co-writer of several films. Between 1954 and 1956 he was the executive producer and host of a popular television anthology show, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents . Despite a moving part opposite Fred Astaire and Melvyn Douglas in Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981), he did not appear in a major film.

He published two volumes of autobiography - The Salad Days (1988) and A Hell of a War (1993). Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. also collaborated with Richard Schickel on the illustrated survey of Fairbanks Sr. and Jr. called The Fairbanks Album (1975) and with Jeffrey Vance on a critical study/biography of Fairbanks Sr. ultimately published as Douglas Fairbanks (2008).

He was married three times. After his divorce from Joan Crawford, he was married till her death in 1988 to Mary Lee Eppling, with whom he had three daughters, and from 1991 till his death to Vera Fairbanks. At the age of 90, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. died of a heart attack in 2000. Guy Bellinger: "Now a legend himself, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. left this world with the satisfaction of having lived up to the Fairbanks name at the end of a life nobody could call 'wasted'."b

Douglas Fairbanks jr. in The Narrow Corner (1933)

British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Warner. Publicity still for The Narrow Corner (Alfred E. Green, 1933) with Dudley Digges, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Everett Brown.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934)

British postcard by Valentine's, no. 5904 N. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for The Rise of Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934).

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Gunga Din (1939)

German postcard by Netter's Star Verlag, Berlin. Photo: RKO Radio Film. Publicity still for Gunga Din (George Stevens, 1939).

German postcard by Netter's Star Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Universal International. Publicity still for The Exile (Max Ophüls, 1947).

Maria Montez and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Exile (1947)

Spanish postcard by Sobe, no. 452. Photo: publicity still for The Exile (Max Ophüls, 1947) with Maria Montez.

Sources: Guy Bellinger (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), New York Times, The Telegraph, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Rolla Norman (1889-1971) was a French actor in silent and sound cinema. ‘The Man with Many Faces’ was also a war hero.

French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 140.

Film d'Art

Rolla Norman was born as Edouard Charles Normand in Paris in 1889. He had Alsatian parents, who originally were named Nordmann. They Frenchified it to Normand at the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, when they moved to Paris to sell dairy products.

At a young age, Edouard entered the Conservatoire and won First Prize in Drama and Comedy. He adopted the stage name of Rolla Norman– Rolla referred to the title of a poem by Alfred De Musset which he recited at his graduation at the Conservatoire. Refusing an engagement at the Comédie Française, he started acting instead both on stage and in the cinema, from 1908 on.

Supposedly his first part was in the first Film d’Art production, the short silent film L’assassinat du Duc de Guise/The Assassination of the Duke de Guise (André Calmettes, Charles Le Bargy, 1908). He was 19 at the time.

This appearance was followed by more parts in other Film d’Art productions, all directed by André Calmettes: Louis XI, Le roi de Rome/The King of Rome (1909) with Henri Desfontaines, Héliogabale/Heliogabalus (1909), Rigoletto (1909) with Paul Mounet, and Les enfants d’Edouard (1910) with Émile Dehelly.

From 1909 on, Norman also played for such directors as Albert Capellani, Henri Pouctal and Gérard Bourgeois. In 1912 Norman played in his first feature-length film, an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas Père's Les trois mousquetaires/The Three Musketeers (André Calmettes, Henri Pouctal, 1912). In 1914 he played in the serial Le chevalier de Maison-Rouge/The Knight of the Red House (Albert Capellani, 1914) starring Paul Escoffier and also based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas père. This serial had six sections and 60 episodes.

In 1915 Norman joined the armed forces during WW I and worked in the artillery, thereby almost killing his brother-in-laws who were held in POW camps. After the war, in 1919 he met his future wife and they married. Norman pursued his career in silent cinema, starting in 1919 with Sa gosse/Her Kid (Henri Desfontaines, 1919), starring Elmire Vautier.

French postcard by Editions Filma, no. 107. Photo: F. Bixio.

Salammbô

During the early 1920s Rolla Norman appeared in such films as Une fleur dans la ronce/A Flower in the Brambles (Camille de Morlhon, 1920), Le crime des hommes/The Crime of Men (Gaston Roudès, 1923), Le chant de l’amour triomphant/The Song of the triumphant love (Viktor Tourjansky, 1923) withJean Angelo, Coeurs farouches/Wild hearts (Julien Duvivier, 1924), Credo ou la tragédie de Lourdes/Credo or the Tragedy of Lourdes (Julien Duvivier, 1924), and L’avocat/The lawyer (Gaston Ravel, 1925) with Sylvio de Pedrelli.

In 1924 he had a capital engagement as the male lead in the French super-production Salammbô (Pierre Marodon, 1925), based on the historical novel by Gustave Flaubert. The première took place at the Opéra Garnier in Paris in 1925. A special score was written by Florent Schmitt for the film. In 1991, the film was beautifully restored and presented at the Avignon music festival. Salammbô was presented again at the first Cinémémoire festival in Paris in 1991, with a huge orchestra and a chorus of 80 singers.

After Salammbô, Norman played in the Alexandre Dumas Père adaptation La dame de Monsoreau/The Lady of Monsoreau (René Le Somptier, 1925), starring Geneviève Félix, the prestigious German-Italian coproduction Der Bastard/Il transatlantico/The Bastard (Gennaro Righelli, 1925) starring Maria Jacobini, Jacques Feyder’s touching Gribiche/Mother of Mine (1926) with Jean Forestand Françoise Rosay.

In the next years followed roles in La veine/The vein (René Barberis, 1928) with Sandra Milowanoff, La grande passion/The big passion (André Hugon, 1928) with Lil Dagover, Das letzte Fort/The Last Fort (Kurt aka Curtis Bernhardt, 1929) with Maria Paudler, and Miss Édith, duchesse/Miss Edith, Duchess (Donatien, 1929) with Lucienne Legrand.

French postcard in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma Series by AN, Paris, no. 165. Photo: Sartony.

Hollywood

Around 1930, after sound film had set in, Rolla Norman went to California, where he played in French versions of productions of the First National studio, including Le masque d’Hollywood (Clarence Badger, John Daumery, 1930) - the alternate language version of Show Girl in Hollywood (1930), Lopez, le bandit (John Daumery, 1930) - the French version of The Bad Man (1930), and Contre-enquête (John Daumery, 1930) - the French version of Those Who Dance (1930), all starring Suzy Vernon.

These were followed by L’aviateur (John Daumery, William A. Seiter, 1931) with Douglas Fairbanks jr. (original: The Aviator (1929)), the MGM production Révolte dans la prison (Pàl Fejos, George W. Hill, 1931) which was the French version of The Big House and which starred Charles Boyer, plus the French version of the Buster Keaton comedy Parlor, Bedroom and Bath: Buster se marie (Claude Autant-Lara, Edward Brophy, 1931).

Disillusioned about Hollywood, Norman returned to France and to the French stage and cinema. Until the outbreak of WW II he played in some twenty French sound films, including Échec et mat/Checkmate (Roger Goupillières, 1931) with Dolly Davis, and the Georges Siménon adaptation Le chien jaune/The Yellow Dog (Jean Tarride, 1932).

Norman’s parts became much smaller in the second half of the 1930s. His last part before he fled France, was in the Franco-Dutch coproduction Notre Dame de la Mouise/Our Lady of the Slums (Robert Péguy, 1941). Shooting for the film had started in 1939, but because of the outbreak of the Second World War, it was interrupted and finished in July 1940. Finally the film was released in France in early 1941.

At the end of 1944 Norman was arrested in his house by the French police, as neighbors had suspected him of collaboration. Instead, it came out that when war had broken out, Norman had gone to the States to enlist in the army and then in the OSS, working as a spy, training resistance fighters and preparing the Normandy landing.

In 1946 he was promoted Commander in the Legion of Honour. After the war Norman played small parts in three more films and then retired in 1950. Rolla Norman died in 1971 at Buc, Yvelines, France. He was 82.

French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 2025.

Sources: Mammodouy, Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

Between the mid-1930s and 1943, bright and gentle Antonio Centa (1907-1979) was among the most active actors of the Italian cinema. Among female audiences, he was a popular heartthrob in the White Telephone films. The critics praised his performances in Renato Castellani's Un colpo di pistola/A Pistol Shot (1942) and Zazà (1944).

Italian postcard by ASER, no. 100. Photo: Italcine / Foto Ciolfi.

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Ballerini e Fratini, Florence), no. 2343. Photo: Italcine / Foto Ciolfi.

P.A. of Primo Carnero

Antonio Centa was born in Maniago, Province of Pordenone, in 1907. During the First World War, his family moved to Ferrara in the Friuli region.

Antonio grew up in the world of ceramics and also started his career here. In 1929 he emigrated to the USA, where he first worked as a ceramist and later worked as the personal assistant of the famous boxer Primo Carnero, who also came from Friuli.

Back in Italy, the bright and charming young man was offered the chance to work in the Italian cinema. He appeared in La luce del mondo/The Light of the World (Gennaro Righelli, 1935). Then, director Gustav Machatý gave him a bigger role in Ballerine/Dancers (1936).

He had his breakthrough with the propaganda film Lo squadrone bianco/White Squadron (Augusto Genina, 1936). From then on, he became one of the most active and notable actors. He was especially popular with the female audience, and was the film partner of such divas as Assia Noris, Alida Valli, Isa Miranda, Doris Duranti, María Denis, and Vivi Gioi.

He appeared in the Telefoni Bianchi comedy La contessa di Parma/The Countess of Parma (Alessandro Blasetti, 1936) opposite Elisa Cegani, the propaganda drama Sotto la croce del sud/Under the Southern Cross (Guido Brignone, 1938), set in Italian-occupied Abyssinia following the recent Italian victory there, and another White telephone comedy, Una moglie in pericolo/A Wife in Danger (Max Neufeld, 1939) with French actress Marie Glory.

With his ironic air, he often embodied the role of the antagonist of the hero. He was thus the rival of Fosco Giachetti in the drama Fari nella nebbia/Headlights in the Fog (Gianni Franciolini, 1942), and of Andrea Checchi and Gino Cervi in Gente dell'aria/Air People (Esodo Pratelli, 1943).

Centa had critically acclaimed performances in Renato Castellani's films Un colpo di pistola/A Pistol Shot (1942) with Assia Noris, and Zazà (1944) with Isa Miranda and based on a script by Alberto Moravia.

In 1939 Centa was forced to lend his voice to his colleague Osvaldo Valenti in the film La vedova/The widow (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1939). The part had originally been assigned to him, but at the last moment it was offered to Valenti although Centa had already the contract in his pocket. Centa was punished for having undermined the mistress of a powerful fascist.

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit, no. 4414. Photo: E.N.I.C. (Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche) / Foto Bragaglia.

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 44130. Photo: Bragaglià / E.N.I.C.

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 4433. Photo: Bragaglia / E.N.I.C.

The absolute gentleman loser

Antonio Centa’s film career broke off in 1943 when the Second World War almost halted the Italian film industry.

After the war his success declined. Italian Wikipedia suggests that the reason that he got less leading roles was either a change in the taste of the Italian audiences or the fact that Centa’s weight had become a bit heavy.

He played leading roles in films like the drama Assunta Spina (Mario Mattoli, 1948) with Anna Magnani, and Ombre sul Canal Grande/Shadows on the Grand Canal (Glauco Pellegrini, 1951), where he finds Isa Pola, but gradually he started to be cast in supporting roles, such in the historical-adventure film Il cavaliere misterioso/The Mysterious Cavalier (Riccardo Freda, 1948) with Vittorio Gassman, and the British-Italian coproduction The Glass Mountain (Henry Cass, 1949).

He could be seen in memorable films like the thrilling French-Italian drama Le salaire de la peur/The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953) and Una vita difficile/A Difficult Life (Dino Risi, 1961) as the tour leader and mature suitor of Lea Massari.

One of his last films was the comedy La pecora nera/The Black Sheep (Luciano Salce, 1968), starring Vittorio Gassman. In the late 1960s, Centa retired from the cinema and returned to Ferrara, where he ran a restaurant for a while.

Gloria De Antoni and Oreste De Fornari directed a documentary about him, Il perdente gentiluomo: vita e arte di Antonio Centa (The absolute gentleman loser. Life and art of Antonio Centa) produced by the Cineteca del Friuli. Antonio Centa died in 1979, after a car accident near Rovigo, Italy.

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Ballerini e Fratini, Florence), no. 2353. Photo: ENIC / Foto Gneme.

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Ballerini e Fratini, Florence), no. 201470. Photo: Venturini, Rome.

Italian postcard by ASER (A. Sermiglia Ed. Roma), no. 19. Photo: Ciolfi / Italcine.

Sources: Messagero Veneto (Italian), Wikipedia (Italian and English), and IMDb.

French-Italian pianist and conductor Roberto Benzi (1937) who began his career as a musical whiz kid. He conducted his first concert when he was only six years. In the early 1950s he starred in two popular films by Georges Lecombe.

French postcard. Photo: Rotophoto (?).

Musical whiz kid

Roberto Benzi was born of Italian parents in Marseille, France, in 1937. There his father taught solfege. Roberto's musical gifts, in particular his ‘perfect pitch, were apparent from an extremely young age.

At three years old he began to learn solfege and at four, the piano. He conducted his first concert when he was only six years old. A year later, his parents decided to move to Paris to allow their child the best musical education as possible. Roberto then studied orchestral conducting with André Cluytens and in 1948, the only 11-years-old boy started to work as a orchestra conductor.

The musical whiz kid also appeared in two films during the early 1950s. He had a starring role in Prélude à la gloire/Prelude to Glory (Georges Lacombe, 1949). The film pretended not to be a biography of Benzi, who was named Roberto Luigi in the film. Luigi is a street kid and not a music teacher's son, like Benzi. Luigi is a complete autodidact who meets an old conductor, while Benzi had a musical training since he was 3.

D.B. DuMonteil at IMDb: “Georges Lacombe's film is interesting, enhanced by Claude Renoir's camera work. All that Roberto has to do is act naturally because he plays his own role, even if the story is different. No ham acting, but spontaneity and mainly a phenomenal talent: it is something to see this little boy conducting musicians some of whom could be his grandfather! The raison d'être of the film is the last fifteen minutes when Roberto, after refusing to become a performing animal, conducts a Liszt piece.”

Prélude à la gloire was awarded at the Cannes Film Festival in 1950. The film was followed by L'Appel du destin/Call of Destiny (Georges Lacombe, 1953), in which Benzi costarred with Jean Marais. These films enjoyed an immense success throughout Europe, and inspired several young people to embark upon musical careers.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 157. Photo: Studio Harcourt, Paris.

Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau

When Roberto Benzi was fourteen, he went to study at the College of Françonville, near Paris.

In 1959 he conducted with great success the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet at the Paris Opera. Since that time he has been engaged at a great number of opera houses.

At 22, he made is first recording and since then he has recorded numerous works for the Philips label. He was guest conductor of many famous European orchestras, such as the Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam.

Benzi was the founder and resident conductor of the Orchestre de Bordeaux-Aquitaine from 1972 to 1987. In the Netherlands, he was musical and artistic director of the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra (Het Gelders Orkest) from 1989 to 1998, and artistic supervisor and conductor of the National Youth Orchestra (NJO) from 1991 to 1995.

He was married to French mezzo soprano Jane Rhodes who passed away in 2011. Roberto Benzi is a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d’honneur, the Ordre National du Mérite, the Palmes Académiques and in the Netherlands, Ridder in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau (Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau).

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 262. Photo: Studio Harcourt, Paris.

Sources: RobertoBenzi.com, D.B. DuMonteil (IMDb), Wikipedia (French and Dutch) and IMDb.

Young British-Indian actor Sabu had 'a smile as broad as the Ganges and charm enough to lure the stripes off a tiger'. He became an instant star with Elephant Boy in 1937. Another tropical Technicolor treat was the fun and adventurous Jungle Book (Zoltan Korda, 1942), which delighted audiences with Rudyard Kipling's tale of jungle boy Mowgli years before Walt Disney would make its animation classic.

Vintage collectors card. Photo: publicity still for Jungle Book (Zoltan Korda, 1942) with Sabu as Mowgli.

Dutch postcard, no. 850. Photo: Universal Film. Photo: publicity still for Jungle Book (Zoltan Korda, 1942) with Sabu as Mowgli.

Kipling would have been proud

Jungle Book (1942) is a splendid Technicolor production, produced by Sir Alexander Korda and directed by his brother, Zoltan Korda. It is based on Rudyard Kipling's two Jungle Book anthologies (published in 1894 and 1895), which comprise fifteen stories. For the film four of these stories were used: Mowgli's Brothers, How Fear Came, Tiger! Tiger!, and The King's Ankus.

Sabu stars as the teenaged Mowgli, who was raised by wolves in the jungle of India. After he has left his animal friends, Mowgli appears in a village and is adopted by Messua (Rosemary DeCamp). The story of Disney's animation classic, The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967), can be seen as a prequel to the story of this film.

In the village, Mowgli learns human language and some human ways quickly, but he keeps his jungle ideas. The animals of the jungle know and respect him, they willingly do as he wishes because, they know that he is good and one of them. The influential merchant Buldeo (Spanish born actor Joseph Calleia) is bigoted against 'beasts' including Mowgli, but not so Buldeo's pretty daughter Mahala (Patricia O'Rourke). Mowgli takes the girl on a jungle tour where they find a treasure. This sets the evil of human greed in motion...

Sabu's likable and athletic lead role, the lavish sets by Vincent Korda (yet another Korda brother), the exotic and oriental musical score by Miklos Rozsa and the splendid Technicolor cinematography by Lee Garmes and W. Howard Greene of enchanting forests and a lost city make Jungle Book truly amazing for its time.

Ron Oliver at IMDb: "As teen-aged Mowgli, Indian actor Sabu couldn't be more perfect. Whether as the Wild Boy who first enters the village, or, later, as the completely competent young man who ferrets out the secret of the Lost City's treasure, fights the tiger Shere Khan and communes with deadly snakes, elephants & wolves, he is completely believable. Kipling would have been proud."

German collectors card by Küno's Film-Foto in the series Das Dschungelbuch , no. 1, presented by Sparkasse bank. Photo: publicity still for Jungle Book (Zoltan Korda, 1942) with Sabu as Mowgli.

German collectors card by Küno's Film-Foto in the series Das Dschungelbuch , no. 2, presented by Sparkasse bank. Photo: publicity still for Jungle Book (Zoltan Korda, 1942) with Sabu as Mowgli with Wolf.

German collectors card by Küno's Film-Foto in the series Das Dschungelbuch , no. 3, presented by Sparkasse bank. Photo: publicity still for Jungle Book (Zoltan Korda, 1942) with Sabu as Mowgli with Wolf and Panther. Two scenes with the black panther were obviously shot with the panther behind a glass screen, as a safeguard to protect the actors. In both scenes, showing close-ups of the panther, debris is seen adhering to the glass.

German collectors card by Küno's Film-Foto in the series Das Dschungelbuch no. 4, presented by Sparkasse bank. Photo: publicity still for Jungle Book (Zoltan Korda, 1942) with Sabu as Mowgli and the defeated Shere Khan.

Sources: Ron Oliver (IMDb) and IMDb.

British Flora Robson (1902-1984) was one of the half dozen finest dramatic actresses of her generation. Her range extended from queens to murderesses and she was particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her best known film role was that of Queen Elizabeth I in both Fire Over England (1937) and The Sea Hawk (1940). However, her career was a constant struggle to achieve the roles worthy of her talents.

Flora Robson in Fire Over England (1937)

British postcard by Art Photo Postcard, no. 109. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for Fire Over England (William K. Howard, 1937).

Taken around by horse and carriage to recite

Flora McKenzie Robson was born in South Shields, County Durham. She was of Scottish descent to a family of six siblings. Her father was a ship's engineer. He discovered that Flora had a talent for recitation and she recited Little Orphan Annie in a school performance.

From the age of five, she was taken around by horse and carriage to recite, and to compete in recitations. She was educated at the Palmers Green High School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

At 19, Robson made her stage debut as Queen Margret in the play Wil Shakespeare in 1921. She graduated from RADA with a bronze medal, but then she struggled to find a footing in the theatre. She had a long face with a big nose and a wide mouth and apparently lacked the looks which were then an absolute requisite for actresses in dramatic roles.

After touring in minor parts with Ben Greet's Shakespeare company she played small parts for two seasons in the new repertory company at Oxford, alongside a youthful John Gielgud. Then her contract was not renewed.

Wikipedia: “she was told, as tactfully as possible, that they required a prettier actress. Unable to secure any acting engagements she gave up the stage at the age of 23 and in a disconsolate life-change she took up work as a welfare officer in the Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City”.

In the factory, she formed an amateur theatrical group among the workers there. She later credited this experience with enlarging her view of dramatic structure and acting. In 1929, Tyrone Guthrie, due to direct a season at the new Festival Theatre, Cambridge, asked her to join his company. It was the dramatic making of her.

She played the stepdaughter in Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an author and her acting made her the theatrical talk of Cambridge. More excited applause followed with her Isabella in Measure for Measure, opposite a youthful Robert Donat, the title role in Iphigenia, Varya in the Cherry Orchard and finally the huge challenge of Rebecca West in Ibsen's Rosmersholm.

These performances signalled the arrival of an actress who could either transmit emotional stress or simply hint at it, with rare power. In her second season, though, she had few dramatic opportunities and once again her lack of chocolate-box appeal meant that the management dispensed with her services.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 901. Photo: Janet Jevons.

Caught in the theatrical firmament as a star

In the early 1930s, Flora Robson was cast as the adulterous Abbie in Eugene O'Neill's Desire under the Elms. At the time, the censors considered the play as too shocking to be given a public performance. In the little club theatre, The Gate, near Robson scored a direct hit with audiences and critics alike.

Then, her brief, shocking appearance as the doomed prostitute in James Bridie's play The Anatomist was another success. This lead to a season as leading lady at the Old Vic, opposite Charles Laughton. By the end of 1933 she was caught in the theatrical firmament as a star.

Cinema beckoned. Her film debut had been a bit part in A Gentleman of Paris (Sinclair Hill, 1931). In 1934, Robson played the Russian Empress Elizabeth in Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934). The historical film was produced by Alexander Korda and based on the play The Czarina by Lajos Bíró and Melchior Lengyel, about the rise to power of Catherine the Great. Elisabeth Bergner starred as Catherine.

Robson played a forceful Livia in another Korda production I, Claudius (Josef von Sternberg,1937). This was an unfinished film adaptation of the novels I, Claudius (1934) and Claudius the God (1935) by Robert Graves. Charles Laughton played the title role, but the production was dogged by adverse circumstances, culminating in a car accident involving co-star Merle Oberon that caused filming to be ended before completion.

Robson’s best known film role was that of Queen Elizabeth I in both Fire Over England (William K. Howard, 1937) starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, and the Hollywood Swashbuckler The Sea Hawk (Michael Curtiz, 1940) starring Errol Flynn.

She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ingrid Bergman's Haitian maid, Angelique Buiton in the romantic drama Saratoga Trunk (Sam Wood, 1945). That same year she gave a hypnotic performance as Ftatateeta, the nursemaid and royal confidante to Vivien Leigh's Queen Cleopatra in the screen adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (Gabriel Pascal, 1945). On stage, she was acclaimed in 1942 in the John Van Druten play The Damask Cheek, and in 1949 as the unhappy mother in Leslie Storm's Black Chiffon.

British postcard in the Film Star Autograph Portrait Series, no. 65, by L.D. Ltd., London. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation.

British autograph card by J. Hamilton Mews, London.

Very little personal love

After the Second World War, Flora Robson demonstrated her range again in the cinema. She first appeared in the comedy Holiday Camp (Ken Annakin, 1947), the first of a series of films which featured the very ordinary Huggett family. That same year, she appeared as Sister Philippa in Black Narcissus (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1947), she was a magistrate in Goodtime Girl (David MacDonald, 1948), and a prospective Labour MP in Frieda (Basil Dearden, 1947) featuring Mai Zetterling.

She also appeared in the costume melodrama, Saraband for Dead Lovers (Basil Dearden, 1948), starring Stewart Granger. On stage followed memorable theatrical performances as Lady Macbeth on Broadway (1949) and as Paulina in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (1951) production by John Gielgud.

She was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1952, and raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1960. In between she appeared in such films as Romeo and Juliet (Renato Castellani, 1954) as Juliet’s nurse, and the drama High Tide at Noon (Philip Leacock, 1957).

In the 1960s she continued to act in the West End, in such plays as Ring Round the Moon, The Importance of Being Earnest and Three Sisters. Her later film roles include the Empress Dowager Cixi in the historical epic 55 Days at Peking (Nicholas Ray, 1963), Miss Milchrest in the Miss Marple mystery Murder at the Gallop (George Pollock, 1963), and the Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (William Sterling, 1972).

She continued her acting career late into life, though not on the West End stage, from which she retired at the age of 67. She often played in American television films, including a lavish production of A Tale of Two Cities. She also performed in films for British television, including The Shrimp and the Anemone.

In the cinema, she was last briefly seen a Stygian Witch in the fantasy adventure Clash of the Titans (Desmond Davis, 1981) starring Harry Hamlin. Both the BBC and ITV made special programmes to celebrate her 80th birthday in 1982 and the BBC ran a short season of her best films.

Her private life was largely focused on her large family of sisters, nephews and nieces, who used the home in Wykeham Terrace, Brighton, which she shared with sisters, Margaret and Shela. In 1984, Flora Robson died in the English seaside resort of Brighton. She was 82. She never married or had any children.

"I've known very little personal love, but the public has always shown me great affection", Dame Flora was once quoted. Her two sisters, with whom she shared her life and home, died around the same time.

Trailer The Sea Hawk (1940). Source: retrotrailer (YouTube).

Trailer Black Narcissus (1947). Source: ryy79 (YouTube).

Trailer Beast In The Cellar (1970). Source: Screenbound Pictures (YouTube).

Sources: William McPeak (IMDb), Marvine Howe (The New York Times), Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia and IMDb.

As a kid, I hated, hated, hated operettas. Our family had a subscription to all the operettas that were performed in the Philips Entertainment Centre (a theatre in my hometown Eindhoven, the city of the Philips factories). I remember especially the lady with too much hair and too much perfume sitting before me. Because of her high style I couldn't see anything and the sweet perfume obstructed to bend forward to peak around her. So for me no Fledermaus nor Bettelstudent. And that never changed, until I discovered these witty and charming postcards of the operettas of the early sound films (and of the silent area!). So, can all these operetta fans have been wrong? Don't know, let's waltz!

Mady Christians & Willy Fritsch in Ein Walzertraum

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 48/1. Mady Christians and Willy Fritsch in the Ufa-film Ein Walzertraum (Ludwig Berger, 1925).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 56/3, 1925-1926. Photo: Zelnik Film. Publicity still for An der schönen blauen Donau/The Beautiful Blue Danube (Friedrich Zelnik, 1926) with Lya Mara. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Maria Paudler and Agnes Esterhazy in Der Bettelstudent (1927)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 91/2. Photo: Aafa. Publicity still for the silent Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob & Luise Fleck, 1927) with Maria Paudler and Agnes Esterhazy.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 82/1. Photo: Defu. Publicity still of Lya Mara in Das tanzende Wien/Dancing Vienna (Friedrich Zelnik, 1927).

Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, Wien, no. 720-1. Photo: Paul M. Vajda, Budapest. Polish actor and singer Jan Kiepura (1902-1966) was one of the grand tenors of the 20th century and with his handsome smile he also became a popular film star. Solo and together with Marta Eggerth he starred in many popular film operettas of the 1930s.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5384/1, 1930-1931. Photo: AAFA Film. Publicity still for Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren/Lieutenant were you once with your Hussar (Manfred Noa, 1930) with Mady Christians.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6095/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. Lilian Harvey was Ufa's biggest star of the 1930s. With Willy Fritsch she formed the 'Dream Team of the European Cinema'. Their best film was the immensely popular film operetta Der Kongress tanzt/The Congress Dances (Erik Charell, 1931).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 131/8. Photo: Ufa. Still from Der Kongress Tanzt/The Congress Dances (Erik Charell, 1931) with Paul Hörbiger.Der Kongress Tanzt is a sensual, made with great fun, original, capricious and extravagant operetta. It has elegance, a great cast, brilliant music and songs, wit, great sets; some scenes are even a bit bizarre and fetishistic. This is not a filmed operetta, but a real film-operetta.

Otto Wallburg and Mady Christians in Der Schwarze Husar (1932)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 152/3 Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der Schwarze Husar/The Black Hussar (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1932) with Otto Wallburg and Mady Christians. Otto Wallburg appeared in supporting roles as the overweight comedian. After the rise of the Nazis the Jewish actor had to go in exile, first in Austria and later in the Netherlands. He was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz concentration camp.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 192/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Walzerkrieg/Waltz Time in Vienna (Ludwig Berger, 1933) with Willy Fritsch. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Rose Barsony and Willy Fritsch in Walzerkrieg (1933)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 192/4. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Walzerkrieg (Ludwig Berger, 1933) with Rose Barsony and Willy Fritsch. Hungarian Rose Barsony appeared in 16 films from 1929 to 1938, and was a popular star of the operettas by Paul Abraham.

Dutch postcard by Filma, no. 450. Photo: publicity still for Die Blume von Hawaï/The Flower of Hawaii (Richard Oswald, 1933), an adaptation of the operetta The Flower of Hawaii by Paul Abraham. Star was Marta Eggerth.

This is the last post in EFSP's Dazzling Dozen series, for now.

It is Postcard Friendship Friday, hosted by Beth at the The Best Hearts are Crunchy. You can visit her by clicking on the button below.

Keanu Reeves (1964) is a Canadian actor, producer, director and musician. Though Reeves often faced criticism for his deadpan delivery and perceived limited range as an actor, he nonetheless took on roles in a variety of genres, doing everything from introspective art-house fare to action-packed thrillers. His films include My Own Private Idaho (1991), the European drama Little Buddha (1993), Speed (1994), The Matrix (1999) and John Wick (2014).

Vintage postcard, no. C 445.

British postcard, no. MM373.

British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SPC 3017.

Spanish postcard by Coleccion Estrellas Cinematograficas, Cacitel, no. 73.

British postcard, no. MM371.

Cool breeze over the mountains

Keanu Charles Reeves was born in 1964, in Beirut, Lebanon. His first name means ‘cool breeze over the mountains’ in Hawaiian. His father, Samuel Nowlin Reeves Jr., was a geologist of Chinese-Hawaiian heritage, and his mother, Patricia Bond (née Taylor), was a British showgirl and later a costume designer for rock stars such as Alice Cooper.

Reeves's mother was working in Beirut when she met his father. Upon his parents’ split in 1966, Keanu moved with his mother and younger sister Kim Reeves to Sydney, to New York and then to Toronto. As a child, he lived with various stepfathers, including stage and film director Paul Aaron.

Keanu developed an ardour for hockey, though he would eventually turn to acting. At 15, he played Mercutio in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet at the Leah Posluns Theatre. Reeves dropped out of high school when he was 17.

His film debut was the Canadian feature One Step Away (Robert Fortier, 1985). After a part in the teen movie Youngblood (Peter Markle, 1986), starring Rob Lowe, he obtained a green card through stepfather Paul Aaron and moved to Los Angeles.

After a few minor roles, he gained attention for his performance in the dark drama River's Edge (Tim Hunter, 1986), which depicted how a murder affected a group of adolescents. Reeves landed a supporting role in the Oscar-nominated period drama Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears, 1988), starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich. Reeves joined the casts of Ron Howard's comedy Parenthood (1989), and Lawrence Kasdan's I Love You to Death (1990).

Unexpectedly successful was the wacky comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (Stephen Herek, 1989) which followed two high school students (Reeves and Alex Winter) and their time-travelling high jinks. The success lead to a TV series and a sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (Pete Hewitt, 1991). From then on, audiences often confused Reeves's real-life persona with that of his doofy on-screen counterpart.

British postcard, no. 1034.

British postcard by Box Office, London, no. BO 007.

British postcard by Underground, London, no. MM 396.

British postcard by Underground, London, no. BO110.

British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SPC2621.

Most Desirable Male

In the following years, Keanu Reeves tried to shake the Ted stigma. He developed an eclectic film roster that included high-budget action films like the surf thriller Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991) for which he won MTV's ‘Most Desirable Male’ award in 1992, but also lower-budget art-house films.

My Own Private Idaho (1991), directed by Gus Van Sant and co-starring River Phoenix, chronicled the lives of two young hustlers living on the streets. In Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Reeves embodied the calm resolute lawyer Jonathan Harker who stumbles into the lair of Gary Oldman’s Count Dracula.

In Europe, he played prince Siddharta who becomes the Buddha in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Italian-French-British drama Little Buddha (1993).

His career reached a new high when he starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the hit action film Speed (Jan de Bont, 1994). It was followed by the romantic drama A Walk in the Clouds (Alfonso Arau, 1995) and the supernatural thriller Devil’s Advocate (Taylor Hackford, 1997), co-starring Al Pacino and Charlize Theron.

At the close of the decade, Reeves starred in a Sci-fi film that would become a genre game changer, The Matrix (Andy and Lana Wachowski, 1999). Reeves played the prophetic figure Neo, slated to lead humanity to freedom from an all-consuming simulated world. Known for its innovative fight sequences, avant-garde special effects and gorgeous fashion, The Matrix was an international hit. Two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded (Andy and Lana Wachowski, 1999) and The Matrix Revolutions (Andy and Lana Wachowski, 1999) followed and The Matrix Reloaded was even a bigger financial blockbuster than its predecessor.

British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SPC2581. Photo: publicity still for Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991).

British postcard, no. 1004. Photo: publicity still for Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991).

Vintage postcard, no. PP 105. Photo: publicity still for Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991).

British postcard by Santoro Graphics Ltd., South Yorks, no. C350. Photo: publicity still for My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, 1991).

British postcard, no. 2070. Photo: publicity still for Speed (Jan de Bont, 1994).

A major bonafide box office star

Now a major, bonafide box office star, Keanu Reeves continued to work in different genres and both in big-budget as in small independent films. He played an abusive man in the supernatural thriller The Gift (Sam Raimi, 2000), starring Cate Blanchett, a smitten doctor in the romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give (Nancy Meyers, 2003) opposite Diane Keaton, and a Brit demon hunter in American-German occult detective action film Constantine (Francis Lawrence, 2005).

His appearance in the animated science fiction thriller A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater, 2006), based on the novel by Philip K. Dick, received favourable reviews, and The Lake House (Alejandro Agresti, 2006) , his romantic outing with Sandra Bullock, was a success at the box office.

Reeves returned to Sci-fi as alien Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still (Scott Derrickson, 2008), the remake of the 1951 classic. Then he played a supporting part in Rebecca Miller's The Private Life of Pippa Lee (2009), which starred Robin Wright and premiered at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival.

Reeves co-founded a production company, Company Films. The company helped produce Henry's Crime (Malcolm Venville, 2010), in which Reeves also starred. The actor made his directorial debut with the Chinese-American Martial arts film Man of Tai Chi (2013), partly inspired by the life of Reeves' friend, stuntman Tiger Chen. Martial arts–based themes continued in Reeves's next feature, 47 Ronin (Carl Rinsch, 2013), about a real-life group of masterless samurai in 18th-century Japan who avenged the death of their lord. Variety magazine listed 47 Ronin as one of "Hollywood's biggest box office bombs of 2013".

Reeves returned as a retired hitman in the Neo-Noir action thriller John Wick (Chad Stahelski, David Leitch, 2014). The film opened to positive reviews and performed well at the box office. A sequel, titled John Wick: Chapter Two, is currently in production and is scheduled to be released in 2017. This year, he could be seen in the psychological horror film The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2016) and the romantic horror-thriller Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2016).

Reeves’ artistic aspirations are not limited to film. In the early 1990s, he co-founded the grunge band Dogstar, which released two albums. He later played bass for a band called Becky. Reeves is also a longtime motorcycle enthusiast. After asking designer Gard Hollinger to create a custom-built bike for him, the two went into business together with the formation of Arch Motorcycle Company LLC in 2011.

Reported to be one of the more generous actors in Hollywood, Reeves helped care for his sister during her lengthy battle with leukaemia, and has supported such organisations as Stand Up To Cancer and PETA. In January 2000, Reeves's girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, gave birth eight months into her pregnancy to Ava Archer Syme-Reeves, who was stillborn. The strain put on their relationship by their grief resulted in Reeves and Syme's breakup several weeks later. In 2001, Syme died after a car accident.

Trailer Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989). Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).

Trailer Point Break (1991). Source: Adam Jackson (YouTube).

Trailer Speed (1994). Source: 4thMealisGood (YouTube).

Trailer Little Buddha (1993). Source: vijay kumar (YouTube).

Trailer John Wick (2014). Source: Movieclips Trailers (YouTube).

Sources: Biography.com, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Dark-haired Peer Schmidt (1926-2010) was a German actor, on stage from 1946. He was popular on screen during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s in romantic roles, or as sympathetic innocents and dreamers. He was also the German voice of Gérard Philipe, Marlon Brando and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1209, 1959. Photo: publicity still for Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957).

Peer Schmidt in Der Zigeunerbaron (1962)

Austrian postcard by Verlag Hubmann (HDH Verlag), Wien, no. 81. Photo: Unionfilm, Wien. Publicity still for Der Zigeunerbaron/The Gypsy Baron (Kurt Wilhelm, 1962).

Upright, a little naive, partly dreamy and clumsy

Peer Eugen Georg Schmidt was born in Erfurt, Germany, in 1926. Schmidt's father was a painter. Peer grew up in his hometown of Erfurt. In Berlin, he took acting lessons, but he had to stop with lessons due to military service during the Second World War.

After 1945, he played in theatres in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and other German cities, but also in Zurich. Between 1946 and 1955 he worked under Gustav Gründgens in Düsseldorf.

In 1953, he made his film debut at the side of Johannes Heesters in Liebeskrieg nach Noten/Love War for notes (Karl Hartl, 1953). He also appeared opposite Hardy Krüger and Ruth Leuwerik in Muss man sich gleich scheiden lassen?/Do you have to divorce? (1953).

More supporting roles followed which made him known to a wider audience. In total he appeared in more than 40 films, including Junger Mann, der alles kann/Young man who can do anything (Thomas Engel, 1957) with Georg Thomalla, Bezaubernde Arabella/Charming Arabella (Axel von Ambesser, 1959) starring Johanna von Koczian and Carlos Thompson, and Lemkes sel. Witwe/Lemke's Widow (Helmut Weiss, 1957) with Grethe Weiser.

He often played good-natured, upright, a little naive, partly dreamy and clumsy men and adventurers. In Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957), based on the novel by Thomas Mann, he played Marquis de Venosta whose identity Krull (Horst Buchholz) assumes.

Schmidt had another notable appearance in the international production Monte Carlo or Bust!/Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (Ken Annakin, 1969) about a car rally in the 1920s. This comedy, featuring an all-star cast including Gert Fröbe and Tony Curtis, is a sequel to the hit Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (Ken Annakin, 1965). Monte Carlo or Bust! was a success among audiences and critics alike.

Peer Schmidt in Der doppelte Ehemann (1955)

German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1385. Photo: Dörfler-Film / Deutsche London / Ewald. Publicity still for Der doppelte Ehemann/The double Husband (Ferdinand Dörfler, 1955).

German autograph card. Photo: Lars Looschen.

The German voice of Jean-Paul Belmondo

From the 1960s Peer Schmidt also intensely worked as a voice actor. He lent his distinctive voice to Gérard Philipe in such films as La Chartreuse de Parme/The Charterhouse of Parma (Christian-Jaque, 1948) and to Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951), and Rod Taylor in The Time Machine (George Pal, 1960).

Between 1959 and 1975 he often dubbed Jean-Paul Belmondo, such as in Au bout de souffle/Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960) and Cartouche (Philippe de Broca, 1962).

In the meantime, he also played in several television productions. A huge success was his title role in Der kleine Doktor/The Nature Doctor (Wolfgang Becker, 1974) based on the stories by Georges Simenon. Other TV series were Cafe Wernicke (Herbert Ballmann, 1978) with Johanna von Koczian, and Die Laurents/The Laurents (Erich Neureuther, 1981) with Mathieu Carrière.

However Schmidt felt most at home in the theatre. His favourite stages were the Berlin boulevard theatres, Renaissance Theater, Theater am Kurfürstendamm and Komödie.

From 1966 until his death Peer Schmidt was married with the actress Helga Schlack. Peer Schmidt and his wife lived alternately in Berlin and on the North Sea island Amrum. Schmidt died in 2010 in a Berlin hospital. He was 84.

German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: H. Schlack.

German postcard by Münch, Göttingen. Photo: H. Schlack. Signed in 1990.

Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi—line - German), Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.

Soulful, exotic-looking Swiss actor Vincent Pérez (1964) is known for such French films as Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), Indochine (1992) and La Reine Margot (1994). His international breakthrough was his role as Ashe Corven in The Crow: City of Angels (1996). He is also known as a director and photographer.

Anne Brochet, Vincent Perez and Gérard Depardieu in Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)

French postcard. Photo: Articial Eye. Publicity still for Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990) with Anne Brochet en Gérard Depardieu.

Vincent Perez in The Crow - City of Angels (1996)

British postcard by GB Posters, Sheffield, no. PC0021. Photo: Crowvision Inc., 1996. Publicity still for The Crow: City of Angels (Tim Pope, 1996).

A sexy stare and irresistible charm that has swept Gallic women off their feet

Vincent Pérez was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1964. He is the son of a Spanish father and a German mother. His mother was a homemaker and his father worked in the import-export business.

Vincent wanted to be an actor since he saw a film of Charles Chaplin, at the age of seven. He began putting on shows at school, which he would star in and direct. Perez eventually dropped out to enter photography school. In Geneva, he enrolled at the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, followed by a training at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSAD) and at the experimental school of the Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers, where he trained under famed theatre and opera director Patrice Chéreau.

While still a student, he made his screen debut in Gardien de la nuit/Night Guardian (Jean-Pierre Limosin, 1986). A part followed by in the Anton Chekhov adaptation Hôtel de France (Patrice Chéreau, 1987), which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

His breakthrough role was the tongue-tied lover Christian de Neuvillette opposite Gérard Depardieu in the comedy-drama Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990). Critics considered it the definitive film version of the Edmond Rostand play from 1897. For his standout performance, Perez was nominated for a César Award as Most Promising Actor (Meilleur espoir masculin). According to Gary Brumburgh at IMDb, Perez exudes ‘a sexy stare and irresistible charm that has swept Gallic women off their feet‘.

In Italy, he appeared in title role of the comedy Il viaggio di Capitan Fracassa/Captain Fracassa's Journey (Ettore Scola, 1990) with Emmanuelle Béart. Perez was awarded the prestigious Prix Jean Gabin for his work in the World War II drama La Neige et le Feu/Snow and Fire (Claude Pinoteau, 1991).

He landed the romantic lead opposite Catherine Deneuve in Indochine/Indochina (Rëgis Wargnier, 1992), set in colonial French Indochina during the 1930s to 1950s. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. That year he directed and wrote himself the short film L'échange/The Change (1992) At the Cannes Film Festival, L'échange was nominated for the Golden Palm Award for Best Short Film.

He then co-starred with Sophie Marceau in the romantic comedy Fanfan/Fanfan & Alexandre (1993) written and directed by Alexandre Jardin and based on the director's best-selling 1990 novel. James Travers at Films de France: “Compelling performances from Vincent Perez and Sophie Marceau transform what looks at first like a routine romantic comedy into something far richer, far more compassionate. The second part of the film also contains some moments of artistic brilliance, notably the Cocteau-esque sequence in which the two lovers attempt to make contact through a mirrored partition. Although there are a few unexplained gaps in the narrative—some more back story about Alexandre might have helped—writer-director Alexandre Jardin succeeds in weaving a tender love story that is both original and hauntingly poetic. “

One of his best films is the French period film La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994), starring Isabelle Adjani. The film won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and was an international success. It paved the way for Perez to an international career.

British postcard by London Postcard Company, no. PR 760. Photo: Crowvision Inc., 1996. Publicity still for The Crow: City of Angels (Tim Pope, 1996).

British postcard by London Postcard Company, no. PR 762. Photo: Crowvision Inc., 1996. Publicity still for The Crow: City of Angels (Tim Pope, 1996).

American supernatural horror action film

Vincent Perez was cast next to John Malkovich in the Italian-French-German romance Al di là delle nuvole/Beyond the Clouds (Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders, 1995). Director Antonioni, who was 83 at the time of the film's production, had a stroke that left him severely incapacitated. The film was completed with help from Wim Wenders, who wrote its prologue and epilogue and worked on the screenplay.

Perez then played the lead in the American supernatural horror action film The Crow: City of Angels (Tim Pope, 1996), a sequel to the cult film The Crow (Alex Proyas, 1994) with Brandon Lee, who was accidentally killed on the set during filming by a defective blank, only 8 days before the film would have completed production. The Crow: City of Angels was a minor success.

Perez then starred in the American drama Swept from the Sea (Beeban Kidron, 1997), based on a story by Joseph Conrad about a doomed love affair between a simple country girl (Rachel Weisz) and a Ukrainian peasant (Perez) who is swept onto the Cornish shore in 1888 after his emigrant ship sinks on its way to America.

Back in France, he co-starred with Daniel Auteuil in the Swashbuckler Le Bossu/On Guard (Philippe de Broca, 1997). For his part as a transsexual in Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train/Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (Patrice Chéreau, 1998), he was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actor (Meilleur second rôle masculin).

His American films were less successful. Talk Of Angels was directed in 1996 by Nick Hamm, but not released by its production company, Miramax, until 1998. The drama I Dreamed of Africa (Hugh Hudson, 2000), starring Kim Basinger, was also not received well and a huge financial flop.

Better received was the French comedy Le Libertin/The Libertine (Gabriel Aghion, 2000), in which Perez played the philosopher Denis Diderot, one of the modernists of the French 18th-century Age of Enlightenment movement. His next American projects, the period drama Bride of the Wind (Bruce Beresford, 2001), and the vampire horror film Queen of the Damned (Michael Rymer, 2002) were again critical and box office disappointments.

Perez then directed himself the drama Peau d'Ange/Once Upon an Angel (Vincent Perez, 2002). Derek Elley in Variety: “Vincent Perez makes an interesting behind-the-camera debut with Once Upon an Angel, a smartly put together, well-cast romantic drama that just needed a little more work on the script. Tale of a simple farm girl who loses her virginity to – but not her love for – a more emotionally complex, ambitious young man doesn't add up to a great deal, but features good perfs by leads Morgane More and Guillaume Depardieu.”

His later films include the French-Swiss comedy Bienvenue en Suisse/Welcome to Switzerland (Léa Fazer, 2004), the Russian action film Kod apokalipsisa/The Apocalypse Code (Vadim Shmelyov, 2007), the Franco-Portuguese epic war film Linhas de Wellington/Lines of Wellington (Raúl Ruiz, 2012) and the romantic drama Ce que le jour doit à la nuit/What the Day Owes the Night (Alexandre Arcady, 2012).

On television, he starred in Paris enquêtes criminelles/Paris Criminal Investigations (2007-2008), the French remake of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Pérez starred as Lieutenant Vincent Revel.

He has exhibited his photographic work during festivals and in art galleries. His exhibition Face to Face, including photographs of Carla Bruni, Johnny Hallyday and Gérard Depardieu, was unveiled at Rencontres d'Arles, an annual photography festival in Arles, France.

Since 1998, Vincent Perez is married to Senegalese model/actress/writer Karine Silla. They have three children together, Iman (1999), and the twins Pablo and Tess (2003). Next year, Perez can be seen in Claude Lelouch’s new ensemble film Chacun sa vie et son intime conviction (2017), and in the biopic Dalida (Lisa Azuelos 2017), in which he will play French record producer Eddie Barclay.

British postcard by London Postcard Company, no. PR 764. Photo: Crowvision Inc., 1996. Publicity still for The Crow: City of Angels (Tim Pope, 1996).

British postcard by London Postcard Company, no. PR 768. Photo: Crowvision Inc., 1996. Publicity still for The Crow: City of Angels (Tim Pope, 1996).

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), James Travers (Films de France), Aubry Anne D'Arminio (AllMovie), Vincent Perez.com, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Last Sunday, Hungarian-born actress Zsa Zsa Gabor died of heart failure, aged 99. She sparkled brightly for over 60 years as a symbol of continental glamour and mystery. Her main period in the cinema was in the 1950s, with as a highlight Moulin Rouge (1952), but Gabor was better known for her nine marriages and countless personal appearances on talk shows and in gossip magazines.

Vintage postcard, no. 2054. Photo: publicity still for 3 Ring Circus (Joseph Pevney, 1954).

Queen of Outer Space

Zsa Zsa Gabor was born Sári Gábor in 1917, in Budapest, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Hungary). Her parents were Jolie Gabor (née Janszieka Tilleman, Countess de Szigethy) and Major Vilmos Gabor (a Hungarian officer, born Farkas Miklós Grün), both from Jewish families. They named her after Sári Fedák, who was at the time Hungary's most celebrated actress. Her siblings were socialite Magda Gabor and actress Eva Gabor.

Her mother was wealthy. Zsa Zsa studied at a Swiss boarding school in the 1930s. She was discovered by famous operatic Richard Tauber on a trip to Vienna in 1934. He invited her to sing the soubrette role in his new operetta, Der singende Traum (The Singing Dream), at the Theater an der Wien. After spending three months at the Vienna Acting Academy, Gabor made her stage debut. Two years later she was crowned Miss Hungary 1936, though she was later disqualified as she'd fibbed about her true age.

In 1937, she married her first husband, 35-year-old Turkish government official Burhan Asaf Belge. Eventually she followed her sister Eva to the USA. Zsa Zsa arrived in Hollywood in 1941 with a letter of introduction to Basil and Ouida Rathbone, who granted her admittance into the upper echelons of Hollywood society. In 1944, her mother escaped from Nazi-occupied Budapest, also settling in the USA. One evening at the nightclub Ciro’s, Zsa Zsa met Conrad Hilton and soon the radiant, beautiful blonde married the hotel magnate.

In the early 1950s, Zsa Zsa began to appear on television series. Her first film was at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the musical Lovely to Look At (Mervyn LeRoy, 1952), co-starring Kathryn Grayson and Red Skelton. She next played a supporting role in the comedy We're Not Married! (Edmund Goulding, 1952) at 20th Century Fox, with Ginger Rogers.

Her break into movies big time occurred next with her starring role as French can-can dancer Jane Avril in Moulin Rouge (John Huston, 1952), the fictional account of French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (José Ferrer). In the following years, Zsa Zsa slipped back into supporting roles in films such as Lili (Charles Walters, 1953) and 3 Ring Circus (Joseph Pevney, 1954).

She also appeared in European films like the French comedy L'ennemi public n° 1/The Most Wanted Man (Henri Verneuil, 1953) opposite Fernandel. Her main period of film work was in the 1950s, with supporting roles in Death of a Scoundrel (Charles Martin, 1956) with third husband George Sanders and Yvonne De Carlo, the British crime drama The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (Herbert Wilcox, 1958) with Anna Neagle, and as a strip club owner in Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958). One of her few leading roles was in as the despotic queen Talleah of the planet Venus in the cult camp classic Queen of Outer Space (Edward Bernds, 1958).

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 28C, 1954. Photo: Paramount.

Italian postcard by Casa Editr. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze (B.F.F. Edit), no. 3123. Photo: Paramount.

Catty comments and juicy stories

By the 1960s, Zsa Zsa Gabor was appearing more as herself in Hollywood movies. She appeared to follow her own persona around, and cameo appearances were the order of the day in films such as Pepe (George Sidney, 1960) and Jack of Diamonds (Don Taylor, 1967). More interesting work she found on TV and in European productions like La contessa azzurra/The blue countess (Claudio Gora, 1960) with Amedeo Nazzari.

On TV she had two guest shots on Batman (1966-1968) as gold-digger Minerva, a villainess who stole people's minds with the help of her mineral spa. However, she shone brightest on talk shows or within tabloid gossip pages where she delivered catty comments and juicy stories about her many marriages and romances with famous figures such as Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Frank Sinatra and even Henry Kissinger.

This continued throughout the following decades. She was very memorable as herself in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (David Zucker, 1991), in which she humorously pokes fun at an incident two years before. On 14 June 1989, she was convicted of slapping a police officer, Paul Kramer, during a traffic dispute, when she did not know her license tag was expired. She spent three days in jail and later had to do 120 hours of community services.

Such infamous incidents contributed to her becoming one of the most all-time recognisable of Hollywood celebrities in recent years, and sometimes ridiculed as a result. She was also memorable to British television viewers on The Ruby Wax Show (1997). In 2002, Gabor was reported to be in a coma in a Los Angeles hospital after a horrifying car accident. The 85-year-old star was injured when the car she was travelling in hit a utility pole in West Hollywood, California. The reports about her coma, eventually proved to be inaccurate.

Gabor had a daughter Francesca Hilton (1947-2015) with her second husband, hotel magnate Conrad Hilton. Since 1986, she is married to Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt. This ninth marriage awarded her the title Princess Von Anhalt, Duchess of Saxony. The legitimacy of this title is strongly questioned by many royal genealogists. Gabor also had a long-running feud with German-born actress Elke Sommer that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars and escalated into a multi-million dollar libel suit by 1993 when Gabor and her husband made disparaging remarks about the actress to several German publications. The jury ruled in favour of Sommer and the Anhalts were sentenced to pay $2 million. Zsa Zsa Gabor died on Sunday 18 December 2016 in Los Angeles. She was 99. Farewell, dahlink!

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 274.

Modern postcard by Moviestar. Photo: Gérard Décaux, Paris / Ufa.

Zsa Zsa Gabor’s nine marriages

• Burhan Asaf Belge (1937–1941; divorced), a diplomat and important figure in the development of 20th-century Turkey.
• Conrad Hilton (1942–1947; divorced), Hilton Hotel founder, whose son Nicky later married Elizabeth Taylor.
• George Sanders (1949–1954; divorced), character actor, who later married Zsa Zsa’s sister Magda, just to spite his ex-wife (this marriage ended after six weeks).
• Herbert Hutner (1962–1966; divorced), chairman of the board at Struthers Wells Corporation, New York City.
• Joshua S. Cosden, Jr. (1966-1967; divorced), Texas oil tycoon.
• Jack Ryan (1975-1976; divorced), millionaire inventor, credited with developing the Barbie Doll for Mattel, and the Sparrow III missile.
• Michael O'Hara (1976–1983; divorced), her lawyer in her divorce from Jack Ryan.
• Felipe de Alba (13 April 1983 – 14 April 1983; annulled), Mexican realtor and playboy, who allegedly stayed married to Gabor for all of one day.
• Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt (1986 – present), German prince, who received his title from an adult adoption by Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt.
Zsa Zsa and her famous sisters have racked up a total of 18 divorces.

Trailer Moulin Rouge (1952). Source: -XYZT (YouTube).

Trailer Queen of Outer Space (1958). Source: captainbijou.com (YouTube).

Sources: Robert McFadden (The New York Times), Bobby Jarvis (IMDb), TCM, Biography.com, Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Today French actress Michèle Morgan (1920-2016) has died. The classic blonde beauty has been one of her country's most popular leading ladies for over five decades. The delicate, sophisticated, and detached star was especially noted for her large, expressive eyes. Tomorrow follows part two of this post.

French postcard by Greff S.E.R.P. Editeur, Paris, no. 4. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 71. Photo: Studio Piaz.

French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil, no. 571. Photo: Discina, Paris.

French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil, no. 571 (?).

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 16. Photo: Universal.

Gloomy Allure

Michèle Morgan was born as Simone Renée Roussel in 1920, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Michèle has three younger brothers. Her father was a departmental head in an export house of fragrances. After the crisis of 1929, he found himself unemployed and relocated the family from the wealthy Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine to Dieppe in Upper Normandy.

It was at the Dieppe Casino that Michèle began to attend stage shows and became enamoured with the idea of acting. At 15, she left home with her younger brother Paul to pursue an acting career in Paris. There, she began her career working as an extra. Through a casting agency, she won a bit role in Mademoiselle Mozart/Meet Miss Mozart (Yvan Noé, 1935) starring Danielle Darrieux.

The film's director, Yvan Noé, suggested her to perfect her acting technique by taking lessons. With her salaries for small roles in films like Une fille à papa/A Daughter for Father (René Guissart, 1935) with Josette Day, she paid for drama classes. Morgan studied acting under René Simon and chose the pseudonym of Michèle Morgan, taking it from the Morgan Bank in Paris.

She was soon noticed by director Marc Allégret who offered her a major role in the comedy Gribouille (1937), opposite the great French actor Raimu. Then came Orage (Marc Allégret, 1938) with Charles Boyer, the classic romantic crime drama Le Quai des brumes/Port of Shadows (Marcel Carné, 1938) opposite Jean Gabin and Michel Simon, and Remorques (Jean Grémillon, 1941) again opposite Jean Gabin.

These films established Michèle Morgan as one of the leading actress of the time in French cinema. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "Her remote, enigmatic features and gloomy allure had audiences comparing her to a young Greta Garbo."

French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 5. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

French postcard by Viny, no. 16. Photo: Film Osso. Publicity still for Marcel Carné's classic film Quai des brûmes/Port of Shadows (1938).

French postcard by Viny, no. 29. Photo: Star.

French postcard by Edition Ross, no. F17. Photo: Intran-Studio. Collection: Marlène Pilaete.

French postcard by C.M.B., no. 500.

So-so Reception in the USA

Upon the invasion of France in 1940 by the Germans, Michèle Morgan left for the United States. However, she had already been offered her contract with RKO before the start of WW2. She married American actor/singer William Marshall in 1942. Their son Mike Marshall (1944-2005) later became an actor in both France and Hollywood.

Morgan started to work for RKO. She was considered for the role of Lina in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941), but was soon passed over since her English wasn't deemed good enough. The role went to Joan Fontaine, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. Morgan then worked hard to perfect her English and, for an entire year, she saw a linguistic coach for several hours a day and improved considerably.

Morgan's first Hollywood film became Joan of Paris (Robert Stevenson, 1942), co-starring RKO leading man Paul Henreid. It would be her only American hit. Her Hollywood adventure proved to be disappointing. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "Her eventual move to Hollywood was based purely on her European prestige, but she did not stand out among the other female foreign imports of that time, such as Ingrid Bergman."

Nothing major came her way apart from rather routine sultry roles amid WW II surroundings. A disaster was her part in the musical Higher and Higher (Tim Whelan, 1943) starring Jack Haley and Frank Sinatra. Morgan had no prior singing experience and was supposed to take a few lessons as quickly as possible.

Morgan was considered for the role of Ilsa Lund in Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942), but her studio RKO wouldn't release her for the amount of money Warner Bros was offering and Ingrid Bergman was cast instead. Later, she did make Passage to Marseille (Michael Curtiz, 1944)with director Michael Curtiz and Humphrey Bogart. But this film was far less successful than Casablanca. Her last American film was the noirish The Chase (Arthur Ripley, 1946) based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich and starring Robert Cummings.

After the so-so reception for her American films, Michèle Morgan returned to France. In her autobiography Avec ces yeux-là (With Those Eyes, 1977), she tells an ominous anecdote about her house in Hollywood. She had a house built at 10050 Cielo Drive, slightly isolated from the other star mansions. Michèle was scared at the thought of staying alone at the place and claimed that she was often hearing sinister noises. She decided to move in with her new husband, William Marshall. In 1969, the house became site of Sharon Tate's murder by the followers of Charles Manson.

Dutch postcard by S. & v. H. A. Photo: M.P.E.A.

French postcard by Editions P.I., La Garenne-Colombes, no. 133. Photo: GIBE.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 208. Photo: Universal.

Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 1939.

British postcard in the Star Souvenir Series by Jarrold and Sons, Ltd, Norwich, no. 61. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for Maria Chapdelaine (Marc Allégret, 1950).

With Those Eyes

At home in France, Michèle Morgan was treated much better than in Hollywood. She received the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her touching performance as the blind heroine in La symphonie pastorale (Jean Delannoy, 1946) with Pierre Blanchar. She then appeared in the British thriller The Fallen Idol (Carol Reed, 1948) opposite Ralph Richardson.

Next, she moved to Italy for Fabiola (Alessandro Blasetti, 1949). After several years of wartime austerity, the Italian film industry returned to the Peplum, the sand and sandals spectacle. Morgan plays the title role, the daughter of a Roman aristocrat (Michel Simon) during the takeover by Emperor Constantine. As a reaction to Constantine's Christian conversion policy, many old-line Romans are persecuting the city's Christian community, killing the believers off before Constantine marches into town. Fabiola is loyal to her Christian-sympathising father but is irresistibly drawn to a Roman gladiator (Henri Vidal).

Privately she was also drawn to Vidal. During the shooting of the film, she secretly began a relationship with her co-star. At the time her marriage to William Marshall was already falling to pieces. Marshall, who wished to gain custody of their son, hired some private detectives to follow Morgan's moves and eventually managed to have her photographed in bed with Henri Vidal. Morgan therefore lost custody of Mike due to adultery. In 1950 Vidal and Morgan married.

In 1950 she also appeared in Maria Chapdelaine/The Naked Heart (Marc Allegret, 1950). Adaptor and director Allegret has fashioned the novel by Louis Hemon into a vehicle for his successful discovery. Morgan plays a young woman whose romantic fantasies begin spilling over into actuality. The film's novelty value is its setting: a remote village in Northern Canada. Filmed simultaneously in French and English-language versions, The Naked Heart was produced independently on a tiny budget. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "while the seams begin to show towards the end, for the most part the film works."

French postcard by EPC, no. 175.

French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 112. Photo: Star.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 365. Photo: Sam Lévin, Paris.

French postcard by Editions P.I., offered by Les Carbones Korès, no. 80. Photo: Qibé. Publicity still for Aux yeux du souvenir/To the Eyes of Memory (Jean Delannoy, 1948) with Jean Chevrier and Jean Marais.

Scene from Remorques (1941). Source: Carochoupi (YouTube).

To be continued tomorrow.

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia, AllMovie, and IMDb.