European Film Star Postcards

Petite Janet Gaynor (1906-1984) was the innocent-eyed, round-faced Hollywood star who won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles in three silent films. She went on to become a leading performer in talking pictures, and was one of the most popular Hollywood leading ladies in the 1920s and 1930s. She and Charles Farrell were 'America's favorite love-birds'. By 1934 she was receiving a yearly salary of $252,583 from Fox, making her Hollywood's most highly paid actress.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5491. Photo: Fox.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5702. Photo: Charles Munn Autrey / Fox-Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1852/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Fox. Janet Gaynor as Dutch farmer girl, 'Volendammer' style.

German postcard by Ross Verlag no. 4403/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox. Publicity still for Christina (William K. Howard, 1929).

Murnau

Janet Gaynor was born Laura Gainor in 1906, in Philadelphia. Her family moved to Chicago and to Hollywood, where her stepfather was determined that she become a star. She made the rounds of the studios and eventually found work as an extra.

She got her start in films through her sister, a secretary for producer Hal Roach. Gaynor later boasted that she "never had an acting lesson in my life". Universal gave her a contract and she appeared in such shorts as The Gunless Bad Man (William Wyler, 1926) and Don't Shoot (William Wyler, 1926).

Fox executives noticed her and called her in for a test for the second lead in The Johnstown Flood (Irving Cummings, 1926) with George O’ Brien. After the test, the 18-years-old was signed to a five-year contract. She worked with John Ford on The Shamrock Handicap (1926) and The Blue Eagle (1926), again opposite George O’Brien.

Seventh Heaven (Frank Borzage, 1927), in which she played Diane, a Montmartre waif who is rescued from hardship and cruelty by Charles Farrell, made her a star. In 1928 the Oscars were first presented, and Gaynor was named best actress. The award was for her roles in three films - Seventh Heaven (1927), Sunrise (F. W. Murnau, 1927), and Street Angel (Frank Borzage, 1928). This was the first and only time an actress won the Oscar for multiple roles.

Gaynor again worked with Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau on the circus drama 4 Devils (F.W. Murnau, 1928) and with Farrell and Borzage on Lucky Star (Frank Borzage, 1929). She was teamed with Charles Farrell in 11 films altogether as she went from "the World's Sweetheart" to "America's favorite love-birds".

Janet Gaynor, Nancy Drexel, Barry Norton and Charles Morton in 4 Devils (1928)

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 708. Photo: Charles Munn Autrey / Fox. Publcity still for 4 Devils (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1928). 4 Devils is one of the most famous 'lost' films.

Charles Morton, Janet Gaynor, Nancy Drexel and Barry Norton in 4 Devils (1928)

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 711. Photo: Charles Munn Autrey / Fox. Publcity still for 4 Devils (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1928), with Charles Morton, Janet Gaynor, Nancy Drexel and Barry Norton.

Janet Gaynor and Charles Morton in 4 Devils (1928)

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 720. Photo: Charles Munn Autrey / Fox. Publcity still for 4 Devils (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1928), with Charles Morton

A Star Is Born

Janet Gaynor switched easily to the new talking pictures as her voice translated well to sound. In 12 successive years she made 36 films for Fox, including Daddy Longlegs (Alfred Santell, 1931), Tess of the Storm Country (Alfred Santell, 1932), State Fair (Henry King, 1933), and The Farmer Takes a Wife (Victor Fleming, 1935).

But Gaynor eventually tired of being typecast in the endless comedies and musicals that exploited her special qualities of innocence, vulnerability and sweetness. In 1937, she left Fox to join David O. Selznick and make A Star Is Born (William A. Wellman, 1938) with Fredric March in the classic story of two married film stars, one on the way up and the other on the way down. It was to be one of her most memorable films, and she was nominated for another Academy Award.

Denny Jackson at IMDb: “She was very convincing as Vicki Lester (aka Esther Blodgett), struggling actress trying for the big time. Told by the receptionist at Central casting ‘You know what your chances are? One in a hundred thousand,’ Esther/Vicki replies, ‘But maybe--I'm that one’”

Gaynor was very quiet about her personal life and valued her privacy. In 1932, she had married lawyer Lydell Peck, but they were divorced in 1934. After appearing in The Young in Heart (1938), Gaynor announced that she was retiring from acting. She was 33 and at the peak of her career.

In 1939, she married famous MGM costume designer Gilbert Adrian, known by the single name Adrian. The following year, they had a son, Robin Gaynor Adrian. Her husband died in 1959, and she married producer Paul Gregory in 1964. After she left full-time acting, Gaynor spent much of her time painting; she had several one-woman shows of her work at galleries in Palm Springs, Chicago and New York. Mostly she painted plants and flowers.

Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in Seventh Heaven

Italian postcard offered by Cioccolata Lurati, no. 124. Photo: Fox. Publicity still for Seventh Heaven (Frank Borzage, 1927) with Charles Farrell.

Italian postcard. Imprint on back: Ballerini & Fratini, Florence, no. 125, but originally an Iris Verlag card, no. 5934. Photo: Charles Munn Autrey / Fox.

Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in Sunnyside Up (1929)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5001/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Fox. Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in the early sound film Sunnyside Up (David Butler, 1929).

Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor in Delicious (1931)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6452/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Fox. Publicity still for Delicious (David Butler, 1931), with Charles Farrell.

Taxi Cab Accident

In the 1950s, Janet Gaynor returned to acting. She appeared in the Pat Boone musical Bernardine (Henry Levin, 1957) as Boone’s mother, and in 1959, she made her stage debut in The Midnight Sun, but the production was a disaster.

Twenty years later she was offered a starring role in the Broadway production of Harold and Maude, the story of an 80-year-old woman who has a relationship with an 18-year-old boy. Reviewers liked Gaynor but not the play. It closed after 21 performances.

But Gaynor continued to appear occasionally on the stage. Her last screen appearance was a guest-role in the popular TV series The Love Boat (1981). In 1982 she starred in a touring production of On Golden Pond.

That same year, Gaynor and her longtime close friend Mary Martin were in a taxi cab accident in San Francisco. Martin's manager was killed and Gaynor suffered 11 rib fractures and pelvic and abdominal injuries. She never fully recovered from her injuries and two years later, she died of complications from the accident, at Desert Hospital in Palm Springs, Calif. Janet Gaynor was 77.

Dutch postcard, no 252. Photo: Hal Phyfe / Fox. Publcity still for Delicious (David Butler, 1931).

Dutch postcard by J.S.A., no 107. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox.

British postcard by De Reszke Cigarettes, no. 45.

Italian postcard by TET (Tip. Ed. Taurinia, Torino). Photo: 20th Century Fox.

Sources: David Bird (The New York Times), Denny Jackson (IMDb), TCM, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Dashingly handsome Oliver Tobias (1947) was born in Switzerland but started his career in the original London production of Hair (1968), playing the prime rebel role of Berger. He is also known for the title roles in the popular TV series Arthur of the Britons (1972-1973) and the soft-core flick The Stud (1978) opposite Joan Collins. In the following decades, he continued to work as a stage, TV and film actor and director in Great Britain as well as in Germany and Switzerland.

German promotion card by Aladin / EMI Electrola, no. DrWa3193. Photo: Hellemann / Bravo. The card promotes the single I Love You Tomorrow/Dearest Old Friend.

German autograph card by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Ina Berneis.

Hair

Oliver Tobias was born in 1947 as Oliver Tobias Freitag in Leimbach, a village near Zürich in Switzerland. He is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor Robert Freitag and the German actress Maria Becker. He had two brothers, Christopher and Benedict. Benedict Freitag also became an actor. Christopher committed suicide at the age of 20.

After the divorce of his parents, 8-years-old Oliver went with his mother to the United Kingdom and later trained at East 15 Acting School, an off-spring of Joan Littlewoods Theatre Workshop in London. During his holidays he studied dance at the Ecole de Dance in Zürich.

In 1968, he appeared in the original London production of Hair, playing the prime rebel role of Berger. The following year, he starred in, directed, and choreographed the rock opera in Amsterdam and, in 1970, he directed a production in Tel Aviv. Oliver continued his counterculture musical career with the role of Judas in a German production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Tobias's film debut was in the French-Italian-Yugoslav adventure film Romansa konjokradice/Romance of a Horsethief (Abraham Polonsky, 1971), co-starring with Yul Brynner, Serge Gainsbourg and Eli Wallach. He then co-starred with Charlotte Rampling and Fabio Testi in the Italian film Addio fratello crudele (Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, 1971), based on the Jacobean tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford.

He became popular as Arthur in the TV series Arthur of the Britons (Sidney Hayers a.o., 1972-1973). He returned in the role in the feature film King Arthur, the Young Warlord (Sidney Hayers, Pat Jackson 1975). Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: “A remote and rather prevailing sullenness has only enhanced the mystique and charisma found in dashingly handsome Oliver Tobias.”

Peter Weir directed him in the TV series Luke's Kingdom (Peter Weir, 1976), set in colonial Australia. In 1978, he co-starred with Joan Collins in The Stud (Quentin Masters, 1978), based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Collins' younger sister Jackie Collins. Tobias later claimed that his typecasting in the film as an amorous waiter who sleeps his way to the top ruined his career, while the box-office success of the film helped Joan Collins to restart her career.

Tobias then starred as Prince Hasan in Arabian Adventure (Kevin Connor, 1979), starring Christopher Lee. He also co-starred with David Niven and Richard Jordan in the heist film A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Ralph Thomas, 1979).

German autograph card by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Ina Berneis.

British autograph card by www.olivertobias.co.uk..

Mata Hari

In 1981, Oliver Tobias starred in the British television series Dick Turpin's Greatest Adventure, where he played the character Noll Bridger, a Colonial North American. He also starred in the children's drama series Smuggler (1981), set in Cornwall in 1801. He appeared as The Devil in the video for Ultravox's 1982 hit Hymn.

His films included the British drama The Wicked Lady (Michael Winner, 1983), a remake of the popular 1945 Gainsborough melodrama of the same name. The film received a Razzie Award nomination for Faye Dunaway as Worst Actress. He was also part of the cast of the soft-porn biopic Mata Hari (Curtis Harrington, 1985) which focused more on the disrobing of its star Sylvia Kristel than anything else.

In Austria he starred as Johann Strauss - Der König ohne Krone/Johann Strauss: The King Without a Crown (Franz Antel, 1987) with Mathieu Carrière and Karin Dor. He did not give up his musical roots, showing his prowess in the title role of the rock opera Peer Gynt in Zurich, and in the role of The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance at London's Drury Lane Theatre.

As a stretch he also appeared as Bassa Selim at London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden in the W.A. Mozart opera The Abduction from the Seraglio in 1988 and 1989. Then he acted in a non-musical, the powerful AIDS drama The Normal Heart.

Tobias starred alongside Charles Gray in the Science Fiction film Firestar - First Contact (David Kent-Watson, 1991), at the side of Ernest Borgnine in the Italian actioner L'ultima meta/The Last Match (Fabrizio De Angelis, 1991) and in the Swedish thriller Vendetta (Mikael Håfström, 1995), starring Stefan Sauk.

A year later, Tobias played Rebecque, an aide to the Prince of Orange (Paul Bettany), in the TV drama Sharpe's Waterloo (Tom Clegg, 1996). He also acted in the Irish comedy The Brylcreem Boys (Terence Ryan, 1998), starring Bill Campbell and Gabriel Byrne. In 2000, he returned to the West End in the musical La Cava.

Three years later, he portrayed Percival Brown in the 50th-anniversary production of The Boy Friend and the next year toured in the rock musical Footloose. He has been acting in a variety of roles for German and Swiss TV and also worked on stage in Italy. Tobias also directs such plays as An Airfield in England (2005), produced at Lasham Airfield, England, and Ritter von Miracle by Lopez de Vega which was produced in the castle of Berlechingen in Germany. His brother Benedict played the leading role of Luzman.

His most recent film is the British war comedy Dad's Army (Oliver Parker, 2016), based on the classic BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays an elegant journalist, who is sent to report on the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon. This is all before MI5 discovers that there is a German spy hiding in the fictional British town. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, though Toby Jones' performance as Captain Mainwaring was praised.

Oliver Tobias is divorced from Camilla Ravenshear, with whom he had two daughters, Angelika and Celeste. In 2001, he married Polish-born model Arabella Zamoyska, who is 27 years younger. They have two boys, Luke and Felix, and live in London.

German trailer for Arthur of the Britons (1972-1973). Source: Arild Rafalzik (YouTube).

Trailer The Stud (1978). Source: Umbrella Entertainment (YouTube).

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), OliverTobias.co.uk, Wikipedia and IMDb.

French actress Juliette Binoche (1964) has appeared in more than 60 international films. She won numerous international awards, and has appeared on stage across the world. André Téchiné made her a star in France with the leading role in his drama Rendez-vous (1985). Her sensual performance in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Philip Kaufman, 1988) launched her international career. Other career highlights are her roles in Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993), The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996), for which she won an Oscar, and Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005).

Juliette Binoche in Le hussard sur le toit (1995)

French postcard by CEC Rhone-Alpes. Photo: Mario Tursi. Publicity still for Le hussard sur le toit/The Horseman on the Roof (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1995).

The darling of the festival

Juliette Binoche was born in Paris, in 1964. She was the daughter of Jean-Marie Binoche, a director, actor, and sculptor, and Monique Yvette Stalens, a teacher, director, and actress. She is the sister of actress/photographer Marion Stalens. Her parents divorced when she was four, so she grew up living between each parent and a Catholic boarding school.

In her teenage years Juliette began acting at school in stage-productions. At 17 she directed and starred in a student production of the Eugène Ionesco play, Exit the King. She studied acting at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique (CNSAD), but quit after a short time as she disliked the curriculum.

In the early 1980s, she found an agent through a friend and joined a theatre troupe, touring France, Belgium and Switzerland under the pseudonym Juliette Adrienne. After performing in several stage productions and a few TV productions, Binoche secured her first feature-film appearance with a minor role in the drama Liberty Belle (Pascal Kané, 1983). Her role required just two days on–set, but was enough to inspire Binoche to pursue a career in film.

In 1983, she auditioned for the female lead in Jean-Luc Godard's' controversial Je vous salue, Marie/Hail Mary (1985), a modern retelling of the Virgin birth. She spent six months on the set of the film in Geneva, although her role in the final cut only contained a few scenes.

She gained more significant exposure in Jacques Doillon's critically acclaimed La Vie de Famille/Family Life (1985), cast as the volatile teenage step-daughter of Samy Frey's central character. Director André Téchiné made her a star in France with the leading role in his provocative erotic drama Rendez-vous (1985). The film, co-starring Lambert Wilson and Jean-Louis Trintignant, premiered at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival, winning Best Director.

Rendez-vous was a sensation and Binoche became the darling of the festival. In 1986, Binoche was nominated for her first César for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance. She starred opposite Michel Piccoli in the avant-garde thriller Mauvais Sang/Bad Blood (Leos Carax, 1986). Binoche plays Anna the vastly younger lover of Marc (Piccoli) who falls in love with Alex (Denis Lavant), a young thief. Mauvais Sang was a critical and commercial success, leading to Binoche's second César nomination.

She gave a sensual performance opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Philip Kaufman, 1988), the adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel. It was Binoche's first English language role and was a worldwide success with critics and audiences alike.

In the summer of 1988, Binoche returned to the stage in an acclaimed production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull directed by Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky at Théâtre De L'Odéon in Paris. Later that year she began work on Léos Carax's Les Amants du Pont-Neuf. The film was beset by problems and took three years to complete, requiring investment from three producers and funds from the French government. When finally released in 1991, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf was a critical success. Binoche won a European Film Award and her third César nomination for her performance.

French postcard in the Le jour se lève series by Editions Humour à la carte, Paris, no. ST-170. Photo: Jean-Pierre Larcher.

The most expensive film in the history of French cinema

Juliette Binoche chose to pursue an international career outside France. Binoche relocated to London for the Emily Bronte adaptation Wuthering Heights (Peter Kosminsky, 1992) with Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff, and Damage (Louis Malle, 1992) with Jeremy Irons, both enhanced her international reputation. For her performance in Damage, Binoche received her fourth César nomination.

She sparked the interest of Steven Spielberg, who offered her roles in three films: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Jurassic Park (1993), and Schindler's List (1993). which she declined.

Instead, she chose for Trois couleurs : Bleu/Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993), for which she won the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actress and a César. The first film in a trilogy inspired by the ideals of the French republic and the colors of its flag, Three Colors: Blue is the story of a young woman who loses her composer husband and daughter in a car accident. Though devastated she learns to cope by rejecting her previous life by rejecting all people, belongings and emotions. Binoche made cameo appearances in the other two films in Krzysztof Kieślowski's trilogy, Trois couleurs : Blanc/Three Colors: White (1994) and Trois couleurs : Rouge/Three Colors: Red (1994).

Binoche took a short sabbatical during which she gave birth to her son Raphaël in September 1993. In 1995, she returned to the screen in a big-budget adaptation of Jean Giono's Le hussard sur le toit/The Horseman on the Roof (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1995) with Olivier Martinez. At the time, it was the most expensive film in the history of French cinema. The film was a box-office success around the world and Binoche was again nominated for a César for Best Actress.

She gained further acclaim in The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996), for which she was awarded an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress in addition to the Best Actress Award at the 1997 Berlin International Film Festival. Binoche was reunited with director André Téchiné for Alice et Martin (1998), the story of a relationship between an emotionally damaged Parisian musician and her younger lover (Alexis Loret) who hides a dark family secret.

Juliette Binoche appeared on stage in a 1998 London production of Luigi Pirandello's Clothe the Naked retitled Naked and in a 2000 production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal on Broadway for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Between 1995 and 2000, she was also the advertising face of the Lancôme perfume Poème.

Juliette Binoche and Olivier Martinez in Le hussard sur le toit (1995)

Danish postcard by Go Card, no. 2194, 1996. Photo: Camera Film. Publicity still for Le hussard sur le toit/The Horseman on the Roof (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1995) with Olivier Martinez.

A welcome change from playing the romantic heroine

Juliette Binoche was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance opposite Johnny Depp in the romantic comedy Chocolat (Lasse Hallström, 2000).

Another hit was the period drama La Veuve de Saint-Pierre (Patrice Leconte, 2000), for which she was nominated for a César for Best Actress. Opposite Daniel Auteuil she played the role of a woman who attempts to save a condemned man from the guillotine. The film won favourable reviews, and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

Next she appeared in Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages/Code Unknown (Michael Haneke, 2000), a film which was made following Binoche's approach to the Austrian director. Her critically acclaimed role was a welcome change from playing the romantic heroine in a series of costume dramas.

During the following decade, she maintained a successful career, alternating between French and English language roles in both mainstream and art-house productions. 'La Binoche' appeared in such films as Jet Lag (Daniele Thompson, 2002) opposite Jean Reno, Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005), and Breaking and Entering (Anthony Minghella, 2006) with Jude Law.

Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 2007) pays homage to Albert Lamorisse's 1957 short The Red Balloon. The film tells the story of a woman's efforts to juggle her responsibilities as a single mother with her commitment to her career as a voice artist. Shot on location in Paris, the film was entirely improvised by the cast.

In 2008 Binoche began a world tour with a modern dance production titled in-i, co-created in collaboration with Akram Khan. In 2010, she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy (2010) making her the first actress to win the European ‘Best Actress Triple Crown’ for winning best actress award at the Berlin, Cannes and Venice film festivals.

Her later films include Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg, 2011) with Robert Pattinson, Camille Claudel 1915 (Bruno Dumont, 2013) and Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas, 2014). In 2015, Binoche starred on stage in a new English language translation of Antigone, directed by Ivo van Hove.

Juliette Binoche has two children: a son Raphaël (1993), whose father is André Halle, a professional scuba diver, and a daughter Hana (1999), whose father is actor Benoît Magimel, with whom Binoche starred in Les Enfants du Siècle/Children of the Century (Diane Kurys, 1999).

Juliette Binoche in Code inconnu Récit incomplet de divers voyages (2000)

Hungarian postcard by Montazs 2000. Photo: publicity still for Code inconnu Récit incomplet de divers voyages (Michael Haneke, 2004).

Sources: Dale O'Connor (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

British actor Boris Karloff (1887-1969) is one of the true icons of the Horror cinema. He portrayed Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939), which resulted in his immense popularity. In the following decades he worked in countless Horror films, but also in other genres, both in Europe and Hollywood.

British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no 707 H. Photo: Universal.

Vintage playing card.

British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no W 516. Photo: Universal International.

An exotic Arabian or Indian villain

Boris Karloff was born as William Henry Pratt in 1887 in London, England. Pratt himself stated that he was born in Dulwich, which is nearby London. His parents were Edward John Pratt, Jr. and his third wife Eliza Sarah Millard.

‘Billy’ never knew his father. Edward Pratt had worked for the Indian Salt Revenue Service, and had virtually abandoned his family in far off England. Edward died when his son was still an infant and so Billy was raised by his mother. He was the youngest of nine children, and following his mother's death was brought up by his elder brothers and sisters.

As a child, Billy performed each Christmas in plays staged by St. Mary Magdalene's Church. His first role was that of The Demon King in the pantomime Cinderella. Billy was bow-legged, had a lisp, and stuttered. He conquered his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable throughout his career in the film industry.

After his education at private schools, he attended King's College London where he took studies aimed at a career with the British Government's Consular Service. However, in 1909, the 22-years-old left university without graduating and sailed from Liverpool to Canada, where he worked as a farm labourer and did various odd itinerant jobs.

In Canada, he began appearing in theatrical performances, and chose the stage name Boris Karloff. Later, he claimed he chose ‘Boris’ because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that ‘Karloff’ was a family name. However, his daughter Sara Karloff publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, Karloff or otherwise.

One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to his family. He did not reunite with his family until he returned to Britain to make The Ghoul (T. Hayes Hunter, 1933), opposite Cedric Hardwicke. Karloff was extremely worried that his family would disapprove of his new, macabre claim to world fame. Instead, his brothers jostled for position around him and happily posed for publicity photographs.

In 1911, Karloff joined the Jeanne Russell Company and later joined the Harry St. Clair Co. that performed in Minot, North Dakota, for a year in an opera house above a hardware store. Whilst he was trying to establish his acting career, Karloff had to perform years of difficult manual labour in Canada and the U.S. in order to make ends meet. He was left with back problems from which he suffered for the rest of his life.

In 1917, he arrived in Hollywood, where he went on to make dozens of silent films. Some of his first roles were in film serials, such as The Masked Rider (Aubrey M. Kennedy, 1919), in Chapter 2 of which he can be glimpsed onscreen for the first time, and The Hope Diamond Mystery (Stuart Paton, 1920). In these early roles, he was often cast as an exotic Arabian or Indian villain.

Other silent films were The Deadlier Sex (Robert Thornby, 1920) with Blanche Sweet, Omar the Tentmaker (James Young, 1922), Dynamite Dan (Bruce Mitchell, 1924) and Tarzan and the Golden Lion (J.P. McGowan, 1927) in which James Pierce played Tarzan. In 1926 Karloff found a provocative role in The Bells (James Young, 1926), in which he played a sinister hypnotist opposite Lionel Barrymore. He worked with Barrymore again in his first sound film, the thriller The Unholy Night (Lionel Barrymore, 1929).

American postcard by Zoetrope Images Ltd., Boston, no 432. Photo: Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931).

American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 233/01. Photo: Universal Pictures. Publicity still for Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931).

American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 233/06. Photo: Universal Pictures. Publicity still for Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931).

A frightening sight to behold

A key film which brought Boris Karloff recognition was The Criminal Code (Howard Hawks, 1931), a prison drama in which he reprised a dramatic part he had played on stage. With his characteristic short-cropped hair and menacing features, Karloff was a frightening sight to behold. Opposite Edward G. Robinson, Karloff played a key supporting part as an unethical newspaper reporter in Five Star Final (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931), a film about tabloid journalism which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture.

Karloff's role as Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931), based on the classic Mary Shelley book, propelled him to stardom. Wikipedia: “The bulky costume with four-inch platform boots made it an arduous role but the costume and extensive makeup produced the classic image. The costume was a job in itself for Karloff with the shoes weighing 11 pounds (5 kg) each.”

The aura of mystery surrounding Karloff was highlighted in the opening credits, as he was listed as simply "?." The film was a commercial and critical success for Universal, and Karloff was instantly established as a hot property in Hollywood. Universal Studios was quick to acquire ownership of the copyright to the makeup format for the Frankenstein monster that Jack P. Pierce had designed.

A year later, Karloff played another iconic character, Imhotep in The Mummy (Karl Freund, 1932). The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932) with Charles Laughton, and the starring role in MGM’s The Mask of Fu Manchu (Charles Brabin, 1932) quickly followed. Steve Vertlieb at The Thunder Child: “Wonderfully kinky, the film co-starred young Myrna Loy as the intoxicating, yet sadistic Fah Lo See, Fu Manchu's sexually perverse daughter. Filmed prior to Hollywood's infamous production code, the film joyously escaped the later scrutiny of The Hayes Office, and remains a fascinating example of pre-code extravagance.”

These films all confirmed Karloff's new-found stardom. Horror had become his primary genre, and he gave a string of lauded performances in 1930s Universal Horror films. Karloff reprised the role of Frankenstein's monster in two other films, the sensational Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) and the less thrilling Son of Frankenstein (Rowland V. Lee, 1939), the latter also featuring Bela Lugosi.

Steve Vertlieb about Bride of Frankenstein: “Whale delivered perhaps the greatest horror film of the decade and easily the most critically acclaimed rendition of Mary Shelley's novel ever released. The Bride of Frankenstein remains a work of sheer genius, a brilliantly conceived and realized take on loneliness, vanity, and madness. The cast of British character actors is simply superb.”

While the long, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close friendship, it produced some of the actors' most revered and enduring productions, beginning with The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ullmer, 1934). Follow-ups included The Raven (Lew Landers, 1935), the rarely seen, imaginative science fiction melodrama The Invisible Ray (Lambert Hillyer, 1936), and The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945).

Karloff played a wide variety of roles in other genres besides Horror. He was memorably gunned down in a bowling alley in Howard Hawks' classic Scarface (1932) starring Paul Muni. He played a religious First World War soldier in John Ford’s epic The Lost Patrol (1934) opposite Victor McLaglen.

Between 1938 and 1940, Karloff starred in five films for Monogram Pictures, including Mr. Wong, Detective (William Nigh, 1938). During this period, he also starred with Basil Rathbone in Tower of London (Rowland V. Lee, 1939) as the murderous henchman of King Richard III, and with Margaret Lindsay in British Intelligence (Terry O. Morse, 1940). In 1944, he underwent a spinal operation to relieve his chronic arthritic condition.

Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

French postcard in the Collection Cinéma by Editions La Malibran, Paris, no. CA 53, 1989. Photo: Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester in Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935).

American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 233/007. Photo: Universal Pictures. Publicity still for The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) with Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester.

Boris Karloff on the set of The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

French postcard in the Entr'acte series by Editions aphodèle mâcon, no 001/09. Photo: Boris Karloff relaxing with a cigarette during an interval of the shooting of Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935).

Bone chilling intensity

Boris Karloff revisited the Frankenstein mythos in several later films, including taking the starring role of the villainous Dr. Niemann in House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944), in which the monster was played by Glenn Strange. He reprised the role of the ‘mad scientist’ in Frankenstein 1970 (Howard W. Koch, 1958) as Baron Victor von Frankenstein II, the grandson of the original creator. The finale reveals that the crippled Baron has given his own face (i.e., Karloff's) to the monster.

From 1945 to 1946, Boris Karloff appeared in three films for RKO produced by Val Lewton: Isle of the Dead (Mark Robson, 1945), The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945), and Bedlam (Mark Robson, 1946). Karloff had left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course.

Karloff was a frequent guest on radio programs. In 1949, he was the host and star of the radio and television anthology series Starring Boris Karloff. In 1950, he had his own weekly children's radio show in New York. He played children's music and told stories and riddles, and attracted many adult listeners as well.

An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. In 1962, he reprised the role on television with Tony Randall and Tom Bosley. He also appeared as Captain Hook in the play Peter Pan with Jean Arthur.

In 1955, he returned to the Broadway stage to portray the sympathetic Bishop Cauchon in Jean Anouilh's The Lark. Karloff regarded the production as the highlight of his long career. Julie Harris was his co-star as Joan of Arc in the celebrated play, recreated for live television in 1957 with Karloff, Harris and much of the original New York company intact. For his role, Karloff was nominated for a Tony Award.

Karloff donned the monster make-up for the last time for a Halloween episode of the TV series Route 66 (1962), which also featured Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney, Jr. In the 1960s, Karloff appeared in several films for American International Pictures, including The Comedy of Terrors (Jacques Tourneur, 1963) with Vincent Price and Peter Lorre, The Raven (Roger Corman, 1963), The Terror (Roger Corman, 1963) with Jack Nicholson, and Die, Monster, Die! (Daniel Haller, 1965).

Another project for American International release was the frightening Italian horror classic I tre volti della paura/Black Sabbath (Mario Bava, 1963), in which Karloff played a vampire with bone chilling intensity. He also starred in British cult director Michael Reeves's second feature film, The Sorcerers (1966).

He gained new popularity among a young generation when he narrated the animated TV film Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Chuck Jones, Ben Washam. 1966), and provided the voice of the Grinch. Karloff later received a Grammy Award for Best Recording For Children after the story was released as a record.

Then he starred as a retired horror film actor in Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968). Steve Vertlieb: “Targets was a profoundly disturbing study of a young sniper holding a small Midwestern community, deep in the bible belt, terrifyingly at bay. The celebrated subplot concerned the philosophical dilemma of creating fanciful horrors on the screen, while graphic, troubling reality was eclipsing the superficiality so tiredly repeated by Hollywood. Karloff co-starred, essentially as himself, an aged horror star named Byron Orlok, who wants simply to retire from the imagined horrors of a faded genre, only to come shockingly to grips with the depravity and genuine terror found on America's streets. Bogdanovich's first film as a director won praise from critics and audiences throughout the world community, and won its elder star the best, most respectful notices of his later career.”

In 1968, he played occult expert Professor Marsh in the British production Curse of the Crimson Altar (Vernon Sewell, 1968), which was the last Karloff film to be released during his lifetime. He ended his career by appearing in four low-budget Mexican horror films, which were released posthumously.

While shooting his final films, Karloff suffered from emphysema. Only half of one lung was still functioning and he required oxygen between takes. he contracted bronchitis in 1968 and was hospitalised. Early 1969, he died of pneumonia at the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, in Sussex, at the age of 81. Boris Karloff married five times and had one child, daughter Sara Karloff, by his fourth wife.

Trailer The Mummy (1932). Source: The Mummy (Karl Freund, 1932). (YouTube).

Trailer Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Source: Movieclips (YouTube).

Trailer for I tre volti della paura/Black Sabbath (1963). Source: revokcom (YouTube).

Sources: Steve Vertlieb (The Thunder Child), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

The Italian silent film Resurrezione/Resurrection (Mario Caserini, 1917) starred diva Maria Jacobini and André Habay. The Tiber-film production was based on Leo Tolstoy's powerful novel.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917) with Maria Jacobini. Caption: It is a sin what you're doing... I am innocent.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917) with Maria Jacobini. Caption: ... and then descending to a room and the reception of the guests.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917) with Maria Jacobini. Caption: On 17 January in a room of Hotel Mauritania, Smielkov suddenly died.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917). Caption: Close to the window, holding the iron grill, they talked to the arrested.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917) with André Habay. Caption: We have sentenced an innocent and I want to repair.

Forced into prostitution

Resurrezione/Resurrection (1917) is based on the novel Voskreseniye, first published in 1899. It was the last novel written by Leo Tolstoy. The novel had already been filmed before by D.W. Griffith in 1909 as Resurrection and in Russia as Katyusha Maslova (Pyotr Chardynin, 1915), the first film role of Natalya Lisenko(or Nathalie Lissenko).

While member of a jury, the rich Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhlyudov (André Habay) recognises the accused Katusa Maslova (Maria Jacobini). She is the girl who was once a maid in his family and whom he seduced, forcing her into prostitution.

She is framed for the murder of a business man and sent to Siberia. Dmitri visits her in prison, hears other stories of other prisoners and realises his gilded life and class justice. Even when loving him back, Maslova refuses to marry him, as she wants to free him from her.

Tolstoy intended the novel as an exposition of the injustice of man-made laws and the hypocrisy of the institutionalised church. The novel also explores the economic philosophy of Georgism, of which Tolstoy had become a very strong advocate towards the end of his life, and explains the theory in detail. It was first published serially in the popular weekly magazine Niva in an effort to raise funds for the resettlement of the Doukhobors.

Resurrezione/Resurrection (Mario Caserini, 1917) premiered in Rome on 26 April 1917. Other film adaptations include the Italian film Resurrection (1944); a Chinese film version entitled 蕩婦心/A Forgotten Woman (1944) starring Bai Guang; a Russian film version directed by Mikhail Shveitser in 1960, with Yevgeny Matveyev. The best-known film version, however, is Samuel Goldwyn's English-language We Live Again (Rouben Mamoulian, 1934) with Fredric March and Anna Sten. Finally, the Italian directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani released a TV film Resurrezione in 2001.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917) with Maria Jacobini. Caption: Maslova inhaled the tobacco's smoke a few times, then uttered: Forced labour!

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917) with Maria Jacobini. Caption: the punishment with the 'vosga' (like a cat o'nine tails).

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917). Caption: It is this bandit himself who has set the house on fire because he had insured it, and then he blamed my mother and me for it.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917) with André Habay. Caption: Who do you wish to see? the guardian asked the prince. Katerina Maslova, he answered him with difficulty.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917) with Maria Jacobini and André Habay. Caption: From Nisgui to Perm he had twice occasion to see Maslova again.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917) with Maria Jacobini and André Habay. Caption: Non, don't forgive me if I don't do what you want, but you have a right to live too.

Italian postcard for Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917). Caption: Unable to have obtained anything, Neklindoff got back into the carriage which waited form him at the prison's gate.

Sources: Wikipedia (English and Italian) and IMDb.

German actor and director Reinhold Schünzel (1888-1953) started his successful film career during the first World War. He helmed and appeared in more than 100 productions, specialising in light comedies such as the classic ‘drag’ farce Viktor und Viktoria/Victor and Victoria (1933). In 1937 he had to flee Nazi-Germany and continued his career in Hollywood.

German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 5070. Photo: Becker & Maass.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1837. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1907/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa.

Self-indulgent Bonvivant and Seducer

Reinhold Schünzel was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1888 (some sources: 1886). After finishing school, he completed an apprenticeship as a merchant in the Berlin-based publishing company Scherl. He then worked in Berlin, later in Hamburg, as a branch manager for the publishing company.

Besides, he worked as a part-time extra in films. He became a full-time actor in 1912. He then performed at Stadttheater Bern and at Berlin's Komödienhaus at Schiffbauerdamm and at Theater at Königgrätzer Straße. His film debut was in Werner Krafft (Carl Froelich, 1916) with Erika Glässner.

In the same year he was discovered by Richard Oswald. From then on he often played the part of the self-indulgent bonvivant and seducer, the sly pander and extortionist in Oswald's films. He starred in the Aufklärungsfilms (educational film) Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen/The Diary of a Lost Woman (Richard Oswald, 1918) with Erna Morena, Werner Krauss, and Conrad Veidt, and Das gelbe Haus/Prostitution (Richard Oswald, 1919) starring Anita Berber.

With Veidt he starred in Anders als die Andern/Different from the Others (Richard Oswald, 1919), where he embodied the blackmailer of a homosexual violinist, played by Veidt. He also appeared as the villain in the crime films of the Max Landa series, such as Das Geheimnis des Amerika-Docks/The Secret of the America Dock (Ewald André Dupont, 1919).

In 1919 he directed his first film, Maria Magdalena/Mary Magdalena (Reinhold Schünzel, 1919) with Lucie Höflich. He followed this up with the Aufklärungsfilm Das Mädchen aus der Ackerstraße/The Girl From the Ackerstrasse (1920) and the elaborate history film Katharina die Große/Catherine the Great (1920).

Henny Porten and Reinhold Schünzel in Höhenluft

German postcard by Film-Sterne Verlag, no. 508/4. Henny Porten and Reinhold Schünzel in the Messter comedy Höhenluft (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).

Eduard von Winterstein, Rosa Porten and Reinhold Schünzel in Die Erzkokette (1917)

German collectors card by Ross Verlag for the album Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst. Teil I. Der stumme Film (Cigaretten-Bilderdienst Altona-Bahrenfeld 1935), Bild no. 43, Gruppe 41. Photo: Treumann-Larsen-Film. Publicity still for Die Erzkokette/The Superflirt (Franz Eckstein, Rosa Porten, 1917) with left Eduard von Winterstein and Rosa Porten.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K.2931. Photo: Union. Reinhold Schünzel in Das Karussell des Lebens (Georg Jacoby, 1918). According to German Wikipedia Schünzel's presence in the film is unsure, but this postcard seems to prove it.

Henny Porten and Reinhold Schünzel in Auf Probe gestellt

German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 520/3. Photo: Messter Film. Henny Porten and Reinhold Schünzel in the German silent comedy Auf Probe gestellt (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 627/6. Photo: Union Film. Publicity still of Reinhold Schünzel andPola Negri in Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919). After the death of King Louis XV (Emil Jannings), his minister Choiseul (Schünzel) chases DuBarry (Negri) from the Royal palace.

Classic Drag Farce

Still in 1920, Reinhold Schünzel set up the production company Schünzel-Film and merged it several months later with the Vienna-based production company Micheluzzo & Co. (Micco-Film). The new production company then produced Der Graf von Cagliostro/The Count of Cagliostro (1920), starring Conrad Veidt and Anita Berber. Schünzel helmed the film as producer, director and actor.

Schünzel also starred in ambitious productions like Madame Dubarry/Passion (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) starring Pola Negri, and the Friedrich Schiller adaption Luise Millerin (Carl Froelich, 1922) featuring Lil Dagover.

From the second half of the 1920s on he specialised as a director in light comedies. He displayed his full comedic potential in films such as Adam und Eva/Adam and Eve (1923), Halloh Caesar!/Hello Cesar! (1926), and Don Juan in der Mädchenschule/Don Juan in the Girl’s School (1928) with Adolphe Engers.

Even when he was at his busiest as a director, Schünzel found time to act in other men's films, notably Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s adaptation of Die 3-Groschen-Oper/The Beggar's Opera (G.W. Pabst, 1931), in which he played crooked constable Tiger Brown.

With the introduction of sound film his comic talent as a director came even to better advantage. From 1931 on, Schünzel worked as a director for Ufa and finished a number of very successful musical films, including Saison in Kairo/Cairo Season (1933), the classic ‘drag’ farce Viktor und Viktoria/Victor and Victoria (1933), and Amphitryon - the clouds comes from the happiness/Amphitryon – Aus den Wolken kommt das Glück (1935). In all these film Renate Müller played the leading role.

Schünzel also directed the simultaneously film French-language version of Viktor und Viktoria: George et Georgette (Roger Le Bon, Reinhold Schünzel, 1933) starring Meg Lemonnier. Viktor und Viktoria would also lead to such remakes as Victor, Victoria (Blake Edwards, 1981) starring Julie Andrews.

German postcard by Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm. Photo: Atelier Eberth, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1328/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1328/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1585/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa.

Half-Jew

After 1933, Reinhold Schünzel was only by special permission of the Nazis allowed to work because he was described as ‘half-Jew’. Though he tried to make the best of things after Adolph Hitler's ascent to power, the ironic undertone of his films eventually got Schünzel in trouble with the Nazi regime. There were so many interventions in his films that he left the country after finishing Land der Liebe/Land of Love (1937) with Albert Matterstock.

He resettled in Hollywood. His American directorial debut was Rich Man Poor Girl (1938). Although the three musical films he made for MGM were quite successful - the others were Balalaika (1939) and The Ice Follies of 1939 (1939) - and featured stars like Joan Crawford and James Stewart, Schünzel was not able to make his breakthrough in Hollywood. Thus, New Wine (1941) happened to be his last film as a director.

From then on he concentrated solely on playing character roles. He appeared as a Nazi villain in major films as Hangmen Also Die! (Fritz Lang, 1943) and Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946). Amidst the requisite Nazis and Professorial types, Schünzel enjoyed one of his best-ever screen roles in Paramount's The Man in Half-Moon Street (Ralph Murphy, 1945), playing the conscience-stricken associate of murderous ‘eternal-life’ experimenter Nils Asther.

In 1949 (some sources say 1952) he returned to Germany and worked again at on stage in Munich, as he appeared as a supporting actor in films. For his role in Meines Vaters Pferde/My father's horses (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1954), he received the Bundesfilmpreis (Federal Film Award) as Best Male Supporting Actor.

Shortly after, Reinhold Schünzel died in Munich of a heart disease. He was the father of Marianne Stewart. On the occasion of Schünzel’s 100th Birthday in 1988, CineGraph – the Hamburg Institute Center for Film Research dedicated a congress to the work of the director and actor.

Subsequently a biography was published: Reinhold Schunzel: Schaupieler und Regisseur (1989), by Hans-Michael Bock, Wolfgang Jacobson, and Joerg Schoening. The publication inspired Hans-Christoph Blumenberg to make a film about Schünzel, Beim nächsten Kuß knall ich ihn nieder!/The Next Kiss I’ll Shoot Him! (1995). Since 2004 CineFest, the International Festival of German Film Heritage, has the Reinhold Schünzel Award, a yearly honorary award for long service to the care, preservation and dissemination of the German film heritage.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 361/1. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 361/2. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 361/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Alex Binder.

Dolly Haas, Reinhold Schünzel and Lucie Mannheim in Der Ball (1931)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6079/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Vandal & Delac. Publicity still for Der Ball/The Ball (Wilhelm Thiele, 1931) with Dolly Haas and Lucie Mannheim.

German postcard by Deutsche London Film. Photo: Intercontinental-Film / London-Film / Lilo.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, TCM, Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.

Béatrice Altariba (1939) was the pretty star of many French comedies of the 1950s, often opposite her partner Darry Cowl. Till 1969 she appeared in more than 30 productions, including several Italian films.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris. Photo Sam Lévin.

French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 733. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 204. Photo: Studio Pietri.

Popeline

Béatrice Altariba was born Béatrice Florence Andrée Altarriba in Paris, France in 1939. She is the granddaughter of painter Émile Bernard and the small-niece of symbolist poet Paul Fort.

She started her career in revues and musical theatre, then she made her debut in the cinema at 17 in the French-Italian drama Club de femmes/Women's Club (Ralph Habib, 1956) starring Nicole Courcel, Dany Carrel and Ivan Desny.

Her early film appearances included supporting parts in films like Pardonnez nos offenses/Forgive our insults (Robert Hossein, 1956) starring Marina Vlady, Lorsque l'enfant paraît/When the Child Appears (Michel Boisrond, 1956) with Gaby Morlay, and L'homme et l'enfant/Man and Child (Raoul André, 1956) featuring Eddie Constantine.

Success came when her fiancé at the time, Darry Cowl, made her Popeline, the pretty heroine of the burlesque comedy Le Triporteur/The Tricyclist (Jacques Pinoteau, 1957) and its sequel Robinson et le triporteur/Monsieur Robinson Crusoe (Jacques Pinoteau, 1959).

Meanwhile, they were also partners in other comedies such as L'Ami de la famille/A Friend of the Family (Jacques Pinoteau, 1957), Sois belle et tais-toi/Be Beautiful But Shut Up (Marc Allégret, 1958) starring Mylène Demongeot, and Le Petit Prof/The Little Professor (Carlo Rim, 1959).

Remarkable is also her role as Cosette in Les Misérables (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1958), the French-East German-Italian film adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. It stars Jean Gabin as Jean Valjean and Bernard Blier as Javert. This memorable version was filmed in East Germany and is according to Wikipedia overtly political. It was a massive hit in France, the second most popular of 1958.

French postcard by Editions P,I,, Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 869. Photo: Bernard et Vauclair, Paris.

French autograph card. Photo: Teddy Piaz, Paris.

Beatrice Altariba in Les Misérables (1958)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 141/576, 1959. Photo: DEFA / Corbeau. Publicity still for Les misérables (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1958) with Béatrice Altariba as Cosette. The film was a co-production of DEFA (East-Germany), P.A.C. (France), Serena (Italy) and Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinéma (France).

Béatrice Altariba and Gianni Esposito in Les misérables (1958)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb. Photo: DEFA. Publicity still for Les misérables (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1958) with Béatrice Altariba as Cosette and Giani Esposito as Marius.

Beautiful Victim

Without Cowl's assistance, Béatrice Altariba continued her film career successfully into the 1960s. In the excellent horror film Les yeux sans visage/Eyes Without A Face (Georges Franju, 1960) she played one of the young and beautiful victims of a mad surgeon (Pierre Brasseur) and his assistant (Alida Valli).

The film was influential on several directors, including Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar who stated his La piel que habito/The Skin I Live In (2011), which features Antonio Banderas as a mad scientist who performs skin grafts and surgeries on an unwilling victim, was heavily influenced by Les yeux sans visage.

In Italy, Béatrice Altariba appeared opposite Anita Ekberg in the comedy A porte chiuse/Behind Closed Doors (Dino Risi, 1961) and with Brett Halsey in the historical adventure film Le sette spade del vendicatore/The Seventh Sword (Riccardo Freda, 1962). It is a remake of Freda's debut film Don Cesare di Bazan (1942). She was also Jean-Paul Belmondo’s mistress in the crime drama Un nommé La Rocca/A Man Named Rocca (Jean Becker, 1961) based on a novel by José Giovanni.

In the American B-film The Young Racers (Roger Corman, 1963) starring Mark Damon, she played a small role. The film was shot on location in Europe to take advantage of the real life grand prix. Again in Italy she played in the Totò comedy Totò diabolicus (Steno, 1963), the parody I quattro moschettieri/The Four Musketeers (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1963), and in a segment of the anthology film Su e giù/Up and down (Mino Guerrini, 1965).

Her roles got smaller through the late 1960s including an uncredited part in La prisonnière/Female Prisoner (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1968) starring Laurent Terzieff, and a bit role as a saloon woman in the Spaghetti Western Cimitero senza croci/Cemetery Without Crosses (Robert Hossein, 1969), starring Michèle Mercier and Robert Hossein.

Her last television appearance was in the first episode of the French children's TV series Les chevaliers du ciel/The Aeronauts (1967), based on a comic book series by Jean-Michel Charlier and Albert Uderzo titled Tanguy et Laverdure, about two pilots, and their adventures in the French Air Force.

Gianni Esposito and Beatrice Altariba in Les Misérables (1958)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 951, 1958. Photo: DEFA. Publicity still for Les misérables (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1958) with Béatrice Altariba as Cosette and Giani Esposito as Marius.

French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 679. Photo: Sam Lévin.

German postcard by UFA, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3400. Photo: Sam Lévin / Unifrance Film.

Sources: Jean-Pascal Consrtantin (Les Gens du Cinéma), Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.

On Thursday 18 April 2017, French film actress Yvonne Monlaur has passed away. She starred in several European film productions of the late 1950s and 1960s. The glamorous French starlet is best known for her roles in a few Hammer horror films.

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/395. Photo: Gérard Decaux.

The Year's Sexiest Screen Newcomer

Yvonne Monlaur was born Countess Yvonne Thérèse Marie Camille Bedat de Monlaur in Pau, France in 1939. Her father was a White Russian count and her mother was a ballet dancer, who had great plans with her daughter. Yvonne followed her mother's footsteps and took ballerina lessons.

She eventually worked as a teenage model for magazines like Elle, when director André Hunebelle discovered her. He gave her small parts in his films Treize à table/Thirteen at the Table (André Hunebelle, 1955) with Micheline Presle, and Mannequins de Paris/Mannequins of Paris (André Hunebelle, 1956) starring Madeleine Robinson. She then had a supporting part in the Fernandel comedy Honoré de Marseille/Honoré from Marseille (Maurice Régamey, 1956).

Then Italian director Franco Rossi called her to Rome for the Italian-Spanish co-production Amore a prima vista/Love at First Sight (Franco Rossi, 1958) starring Walter Chiari. She appeared in more Italian films such as Non sono più Guaglione/I am not Guaglione anymore (Domenico Paolella, 1958) with Sylva Koscina, and Tre straniere a Roma/Three Strangers in Rome (Claudio Gora, 1958) with Claudia Cardinale in one of her first leading roles.

That year Monlaur was also spotted by the British producer Anthony Hinds. He asked to come to England to play in the an episode of the TV series Women in Love (1958) with George Sanders as the host.

In 1959 she suddenly seemed to be ‘hot’ all over Europe. In France a Paris magazine voted her the year's sexiest screen newcomer, in Great Britain she was featured with a four-page pictorial in the September issue of Male magazine and in Italy she is on the cover of a June issue of Tempo magazine and an Italian newspaper called her 'the year's most promising actress'. But during the shooting of the comedy Avventura a Capri/Adventure on Capri (Giuseppe Lipartiti, 1959) she had a serious accident. She suffered bad facial burns in a speedboat accident, resulting in months of recovery at a hospital.

Claudia Cardinale, Yvonne Monlaur and Francoise Darnell in Tre straniere a Roma (1958)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, no. 1187, 1960. Publicity still for Tre straniere a Roma/Three Strangers in Rome (Claudio Gora, 1958) with Francoise Darnell, Claudia Cardinale and Yvonne Monlaur.

Hammer Horror

In 1960 Yvonne Monlaur travelled, accompanied by her mother, to England for a series of films. First she co-starred in the comedy Inn for Trouble (C.M. Pennington-Richards, 1960). Then followed the Hammer horror film The Brides of Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1960). She was introduced in the trailer as 'the latest sex kitten from France'.

Hal Erickson writes at AllMovie: “One of the best of the Hammer horrors, Brides of Dracula stars Peter Cushing as tireless vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing. Though Drac himself doesn't make an appearance, his influence is felt thanks to teenaged bloodsucker Baron Meinster (David Peel). The baron's loving mother (Martita Hunt) shelters her son from harm, all the while scouring the countryside for potential female victims. When misguided schoolteacher Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur) falls in love with young Meinster, Van Helsing is forced to take drastic measures to show her the error of her ways. Excellent (and very bloody) special effects highlight this sumptuous production.”

In Circus of Horrors (Sidney Hayers, 1960), this time produced by Amalgamated studios, Monlaur appeared alongside Donald Pleasance and Anton Diffring as a deranged German plastic surgeon.

She played a Chinese lady in the Hammer production The Terror of the Tongs (Anthony Bushell, 1961) with Christopher Lee as the vicious leader of a Chinese Tong gang operating in 1910 Hong Kong. Hal Erickson describes it as “a gory, garishly colored melodrama written by Jimmy Sangster in the tradition of the Fu Manchu films.”

Back in Italy she had a small part in the romantic comedy It Started in Naples (Melville Shavelson, 1960) starring Clark Gable and Sophia Loren.

She continued to work in England too and appeared in Time to Remember (Charles Jarrett, 1962), one of a series of second feature films based on Edgar Wallace novels released in the UK between 1960 and 1965.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, no. 791. Photo: Studio Vauclair.

Lemmy Caution

In France Yvonne Monlaur played a supporting part in Lemmy pour les dames/Ladies’man (Bernard Borderie, 1962), one of the cult action films starring Eddie Constantine which were based on the crime novels by Peter Cheney.

She stayed in France for the crime comedy À cause, à cause d'une femme/Because of a Woman (Michel Deville, 1963) with Jacques Charrier and Mylène Demongeot, and the crime potboiler Le concerto de la peur/Night of Lust (José Bénazéraf, 1963) with a fabulous free-jazz score by Chet Baker.

The latter was a thriller about two rival mobsters who fight for control of the local drug traffic. The film also included a lesbian nightclub act, which was featured prominently on the international posters.

Monlaur then screentested for the role of Domino Derval in the James Bond film Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965). In his book The James Bond Films (1981), author Steven Jay Rubin features a picture of Monlaur posing in a 'Domino' bathing suit. The role eventually went to another French actress, Claudine Auger.

Yvonne Monlaurs moment seemed to be over. After the German crime thriller Die Rechnung - eiskalt serviert/Tip Not Included (Helmut Ashley, 1966) with George Nader as G-man Jerry Cotton, Monlaur left the cinema to return to France. Her last appearance was in the German TV series Der Tod läuft hinterher/The death runs behind (Wolfgang Becker, 1967) starring Joachim Fuchsberger.

Since then she attended film conventions, and wrote on her official Yvonne Monlaur blog, on which she shared memories of her 1960s Hammer films and other Eurospy and action films. Yvonne Monlaur died of cancer. She was 77.

Trailer for The Brides of Dracula (1960). Source: SuperNaturalEarth (YouTube).

Hammer Homage: The Terror of The Tongs (1961). Source: Time For Toast Productions (YouTube).

Sources: Yvonne Monlaur (Official blog), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Cult Sirens, Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Italian stage and screen actress Rubi Dalma (1906-1994), aka Rubi D'Alma, often played stereotyped roles of sophisticated and sometimes snobbish noblewomen. She worked with such directors as Righelli, Camerini, Guazzoni, Zampa and Antonioni.

Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1940. Photo: E.N.I.C.

Daughter of a noble family

Rubi Dalma was born as Giusta Manca di Villahermosa in Milan in 1996. She came from an aristocratic family from the Sardinian town of Sassari.

In Milan, she was discovered by Camillo Mastrocinque, who let her make her film debut in Regina della Scala/Queen of the Scala (Guido Salvini, 1936), with a bit part basically as herself: a daughter of a noble family.

Her next film, the romantic comedy Il signor Max/Mister Max (Mario Camerini, 1937), introduced her to a big audience, with her stage name Rubi Dalma. She plays the sophisticated lady Paola, courted in vain by Gianni (Vittorio De Sica), a newspaper stand vendor who pretends to be the rich snob Max Varaldo.

When Lauretta (Assia Noris), donna Paola’s maid and governess of Paola’s little sister Pucci (Adonella), falls in love with Gianni, Gianni has to change roles constantly to court both Paola and Lauretta. Of course this is bound to go wrong. Costumes were by Gino Carlo Sensani, sets by Gastone Medin.

Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini Editori, Firenze, no. 2390. Photo: Generalcine. Rubi Dalma in Batticuore/Heartbeat (Mario Camerini, 1939).

Petty bourgeois morals, crowned my marriage

Because of her origin, Rubi Dalma perfectly incarnated the nobility on the screen, which resulted in modern and historical roles tied to the Italian aristocracy, such as Batticuore/Heartbeat (Mario Camerini, 1939) again with Noris in the female lead, and Rose scarlatte/Red Roses (Giuseppe Amato, Vittorio De Sica, 1940) with Renée Saint-Cyr and De Sica himself.

Similar parts Dalma had in Tempesta sul golfo/Tempest over the Gulf (Gennaro Righelli, 1943) in which Dalma played the Austrian Empress Maria Theresia, Enrico IV (Giorgio Pastinà, 1943) based on Luigi Pirandello’s play and starring Osvaldo Valenti and Clara Calamai, and Il cavaliere del sogno/Life of Donizetti (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1947), a biopic on the composer Donizetti, starring Amedeo Nazzari and Mariella Lotti.

In Renato Castellani’s adaptation of Aleksandr Pushkin’s The Shot, Un colpo di pistola/A Pistol Shot (1942), she is the aunt of Mascia (Assia Noris), courted by both Foscho Giacchetti and Antonio Centa.

In Luigi Zampa’s C’è sempre un ma!/There Is Always a But! (1943), Dalma plays one of two mothers who lead a party life and need to be brought back to earth (that is: petty bourgeois morals, crowned my marriage) by their daughters, played by Carla Del Poggio and Adriana Benetti. While shooting in 1942 took six months and distribution also dragged on, the film came out in 1943 in a moment the average Italian was not in the mood of a Hollywood-like script in which children need to re-educate their parents after the Roaring Twenties.

Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 4485. Photo: Vaselli / Lux Film.

Michelangelo Antonioni

During her career, Rubi Dalma was directed in various films and stage plays by such directors as Gennaro Righelli, Mario Camerini, Enrico Guazzoni, Luigi Zampa and Michelangelo Antonioni. Dalma participated for instance in the historical production Enrico Meucci (Enrico Guazzoni, 1940), a biopic of the homonymous inventor, starring Luigi Pavese.

She played the wife of marshal Bertrand in Sant’Elena, piccola isola/Saint-Helen, Little Island (Umberto Scarpelli, Renato Simoni, 1943) on Napoleon’s last exile and starring Ruggero Ruggeri as Napoleon.

After the war she mainly played character parts. Among her last roles was that of the countess Teneroni in Augusto Genina’s Cielo sulla palude/Heaven over the Marshes (1949), on the young Christian martyr Maria Goretti (played by Ines Orsini), and masterfully cinematographed by Aldo Graziati.

Another late part was that of the snob friend of Paola (Lucia Bosè) in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Cronaca di un amore/Story of a Love Affair (1950).

Dalma’s last part was, again, that of a countess in Claudio Gora’s Febbre di vivere/Eager to Live (1953), on the young spendthrift and gambling snob Massimo (Massimo Serato), who betrays his beloved Elena (Anna Maria Ferrero) and wants her to abort their child, while his friend Daniele (Marcelllo Mastroianni), released from prison, discovers Massimo was responsible for his imprisonment. Things go from bad to worse with Massimo.

After this film, Dalma decided to finish her career as actress. At the age of 88, Rubi Dalma died in 1994 in Castel Gandolfo near Rome.

Trailer Il signor Max/Mister Max (Mario Camerini, 1937). Source: ripleysfilm (YouTube).

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

Ann-Margret (1941) is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer, with a career that spans five decades. Her trademarks are her breathless voice, strawberry blonde hair and voluptuous figure which lead to the nickname 'sex kitten'.

Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor, S.L., no. 336.

Italian postcard. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Made in Paris (Boris Sagal, 1966).

Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor, no. 018-65.

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/250.

Ann-Margret and Pat Boone in State Fair (1962)

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/263. Photo: publicity still for State Fair (José Ferrer, 1962) with Pat Boone.

Born in Sweden

Ann-Margret Olsson was born in Valsjöbyn, Jämtland County, Sweden in 1941. Her parents were Anna Regina (Aronsson) and Carl Gustav Olsson. Her father worked in the United States during his youth and moved there again in 1942, working with the Johnson Electrical Company, while his wife and daughter stayed behind.

Mother and daughter came to America in 1946. Her father took his daughter to Radio City Music Hall on the day they arrived. They settled just outside Chicago, in Wilmette, Illinois. She became a naturalised citizen of the United States in 1949 and took her first dance lessons at the Marjorie Young School of Dance. While she attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, she starred in theatricals.

As part of a group known as the Suttletones, she performed at the Mist, a Chicago nightclub. The group finally arrived at the Dunes in Las Vegas. There, Ann-Margret was discovered by George Burns and soon afterwards got both a record deal at RCA. In 1961, her single I Just Don't Understand charted in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100.

That same year, Ann-Margret filmed a screen test at 20th Century Fox and was signed to a seven-year contract. She made her film debut in Pocketful of Miracles (1961), with Bette Davis. It was a remake of Lady for a Day (1933). Both versions were directed by Frank Capra. Then came a remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical State Fair (José Ferrer, 1962), playing the 'bad girl' role of Emily opposite Bobby Darin and Pat Boone. It was considered to be a financially and critically flop.

Her next starring role, as the all-American teenager Kim from Sweet Apple, Ohio, in Bye Bye Birdie (George Sidney, 1963), made her a major star. She became a teen idol with her role in Viva Las Vegas (George Sidney, 1964) with Elvis Presley. While working on the film Once a Thief (Ralph Nelson, 1965), with Alain Delon, she met future husband Roger Smith, known for his starring role in the private-eye television series 77 Sunset Strip.

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/262. Photo: publicity still for State Fair (José Ferrer, 1962) with Pat Boone.

Ann Margret in Kitten with a Whip (1964)

Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor, S.L., no. 27. Photo: Universal Pictures. Publicity still for Kitten with a Whip (Douglas Heyes, 1964).

Ann-Margret in Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965)

Spanish postcard by Productos Compactos, S.A., no. B 3789-1991. Photo: publicity still for Bus Riley's Back in Town (Harvey Hart, 1965).

Louis Jourdan and Ann Margret in Made in Paris (1966)

Italian postcard. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Publicity still for Made in Paris (Boris Sagal, 1966) with Louis Jourdan.

Ann-Margret and Vittorio Gassman in Il profeta (1968)

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 369. Photo: publicity still for Il Profeta/The Prophet (Dino Risi, 1968) with Vittorio Gassman.

Object of desire

As an actress, Ann-Margret is now best known for her roles in The Cincinnati Kid (Norman Jewison, 1965) opposite Steve McQueen, Carnal Knowledge (Mike Nichols, 1971) , and Tommy (Ken Russell, 1975), the rock opera film of the British rock band The Who. For her part of the over-loving girlfriend of a viciously abusive Jack Nicholson in Carnal Knowledge, she garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and for Tommy she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won the Golden Globe Award.

During a lull in her film career in July 1967, Ann-Margret gave her first live performance in Las Vegas, with her husband Roger Smith (whom she had married in 1967) taking over as her manager after that engagement. For new film projects, she turned to Italy. Her Italian films are the comedy-drama Il tigre (Dino Risi, 1967) with Vittorio Gassman, Il profeta/The Prophet (Dino Risi, 1968), and the crime-comedy 7 uomini e un cervello/Criminal Affair (Rossano Brazzi, 1968) with Rossano Brazzi.

In 1972, she survived a dramatic 22-foot fall from a stage in a Lake Tahoe, Nevada concert. She broke an arm, suffered five fractures of five facial bones including a smashed cheekbone, and a brain concussion. 10 weeks later to the day, she was back on stage in Las Vegas. In 1979, she scored a disco hit with Love Rush. Later, she recorded the critically acclaimed gospel album God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions (2001), and an album of Christmas songs, Ann-Margret's Christmas Carol Collection (2004).

In 1982, she co-starred with Walter Matthau in the film version of Neil Simon's play I Ought to Be in Pictures, appeared with a six-year-old Angelina Jolie in Lookin' to Get Out, and played with Alan Bates, Glenda Jackson, and Julie Christie in The Return of the Soldier. On television, she starred in the TV movies Who Will Love My Children? (1983) and a remake of A Streetcar Named Desire (1984).

Other films include the crime thriller 52 Pick-Up (1986), as the wife of Roy Scheider's character. In 1991, she starred in the groundbreaking Our Sons (John Erman, 1991) opposite Julie Andrewsas mothers of sons who are lovers, one of whom is dying of AIDS. A late career highlight for her was the hit comedy Grumpy Old Men (Donald Petrie, 1993) as the object of desire for Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

Ann-Margret published an autobiography in 1994 titled Ann-Margret: My Story, in which she publicly acknowledged her battle with and ongoing recovery from alcoholism. In Any Given Sunday (Oliver Stone, 1999), she portrayed the mother of football team owner Cameron Diaz. In 2006, she had supporting roles in the box-office hits The Break-Up (Peyton Reed, 2006) with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, and The Santa Clause 3 (Michael Lembeck, 2006) with Tim Allen.

In 2010, Ann-Margret won her first Emmy Award for her guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2010). In total, she has won five Golden Globe Awards and been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and six Emmy Awards. Her latest film is the upcoming American heist comedy Going in Style (Zach Braff, 2017) with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin.

Spanish postcard, no. 100/118.

Spanish postcard by Ediciones Estes, no. 90-T. Photo: publicity still for Bye Bye Birdie (George Sidney, 1963).

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 192.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Ann Margret and Treat Williams in A Streetcar Named Desire (1984)

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 43 072. Photo: publicity still for the TV-movie A Streetcar Named Desire (John Erman, 1984) with Treat Williams.

Source: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Constance Collier (1878–1955) was an English stage and film actress and later one of Hollywood's premiere drama and voice coaches. In a career that covered six decades, she evolved into one of London’s and Broadway’s finest tragediennes. Although she appeared in a number of silent British and American films, her career in the cinema got really on steam in her senior years when Collier appeared in well-regarded supporting roles in more than twenty Hollywood productions.

Constance Collier in Antony and Cleopatra (1906)

British postcard by J.J. Samuels, London, no. J.S.-2. Photo: Bassano. Publicity still for the stage production Antony and Cleopatra (1906) with Constance Collier as Cleopatra.

British postcard by Rotary Photo, no. 4039 D. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield. Publicity still for the stage play Nero (1906) with Constance Collier as Poppaea.

Constance Collier in The Sins of Society (1907)

British postcard by Rotary Photo, no. 854B. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield. Publicity still for the stage play The Sins of Society (1907) with Constance Collier as Lady Marion Beaumont.

British postcard by Rotary Photo, no. 5854 G. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield. Publicity still for the stage play The Sins of Society (1907) with Constance Collier as Lady Marion Beaumont.

Constance Collier and Herbert Beerbohm Tree in Nero (1906)

British postcard by Beagles & Co., London no. G 407. Photo: F.W. Burford. Publicity still for the stage production Nero (1906) with Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Nero and Constance Collier as Poppoea, a part she created for the stage. Stephen Phillips’ Nero opened at His Majesty’s Theatre, London, in 1906.

A Gaiety Girl

In 1878, Constance Collier was born Laura Constance Hardie, in Windsor, Berkshire. She was the only child of Cheetham Agaste Hardie and Eliza Collier, both minor professional actors.

Constance made her stage debut at the age of 3, when she played Fairy Peasblossom in A Midsummer's Night Dream. In 1893, at the age of 15, she joined the famous Gaiety Girls dance troupe of George Edwardes-Hall, based at the Gaiety Theatre in London. Groomed extensively in singing, dancing and elocution, she managed to stand out among those others in the chorus line and went on to featured status in two of Edwardes-Hall's biggest hits, A Gaiety Girl (1894) and The Shop Girl (1894).

In addition, she had an enormous personality and considerable determination. Just after the turn of the century, she was invited to join the theatre company of the esteemed Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who had been searching for a comparably tall leading lady to play opposite him.

In 1905, Collier married handsome English actor Julian Boyle (stage name Julian L'Estrange). They performed together for many years until his death in 1918 in New York from the deadly Spanish influenza. No children were born from the marriage.

In 1906, Beerbohm Tree's extravagant revival of Antony and Cleopatra opened at His Majesty's Theatre, with Tree as Mark Antony and Constance Collier as Cleopatra, a performance for which she received much critical praise. Collier was now established as a popular and distinguished actress. In 1908, she starred with Beerbohm Tree at His Majesty's Theatre in J. Comyn's new play The Mystery of Edwin Drood, based on Charles Dickens's unfinished novel.

Later that year, she made the first of several tours of the United States. Collier made a successful American stage debut in 1908 with Samson at the Garrick Theatre in New York opposite well-known American actor/playwright William Gillette. During the second tour, made with Beerbohm Tree in 1916, she appeared in four silent films.

Her film debut was The Tongues of Men (Frank Lloyd, 1916), based on a 1913 Broadway play by Edward Childs Carpenter. The other films were the romantic crime drama The Code of Marcia Gray (Frank Lloyd, 1916), Macbeth (John Emerson, assisted by Erich von Stroheim, 1919) as Lady Macbeth opposite Herbert Beerbohm Tree, and an uncredited appearance in Intolerance (D. W. Griffith, 1916). She can be seen being carried through the entrance to the city in the Babylonian part of the film.

She later starred in the British silent films The Impossible Woman (Meyrick Milton, 1919), and Bleak House (Maurice Elvey, 1920) - one of the many silent film versions of Charles Dickens' stories.

British postcard by The Philco Publishing Co., London, no. 3316 E. Photo: Bassano. Publicity still for the stage production Antony and Cleopatra (1906) with Constance Collier as Cleopatra.

British postcard by Rotary Photo, no. 4039 I. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield. Publicity still for the stage production Antony and Cleopatra (1906) with Constance Collier as Cleopatra.

Constance Collier and Hilda Moore in Antony and Cleopatra (1906)

British postcard by J.J. Samuels, London, no. J.S.-2. Photo: Bassano. Publicity still for the stage production Antony and Cleopatra (1906) with Constance Collier and Hilda Moore.

Constance Collier in The Last of his Race (1907)

British postcard by Rotary Photo, no. 4482 E. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield. Publicity still for the stage production The Last of His Race (1907) with Constance Collier as Adulola.

British postcard by Rotary Photo, no. 4482 F. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield. Publicity still for the stage production The Last of His Race (1907) with Constance Collier as Adulola..

Voice coach in Hollywood

In the early 1920s, Constance Collier established a close friendship with Ivor Novello, who was then a young, handsome actor. They appeared together in the film The Bohemian Girl (Harley Knoles, 1922), starring Gladys Cooper. Novello’s first play, The Rat, was written in collaboration with her in 1924. She also appeared in several plays with him, including the British version of the American success The Firebrand by Edwin Justus Mayer.

In the late 1920s Collier relocated to Hollywood where she became a voice coach and teacher in diction. This was during the tumultuous changeover from silent films to sound and many silent actors with no theatre training were scrambling for lessons. Her most famous pupil was arguably Colleen Moore. In 1935, upon her arrival in Hollywood, Luise Rainer hired Collier to improve Rainer's theatre acting and English, and to learn the basics of film acting.

Collier nevertheless maintained ties to Broadway and would appear in several plays in the 1930s. Her writing career is notable for her collaboration with Deems Taylor on the libretto of the opera Peter Ibbetson which was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in February 1931 and which received mixed reviews.

In 1932 Collier starred as Carlotta Vance in the original production of George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's comedy Dinner at Eight. The role was played in the 1933 film version by Marie Dressler.

Collier appeared in more than 20 Hollywood films, including Stage Door (Gregory La Cava, 1937) starring Katharine Hepburn, Kitty (Mitchell Leisen, 1945) as the comic Lady Susan, the drunken aunt of Ray Milland, Perils of Pauline (George Marshall, 1947) with Betty Hutton, Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948) and Whirlpool (Otto Preminger, 1949).

Constance Collier was presented with the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre Award for distinguished service in training and guiding actors in Shakespearean roles. Collier was a drama coach for many famous actors, including Audrey Hepburn, Vivien Leigh and Marilyn Monroe. She also coached Katharine Hepburn during Hepburn's world tour performing Shakespeare in the 1950s.

Constance Collier died of natural causes in Manhattan in 1955 at age of 77. The marriage to L'Estrange produced no children and she never remarried. Katharine Hepburn‘inherited’ Collier's secretary Phyllis Wilbourn, who remained with Hepburn as her secretary for 40 years. Collier has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

British postcard by Raphael Tuck and Sons, no. T 1278. Photo: Rover Street Studios.

British postcard. A.G. Taylor's Royalty Series, No. 847. Photo Bassano.

British postcard by J.J. Samuels, London, no. 4-8-102. Photo: Bassano.

Constance Collier in The Red Lamp (1907)

British postcard by Rotary Photo EC, No. 4039 O. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield. Constance Collier in the play The Red Lamp (1907)

British postcard by Ralph Dunn & Co., London, no. A. 174. Sent by mail in 1905.

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Ilona Béres (1942) is a well-known film and television actress in Hungary. She appeared in many popular Hungarian films of the 1960s.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin. no. 2208, 1964. Photo: publicity still for Nappali sötétség/Darkness in Daytime (Zoltan Fabri, 1963).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin. no. 2620, 1966. Photo: Hungarofilm.

The Man of Gold

Ilona Béres was born in 1942 in Kispest (now Budapest), Hungary. She went to study at the Theatre and Film Academy in Budapest, where legendary director Géza Pártos was one of her teachers.

Only 20, she had her breakthrough in the Hungarian historical film Az aranvember/The Man of Gold (Viktor Gertler, 1962), also starring András Csorba and Ernö Szabó. The film was shot in anamorphic widescreen and was based on Mór Jókai's classic 19th century novel which has been adapted for the screen several times.

Popular was also the romantic comedy Esös vasárnap/Rainy Sunday (Márton Keleti, 1962) with Teri Tordai. Another success was the drama Nappali sötétség/Darkness in Daytime (Zoltán Fábri, 1963).

So, when she graduated from the Theatre and Film Academy in 1964, she was already an acclaimed actress.

In the following decades, she was member of the following theatre companies: Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen (1964-1966), Madách Theatre in Budapest (1966-1967), National Theatre in Budapest (1967-1969), and Vígszínház (1969-1984). In 1984, she returned to the National Theatre.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin. no. 2754, 1967. Photo: Hungarofilm. Publicity still for Igen/Yes (György Révész, 1964).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin. no. 2334, 1965. Photo: Balinski.

Yes

The film career of Ilona Béres thrived well during the early 1960s. Her best known films of this decade include Hattyúdal/Swan Song (Márton Keleti, 1964) with Antal Pager, the drama Igen/Yes (György Révész, 1964) with Iván Darvas, and Álmodozások kora/Age of Illusions (Felnott kamaszok) (1965), the first feature-film effort by writer/director Istvan Szabo.

In Álmodozások kora/Age of Illusions, Andras Balint plays an electrical engineer who hops from bed to bed, never making any lasting commitment with any one woman. All this changes when he falls in love with a local celebrity whom he sees on television (Beres).

She also appeared in the historical drama A köszívü ember fiai/Men and Banners (Zoltán Várkonyi, 1965) about a family struggle during the 1848 Hungarian revolution against the Habsburg Empire. Other films from the 1960s include Aranysárkány/The Golden Kite (László Ranódy, Imre Gyöngyössy, 1966) and N.N. a halál angyala (János Herskó, 1970) with Miklós Gábor.

From then ons she worked mostly for television and the stage. She also worked as a voice actress for such animation films as Macskafogó/Cat City (Béla Ternovszky, 1986). Her latest film role was in the hit comedy Moszkva tér/Moscow Square (Ferenc Török, 2001), named after Moscow Square in Budapest. The film is about a group of high school students who would rather party than take notice of the history taking place all round them in 1989.

Nowadays, Ilona Béres is still very active, but mostly on stage. She is a life member of the National Theatre, which was renamed to Pesti Magyar Theatre in 2000. In 2000, she was awarded the Kossuth Award. Since 2000, she is also president of the MASZK, the Hungarian Actors Guild.

Iván Darvas and Ilona Beres in Igen (1964)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin. no. 2.333, 1965. Publicity still for Igen/Yes (György Révész, 1964) with Iván Darvas.

Ilona Beres and Istvan Szankay in Szentjános fejevétele (1966)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin. no. 2773, 1967. Photo: publicity still for Szentjános fejevétele/St. John's head reception (Márk Novák, 1966) with Istvan Szankay.

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

The German Westerm Winnetou – 2. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964), also known as Winnetou: The Red Gentleman, is one of the Eurowesterns in the series based on the novels by Karl May. Stars are Pierre Brice as Apache chief Winnetou and Lex Barker as his soul mate Old Shatterhand.

German postcard, no. R 5. Photo: publicity still of Pierre Brice and Gojko Miticin Winnetou II. Teil/Winnetou: The Red Gentleman (Harald Reinl, 1964). Caption: "Winnetou hat die Assiniboins für seine Pläne gewonnen, und man beschliesst eine Verhandlung mit den Weissen in Fort Niobara. Botschaft hierüber geht an alle Häuptlinge." (Winnetou has won the Assiniboins for his plans, and they choose for a negotiation with the white in Fort Niobara. This message goes to all chiefs.)

Karin Dor and Pierre Brice in Winnetou II (1964)

German postcard, no. R 7. Photo: still from Winnetou II. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Karin Dor as Ribanna and Pierre Brice as Winnetou. Caption: "Ribanna lüftet ein Geheimnis. Sie zeigt Winnetou eine im Felsen verborgene Höhle, die in Kriegszeiten den Frauen und Kinder als Zuflkuchtsstätte dient." (Ribanna reveals a secret. She shows Winnetou a cave hidden in the rock, which in wartime serves the women and children as a refuge.)

German postcard, no R 8. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou II. Teil/Winnetou: The Red Gentleman (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Pierre Brice and Karin Dor. Caption: "Noch ahnt man nicht, wie bald von diesem Versteck Gebrauch gemacht werden muss; den Forrester, der sein dunkles Gerwerbe auf Kosten der Indianer betreibt, schmiedet schon Pläne." (Yet nobody suspects how soon this hiding place must be used; Forrester, who runs his shady business at the expense of the Indians, already makes his plans).

German postcard by ISV, no. R 14. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou II. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Pierre Brice as Winnetou. Caption: "In letzter Minute rettet Winnetou seinen Blutsbruder Old Shatterhand aus den Flammen." (At the last minute Winnetou saves his blood brother Old Shatterhand from the flames)

German postcard, no. R 15. Photo: still from Winnetou II (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Pierre Brice. Caption: "Winnetou, Old Shatterhand und die anderen Indianerhäuptlinge reiten zur Friedenskonferenz nach Fort Niobrara." (Winnetou, Old Shatterhand and the other Indian Chiefs ride to Fort Niobrara for the peace conference.)

A perfect money spinner

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Europe was left in ruins and so was the European cinema, especially the German film industry. There was a strong backlash against those filmmakers who had remained faithful to the Nazi party, while many of Germany's best filmmakers had moved to America in the 1930s.

In the 1950s, the German cinema struggled gradually back to form. Low budgets and at first a lack of international markets were the reasons that the most popular productions were the Heimat films and later also the Sissi films with Romy Schneider. Large audience figures meant that the film studios were gradually able to increase their budgets, and by the 1960s, big scale films were back on the cards. And even some of the directors who had fled to Hollywood returned to work in Germany, including Fritz Lang.

The Karl May novels were, and still are highly popular in the German speaking world, telling of adventurous exploits in the Wild West, the Orient. Film adaptations of the books had been made as early as the 1920s, and again in the late 1930s, and discussions had been made about shooting some of the Wild West stories - indeed a final script for a Winnetou film was approved in 1944 by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels but never went into production.

Timothy Young in his Mondo Esoterica Guide to: The Karl May Westerns: "With German audiences filling cinemas, and desperately wanting more home grown films, the Karl May themes seemed like a perfect money spinner for producer Horst Wendlandt. A key player at Rialto Film, he had successfully produced a series of adult-targeted films based on the Edgar Wallace thriller/horror novels."

Wendlandt now sought to target the younger markets. His idea of shooting European Westerns was unheard of at the beginning of the 1960s - the Spaghetti Western rage started only a few years later with Sergio Leone's Per un pugno di dollari/For a fistful of Dollars (1964).

Instead of using the Spanish locations of the Spaghetti Westerns, the Karl May series was shot in Yugoslavia. Films like Winnetou II. Teil (1964) took great advantage of the barren landscapes, mountains and rivers. In return, the films made Yugoslavia a popular holiday destination for many Europeans.

Karin Dor and Mario Girotti (Terence Hill) in Winnetou II

German postcard, no. R 16. Photo: publicity still from Winnetou II. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Mario Girotti and Karin Dor. Caption: "Fast scheitern die Friedensverhandlungen. Da erklärt sich Leutnant Merril bereit, Ribanna zu heiraten, um den Friedensband zwischen Weiss und Rot zu besieglen." (Almost the peace negotiations are failing. Lieutenant Merril declares his willingness to marry Ribanna in order to conquer the peace bond between white and red.)

Pierre Brice and Karin Dor in Winnetou - 2.Teil (1964)

German postcard, no. R 17. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou II. Teil/Winnetou: The Red Gentleman (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Pierre Brice and Karin Dor. Caption: So werden Ribanna und Winnetou gezwungen, ihre Liebe dem Frieden zu opfern. (Thus Ribanna and Winnetou are forced to sacrifice their love.)

German postcard, no. R 18. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou II. Teil/Winnetou: The Red Gentleman (Harald Reinl, 1964). Caption: "Forrester sorgt für Unfrieden. Er überfällt mit seiner Bande einen Siedlertreck und hinterlässt falsche Spuren, um die Indianer in den Verdacht dieser Untat zu bringen." (Forrester is a source of dissatisfaction. He crosses a settlement with his gang, leaving behind bad traces to bring the Indians into the suspicion of this misdeed.)

German postcard, no. R 19. Photo: still from Winnetou - II. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Karin Dor as Ribanna. Caption: "Den Assiniboins droht Gefahr. Von Ribanna und Leutnant Merril gewarnt, werden die Frauen und Kinder noch rechtzeitig in die Höhle geführt." (The Assiniboin are in danger. Warned by Ribanna and lieutenant Merril, the women and children are led into the cave in time.)

Pierre Brice in Winnetou II. Teil (1964)

German postcard, no. R 20. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou II. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Pierre Brice. Caption: Auf der Suche nach Forrester geraten Winnetou und Old Shatterhand in einen Hinterhalt. Durch eine List können sie in letzter Minute entkommen. (Looking for Forrester Winnetou and Old Shatterhand fall into an ambush. By a trick they can escape at the last minute.)

Winnetou's greatest love

Horst Wendlandt's first Eurowestern was, appropriately enough, Karl May's first Old West book - Der Schatz im Silbersee/The Treasure of Silver Lake (Harald Reinl, 1962). The novel had to be altered for the screen - scenes set aboard an American paddle steamer proved too much for the budget, while the graphic details of Colonel Brinkley's savage nature had to be toned down for the family market - but it still retained the charm and feel of the original stories, and proved a massive hit with audiences across Germany.

Impressively, the distinctive soundtrack proved equally popular and became a bestseller. The studio quickly commissioned a second film, and following the order of the original books Rialto produced the prequel story Winnetou 1. Teil (1963) which told the origins of the Winnetou and Old Shatterhand characters who played the major role in Der Schatz im Silbersee/The Treasure of Silver Lake, it secured actors Lex Barker and Pierre Brice in their respective roles as Old Shatterhand and Winnetou.

According to Timothy Young at the Mondo Esoterica Guide, Winnetou 1. Teil/Apache Gold (Harald Reinl, 1963) proved equally popular to the first, and stands as the best in the series - boasting a rarely bettered set piece with a full scale railway locomotive being driven through a saloon building.

Winnetou II. Teil (1964) followed on, continuing the series' popularity. Again Harald Reinl directed the sequel and he could work with a very good script by veteran author Harald G. Petterson. Composer Martin Böttcher made a new lead theme, the Winnetou-Melodie, which became massive hit.

Lex Barker and Pierre Brice were joined by a cast of excellent actors. Karin Dor plays Winnetou's greatest love Ribanna, British actor Anthony Steel plays Forester, a ruthless oil baron, and among his gang members is the enigmatic Klaus Kinski.

Lt. Robert Merril, one of the good guys is played by a blue-eyed Italian hunk called Mario Girotti, who would become one of the best-known Spaghetti Western stars under the alias Terence Hill. Also remarkable is the small part of Gojko Miticas White Bird. The muscled Yugoslavian actor later became the superstar of the Eastern, the East-European Western. Finally there is comic actor Eddi Arent as Old Shatterhand's sidekick Lord Castlepool.

German postcard, no. R 21. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou - 2. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964), with Klaus Kinski. Caption: "Mit Hilfe des Bandesmitgliedes Luke spüren die Verbrecher die Höhle auf und bemächtigen sich der Frauen und Kinder des Assiniboins." (With the help of band member Luke the criminals find the cave and take possession of the women and children of the Assiniboin.)

Mario Girotti and Karin Dor in Winnetou II. Teil (1964)

German postcard, no. R 22. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou - 2. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Mario Girotti and Karin Dor. Caption: "Auch Ribanna und ihr Mann Leutnant Merrill fallen in die Hände der Bande. Sie werden als Gefangene an einen Felsen gebunden." (Ribanna and her husband Lt. Merrill also fall into the hands of the gang. They are bound as prisoners to a rock.)

German postcard, no. R 24. Photo: still from Winnetou II. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Karin Dor as Ribanna and Pierre Brice as Winnetou. Caption: "Bis zur Verhandlung weilt Winnetou bei den Assiniboins und lernt Ribanna näher kennen und lieben." (Winnetou is waiting for the Assiniboins and learns to know and love Ribanna.)

Mario Girotti, Karin Dor, Anthony Steel in Winnetou II. Teil (1964)

German postcard, no. R 26. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou 2. Teil/Winnetou: The Red Gentleman (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Mario Girotti, Karin Dor and Anthony Steel. Caption: "Der Skrupellose Forrester benutzt Ribanna und Leutnant Merril als Geiseln. Die Bande verlangt freien Abzug." (The unscrupulous Forrester used Ribanna and Lieutenant Merril as hostages. The gang demanded free passage.)

German postcard, no. R 27. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou II. Teil/Winnetou: The Red Gentleman (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand. Caption: "Durch einen Unterirdischen Wasserlauf gelingt es den Rettern in die Höhle einzudringen. Old Shatterhands harte Fäuste räumen unter den Banditen auf." (Through an underground watercourse the rescuers succeed to penetrate into the cave. Old Shatterhand's hard fists cleave under the bandits.)

German postcard, no. R 28. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou II. Teil/ Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Eddi Arent. Caption: "Auch Lord Castlepool, der sich aus Abenteurlust Old Shatterhand angeschlossen hat, bewährt sich am Kampf gegen die Banditen." (Lord Castlepool, who has joined Old Shatterhand lusting for adventures, is also fighting against the bandits.)

Anthony Steel in Winnetou II. Teil (1964)

German postcard, no. R 29. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou - 2. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Anthony Steel. Caption: "Die Bande ist vernichtet. Nur Forrester kämpft noch um sein Leben.Jedoch entgeht er nicht seinem wohlverdienten Schicksal." (The gang is destroyed. Only Forrester is still struggling for his life. However, he does not escape his well-deserved destiny.)

German postcard, no. R 30. Photo: publicity still for Winnetou 2. Teil/Winnetou: The Red Gentleman (Harald Reinl, 1964) with Karin Dor. Caption: "Der Friede ist gerettet. Ribanna weiss, dass ihr und Winnetous Opfer nicht umsonst war." (Peace is saved. Ribanna knows that her and Winnetou's sacrifice was not in vain.)

Sources: Timothy Young (Mondo Esoterica Guide to: The Karl May Westerns), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

German film actor Horst Frank (1929–1999) appeared in more than 100 films between 1955 and 1999. During the 1960s he was the blond, steely-eyed bad guy of of countless Spaghetti Westerns and Eurospy films.

German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 192. Photo: DFH. Publicity still for Der Greifer/The Copper (Eugen York, 1958).

German postcard by IRMA-Verlag, Stuttgart-W, no. 1523. Photo; Kurt Ulrich Film / DFH / Wesel. Publicity still for Der Greifer/The Copper (Eugen York, 1958).

German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3991. Photo: Wesel / Kurt Ulrich Film / DFH. Publicity still for Der Greifer/The Copper (Eugen York, 1958).

German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 135. Photo: Kurt Ulrich Film / DFH / Wesel. Publicity still for Der Greifer/The Copper (Eugen York, 1958).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 192/71. Photo: Steffen.

A somewhat cold, hypnotic gaze

Horst Bernhard Wilhelm Frank was born in 1929 in Lübeck, Germany, the son of a porcelain painter. After graduation, he completed an apprenticeship as a trader. He then enrolled in the acting class at the Musikhochschule Hamburg (Music Academy Hamburg) but failed his final exams. Nonetheless he managed to secure an acting position in his hometown. For some time after, his work was primarily confined to small parts on stage and in radio.

In Baden-Baden, he became a member of the Südwestfunk ensemble and started working for television. He made his film debut as a cynical, cowardly pilot in the West-German war film Der Stern von Afrika/The Star of Africa (Alfred Weidenmann, 1957), portraying the combat career of a World War II Luftwaffe fighter pilot Hans-Joachim Marseille (Joachim Hansen). The film was successful at the German box office.

Frank then won a critic's award for his next role as member of a U-Boat crew in the war drama Haie und kleine Fische/Sharks and Little Fish (Frank Wisbar, 1957). Next he played supporting parts in such West-German productions as the crime film Der Greifer/The Copper (Eugen York, 1958) starring Hans Albers, Das Mädchen Rosemarie/Rosemary (Rolf Thiele, 1958) featuring Nadja Tiller, and the war film Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben/Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever (Frank Wisbar, 1959).

I.S. Mowis at IMDb: “Of athletic, lithe build and owner of a somewhat cold, hypnotic gaze (with a voice to match), Frank soon found himself typecast to disturbingly good effect as psychotic murderers in German and international productions”. In Italy, he appeared with Massimo Girotti in the drama Lupi nell'abisso/Wolves of the Deep (Silvio Amadio, 1959), and in France with Françoise Arnoul in the war drama La chatte sort ses griffes/The Cat Shows Her Claws (Henri Decoin, 1960) and with Laurent Terzieff in Tu ne tueras point/Thou Shalt Not Kill (Claude Autant-Lara, 1961).

From 1961 to 1963 he lived in Tanganyika on his own farm and raised coffee and vegetables. Political turmoil forced him to return to Germany. Frank appeared in several pan-European productions, such as the French-Italian-German crime comedy Les Tontons flingueurs/Crooks in Clover (Georges Lautner, 1963) with Lino Ventura, and the German-French-Italian Eurowestern Die Flußpiraten vom Mississippi/The Pirates of the Mississippi (Jürgen Roland, 1963) starring Hansjörg Felmy and Brad Harris.

He was also in the German-French-Italian spy film Die Diamantenholle am Mekong/Mission to Hell (Gianfranco Parolini, 1964) starring Paul Hubschmid. It was one of the first Eurospy productions and a box office hit. In Italy, he proved to be an ideal henchman in the Spaghetti Western Le pistole non discutono/Bullets Don't Argue (Mario Caiano, 1964). The film was produced by Jolly Film back to back with Sergio Leone's Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars (1964), but with a more expensive budget. The producer expected a greater success than Leone's film, especially because at the time lead actor Rod Cameron was better known than Clint Eastwood.

Frank appeared in several other Eurowesterns and Eurospy films. Most of them are mediocre, but interesting is the Spaghetti Western Preparati la bara!/Django, Prepare a Coffin (Ferdinando Baldi, 1968) with Terence Hill in the title role. Django was previously played by Franco Nero in Sergio Corbucci's original Django (1966). Django, Prepare a Coffin is unique among the plethora of films which capitalised on Corbucci's hit in that it is not only a semi-official, legitimate follow-up, but was also originally meant to star Franco Nero. Curious is also Quella sporca storia nel West/Johnny Hamlet (Enzo G. Castellari, 1968), a Spaghetti Western version of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 372.

German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3781. Photo: Lilo / Zeyn Produktion / DFH. Publicity still for Haie und kleine Fische/Sharks and Little Fish (Frank Wisbar, 1957).

Horst Frank in Das Mädchen vom Moorhof (1958)

German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 346. Photo: Real / DFH / Lilo. Publicity still for Das Mädchen vom Moorhof (Gustav Ucicky, 1958).

Horst Frank in Abschied von den Wolken (1959)

German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorff, no. 2866. Photo: CCC / Deutsche Film Hansa / Grimm. Publicity still for Abschied von den Wolken/Rebel Flight to Cuba (Gottfried Reinhardt, 1959).

Austrian postcard by HDH-Verlag (Hubmann), Wien, no. 346. Photo: Weisse-Publicity / Roxy / Ufa. Publicity still for Bumerang/Cry Double Cross (Alfred Weidenmann, 1960).

Ruthless killers and impassive assassins

During the 1970s, Horst Frank often played of ruthless killers and impassive assassins in Italian genre films, including the Giallo Il gatto a nove ode/The Cat o' Nine Tails (Dario Argento, 1971). This is the middle entry in Argento's so-called Animal Trilogy along with L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo/The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) and 4 mosche di velluto grigio/Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972).

Frank also worked regularly in Germany. An example is the television film Carlos (1971) for which director Hans W. Geissendorfer transplanted the story of Friedrich Schiller's play Don Carlos from 16th century Spain to a 1915 American Western style environment.

From 1973 on, Frank frequently worked in the theatre, touring with his own productions of plays by Noel Coward and Peter Ustinov, and often worked for German television. He guest-starred in several episodes of the popular Krimi series Der Kommissar, Tatort and Derrick, and also starred in the miniseries Timm Thaler/The Legend of Tim Tyler: The Boy Who Lost His Laugh (Sigi Rothemund, 1979).

Incidentally he appeared in interesting films such as the Science-Fiction film Operation Ganymed (Rainer Erler, 1977) about a spaceship which returns to Earth after several years of space exploration and finds it desolate. Another highlight was the TV film Wege in der Nacht/Ways in the Night (Krzysztof Zanussi, 1979) with Mathieu Carrière.

In addition to his screen acting, Frank lent his voice to dubbing work for fellow tough guys like Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine and Chuck Connors. On the radio, he voiced Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. I.S. Mowis: “Behind the menacing heavy, there was a family man and author of poems and chansons. (…) Likely because of his lack of work in major American or British productions, Frank never quite achieved the international recognition he undoubtedly deserved.”

Among his last screen credits were the romanticised TV biography Catherine the Great (Marvin J. Chomsky, John Goldsmith, 1996) with Catherine Zeta-Jones as Empress Catherine II, and Die Menschen sind kalt/People are cold (Andreas Dorau, 1998). In 1999, Horst Frank quite suddenly died of a brain hemorrhage, just short of his 70th birthday. He had a son from his first marriage and a daughter named Désirée from his second marriage to actress Chariklia Baxevanos. From 1979 till his death, he was married to actress Brigitte Kollecker.

Horst Frank in Fluchtweg St. Pauli (1971)

German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Constantin / Allianz / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Fluchtweg St. Pauli - Großalarm für die Davidswache/Hot Traces of St. Pauli (Wolfgang Staudte, 1971).

German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Sessner, Dachau.

German autograph card by Büro für promotion, Bielefeld.

German trailer for Preparati la bara!/Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968). Source: Spaghetti Western Database (YouTube).

German trailer for Fluchtweg St. Pauli - Großalarm für die Davidswache/Hot Traces of St. Pauli (1971). Source: Italo-Cinema Trailer (YouTube).

Sources: I.S. Mowis (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

World boxing champion Marcel Cerdan (1916–1949) was France's greatest boxer with the nickname ‘The Casablanca Clouter’. His life was marked by his sporting achievements, his passionate love affair with Édith Piaf and his tragical death. He appeared in two films and was portrayed in two films.

French postcard by Edition O.P., Paris, no. 23. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

World Champion

Marcellin ‘Marcel’ Cerdan was born in Sidi Bel Abbès in what was then French Algeria in 1916.

He began boxing professionally in 1934 in Meknes, Morocco, beating Marcel Bucchianeri by a decision in six rounds. Cerdan then ran a streak of 47 wins in a row between that first bout and 1939, when he lost for the first time, to Harry Craster by a disqualification in five rounds in London.

Cerdan campaigned heavily in the French territories of Algeria and Morocco during that part of his career, as well as in metropolitan France, his parents' place of birth. In 1938, he beat Omar Kouidri in a 12-round decision at Casablanca to claim the French welterweight title.

After his first loss, Cerdan recorded five consecutive wins, which led him to challenge Saviello Turiello for Europe's welterweight title in Milan, Italy. He won the European title by a decision in 15 rounds to continue his ascent towards the championship. Cerdan's winning streak eventually reached 23 bouts before he suffered a defeat to Victor Buttin by disqualification in eight rounds in Algiers.

In 1944 he joined the American allies in World War II, and he won the Inter-Allied Championship. He also went up in weight to the Middleweight division, and won the French title by beating Assane Douf by a knockout in three rounds. He later claimed the vacant European title by beating Léon Foquet by a knockout in one round. He retained that title a couple of times before losing it to Cyrille Delannoit by a decision in 15 at Brussels, Belgium.

Soon, he went back to Belgium and re-took the title by beating Delannoit, also by decision. Finally, after the rematch with Delannoit, Cerdan was given a world title opportunity and he travelled to the United States, where he beat world Middleweight champion Tony Zale. Cerdan became a world champion by knocking Zale out in the 12th round in Roosevelt Stadium, New Jersey in 1948.

French postcard by Editions Gendre, Paris, no. 27. Photo: Keystone. Caption: Edith Piaf, Marcel Cerdan, March 1948.

American postcard. Photo: Boxing News, no. 38.

Piaf

During his short period as a world champion, Marcel Cerdan became a popular figure of the Paris scene. Although married with three children, he had an affair with the famous singer Édith Piaf. The affair lasted from summer 1948 until his death in autumn 1949. They were very devoted to each other and Piaf wrote one of her most famous songs, Hymne à l'amour, for Cerdan.

He also appeared in two films. He was himself in the French film L'homme aux mains d'argile/The man with the hands of clay (Léon Mathot, 1949) with Blanchette Brunoy, and he played a boxer in the Italian comedy Al diavolo la celebrità/A Night of Fame (Mario Monicelli, Steno, 1951) with Mischa Auer.

For his first defense Cerdan returned to the United States, where he fought Jake LaMotta in Detroit. Cerdan was knocked down in round one, his shoulder was dislocated, and he had to give up after the tenth round. It would be the last fight of Cerdan's life.

A contract was signed for a rematch and Cerdan went to training camp for it, but before camp began he boarded an Air France flight to visit Piaf in New York, where she was singing. The Lockheed L-749 Constellation crashed into Pico da Vara (São Miguel Island, Azores), killing all 11 crew members and 37 passengers on board, including Cerdan and the famous French violinist Ginette Neveu, while approaching the intermediate stop airport at Santa Maria. Cerdan was only 33.

Marcel Cerdan's record was 113 wins and 4 losses, with 66 wins by knockout. In 1983, Cerdan and Piaf had their lives turned into a big screen biography. The film, Édith et Marcel (Claude Lelouch, 1983), starred Marcel Cerdan, Jr. in the role of his father and Évelyne Bouix as Piaf. In 2007 he was portrayed by Jean-Pierre Martins in La Môme/La Vie en Rose (Olivier Dahan, 2007).

French promotion card for La lunette Marcel Cerdan. Caption: La lunette Marcel Cerdan, la lunette qui ná pas peur des coups. (The Marcel Cerdan bezel, the bezel who is not afraid of blows).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Hungarian-born American competition swimmer and actor Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984) is best known for playing Tarzan in films of the 1930s and 1940s. Weissmuller was one of the world's fastest swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals for swimming and one bronze medal for water polo. After his swimming career, he became the sixth actor to portray Edgar Rice Burroughs's ape man, Tarzan, a role he played in twelve films. The first was Tarzan the Apeman (W. S. Van Dyke, 1932) with Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane. Dozens of other actors have also played Tarzan, but Weissmuller is forever the best known. His character's distinctive Tarzan yell is still often used in films. But who did that yell actually?

Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. 680. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tarzan the Ape Man (W. S. Van Dyke, 1932) with Maureen O'Sullivan, Cheeta and Johnny Weissmuller.

British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. W 370. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 864. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Tarzan and his Mate (W. S. Van Dyke, 1934).

Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan in Tarzan Finds A Son! (1939)

British postcard by Real Photograph, London, no. FS 208. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Publicity still for Tarzan Finds A Son (Richard Thorpe, 1939) with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan.

An Adonis clad only in a fig leaf

In 1904, Johnny Weissmuller was born as Peter Johann Weißmüller in Freidorf, today Szabadfalva, in the district of the city of Timisoara in Romania, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Weissmuller would later claim to have been born in Windber, Pennsylvania, probably to ensure his eligibility to compete as part of the US Olympic team. Weissmüller was one of two boys born to Petrus Weissmuller, a miner, and his wife Elisabeth Kersch, who were both Banat Swabians, an ethnic German population in Southeast Europe. The family arrived in the United States in 1905 when Johnny was 7 months old.

At age nine, young John Weissmüller contracted polio. He took up swimming on the advice of a doctor. After school, he worked as a bellhop and elevator operator at the Plaza Hotel in Chicago and trained for the Olympics with a swim coach at the Illinois Athletic Club. There he developed his revolutionary high-riding front crawl. He made his amateur debut in 1921, winning his first AAU race in the 50-yard freestyle.

From 1921 till 1929 Weismuller won every free style race he entered, from 100 yards to the half-mile. He won 67 world and 52 national titles. At the Olympic Games of 1924 and 1928, he won 5 Gold Medals and broke the record in each race. In 1929, Weissmuller signed a contract with BVD to be a model and representative. He travelled throughout the country doing swim shows, handing out leaflets promoting that brand of swimwear, signing autographs and going on radio. That year he made his film debut in Glorifying the American Girl (John W. Harkrider, Millard Webb, 1929), appearing as an Adonis clad only in a fig leaf in the segment Loveland.

After great success with a jungle movie, MGM head Louis B. Mayer, via Irving Thalberg, optioned two of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan stories. Cyril Hume, working on the adaptation of Tarzan the Ape Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1932), noticed Johnny Weissmuller swimming in the pool at his hotel and suggested him for the part of Tarzan. MGM got him released from his BVD contract by agreeing to pose many of its female stars in BVD swimsuits. Weissmuller signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

The studio billed him as "the only man in Hollywood who's natural in the flesh and can act without clothes". The film was an immediate box-office and critical hit. And Weissmuller became an overnight international sensation. Seeing that he was wildly popular with girls, the studio told him to divorce his wife and paid her $10,000 to agree to it. Weissmuller starred in six Tarzan movies for MGM with actress Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane and Cheeta the Chimpanzee. The last three also included Johnny Sheffield as Boy.

After 1942, however, MGM had used up its options; it dropped the Tarzan series and Weissmuller, too. He then moved to RKO and made six more Tarzans with markedly reduced production values. Sheffield also appeared as Boy in the first five features for RKO. Brenda Joyce took over the role of Jane in Weissmuller's last four Tarzan movies (the first two RKO films had not featured Jane). Unlike MGM, RKO allowed Weissmuller to play other roles, though a three-picture contract with Pine-Thomas Productions led to only one film, Swamp Fire (William H. Pine, 1946), co-starring Virginia Grey and Buster Crabbe.

French postcard by Editions en Publications Cinematographiques, no. 88. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. 668b. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

French postcard, no. 261. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (M.G.M).

French postcard by Ed. Chantal, Paris no. 501. Photo: M.G.M.

International Swimming Hall of Fame

After his Tarzan career was over, Johnny Weissmuller traded his loincloth costume for a slouch hat and safari suit for the role of Jungle Jim (William Berke, 1948), set in Africa. He made sixteen Jungle Jim films for Columbia between 1948 and 1954. Devil Goddess (Spencer G. Bennet, 1955) was the last entry in the series, as well as being Weissmuller's last feature film.[

In 1955, he began production of the Jungle Jim television adventure series for Screen Gems, a film subsidiary of Columbia. The show produced only twenty-six episodes, which were subsequently played repeatedly on network and syndicated television. Aside from his first screen appearance as Adonis in Glorifying the American Girl (1929) and the role of Johnny Duval in Swamp Fire (1946), Weissmuller played only three roles in films during the heyday of his Hollywood career: Tarzan, Jungle Jim, and himself.

In the late 1950s after retiring from acting, Weissmuller moved back to Chicago and started a swimming pool company. He also lent his name to other business ventures, but did not have a great deal of success. He retired in 1965 and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was Founding Chairman of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

In 1970, he made a cameo appearance with his former Tarzan co-star Maureen O'Sullivan in the obscure comedy The Phynx (Lee H. Katzin, 1970). In 1973, he moved from Florida to Las Vegas where he was a greeter at the MGM Grand Hotel for a time. In 1974, he broke a hip and leg. While hospitalised he learned that, in spite of his strength and lifelong daily regimen of swimming and exercise, he had a serious heart condition.

In 1976, he appeared for the last time in a film as a crewman who is fired by a movie mogul (Art Carney) in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (Michael Winner, 1976), and he also made his final public appearance in that year when he was inducted into the Body Building Guild Hall of Fame. In 1984, 'Big John' Weissmuller died in Acapulco, Mexico of pulmonary oedema after a series of strokes. At his request, a recording of his trademark Tarzan yell which he invented was played as his coffin was lowered into the ground.

He married five times and divorced four times. His wives were band and club singer Bobbe Arnst (1931-1933), Mexican film star Lupe Velez (1933-1939), Beryl Scott (1939-1948), Ailene Gates (1948-1962) and Maria Bauman (1963-1984; his death). He had three children with Beryl Scott: actor Johnny Weissmuller Jr. (1940-2006), Wendy Anne (1942), and Heidi Elizabeth (1943-1962).

His daughter Heidi died in a car crash. She had been driving south along the Pacific Coast Highway, on the way to return her husband, and a friend to the naval base in San Diego where they were stationed. A few miles north of Laguna Beach, she fell asleep at the wheel and crashed. Heidi and her unborn child died. Her husband and his friend survived. According to his son, Weissmuller never got over the loss of his daughter and unborn grandchild.

Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan

Belgian postcard. Photo: M.G.M. Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan.

Vintage postcard.

Vintage card. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tarzan Finds a Son! (Richard Thorpe, 1939) with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan.

Dutch postcard, no. 751. Photo: M.G.M.

Who did the yell in the Tarzan films?

According to Johnny Weissmuller he did the yell himself and he was inspired by the yodelling of his German neighbours, along with his own success in a yodelling contest he’d won as a boy.

However, MGM claimed to have enhanced the yell in post-production. Reportedly, they added and mixed the following:

1. A second track of Weismuller’s voice, amplified
2. A track of a hyena howl, played backwards
3. A note sung by a female opera soprano, with the speed varied to produce a fluttery sound
4. The growl of a dog
5. The bleat of a camel
6. The raspy note of a violin’s G-string being bowed.

And there are more stories...

Trailer for Tarzan The Ape Man Trailer (1932) - with the yell. Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).

Sources: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Mental Floss, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Katharina Thalbach (1954) is one of Germany's most respected stage actresses mostly working in Hamburg and Berlin. Internationally, she is best known for her part in Die Blechtrommel/The Tin Drum (1979), Volker Schlöndorf’s award-winning film adaptation of the novel by Günter Grass. She has also directed since the late 1980s.

Katharina Thalbach in Es ist eine alte Geschichte (1972)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 143/72. Photo: Blasig. Publicity still for Es ist eine alte Geschichte/It Is an Old Story (Lothar Warneke, 1972).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 31/74. Photo: Blasig.

Banned in Oklahoma

Katharina Thalbach was born in 1954 in East Berlin, East-Germany. She comes from a particularly artistically oriented family. Her father Benno Besson was a director, her mother Sabine Thalbach was an actress.

She grew up in the theatre while her mother worked for the Berliner Ensemble and the Deutschen Theater. At the age of four, she made her screen debut in the TV film Begegnung im Dunkel/Meeting in the Dark (1958). Her half-brother Pierre Besson and her stepmother Ursula Karusseit are both also actors.

After the death of her mother in 1966, actress Helene Weigel took Katharina under her wings. During her school years, Thalbach’s acting teacher was Doris Thalmer. At 15, she made her stage debut as the whore Betty in Erich Engels' version of Die Dreigroschenoper (The Three Penny Opera) in 1969, and later took over the leading role of Polly. She is considered as a new talent and continued to perform at the Berliner Ensemble.

With her other half-brother Benjamin Besson, she played in the DEFA film Es ist eine alte Geschichte/It Is an Old Story (Lothar Warneke, 1972). In 1975, she appeared in another DEFA production Lotte in Weimar (Egon Günther, 1975), starring Lilli Palmer and based on the novel by Thomas Mann.

In December 1976, she left East Germany together with longtime companion Thomas Brasch and daughter Anna after the expulsion of songwriter Wolf Biermann. She then played a supporting part in the West-German drama Das zweite Erwachen der Christa Klages/The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (1978) directed by Margarethe von Trotta, her debut solo film.

The following year, she became known for her role in Die Blechtrommel/The Tin Drum (Volker Schlöndorff, 1979), the film adaptation of the novel by Günter Grass, which won the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival and the 1980 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

The film lead to a ban in Oklahoma because of scenes in which lead actor David Bennent, then 11 years of age and playing a stunted 16-year-old, licks effervescing sherbet powder from the navel of a 16-year-old girl, played by Thalbach, who was 24 years old at the time. Subsequently, Bennent appears to have oral sex and then intercourse with her. The Ontario Censor Board in Canada first cut the film and then banned it as child pornography.

In the multi-part television film Theodor Chindler (1979) by Hans W. Geißendörfer, she was Margarete, the young, revolutionary daughter of Reichstag deputy Theodor Chindler.

German autograph card.

German autograph card. Photo: Mathias Bothor.

Actress of the Year

Katharina Thalbach often played dominant women who rebel against society, fight against misery and take their fate into their own hands. In 1980, she was voted 'Actress of the Year' by the critics of the magazine Theater Heute for her title role in Heinrich von Kleist’s Das Käthchen von Heilbronn. She then co-starred with Hilmar Thate in the crime film Engel aus Eisen/Angels of Iron (1981), directed by her partner Thomas Brasch.

She played a supporting part in the American drama Sophie's Choice (Alan J. Pakula, 1982) starring Meryl Streep as Sophie. She appeared in the German-Finnish drama Flucht in den Norden/Flight North (Ingemo Engström, 1986) with Lena Olin, the German comedy Z.B. ... Otto Spalt/The Case of Mr. Spalt (René Perraudin, 1988), and in Thomas Brasch’s drama Der Passagier – Welcome to Germany/The Passenger - Welcome to Germany (1988), featuring Tony Curtis.

Thalbach co-starred with Stellan Skarsgård in the Swedish film God afton, Herr Wallenberg - En Passionshistoria från verkligheten/Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg (Kjell Grede, 1990) about Swedish World War II diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who was instrumental in saving the lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust.

A box office hit in Germany was the comedy Sonnenallee/Sun Avenue (Leander Haußmann, 1999) about life of the East-German youth in East Berlin in the late 1970s. The Sonnenallee is an actual street in Berlin that was intersected by the border between East and West during the time of the Berlin Wall. Thalbach portrayed Doris Ehrenreich, the mother of the male main character Micha.

She appeared with Nina Hoss in Der Vulkan/The Volcano (Ottokar Runze, 1999), and also often acted for television. In the TV mini-series Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman (Heinrich Breloer, 2001) about the famous literary family, she played actress Therese Giehse, partner of Erika Mann.

The international coproduction König der Diebe/King of Thieves (Ivan Fila, 2004) is a powerful indictment dealing with child slavery in the German marketplace. Thalbach had the lead role in the Polish language film Strajk - Die Heldin von Danzig/Strike (2006) directed by Volker Schlöndorff. The film is broadly a docudrama covering the formation of Solidarity, and she won the 2006Bavarian Film Award for Best Actress for it.

Her more recent German films include the tragicomedy Der Mond und andere Liebhaber/The Moon and Other Lovers (Bernd Böhlich, 2008), and the fantasy film Rubinrot/Ruby Red (Felix Fuchssteiner, 2013). Katharina Thalback continues to play theatre, film and television. Her daughter Anna, born in 1973 from a relationship with actor Vladimir Weigl, and her granddaughter Nellie (born 1995) are also actresses.

Trailer Die Blechtrommel/The Tin Drum (1979). Source: DionysusCinema (YouTube).

Trailer Sonnenallee/Sun Avenue (1999). Source: moviemaniacsDE (YouTube).

Sources: Hans-Michael Bock (Cinegraph- German), Wikipedia (English and German), and IMDb.

Blonde and curvey bombshell Diana Dors (1931-1984) was called ‘The English Marilyn Monroe’, to her disgust. In her own words: "I was the first home-grown sex symbol, rather like Britain's naughty seaside postcards. When Marilyn Monroe's first film was shown here [The Asphalt Jungle (1950)], a columnist actually wrote, 'How much like our Diana Dors she is'."

German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3954. Photo: Georg Michalke / Ufa.

German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 245. Retail prive: 10 Pfg. Photo: Georg Michalke.

Austrian postcard by Bild- und Ton-Postkartenverlag P. Weizmann, Wien, no. 570. Photo: Georg Michalke.

British promo card for Empire News and Sunday Chronicle. The card announced that Diana Dors would write a series of articles for the two-in-one Sunday newspaper about her adventures in Hollywood. In Hollywood she made The Unholy Wife (John Farrow, 1957) and I Married a Woman (Hal Kanter, 1958). The latter was filmed between mid-July and late August 1956 and the card was probably produced in 1956 or 1957.

British autograph card. Photo: Cornel Lucas / Rank.

The Siren of Swindon

Diana Dors was born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, England, in 1931. Her father, Peter Fluck, was a railroad employee. Her mother, Mary Fluck, had almost died from the traumatic birth of her daughter. Because of this trauma, she lavished on Diana everything she herself had dreamed of: clothes, dance lessons, visits to the cinema. The actresses on the screen caught Diana's attention and she later told that she wanted to be an actress from the age of three.

Physically, Diana grew up fast and she looked and acted much older than what she was. 'The Siren of Swindon' began her career on stage while she was only 13. The youngest of her class, she trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) in London.

At the age of 15, she appeared in her first film, The Shop at Sly Corner (George King, 1947) starring Oskar Homolka. The J. Arthur Rank Organisation offered her a contract and she played several ‘sexy girl in background’ roles in their films. The best of these parts was Charlotte in Oliver Twist (David Lean, 1948) starring Alec Guinness.

She made several more films in the late 1940s, including substantial roles in the comedy Here Come The Huggetts (Ken Annakin, 1948), and the 'bad girl' opposite Honor Blackman's more virtuous roles in the cycling comedy A Boy, a Girl and a Bike (Ralph Smart, 1949) and Diamond City (David MacDonald, 1949), a lively British 'Western' set in South Africa's diamond fields.

Her appeal stemmed from a combination of glamour and humour, coupled with a lack of vanity. A good example of her early appeal comes in Lady Godiva Rides Again (Frank Launder, 1951) with Dennis Price. It was a light hearted romp that made fun of the beauty queen business. The American Board of Film Censors had banned the film because Diana was showing her navel. However she's friendly and surprisingly non-threatening in the film, more interested in having fun than in winning. Both critics and the public loved her as a sexy siren.

German card, printed by Krüger, no. 902/80. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Terra-Colour, no. PU 4.

German postcard by Ufa (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin Tempelhof, no. CK-86. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Ufa.

Italian postcard by Rotalcolor, no. 18.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 53.

Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor, no. 331.

Public Brawl

Diana Dors was one of the very first celebrities to actually court the British press. Her first husband and manager Dennis Hamilton believed any publicity either good or bad could only benefit the ambitious starlet. One stunt was to set up the company Diana Dors Ltd and another was the announcement of Diana as the youngest Rolls Royce owner at the age of 20 (however, she could not drive).

Dors got a 'decent' role in the 'women in prison' drama The Weak and the Wicked (J. Lee Thompson, 1954) opposite Glynis Johns and people started to believe she could act as well as look decorative. She confirmed her talent with a good role in the fantasy A Kid for Two Farthings (Carol Reed, 1955) with Celia Johnson, and her part as a murderess in Yield to the Night (J. Lee Thompson, 1956), loosely based on the true life story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in Britain for murder.

Casting off her sex symbol image, Diana portrayed Mary Hilton whose story is told entirely in flashbacks, as she awaits her final sentencing or possible reprieve, and attempts to tie up the loose ends in her life involving her mother, brother, and husband. Michael Brooke writes at BFI Screenonline: "Eyebrows were raised at Dors being offered such a challenging dramatic role, given that her blonde bombshell image at the time was almost exclusively associated with comedy, but she rose to the occasion, managing to evoke considerable sympathy for her condemned but essentially unsympathetic character."

Dors was snapped up by Hollywood, but she was put in two unsuitable vehicles, the crime thriller The Unholy Wife (John Farrow, 1957) with Rod Steiger, and the comedy I Married a Woman (Hal Kanter, 1958).

A very public brawl between her and her husband, Dennis Hamilton, finished her Hollywood career. At a pool party full of Hollywood A-list celebrities, Diana was pushed fully clothed into her swimming pool. Hamilton then proceeded to punch the photographer thought to have pushed her into unconsciousness. The celebrities fled and the headlines the following day were 'Ms Dors go home and take Mr Dors with you!'. Her three movie deal with RKO ended after they cancelled the contract on a moral clause in the contract.

Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 10.

Italian postcard by Turismofoto, no. 14.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. FK 3860. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, no. 559. Photo: RKO Radio Pictures.

Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1251.

Italian photo distributed at Quindicinale fotografico d'attualita cine-teatrale, Roma.

Blowsy

Diana Dors returned to Britain, but she never quite attained the level of her pre-Hollywood period. During the 1960s Dors never stopped working but her roles got smaller and the films worse. In the campy horror film Beserk! (Jim O'Connolly, 1967), she played a performer in a cheesy carnival who ends up cut in half by a power saw. The film starred 63-year-old Joan Crawford who played the outrageous owner and ringmaster of a travelling circus, who'll stop at nothing to draw bigger audiences...

Dors was often seen on TV both in the US and the UK. She began to pile on the pounds and rapidly went from blowsy to fat. One of her weighty roles was as the ex-wife of Peter Sellers in There's a Girl in My Soup (Roy Boulting, 1970). Her appearance in The Amazing Mr Blunden (Lionel Jeffries, 1972) got a lot of publicity as she played a slatternly Victorian housekeeper in her sixties.

Her major television breakthrough came in 1970, when she starred as a brassy matriarch in Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall's popular ITV sitcom Queenie's Castle (1970-1972). Despite these successes she continued to accept any role going and took small parts in several British sex comedies, such as Adventures of a Taxi Driver (Stanley Long, 1976).

Diana Dors died in 1984 from a recurrence of ovarian cancer, first diagnosed two years earlier. She was 52 years old. For over thirty years she had lived her life in the headlines, and now she was missed. She had three sons, Mark and Gary Dawson from her second marriage to comedian/TV emcee Richard Dawson, and Jason Lake from her third marriage to actor Alan Lake. Alan Lake committed suicide not long after her death, which generated even more headlines.

Her final film, the Nell Dunn adaptation Steaming (Joseph Losey, 1985) starring Vanessa Redgrave, was released a year later. During her career of nearly four decades, Diana Dors was loved by the British public, and her life, both professional and personal, was followed in a whole new way. Through the media, her life was made accessible to the British public: she was down to earth, made mistakes, had a vulnerability about her and the public followed her ups and downs through the many daily newspapers and magazine articles.

Together with 'The Three M's' from Hollywood: Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren and Marilyn Monroe, DD has left her mark on popular culture by popularising the 1950s blonde bombshell look. As David Absalom at British Pictures writes: "She's been a National Joke and a National Disgrace in her time, but when she died we realised we'd lost a National Treasure."

Diana Dors and Robert Dhéry in Allez France! (1964)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2629. Photo: publicity still for Allez France!/The Counterfeit Constable (Robert Dhéry, Pierre Tchernia, 1964) with Robert Dhèry.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2.631, 1966. Photo: publicity still for Allez France!/The Counterfeit Constable (Robert Dhéry, Pierre Tchernia, 1964).

Jill Bennett and Diana Dors in Three Months (1970)

British postcard in the series Talking the Stage: an exhibition of photographs by John Haynes by National Theatre (NT). Photo: John Haynes. Publicity still for Three Months Gone by Donald Howarth (1970) with Jill Bennett.

Trailer for The Unholy Wife (1957). Source: Pinkfairygirl86 (YouTube).

Trailer for Beserk! (1967). Source: SonyPicsHomeEntAU (YouTube).

Sources: Michael Brooke (BFI Screenonline), David Absalom (British Pictures), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Denny Jackson (IMDb), DianaDors.com, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Else Bassermann, née Elisabeth Sara Schiff (1878-1961) was a German stage and screen actress. In 1908 she married renowned stage actor Albert Bassermann and often performed together with him on stage. When he started to play in film, she accompanied him there too. She also wrote several scripts for his silent films.

German postcard by NPG (Neue Photographische Gesellschaft), no. 667. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard, no. 8772. Photo: Willinger. Albert and Else Bassermann.

Actress, Script-writer, Wife

Else Bassermann was born Elisabeth Sara Schiff in 1878 in Leipzig, Germany.

Else made her stage debut at the Köln Residenztheater in 1902. One year later she acted in Nuremberg before she went to Berlin in 1904, among others working at the Lessingtheater and for Max Reinhardt.

In 1908, Else married renowned stage actor Albert Bassermann and she often performed together with him on stage. When her husband started to play in film, she accompanied him, as in Der letzte Tag/The Last Day (Max Mack, 1913), ptoduced by the Vitascope company.

Under the pseudonym of Hans Hennings she wrote the scripts for several of her husband's films in the period 1917-1921, which were produced by Jules Greenbaum. She also had substantial supporting parts in them. Examples are Herr und Diener/Master and Servant (Adolf Gärtner, 1917), Du sollst keine andern Götter haben/Thou shalt have no other gods (Adolf Gärtner, 1917), and Dr. Schotte (William Wauer, 1918). The latter was found many decades later in the Desmet Collection at Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam.

During the 1920s, she only occasionally acted in films, mostly in bit parts in films in which her husband had major parts. Meanwhile they both continued to act on stage with great success.

Albert Bassermann, Hanni Weisse, Else Bassemann and Ewald Brückner in Du sollst keine andern Götter haben (1917)

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 5463. Photo: publicity still for Du sollst keine andern Götter haben/Thou shalt have no other gods (Adolf Gärtner, 1917) with Hanni Weisse, Albert Bassermann, Else Bassermann and Ewald Brückner.

Albert Bassermann in a dual role in Herr und Diener

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 5465. Photo: Greenbaum-Film. Albert Bassermann in a dual role in the German silent film Herr und Diener (Adolf Gärtner, 1917). A reputed professor (Albert Bassermann) hires a servant (also Bassermann) for a world trip. The servant is his spitting image. When the professor is lamed, the servant trades places with him. Nobody discovers the fraud, till one day the professor's maid (Else Bassermann) unmasks the culprit. The script was written by Else Basssermann under the pseudonym of Hans Hennings. On this postcard Else Bassermann can be seen on the extreme right.

Alfred Hitchcock

In 1934 the Jewish Else Bassermann was forbidden to continue acting on stage in Germany. The couple Bassermann moved to Austria and from there, in 1939 to the USA.

In Hollywood they were employed by Warner but could make very few films. Albert could only play a few supporting parts, such as in Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940). Else also played a supporting part in Madame Curie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1943), featuring Greer Garson, and in I Was a Criminal (Richard Oswald, 1945).

Albert Bassermann's lack of mastering the English language no doubt was an obstacle. After the war the couple returned to Europe to act on stage again, in Germany as of 1949. She did no longer take part in films.

After Albert died during a flight in a plane in 1952, Else continued to act but her career went downhill, and so went her finances. In the end she even had to give up her house, and move in with a crippled lady, together with her mentally handicapped daughter Carmen.

Else Bassermann died poor and destitute 1961 in Baden-Baden, Germany. She was 83. Her daughter died in 1971 in a traffic accident.

German postcard by Verlag Herman Leiser, no. 1070. Photo: Greenbaum-Film. Publicity still of Else Bassermann in Der letzte Zeuge (Adolf Gärtner, 1919).

Albert Bassermann and Else Bassermann in Der letzte Zeuge

German postcard by Verlag Herman Leiser, no. 1071. Photo: Greenbaum-Film. Publicity still of Albert Bassermannand Else Bassermann in Der letzte Zeuge (Adolf Gärtner, 1919).

Albert and Else Bassermann in Groszstadtluft

German postcard. Publicity card for Albertand Else Bassermann in the play Groszstadtluft in the Berlin theatre Scala.

Sources: Filmportal.de (German), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

The German historical film Das Herz der Königin/The Heart of a Queen (Carl Froehlich, 1940), stars Swedish diva Zarah Leander as Mary Stuart Queen of Scots and Nazi heartthrob Willy Birgel as Lord Bothwell. The film was intended as anti-English propaganda in the context of the Second World War, presenting English Queen Elizabeth I as a cold, scheming queen striving for domination, while the Scottish Mary is presented as the Queen of Hearts.

Zarah Leander in Das Herz der Königin (1940)

German postcard by Das Illustrierte Blatt, Frankfurter Illustrierte. Photo: Ufa. Willy Birgelin Das Herz der Königin (Carl Froehlich, 1940).

Waiting for the judgement

Originally, the cast & crew of Das Herz der Königin were signed on to film a biopic on Catherine the Great of Russia. Zarah Leander would star in the title role, but once war broke out between Germany and the Soviet Union, Joseph Goebbels ordered the film scrapped and the production team was told to make a film about Mary Stuart instead.

In Das Herz der Königin, Mary Stuart (Zarah Leander) is presented as the Queen of Hearts, whose actions are only led by emotions and indirectly cause her the loss of the men around her and herself too. Not only Elzabeth, but the Scottish men and women in Mary's life make her life misery as well: the evil, brutal half-brother Jacob, the coward Bothwell, the vengeful Gordon.

Scottish nobility is no positive alternative to the English court, the film suggests. This deviates from other anti-British propaganda films of the Third Reich in which e.g. the Irish or the Australians are presented as the positive, honest alternative.

The film is mostly told in flashback. It starts with Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, held prisoner in the Tower in London and waiting for the judgement of her court case. Soon she finds out that she is sentenced to death by the scaffold on the next day. Breaking down, she recalls the events leading to her imminent death.

The flashback starts with young Mary arriving from France to Scotland, as the lawful Queen of Scots, only to encounter a strong opposition by all parties around her. First of all is her half-brother Jacob Stuart (Walther Suessenguth), who is the former Scottish ruler. He asserts that a woman is incapable of ruling the 'rough' and 'male' land of Scotland.

Also the lords, headed by Lord Bothwell (Willy Birgel), face Mary Stuart critically. Moreover, upon her arrival Mary faces an assassination attempt by Johanna (Jean) Gordon (Lotte Koch), whose clan is at feud with the Stuarts for ages. Her Privy Council refuses to show up, apart from Jacob Stuart, who tears up the document presented for his signature. When the Queen is alone again, Bothwell arrives and confesses that he had fallen in love with her. Mary orders him arrested for insulting the Queen, even though impressed by him.

German postcard by Das Illustrierte Blatt, Frankfurter Illustrierte. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Das Herz der Königin (Carl Froehlich, 1940), starring Zarah Leander (standing in the middle), with on the right is Friedrich/Enrico Benfer as David Riccio, and on the left Will Quadflieg as Page Olivier.

German postcard by Das Illustrierte Blatt, Frankfurter Illustrierte. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Das Herz der Königin (Carl Froehlich, 1940), with Zarah Leander and Willy Birgel.

Motivated by revenge and lust for power

Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth I (Maria Koppenhofer), angered by the competition of the new Scottish queen and even suspecting a threat to her right to the English throne, sends her confidant Lord Henry Darnley (Axel von Ambesser), a Scottish-born dandy to Scotland to spy for her and to raise the population against Mary.

Yet, Darnley himself falls in love with Mary and leads her to Bothwell's Castle, where the Scottish lords plot the Queen's deposition. Mary ventures alone into the meeting. She is imprisoned, but released the next day on condition she will marry a Scot. Mary chooses lord Bothwell, whom she believes to be still in captivity, but who has fled with Jean Gordon and has married her. The two of them raise an army to overthrow Mary – motivated by revenge and lust for power.

The Queen is forced to marry Darnley, but becomes involved with Italian singer David Riccio (Enrico Benfer). Eventually, she gives birth to a boy child, James - the future King James I. A troupe of travelling actors stages a play, openly hinting that Riccio is the Queen's lover and might be the father of her child, so the insulted and angered Darnley has Riccio assassinated.

At this time Bothwells' army appears, which The Queen allows to enter his own Castle and temporarily take over power in the land "for the Queen's own protection". Lord Darnley has meanwhile fallen ill with smallpox. On advice of the true stern Scottish Lord Bothwell, now her lover, Mary sends her ill husband to Edinburgh, where he dies in an explosion at his home.

Queen Elisabeth sends an army to Scotland to release Mary from the power of Bothwell and to offer to her refuge in England - actually a trap meant to imprison Mary and keep her away from the throne of Scotland. Meanwhile, Mary has married Bothwell, who has separated from Gordon, but the wedding is interrupted when the English army appears under the guidance of Jacob Stuart. He presents secret love letters which Mary had sent to Bothwell while still married to her previous husband.

Olivier (Will Quadflieg), the Queen's page, is killed while trying to hide the letters. Bothwell is faced with the choice of standing by Mary and dying, or denying her. He turns away from her, but the treacherous Jacob still sentences him to death. When Jacob takes from his half-sister her only child James, to protect him against Elizabeth, Mary accepts the offer of the English Queen and goes into exile in England, which leads to her imprisonment and death.

The frame story from the beginning resumes. Mary makes peace with dying and pledges her undying love to her ladies-in-waiting, the Scottish people, and the men she loved and lost. The next morning Mary, in a stunning bejewelled gown, is led to the scaffold and kneels down in prayer as she awaits the sharp hatchet to fall.

Das Herz der Königin became a failure in its time and also today counts as one of the weakest of Zarah Leander's films.

German postcard by Das Illustrierte Blatt, Frankfurter Illustrierte. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Das Herz der Königin (Carl Froehlich, 1940), with from left to right Will Quadflieg (Page Olivier), Zarah Leander (Mary Queen of Scots),Enrico Benfer(David Riccio), and Anneliese von Eschstruth.

German postcard by Das Illustrierte Blatt. Photo: Ufa / Lindner. Publicity still for Das Herz der Königin/The Heart of a Queen (Carl Froelich, 1940) with Willy Birgel and Lotte Koch.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.