European Film Star Postcards

For the social melodrama Zuflucht (1928), Henny Porten invited stage actor Franz Lederer to be her co-star. His film debut immediately tuned the handsome Czech actor into a popular film star. Zuflucht/Refuge was produced by Porten's own film company, HPF (Henny Porten-Froelich Produktion GmbH (Berlin)), and directed by Carl Froelich. Froelich staged the film as realistically as possible by shooting in the quarters of workers, kitchens, arcades, market halls, and third-class hospitals. The cast also included Max Maximilian, Margarete Kupfer, Alice Hechy and Carl de Vogt.

Henny Porten and Franz Lederer in Zuflucht (1928)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 100/1. Photo: Alex. Schmoll / HPF (Henny Porten-Froelich Produktion GmbH (Berlin)). Henny Porten and Franz Lederer in Zufluch/tRefuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 100/2. Photo: Alex. Schmoll / HPF (HPF (Henny Porten-Froelich Produktion GmbH (Berlin)). Henny Porten and Franz Lederer in Zuflucht/Refuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 110/3. Photo: Alex. Schmoll, Berlin / HPF (Henny Porten-Froelich Produktion GmbH (Berlin)). Henny Porten in Zuflucht/Refuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).

A ray of hope

In Zuflucht/Refuge, Franz Lederer plays Martin, who has to flee Germany because of his involvement in the November Revolution. Eight years later, he returns to Berlin. The market vendor Hannelore (Henny Porten) offers him shelter in her apartment, whereupon both fall in love. Martin soon finds work in the construction of the north-south subway through the Tempelhof field, but collapses one day. The pregnant Hannelore cares for the seriously ill Martin.

Hal Erickson writes at AllMovie: "Best known for her comedy roles, Henny Porten went dramatic big-time in her 1928 vehicle Zufflucht [sic] (Refuge). Since Porten also produced the film, she bore the brunt of the criticism, which was far from kind. Many felt that the actress would have been better off sticking to comedy, while others were of the opinion that she was too old for her role (she was all of 40 at the time). The most positive comments were reserved for Porten's incredibly good-looking leading man, Francis Lederer. In fact, Zufflucht represented Lederer's screen debut, a full year before his 'official' cinematic bow in Pabst's Pandora's Box."

However, the film was positively received by some of the German critics at the time. The Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger reviewed the film on 1 September 1928: "The fact is that this simple story became a wonderful film, and indeed a tangible step forward in the field of German film in general - thanks not only to the exquisite portrayal, but above all to the direction of the film. Carl Froelich has had the courage to openly show what he has learned from the New Russian film art. [...]

There is hardly any tradition here, there is no bashful make-up, nothing and nobody is made 'cute' - yes, the outstanding Henny Porten does not even shy away from turning into a self-denying Cinderella. That sounds hard, but it means liberation from the traditional teasing fuss of numerous film divas, numerous directors. [...] The film is a ray of hope. "

Critic Hanns Horkheimer added in Berliner Tageblatt on 2 September 1928: "The good role of her Hanne is raised to all-human validity, when this joyless market maid awakens to motherly-loving sacrifice, when she, the tormented, with two powerful arms, makes a new life for the strayed, and then when the short spring is full of warmth and heat Promise on the deathbed of the selfless lover forever vanishes. This lover is Franz Lederer, [...] as a film debutant of the antics of Russian film actors. Naturalistic life and experience are raised by him through creative skill into that sphere in which there are no bravura details, but only a self-evident whole. The management of the again tactically, technically and figuratively very hard-working and skillful Carl Froelich contributed the rest to the success."

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 110/4. Photo: Alex. Schmoll, Berlin / HPF (Henny Porten-Froelich Produktion GmbH (Berlin)). Henny Porten in Zuflucht/Refuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 110/5. Photo: Alex. Schmoll, Berlin / HPF (Henny Porten-Froelich Produktion GmbH (Berlin)). Henny Porten in Zuflucht/Refuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).

German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film, picture no. 198, group 43. Photo: HPF (Henny Porten-Froelich Produktion GmbH (Berlin)). Publicity still for Zuflucht/Refuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).

German actress Margarete Kupfer (1881-1953) was an extremely versatile and prolific character player in classic silent films directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Paul Leni and Ernst Lubitsch.

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

Charming and elegant Edwige Feuillère (1907-1998) was during the 1940s the ‘First Lady’ of the French cinema. Edwige was known for the ease in which she could switch from playing sophisticated sexy ladies and cruel, self-centred seductresses. For more than sixty years she stayed a beloved ‘vedette’ of the French stage and screen.

French collectors card by Massilia.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 719. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Edwige Feuillère in L'honorable Catherine (1943)

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 15. Photo: Films Orange. Edwige Feuillère in L'honorable Catherine/The Honourable Catherine (Marcel L'Herbier, 1943).

French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 170. Photo: Studio Carlet Ainé.

French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil, no. 596 A. Photo: Continental Films.

Camille

Edwige Feuillère was born Edwige Louise Caroline Cunati in Vesoul, in the Haute-Saône in eastern France in 1907. Her father was Italian and, because he was drafted by the Italian army in World War I, Edwige spent much of her childhood in Italy.

After the war, the family moved to Dijon in France. Edwige attended the lyceum in Dijon where she acted in plays including Jean Racine's plays 'Esther' and 'Athalie'. At the Dijon Conservatoire she studied diction, interpretation of character and singing, and easily passed the entrance exam for the Paris Conservatoire in 1928.

Two years later, she won the first prize for comedy. She married an older fellow student, Pierre Feuillere, but he proved to be a drug addict who used to play suicidal games with her.

She made her theatrical debut under the stage name Cora Lynn, playing small roles in 1930. In 1931 she became a member of the Comédie Française, and made her debut in Pierre Beaumarchais' comedy 'Le Mariage de Figaro'. In 1933, Edwige left both the troupe and her husband, but she kept his surname.

During the 1930s and 1940s, the stunningly beautiful actress became one of the leading ladies of the French stage. A success was her role in Édouard Bourdet's 'La Prisonniere' (The Captive) in 1935 at the Théâtre Heberthot. The play had a long run and was frequently revived. Among her most popular roles was also Marguerite Gautier in 'La Dame aux camélias' (Camille) by Alexandre Dumas fils (1939-1942).

For the next two decades she appeared in frequent revivals of 'La Dame aux camélias' in France and Britain. Another triumph was 'Sodome et Gomorrhe' (Sodom and Gomorrah) by modern author Jean Giraudoux (1943), for which she helped to discover Gérard Philipe.

French postcard by Erres, no. 12. Photo: Paramount.

French postcard, no. 170. Photo: Star.

French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 64. Photo: Star.

French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 170. Photo: Studio Carlet Ainé.

French postcard by Greff / S.E.R.P. Editeur, Paris, no. 596 A. Photo: Continental Films.

Nude Scene

Edwige Feuillère's first film appearance was in the short La Fine combine/The Fine combines (André Chotin, 1931) opposite Fernandel, and her feature debut was in Le Cordon bleu/The Champion Cook (Alberto Cavalcanti, Karl Anton, 1931). For both films she still used the name Cora Lynn.

Louis Gasnier cast her in the first film version of the farce Topaze (1933), based on the play by Marcel Pagnol. Her charm and elegance opposite Louis Jouvet were widely appreciated.

In the strait-laced Europe of 1935, she scandalised the public with a brief nude scene in Lucrèce Borgia/Lucrezia Borgia (Abel Gance, 1935). This historical drama in which she played her first leading role, solidified her popularity. That year she also appeared in the epic Golgotha/Behold the Man (Julien Duvivier, 1935) starring Harry Baur and Jean Gabin, and in the Ufa production Barcarolle (Gerhard Lamprecht, Roger Le Bon, 1935), the French-language version of Lamprecht's Barcarole (1935).

Her roles as elegant and often heartless women were displayed in Mister Flow/Compliments of Mr. Flow (Robert Siodmak, 1936), Marthe Richard au service de la France/Marthe Richard (Raymond Bernard, 1937) as a charming spy opposite Erich von Stroheim, La Dame de Malacca/Woman of Malacca (Marc Allégret, 1937), and J'étais une aventurière/I Was an Adventuress (Raymond Bernard, 1938).

She went on working with famous director Max Ophüls in the melodrama Sans lendemain/Without Tomorrow (1939) in which she gave a wonderful performance as a jaded woman, abandoned by a shady husband with a lot of debts, who is sacrified, and in De Mayerling à Sarajévo/Mayerling to Sarajevo (1940) about the liaison between Archduke Franz Ferdinand - unwilling heir to the Habsburg throne - and his wife, Countess Sophie Chotek. The film ends with the couple's assassination by a Serb terrorist in 1914, and thus starting WW I. Work on this film began in 1939 and was interrupted by the war. It was finished in the spring of 1940, only to be banned by the Germans. The first ‘official’ premiere was on 18 May 1945.

Feuillères next film, Mam'zelle Bonaparte/Miss Bonaparte (Maurice Tourneur, 1941) became a popular success, although IMDb calls the film a ‘dud’. Another success was her role as a coquette caught by a great love for Pierre Richard-Willm in La Duchesse de Langeais/Wicked Duchess (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1941) based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac with dialogues by Jean Giraudoux. Worth watching is also the romantic screwball comedy L'Honorable Catherine/The Honourable Catherine (Marcel L’Herbier, 1943) with Feuillère as a high society blackmailer whose latest blackmail attempt is interrupted, and she has to pose as her victim’s lover.

Edwige Feuillère and Pierre Richard-Willm in Stradivarius (1935)

French postcard by Tobis. Photo: Edwige Feuillère and Pierre Richard-Willm in Stradivarius (Albert Valentin, Géza von Bolváry, 1935).

French postcard by Editions P.I., La Garenne-Colombes, no. 36. Photo: Majestic.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 52. Photo: Studio Paz.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 64. Photo: Studio Paz.

Magnetic Presence

By the mid-1940s Edwige Feuillère had become a distinguished actress, respected for her powerful well-modulated voice, expressive eyes and magnetic presence. She was frequently acclaimed for her interpretation of classical stage roles. She turned down a seven-year Hollywood contract offered by Louis B. Mayer in 1945 and tended to make fewer films after the war. Her stage performances made her even more appreciated in films when she made them.

With Gérard Philipe she appeared in the Fyodor Dostoyevsky film adaptation L’Idiot/The Idiot (Georges Lampin, 1946).

She did 200 performances of Jean Cocteau's 'L'Aigle à deux têtes' (The Eagle with Two Heads) as the widowed queen who falls in love with a political fugitive played by Jean Marais. The role was especially written for Feuillère by Cocteau, and she also starred in the screen version, L'Aigle à deux têtes (Jean Cocteau, 1947).

She played more great screen roles like the title character in Julie de Carneilhan (Jacques Manuel, 1949), and as the older woman introducing an adolescent to love in Le Blé en herbe/The Game of Love (Claude Autant-Lara, 1954), based on Colette's novel. Her role in this film was a scandal, even though Feuillère was brilliant and the writer kept out any suggestion of prurience.

Other great films of this decade were Olivia/The Pit of Loneliness (Jacqueline Audry, 1950) nominated with a BAFTA Film Award, Adorables Créatures/Adorable Creatures (Christian-Jaque, 1952) in which she played an eccentric bourgeoise who discovers the arcane delights of a banal sandwich, and the crime drama En cas de malheur/Love Is My Profession (Claude Autant-Lara, 1958) with Jean Gabin and Brigitte Bardot.

Another major stage role, which she would also perform again and again, was the femme fatale Yse opposite Jean-Louis Barrault in Paul Claudel's 'Partage de midi'. In 1951 she made her first - and reportedly unforgettable - London stage appearance with this long and difficult role for the Renaud-Barrault company. In 1955 she returned to London for a season with La Dame aux Camélias and other plays. In 1968, when she appeared again in London in 'Partage de midi', the British theatre critic Harold Hobson described her as 'the greatest actress he had ever seen'.

French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, no. 177. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

French postcard, no. 274. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

French postcard by Editions Continental, no. 101 A. Photo: Continental Films.

German postcard.

French postcard by Ed. Chantal, Paris, no. 596. Photo: Films Osso.

Gracefully Elegant Grande Dame

In the 1960s and 1970s, Edwige Feuillère appeared often on stage, such as in 1965 in 'La folle de Chaillot' (The Madwoman of Chaillot) by Jean Giraudoux. She later reprised this role on television, La folle de Chaillot (Gérard Vergez, 1976). According to IMDb her nickname was ‘Edwige 1ère’ (Edwige the 1st) for her cool and rather imposing acting style. She was equally at home playing in dramas and comedies.

She also continued to be a popular film and television actress and worked with directors of the next generations like Michel Boisrond in an episode of Amours célèbres/Famous Love Affairs (1961) and Roman Polanski, who wrote the script for the dark cannibal comedy Aimez-vous les Femmes/A Taste for Women (Jean Léon, 1963). She showed little interest in a glamorous life style. Modest and humorous in private, she was also self-deprecating about her talent in her 1977 autobiography, 'Les Feux de la Memoire' (The Fires of Memory).

One of the best of her later films was La chair de l'orchidée/The Flesh of the Orchid (Patrice Chéreau – his film debut, 1975) starring Charlotte Rampling. In this crime drama, based on James Hadley Chase's 'No Orchids for Miss Blandish', Edwige Feuillère appeared disturbingly out of character. Another interesting film was the TV film Le tueur triste/The Sad Killer (Nicolas Gessner, 1984), in which she appeared as the grandmother.

In 1984 she was awarded an honorary César. She continued to act onstage and in the occasional film until her official retirement in 1992. Her last stage performance was 'Edwige Feuillère en Scène', in which she replayed scenes from her most famous roles and told about her long career. TV broadcaster ARTE made a documentary of it, Edwige Feuillère en scène (Serge Moati, 1993). In 1993 she was named 'Commandeur des Arts et Lettres; Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur'. That same year she was also awarded the Molière prize for her stage work. The gracefully elegant 'grande dame' played her last role in the TV film La Duchesse de Langeais/The Dutchess of Langeais (Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe, 1995).

Edwige Feuillère died of natural causes in 1998 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Île-de-France. She was 91. After her death Le Monde wrote: "Edwige Feuillere was our Marlene Dietrich, our Irene Dunne and our Greta Garbo, all in one."

French postcard, no. 596 B. Photo: Védis Film. Edwige Feuillère in La Duchesse de Langeais (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1942).

Italian postcard by Rizzoli. Photo: Tobis.

French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, no. 12. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 36. Photo: Teddy Piaz.

French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 106. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

French postcard by Ed. Chantal, Paris, no. 596. Photo: Films Osso.

French postcard by Viny, no. 46. Photo: Star.

French postcard. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. S-1000 18K.

Sources: Karel Tabery (Filmreference.com), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Alan Riding (The New York Times), John Calder (The Independent), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Bernd Aldor (1881-1950) was a star of the German silent cinema in the 1910s and 1920s, often in films by Richard Oswald or Lupu Pick. Sound film and the Nazi regime broke the career of this Jewish actor.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 3028.

German postcard by Photochemie, no. K.1419. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K.2854. Photo: Rexfilm. Bernd Aldor in Der Weltspiegel/The World Mirror (Lupu Pick, 1918).

Bernd Aldor in Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray (1917)

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 3151. Photo: Richard-Oswald-Produktion. Bernd Aldor as Dorian Gray in Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray/The Picture of Dorian Gray (Richard Oswald, 1917), an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

German postcard by Verlag Herman Leiser, Berlin, no. 5408. Photo: Bernd Aldor in Der Weg ins Freie/The way to the outdoors (Richard Oswald, 1918).

Aufklärungsfilme

Bernd Aldor was born in Constantinople, the former Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey) in 1881 (IMDb and Filmportal.de write wrongly 1887).

Shortly before the turn of the century he took acting lessons in Vienna at the master class of Karl Arnau. He began his theatrical career as an extra at the Hofburgtheater, the later Burgtheater.

In 1900 he received his first permanent engagement in Znaim (Znojmo). From 1903 on his other theatre stations included Czernowitz, Trier, Bremen, Königsberg, Leipzig, Dresden and Hamburg.

In 1906 he came to Berlin to work at the Schiller Theater. During a performance of Leo Tolstoy's The Living Corpse at the Schauspielhaus Leipzig he was discovered for the film by Charles Decroix.

His film debut was probably the German short film Die Czernowska/That Czernowska Woman (Charles Decroix, 1913), of which scenes were edited in Lyrisch Nitraat/Lyrical Nitrate (Peter Delpeut, 1991).

Other films he made with Decroix were Der Fleck/The Stain (Charles Decroix, 1913) starring Wolfgang Neff, and Das Ave Maria/The Ave Maria (Charles Decroix, 1913) oppositeFern Andra, the great American diva of the German silent cinema.

Aldor appeared also opposite another silent film diva, Henny Porten, in Die große Sünderin/The Great Sinner (Curt A. Stark, 1914), and with the young deceased Dorrit Weixler in Aschenbrödelchen/Little Cinderella (1915).

During WWI, he worked with director Richard Oswald for the first time, at Zirkusblut/Circus Blood (Richard Oswald, 1916) and at Seine letzte Maske/His last mask (Richard Oswald, 1916). In both films he played the lead role, like in most of his films during this period.

Aldor became well-known with his performances in the first two parts of a trilogy of Aufklärungsfilme (typical German educational films), Es werde Licht/There Will Be Light (Richard Oswald, 1917-1918). He played Dr. Mauthner, head of an institution for children suffering from syphilis.

He also appeared in Oswald's literary film adaptations Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray/The Picture of Dorian Gray (Richard Oswald, 1917) based on the classic novel by Oscar Wilde, and Tolstoy's Der lebende Leichnam/The Living Corpse (Richard Oswald, 1918), which he had earlier performed on stage.

From 1917 to 1919 he was also the star of several film by actor-writer-director Lupu Pick, such as Die Liebe des Van Royk/The Love of Van Royk (Lupu Pick, 1918), Der Weltspiegel/The Mirror World (Lupu Pick, 1918) and Mein Wille ist Gesetz/My will is law (Lupu Pick, 1919) with Olga Engl.

German postcard by Hermann Leiser Verlag, Berlin, no. 3152. Photo: Richard-Oswald-Produktion. Bernd Aldor in Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray (Richard Oswald, 1917), an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Bernd Aldor in Der Schloßherr von Hohenstein (1917)

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 3153. Photo: Richard Oswald-Film. Bernd Aldor in Der Schloßherr von Hohenstein/The manor of Hohenstein (Richard Oswald, 1917).

Bernd Aldor in Der Schlossherr von Hohenstein

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 3154. Photo: Richard Oswald-Film. Bernd Aldor playing the violin in the German silent film Der Schloßherr von Hohenstein/The manor of Hohenstein (Richard Oswald, 1917).

German postcard in the Bernd Aldor Series 1917/1918 III. by Verlag Herman Leiser, Berlin-Wilm. Phot: Richard Oswald Film. Bernd Aldor in Der Weg ins Freie (Richard Oswald, 1918).

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K.2853. Bernd Aldor in Der Weltspiegel/The World Mirror (Lupu Pick, 1918). The woman could be Gertrud Welcker.

Bernd Aldor in Die Liebe des van Royk (1917)

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, K.2855. Photo: Rexfilm. Bernd Aldor in Die Liebe des van Royk/The Love of van Royk (Lupu Pick, 1917). Though the woman right of Aldor looks like Ria Jende, she is not named among the actresses in Filmportal.de. the postcard names the character von Royk instead of van Royk.

Bernd Aldor in Die tolle Heirat von Laló (1918)

German postcard Photochemie, Berlin, no. K.2856. Photo: Rexfilm. Bernd Aldor in Die tolle Heirat von Laló/The great marriage of Laló (Lupu Pick, 1918).

Oblivion

Until the mid-1920s, Bernd Aldor was seen in leading roles. He starred as Talma opposite Fern Andra again in Madame Récamier (Joseph Delmont, 1920). In the drama Die Furcht vor dem Weibe/The fear of the woman (Hanna Henning, 1921) he starred opposite Otto Gebühr.

He appeared at the side of the great comedian Hermann Valentin in Graf Cohn/Count Cohn (Carl Boese, 1923), and with Claire Rommer in Aschermittwoch/Ash Wednesday (1925), directed by his old co-star Wolfgang Neff, who had turned into a director.

He reunited with Oswald for Halbseide/Half silk (Richard Oswald, 1925) as the husband of Mary Parker.

From 1927 on his film parts became smaller. He played supporting parts in Die glühende Gasse/The glowing alley (Paul Sugar, 1927) starring Hans Albers, the comedy Schwere Jungs - leichte Mädchen/Guys and Dolls (Carl Boese, 1927) starring Gustav Fröhlich and Lissi Arna, and Indizienbeweis/Circumstantial evidence (Georg Jacoby, 1929) starring Fritz Alberti.

Then he slowly fell into oblivion, but he did some small film appearances in the sound era. Richard Oswald gave him a small part in his sound film Dreyfus (Richard Oswald, 1930) starring Fritz Kortner and Heinrich George.

His final film appearance was in Elisabeth von Österreich/Elisabeth of Austria (Adolf Trotz, 1931) starring Lil Dagover. In 1932, Aldor was committed by the Romanian actor Constantin Tanase to direct a film in Berlin, Visul lui Tanase/Tanase's Dream (Bernd Aldor, 1932).

In July 1938, he was excluded from the Reichsfilmkammer because of his "probably not Aryan" origin, although he had not been active for the cinema since 1932. Maybe the Jewish Bernd Aldor had fled the country. There is no information about him during this period.

Wikipedia writes that only in 1950 he and his wife Hilde were 'detected' again, now in Vienna, Austria. A little later the former actor died there, in 1950. He was 69.

German postcard by NPG (Neue Photographische Gesellschaft), no. 811. Photo: Anny Eberth, Berlin.

German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot., no. 164/2. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 3148. Photo: Martin Herzfeld, Dresden.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 3150. Photo: Martin Herzfeld, Dresden.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 3617. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 419/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 419/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, Berlin, no. 164/1. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

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

American film actress Dolores Costello (1903-1979) was 'The Goddess of the Silent Screen'. She was Hollywood royalty: the daughter of popular matinee idol Maurice Costello, wife of John Barrymore and grandmother of Drew Barrymore.

French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 332. NB Costello's first name is misspelled on the postcard.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 262.

German postcard by Ross Verlag Foreign, no. 1247/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Paramount-Film.

Fainting during a lengthy kissing scene

Dolores Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1903. She was the daughter of actors Maurice Costello and Mae Costello (née Altschuk). Her youth was spent mostly on Long Island, where she was educated by a tutor.

With her younger sister, Helene, she made her first film appearances in the years 1909–1915 as child actress for the Vitagraph Film Company. They played supporting roles in several films starring their father, who was a popular matinee idol at the time. Dolores Costello's earliest listed credit on IMDb is in the role of a fairy in a 1909 adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Charles Kent, J. Stuart Blackton, 1909).

Dolores started her career as a model and posed for the noted James Montgomery Flagg, who described her beauty as the most perfect for his illustrations. The two Costello sisters appeared on Broadway together as chorines in 'George White Scandals of 1924'. The production ran on Broadway for more than a year and then went on tour. In Chicago, they were signed by a talent scout for Warner Bros.

Following small parts in feature films, Dolores was selected by John Barrymore to star opposite him in The Sea Beast (Millard Webb, 1926), a loose adaptation of Herman Melville's 'Moby-Dick'. During their lengthy kissing scene Dolores fainted in John's arms. The film was a major commercial success and one of the biggest pictures of 1926 becoming Warner Brothers' highest grossing film.

Within a few years of achieving stardom, the delicately beautiful blonde-haired actress had become a successful and highly regarded film personality in her own right. As a young adult her career developed to the degree that in 1926, she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star, and had acquired the nickname 'The Goddess of the Silver Screen'.

Meanwhile, she and Barrymore became romantically involved. They starred together again in When a Man Loves (Alan Crosland, 1927). Then, Warner began starring her in her own vehicles. She married Barrymore in 1928 despite the misgivings of her mother, who would die the following year at the age of 45.

The young couple spent their honeymoon on his yacht, visiting Panama, the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador. They hunted alligators and mammoth lizards and explored wild regions of Central America before returning to Hollywood and moving into a hilltop mansion in Beverly Hills.

Dolores Costello and John Barrymore in When a Man Loves (1927)

Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5189. Photo: Warner Bros. Dolores Costello and John Barrymore in When a Man Loves (Alan Crosland, 1927).

Dolores Costello in Hearts in Exile (1929)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4424/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Warner Bros / Nationalfilm. Dolores Costello in Hearts in Exile (Michael Curtiz, 1929).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5027/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Warner Bros / Nationalfilm. Dolores Costello in Hearts in Exile (Michael Curtiz, 1929).

All-star extravaganza

Dolores Costello was alternated by Warner Bros between films with contemporary settings and elaborate costume dramas. In 1927, she was re-teamed with John Barrymore in When a Man Loves (Alan Crosland, 1927), an adaptation of 'Manon Lescaut'. The following year, she co-starred with George O'Brien in Noah's Ark (1928), a part-talkie epic directed by Michael Curtiz.

She then starred in Tenderloin (Michael Curtiz, 1928), which was the second Vitaphone feature to have talking sequences. It is considered a lost film, where today only the Vitaphone soundtrack survives.

Costello spoke with a lisp and found it difficult to make the transition to talking pictures, but after two years of voice coaching she was comfortable speaking before a microphone. One of her early sound film appearances was with her sister Helene in Warner Bros.'s all-star extravaganza The Show of Shows (John G. Adolfi, 1929).

Her acting career became less a priority for her following the birth of her first child, Dolores Ethel Mae 'DeeDee' Barrymore, in 1930, and she retired from the screen in 1931 to devote time to her family. Her second child, John Drew Barrymore, was born in 1932, but the marriage with John Barrymore proved difficult due to her husband's increasing alcoholism.

Her sister Helene and her new husband, actor Lowell Sherman, successfully convinced Dolores to divorce Barrymore in 1935, mainly because of his excessive drinking. She resumed her career a year later and achieved some successes, most notably in Little Lord Fauntleroy (John Cromwell, 1936) featuring Freddie Bartholomew, and The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942), an adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel about a crumbling 19th‐century aristocracy.

Making a rare radio appearance, Costello appeared as the Danish Countess Elsa on the radio program Suspense (1943). The title of the episode is The King's Birthday written by Corporal Leonard Pellitier of the US Army.

Her film career was largely ruined by the destructive effects of early film makeup, which ravaged her complexion too severely to camouflage. She retired permanently from acting following her appearance in This is the Army (Michael Curtiz, 1943). In 1939, she had married Dr. John Vruwink, an obstetrician who was her physician during her pregnancies, but they divorced in 1950.

Costello spent the remaining years of her life in semi-seclusion, managing an avocado farm. In the 1970s her house was inundated in a flash flood which destroyed a lot of her property and memorabilia from her film career and life with John Barrymore. Shortly before her death, she was interviewed for the documentary series Hollywood (1980) discussing her film career. Her scenes were broadcast posthumously.

Dolores Costello died from emphysema in Fallbrook, California, in 1979, and is interred in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles. She was stepmother of John Barrymore's daughter Diana, by his second wife Blanche Oelrichs, the mother of John Drew Barrymore and Dolores (Dee Dee) Barrymore, and the grandmother of John Barrymore III, Blyth Dolores Barrymore, Brahma Blyth (Jessica) Barrymore, and Drew Barrymore.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4478/1, 1929-1930. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5589/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Warner Bros / Nationalfilm.

Belgian postcard by N.V. Universum, Antwerp. Photo: Warner Bros / Vitaphone Pictures.

Sources: Peters B. Flint (The New York Times), Jarod Hitchings (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

VEB Progress Filmvertrieb had the monopoly on film distribution in East-Germany and produced thousands of wonderful star postcards to help promote the films. These cards give an unique impression of the East-block stars in the 1960s and 1970s. Photographers like Linke, Schwarz and Balinski portrayed many young actors from Poland, Russia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East-Germany in a black and white, non-glamorous but very attractive style. For this post we selected 25 of these Progress postcards with beautiful pictures of young actresses from another time, another world.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2036, 1965. Retail price: 0,20 MDN.

Ever since her first film appearance Mari Töröcsik (1935) has been the leading Hungarian screen actress. The sensitive and intelligent actress played a great diversity of roles both on stage and for the camera. During her long career she appeared in more than 120 films and TV films.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2569., 1966. Photo: Arno Fischer.

German actress Annekathrin Bürger (1937) was one of the prominent DEFA stars in the GDR during the 1960s and 1970s. She also appeared in television series such as Wolf Among Wolves (1965), set in 1920s Berlin.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2730, 1966. Retail price: 0,20 MDN.

German actress Eva-Maria Hagen (1934) is also a well-known singer, painter and author. From 1957 till 1965 she appeared in some 50 films and TV-productions and became known as "East-Germany’s Brigitte Bardot".

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2740, 1966. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: Schwarz.

German actress Kati Székely (1941) is a former star of the DEFA studio.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vetrieb, Berlin, no. 27/49, 1967. Photo: DEWAG / Herbst.

Helga Piur (1939), is a German actress and voice actress, who was mainly known for her TV roles in the GDR. She also appeared in DEFA films of the 1960s.

Big East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2985, 1967. Photo: Balinski.

East German actress Angelika Waller (1944) appeared in more than hundred films and TV productions since 1962. Her first leading role was in Das Kaninchen bin ich/The Rabbit Is Me (1965), a film which was banned in East Germany and which had its world premiere only in 1989.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 3001, 1967. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: Balinski.

Beautiful Polish actress Anna Prucnal(1940) was a star of the East-European cinema of the 1960’s. From 1970 on she worked in France as an actress as well as a successful singer. Her role in the controversial and shocking film Sweet Movie (1974) caused her to be banned from her homeland for 15 years.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 3324, 1969. Photo: Schwarz.

German actress Monika Gabriel (1943-2007) was known for her many DEFA films and her appearances in TV series in East-Germany. From 1971, she worked in West-Germany, mainly for television.

Big East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 112/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,40 MDN. Photo: Nasierowska.

During the 1970s, Polish actress Barbara Brylska (1941) was featured in numerous films throughout the countries of the Warsaw Pact. She is noted especially for her role as Nadya in the classic Soviet comedy Ironiya sudby/Irony of Fate (1975).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 184/69, 1969. Photo: Uhlenhut.

Evelyn Opoczynski (1949) is a German actress and assistant director, known for for such DEFA films as Meine Freundin Sybille (1967), Du und ich und Klein-Paris (1971), and Sieben Sommersprossen (1978).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 190/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 MDN.

Beata Tyszkiewicz (1938) is one of Poland’s quintessential film beauties and she is referred to as the First lady of the Polish cinema. Exclusively working for the cinema, she appeared in more than 100 films.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, no. 212/69, 1969. Photo: Balinski.

Hungarian, Romanian-born Anna Széles (1942) was a ravishingly beautiful actress, who worked with directors like Miklós Jancsó and Péter Bacsó. She also appeared in Communist musicals of the 1960s and as a princess in East-European fairy tales of the 1970s.

Big East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 247/69, 1969. Photo: Linke.

Caption: In the October days of the year 1969, we encountered the graceful Uta Schorn for the first time on the screen in the role of intern Renate in Verdacht auf einen Toten/Suspicion of a Dead (Rainer Bär, 1969). Moved from the classrooms of the Staatliche Schauspielschule Berlin by director Rainer Bär into the atmosphere of life on a large stud farm, the acting debutante secured with this role a permanent place with her future film and theatre audience.
In the youth clubs of the Deutsches Theater and the Volksbühne Berlin, Uta Schorn's decision was made to imitate her parents and also to climb the "Thespis cart". And so came after a well-passed high school graduation and acquisition of the skilled worker's letter as a gardener, the intake exam at the Staatliche Schauspielbühne Berlin. The young student later wants to try everything the stage offers, from the classical play to the musical. For now, however, it means for Uta Schorn to finish her studies with good results. So: toi, toi, toi.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 167/70, 1970. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: Uhlenhut.

German actress Heidemarie Wenzel (1945) became known in DEFA films of the early 1970s, such as Zeit der Störche/Time of the storks (1971) and Nemuritorii (1974).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 51/71, 1971. Photo: Magda Vásáryová in Na komete/On the Comet (Karel Zeman, 1970).

Magda or Magdaléna Vášáryová (1948) is a Slovak Actress and diplomat. She is prominent for her liberal anti-nationalist stances and for such popular films as Marketa Lazarová (1967).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 71/71, 1971. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: Nasierowska.

Irena Karel (1943) is a Polish theatre and film actress and cabaret artist. She was called 'the Polish Brigitte Bardot'.

Big East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 82/71, 1971. Photo: Schwarz.

Caption: Her latest film role seems tailor-made for her: temperamental, a little bit cool and full of charm - as she is herself - she plays the dancer Peggy in Konrad Petzold's new Indian film Osceala. After a four-year break, Monika Woytowicz is back on the screen. Her last film was Das Mädchen auf dem brett/The Girl on the Board, still as a student at the Leipzig Theater, she played in Mir nach, Canaillen!/After me, scoundrels!, she became known through her role as Gundel in Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt/The Adventures of Werner Holt. The young actress has found her artistic home at the Städtische Theater Leipzig.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, no. 105/71, 1971. Photo: Linke.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, German actress Traudl (or Traudel) Kulikowsky (1943) was one of the most popular young actors of the DDR (GDR), also because of her youthful, fresh appearance. After the Wende, it became known that she also had worked as a Stasi spy.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 114/73, 1973. Photo: Günter Linke.

German actress Regina Beyer (1947) starred in many DEFA films of 1960s and 1970s but she became most popular with her TV appearances for the East-German Television (DFF). She also worked for the theatre and the radio.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 151/72. Photo: Linke.

Eva Lorenzová (1948) is a Czech actress, who appeared in supporting parts in a dozen Czech films during the 1970s.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 172/74, 1974. Photo: Linke.

Czech actress Andrea Čunderlíková (1952) appeared in films, on stage and on television. She began in 1964 as a child star in Czech films and later became a star as nurse Ina in the popular Czech TV series Nemocnice na kraji města/Hospital on the Edge of the City (1978-1981).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 92/76, 1976. Photo: Linke.

Blanche Kommerell (1950) is a German actress and writer. She has appeared in more than fifty films since 1962.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 100/76, 1976. Photo: Linke.

Helena Vondráčková (1947) is a Czech singer and actress whose career has spanned five decades. She is the best selling singer ever of her country. The Czech pop diva also appeared in films and stage musicals.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 159/78, 1978. Photo: Söhner. Publicity still for the TV film Über sieben Brücken musst du gehen/You have seven bridges to cross (Hans Werner, 1978).

German actress Viola Schweizer (1954) is known for such TV series as Polizeiruf 110/Police Call 110 (1974-1989), Spreewaldfamilie/Spreewald Family (1990) and Tatort/Crime Scene (1995). In former East Germany, she also appeared in several DEFA films. In 2001, she finished her acting career.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 75/79, 1979. Photo: Ute Mahler.

Karin Düwel (1954) is a German actress, who had her breakthrough in the DEFA film Sabine Wulff (1978), followed by such films as the popular family film Das Schulgespenst/The school ghost (1986). She also appeared in many German TV series and on stage.

Slender, blonde German actress Elga Andersen (1935) starred in international films of the 1950s and 1960s. She was also a popular recording artist during the 1960s, known for singing the title song for The Guns of Navarrone (1961). Later she became a producer too.

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/91. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1053. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Bohemian Life

Elga Andersen was born Elga Hymen in Dortmund, Germany in 1935. She was the only child of a civil engineer. Two weeks before World War II ended, her parents had a quarrel so severe that her father left to join the Wehrmacht and was sent to the Russian front. He was never heard from again.

First Elga hoped to become a dancer but then studied French and English. To help support her mother, Elga quit school at 16 and worked for a while as an English and French interpreter.

In 1953, the 18-years-old went to Paris, where she led a bohemian life, met artists and posed for fashion shoots for various European magazines.

She made her film debut when she was discovered by director André Hunebelle. She appeared in Les Collégiennes/The Twilight Girls (André Hunebelle, 1957) as Elga Hymen.

The following year she appeared in a small role in Bonjour tristesse (Otto Preminger, 1958) with Jean Seberg. It was Preminger who suggested she renamed herself as Elga Andersen and as such she continued to work steadily mostly in European films and television up to 1974. Next followed a part in the classic thriller Ascenseur pour l'échafaud/Elevator to the Scaffold (Louis Malle, 1958), starring Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet.

She also appeared in German productions like Ist Mama nicht fabelhaft?/Isn't Mama Fabulous? (Peter Beauvais, 1958) and So ein Millionär hat's schwer/Such a Millionaire has Tough Times (Géza von Cziffra, 1958) starring Peter Alexander.

Her first leading role was in the French-Brazilian adventure Os bandeirantes/The Pioneers (Marcel Camus, 1960).

Elga took singing lessons and performed the songs 'Treu sein' and 'Sündenlied' in The Guns of Navarrone (J. Lee Thompson, 1961). Gilbert Bécaud wrote especially for her 'Et maintenant', with words by Pierre Delanoë.

In 1962, she wed her first husband, French architect Christian Girard in Paris, but the marriage ended in a divorce.

Elga Andersen in Solang' die Sterne glüh'n (1958)

German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. A 1567. Photo: Hope / Gloria-Film / Niczky. Elga Andersen in Solang' die Sterne glüh'n/As long as the stars are glowing (Franz Antel, 1958).

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/35. Publicity card for Philips to promote the single Flüstertango/Heut' dreh'n wir mal ein Ding, Marcel (1963) with Eddie Constantine and Elga Andersen.

Listen to Flüstertango (1963). Source: 45Vault (YouTube).

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 323. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Psychedelic Sixties Extravaganza

Elga Andersen appeared as a seductive beauty in many European films of the 1960s. Among them were the crime comedy Le Monocle Noir/The Black Monocle (Georges Lautner, 1961), and the sequel L'oeil du monocle/The Eye of the Monocle (Georges Lautner, 1962), both starring Paul Meurisse.

She appeared opposite Eddie Constantine as Lemmy Caution in the comic thrillers L'empire de la nuit/The Empire of Night (Pierre Grimblat, 1962) and A Toi de Faire Mignonne/Your Turn, Darling (Bernard Borderie, 1963).

Other films were the comedy DM-Killer (Rolf Thiele, 1965) with Curd Jürgens, the Spaghetti Western Starblack (Giovanni Grimaldi, 1966), and the psychedelic sixties extravaganza La battaglia dei mods/The Battle of the Mods (Franco Montemurro, 1966) with Joachim Fuchsberger and singer Ricky Shayne.

Andersen also appeared in such European films as the adventure Le Capitaine Singrid/Captain Singrid (Jean Leduc, 1967), Sex Power (Henry Charpin, 1970) with Jane Birkin, and the excellent comedy Detenuto in attesa di giudizio/Why? (Nanni Loy, 1971), starring Alberto Sordi.

Elga worked in a few Hollywood features too, credited as Helga Anderson, including A Global Affair (Jack Arnold, 1964) opposite Bob Hope.

She is best known for portraying Lisa Belgetti, Steve McQueen's love interest in the racing epic Le Mans (Lee H. Katzin, 1971). Andersen and McQueen reportedly had an affair during the filming. One of the Porsche 911 T sports coupes used in the production was given to Andersen as partial compensation for her work in the film.

When promoting Le Mans for Cinema Center Films, she met American producer and millionaire Peter R. Gimbel who was promoting his documentary on great white sharks, Blue Water, White Death (Peter Gimbel, James Lipscomb, 1971), for the same firm. Gimbel, heir to the Gimbel Department Stores, and Andersen married in 1978 and the couple stayed together till his death in 1987.

Her last film was Le Serpent/The Serpent (Henri Verneuil, 1973) starring Yul Brynner and Henry Fonda, and on TV she was last seen in the Sci-Fi series Aux frontières du possible/At the edge of the Possible (Victor Vicas, Claude Boissol, 1971-1974) with Pierre Vaneck.

Elga Andersen joined her husband on his various diving expeditions. In 1981 they tried to locate and salvage the bank safe of the sunken Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria. Andersen produced for TV the documentary Andrea Doria: The Final Chapter (Peter Gimbel, 1981) about this project that made many headlines.

Elga Andersen died of cancer in 1994, in New York City, USA. She was only fifty-nine. Andersen was cremated and divers placed her ashes, along with those of her husband inside the sunken hull of the Andrea Doria during the following year.

Spanish postcard by Raker, no. 1.158, 1965.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 87. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Yugoslavian postcard by Cik Razglednica.

Original trailer for Le Mans (Lee H. Katzin, 1971). Source: HD Retro Trailers (YouTube).

Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Gioia Diliberto (People), Dan Scott (Find A Grave), Ray Young (Flickhead - now restricted), IMDb, and Wikipedia (German and English).

Dark and gorgeous looking actor Franz Lederer (1899–2000) had a successful film and stage career, first in Europe, then in the United States as Francis Lederer.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4055/1, 1929-1930. Photo: National.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 100/2. Photo: Alex. Schmoll / HPF (Henny Porten Film). Henny Porten and Franz Lederer in Zuflucht/Refuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).

Franz Lederer in Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna (1929)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4221/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ufa. Franz Lederer in Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna/The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5435/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Gerstenburg, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6527/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Bieber, Berlin.

Matinee Idol

Franz Lederer was born Frantisek Lederer in Prague, Austria-Hungary (now in Czech Republic) in 1899. He was the son of Josef Lederer, a leather merchant and Rose Lederer.

Young Frantisek began his working life as a department store delivery boy in Prague and fell in love with acting when he was young, and was trained at the Academy of Music and Academy of Dramatic Art in Prague.

Still a teenager, he served with the Czechoslovakian artillery during the first World War. He attained the rank of corporal. After military service, he became an apprentice with the New German Theatre in Prague.

He made his stage debut with a walk-on in the play Burning Heart. He toured Moravia and central Europe, making a name for himself as a matinee idol in theatres in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria and Germany.

Because of his stunningly handsome looks, it took some time for the critics to take Lederer seriously. Notable among his performances was a turn as Romeo in theatre legend Max Reinhardt's staging of Romeo and Juliet.

In the late 1920s, Franz Lederer was lured into films by the German actress Henny Porten and her producer husband. He appeared with her in the melodrama Zuflucht/Refuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).

For director Georg Wilhelm Pabst he performed in Die Büchse der Pandora/Pandora's Box (G.W. Pabst, 1929) as a young man who, along with his father (Fritz Kortner), becomes obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful dancer Lulu (Louise Brooks).

He also appeared in Atlantik/Atlantic (Ewald André Dupont, 1929). Dashingly garbed in military costume, he was also notable in the lush and poignant romantic drama Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna/The Wonderful Lie of Nina Petrovna (Hanns Schwarz, 1929) with Brigitte Helm.

Franz Lederer easily made the transition from silent to sound film, and seemed to be on his way to becoming one of Europe's top male film stars.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 100/1. Photo: Alex. Schmoll / HPF (Henny Porten Film) Henny Porten and Franz Lederer in Zuflucht/Refuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4385/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

Brigitte Helm and Franz Lederer in Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna (1929)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4620/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ufa. Brigitte Helm and Franz Lederer in Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna/ The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5373/1, 1930-1931. Franz Lederer and Anita Mey in an unidentified film.

Franz Lederer and Camilla Horn in Fundvogel (1930)

Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5834. Photo: Exelsior-Film / Allianz-Film. Franz Lederer and Camilla Horn in Fundvogel/Paradise Bird (Wolfgang Hoffmann-Harnisch, 1930).

The Biggest Star In Hollywood

In London’s West End, Francis Lederer performed on stage in Volpone (1931) and in Autumn Crocus (1932). He performed the latter play also on Broadway where it played for 210 performances in 1932 and 1933. He used Francis Lederer as his stage name now.

He also performed Autumn Crocus in Los Angeles, where his performances attracted film offers from Hollywood. With the deteriorating political situation in Europe, Lederer decided to stay in the United States.

It was MGM producer Irving Thalberg's plan to make him ‘the biggest star in Hollywood’ but the death of Thalberg ended that, and Lederer didn't quite catch on as an American star.

Lederer's American movies were fairly light fare such as Man of Two Worlds (J. Walter Ruben, 1934) with Elissa Landi, Romance in Manhattan (Stephen Roberts, 1934) with Ginger Rogers, The Gay Deception (William Wyler, 1935) with Frances Dee, and One Rainy Afternoon (Rowland V. Lee, 1936).

Lederer became a U.S. citizen in 1939. That year he starred as a lady-killer playboy in the Billy Wilder scripted Midnight (Mitchell Leisen, 1939) with Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore.

Hal Erickson writes at AllMovie: “His cinematic stock in trade at the time was the outgoing, slightly naïve foreigner at the mercy of aggressive, acrimonious Americans or Brits. One of his best screen characterizations was the disgruntled German-American ‘bundist’ in Confessions of a Nazi Spy (Anatole Litvak, 1939), which won him the personal praise of his co-star Edward G. Robinson, who wasn't accustomed to handing out empty compliments.”

He also earned plaudits for his portrayal of the fascist to whom Joan Bennett finds herself wed in The Man I Married (Irving Pichel, 1940).

Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5795. Photo: Nero Film, Mondial Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4660/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Hanni Schwarz.

British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London no. 763. Photo: Dorothy Wilding.

British postcard. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Pursuit of Happiness (Alexander Hall, 1934).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8219/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Radio Pictures.

A World Weary Count Dracula

Throughout his career, Francis Lederer often performed on stage, both in New York and elsewhere. He appeared in productions of Golden Boy (1937), Seventh Heaven (1939), No Time for Comedy (1939), in which he replaced Laurence Olivier, The Play's the Thing (1942), A Doll's House (1944), Arms and the Man (1950), The Sleeping Prince (1956) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1958) as Anne’s father.

Although he took a break from making films in 1941 in order to concentrate on his stage work, he returned to the silver screen in 1944, appearing in The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Rowland V. Lee, 1944), and the bizarre and fascinating version of the downbeat satirical drama Diary of a Chambermaid (Jean Renoir, 1946).

After making Surrender (Allan Dwan, 1950), he took another break from Hollywood but returned once more in 1956 with Lisbon (Ray Milland, 1956). He also played a world weary Count Dracula for The Return of Dracula (Paul Landres, 1958).

Cavett Binion at AllMovie reviews: “Played refreshingly straight, this modest Universal production benefits from Lederer's compelling performance as the seductive Count and several unique plot twists (including a blind girl who becomes sighted on turning into a vampire).”

His final film appearance was in Terror Is a Man (Gerardo de Leon, 1959). He would continue to make television appearances for the next ten years in such shows as The Untouchables (1960), Mission: Impossible (1967) and That Girl (1967).

His final television appearance occurred in a 1971 episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery. Lederer had become very wealthy by investing in real estate. He was active in local and Los Angeles civic affairs, philanthropy and politics. In 2000, he was honoured with the Cross of Honor for Science and Arts, First Class by the Austrian government.

Lederer married three times. His first marriage was to Ada Nejedly during the 1920s. In 1937 he married Mexican American actress and dancer Margo. They divorced in 1940. His third marriage was to Marion Irvine in 1941. Irvine served as Los Angeles' Commissioner of Cultural Affairs. Their marriage lasted 59 years.

Francis Lederer worked as a teacher up until the week before he died in Palm Springs, USA in 2000. He was 100.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5856/1. 1930-1931. Photo: Aafa Film.

British postcard by Real Photograph, no. 763a. Photo: Paramount.

British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London no. 763b. Photo: United Artists.

Small Czech collectors card by Pressfoto, Praha (Prague), no. S 56/9, 1964.

Scene from Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna/The Wonderful Lie of Nina Petrovna (1929). Source: Radio Santos (YouTube).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Cavett Binion (AllMovie), Christopherbkk (IMDb), TCM, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite (2018) was the big winner at the European Film Awards, last Saturday 7 December 2019, winning eight prizes including best film, best director, best actress for Olivia Colman and best comedy. The scabrous depiction of the power struggle surrounding Queen Anne in the early 18th century, also won four previously announced technical awards for best cinematography, costume design, editing and hair and make-up.

THE FAVOURITE - European Film 2019. Source: European Film Awards (YouTube).

The healing power of art in difficult times

Antonio Banderas won best actor for his portrayal of an ailing director looking to his childhood for inspiration in Pedro Almodóvar’s Dolor y gloria/Pain and Glory (2019).

French film maker Céline Sciamma won best screenwriter for the ravishing lesbian period drama Portrait de la jeune fille en feu/A Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019).

For Sama (2019), a riveting mum’s eye view on the siege of Aleppo by Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts, took best documentary.

The Spanish/Dutch production Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas/Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles (Salvador Simó, 2018) won the best European Animated Feature Film 2019.

Werner Herzog was presented with the lifetime achievement award and Juliette Binoche received the European achievement in world cinema award. In a simple, touching speech she stressed the healing power of art in difficult times: “The world is not going well. But it feels like art is becoming more and more important. I think we have to be more truthful, more loving, better listeners.”

The three-hour ceremony, directed for the first time German filmmaker Dietrich Brüggemann and held at Berlin’s Haus der Festspiele, was marked by an emotional tribute to Nik Powell, film producer and the former chairman of the European Film Academy, who died unexpectedly last month.

Next year’s awards ceremony will take place in Reykjavik in Iceland.

Antonio Banderas, Winner European Film Award 2019

Italian postcard in the World Collection by Edibas s.r.l., Torino, no. P.c. 716. Photo: Olympia.

Last Saturday, 7 December 2019, Antonio Banderas (1960) won the European Film Award for Best Actor 2019 for his role in Dolor y gloria/Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodovar, 2019). The charismatic Spanish film actor, director, producer and singer began his acting career at age 19 with a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar. He became an internationally known Latin heartthrob with high-profile Hollywood films including Philadelphia (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Desperado (1995), Evita (1996), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and the Shrek sequels.

Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas (2018), Winner European Film Award 2019

Dutch postcard by Periscoopfilm. Image: still for Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas/Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles (Salvador Simó, 2018). (A little mistake in the title of the postcard is that the accent on the u should be on the n, Buñuel).

Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas/Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles (Salvador Simó, 2018) is based on the graphic novel 'Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles'. Paris, 1930. Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel are already the main figures of the Surrealist movement. Unexpectedly, Buñuel is left moneyless after the scandal surrounding his film L'âge d'or/The Golden Age (1930). In this difficult situation, he cannot even tackle his next project, a documentary about one of the poorest Spanish regions, Las Hurdes. However, his good friend, sculptor Ramón Acín, buys a lottery ticket with the promise that, if he wins, he will pay for the film. Incredibly, luck is on their side.

Juliette Binoche, Winner European Film Award 2019

Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55126. Photo: Bettina Rheims / Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland. Caption: Juliette Binoche au bas filé (Juliette Binoche at the bottom spun), Garches, 1988.

French actress Juliette Binoche (1964) was honoured with the European Achievement in World Cinema award. Binoche has appeared in nearly 70 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).

Official trailer for The Favourite (2018). Source: Fox Searchlight (YouTube).

Sources: Phil Hoad (The Guardian), Martin Blaney (Screen Dailey), EFA - The 32nd European Film Awards, and IMDb.

The German silent drama Die grosse Pause/The Long Intermission (Carl Froehlich, 1927) was another Henny Porten film, produced by her own production company Henny Porten-Froehlich Produktion GmbH. Fred Hildenbrandt and Walter Supper wrote the screenplay based on a play by Oskar Blumenthal and Max Bernstein. Walter Slezak and Livio Pavanelli were Porten's co-stars.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 79/1. Photo: Henny Porten-Froehlich Produktion GmbH. Henny Porten in Die grosse Pause (Carl Froehlich, 1927).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 79/2. Photo: Henny Porten-Froehlich Produktion GmbH. Henny Porten in Die grosse Pause (Carl Froehlich, 1927).

Postillon d'amour

Henny Porten plays in Die grosse Pause/The Long Intermission (Carl Froehlich, 1927) Gabriele Amberg, a middle-aged violinist. She meets the much younger earl Ottokar Torgstädt (Walter Slezak). He is fascinated by her femininity and art, she by his youth. In addition, she feels flattered to be desired by the handsome nobleman.

So both marry abroad, without Ottokar's class-conscious family at home to hear about it. Count Ottokar does not want to confront Count and Countess Torgstädt with a fait accompli and presents them Gabriele in his native environment as his fiancee, his bride. But to be credible, the couple must first divorce again for that reason.

This 'big break' in marriage leads Gabriele to rethink. She realises that she and her Ottokar do not really fit together, because of the class difference, which raises all sorts of problems. Since Ottokar's cousin, Countess Ina Wildborn (Iwa Wanja), also smothers her ex-husband in an unrestrained way, Gabriele finds that the two, not only generation-wise, fit perfectly together.

So, she operates as a 'Postillon d'amour' and brings both together. Yet, the lucid violinist does not stay alone for long but finds new marriage happiness with her lawyer Boretius (Livio Pavanelli).

The film was shot at the Ufa studios in Tempelhof in May-June 1927 and had its premiere on 9 November 1927. Cinematography was by Axel Graatkjær. Sets were by Frantz Schroeder, costumes by Johanna Marbach.

Paimann's Filmlisten reviewed the film as "The age difference between the two spouses, which forms the basic motif of the subject, has been brought so much to the foreground by the choice of a young partner for Henny Porten, that almost the harmony of the film, which, moreover, has harmless-appealing, rich passages, and continuously well-staged action, suffers from it. Henny Porten is again excellent in general, while mise-en-scene and cinematography are neat."

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 79/3. Photo: Henny Porten-Froehlich Produktion GmbH. Henny Porten in Die grosse Pause (Carl Froehlich, 1927).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 79/4. Photo: Henny Porten-Froehlich Produktion GmbH. Henny Porten in Die grosse Pause (Carl Froehlich, 1927).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 79/5. Photo: Henny Porten-Froehlich Produktion GmbH. Henny Porten and Walter Slezak in Die grosse Pause (Carl Froehlich, 1927).

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

Tilde Kassay, born Matilde Cassai (1887-1964), was an Italian silent film actress between 1915 and 1921. Most of her films are considered lost, but sometimes a wonder happens.

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 313. Photo: Pinto, Rome.

Italian postcard by Ed. G. Vettori, Bologna.

Italian postcard, no. 91. Ed. unknown. Photo: Pinto, Rome.

Directed by the greatest directors of the time

Born in Modena, Italy, in 1887, Matilde Kassay was the daughter of Massimiliano Cassai, and the third of four brothers and sisters: Anna, Caterina (known as Tina, also an actress), Matilde and Gaetano.

Tilde's film career took off in 1915 in Naples at the company Polifilms. Probably her first film was the war propaganda film Savoia, urrah!/Savoia, hurray! (Eduardo Bencivenga, 1915).

From 1917, Tilde Kassay acted at the Roman company Caesar Film. Between 1915 and 1921 she played in 17 films directed by the greatest directors of the time, in particular Camillo De Riso, Gustavo Serena, and Giulio Antamoro.

Of Kassay's films, Il cieco/The Blind Man (1919), directed by Edoardo Bencivenga, is preserved in the Archive of the Cineteca Nazionale in Rome. In this film, a husband (Livio Pavanelli), blinded during a hunting party, suspects that his wife (Kassay) has an affair with another man (Giovanni Schettini), who courts her.

The husband first wants to kill his rival, then decides to kill himself but makes a mistake, which returns him his sight and his beloved. While the press didn't like the supporting actors, Pavanelli and Kassay were praised.

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, no. 1 (in a series of 18 chromos). Photo: Caesar Film, distr. in Catalonia by J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Tilde Kassay in Una donna funesta/Nanà (Camillo De Riso, 1917-1919).

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, no. 3 (in a series of 18 chromos). Photo: Caesar Film, distr. in Catalonia by J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Tilde Kassay in Una donna funesta/Nanà (Camillo De Riso, 1917-1919).

Considered only for adults

The other films with Tilde Kassay have probably gone lost. However, sometimes a wonder happens. In 2016 the film Una donna funesta/Nanà (1919), adapted from Emile Zola's classic novel 'Nanà' and presented abroad under the title of the novel, was rediscovered. The film, co-starring Camillo De Riso, Gustavo Serena, and Lido Manetti, was shown at the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy.

At its original release, the film had bad luck. Already in 1917 producer Barattolo and director Camillo De Riso had made the film, but just before the first night in Milan it was withdrawn from circulation as it was considered 'only for adults'. This caused a scandal and Barattolo had to withdraw the film.

He arranged a softened version, lifted any reference to Zola, and gave the film a happy ending instead of the original tragic ending of Nanà. Still, the Italian censor was not yet satisfied and demanded a series of cuts of too suggestive intertitles and images.

Eventually, the press criticised the now very free adaptation. Abroad, a much less censured version circulated, as Spanish collector cards of the film suggest. This is also confirmed in the found and restored version, from Buenos Aires, which is the 1917 version and not the censored 1919 version. The 1917 version is much closer to Zola's novel.

Kassay's last film was Diana Sorel (Gustavo Serena, 1921), in which she played the title role, opposite Gustavo Serena and others.

In Naples Kassay married Luigi DB Stolte (1885-1967), a business entrepreneur, among the founding members of the Naples Nautical Club. They had a son, who died prematurely.

Tilde Kassay passed away in Naples in 1964.

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, no. 10 (in a series of 18 chromos). Photo: Caesar Film, distr. in Catalonia by J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Tilde Kassay in Una donna funesta/Nanà (Camillo De Riso, 1917-1919).

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, no. 16 (in a series of 18 chromos). Photo: Caesar Film, distr. in Catalonia by J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Tilde Kassay in Una donna funesta/Nanà (Camillo De Riso, 1917-1919).

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, no. 17 (in a series of 18 chromos). Photo: Caesar Film, distr. in Catalonia by J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Tilde Kassay in Una donna funesta/Nanà (Camillo De Riso, 1917-1919).

Sources: Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb. Watch YouTube for the Pordenone screening of Nanà.

Austrian actor Norbert Rohringer (1927-2009) was a child star in the Third Reich. The blond boy played the leading role in the propagandistic NS youth film Jakko (1941). He appeared in 13 films. After the war, Rohringer became a pianist.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3159/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis.

German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Zeitschrift für Film und Theater G.m.bH., Berlin / Ross Verlag. Photo: Tobis.

Blonde, dapper looking boy

Norbert Rohringer was born in 1927 in Vienna, Austria.

According to Wikipedia, Rohringer made his film debut at the side of Hans Moser in the comedy Anton der Letzte/Anton, the last (E.W. Emo. 1939).

However, Wikipedia also mentions he had already appeared as a six-year-old in Madame wünscht keine Kinder/Madame Wants No Children (Hans Steinhoff, 1933) with Liane Haid, Sonnenstrahl/Ray of Sunshine (Paul Fejos a.k.a. Pál Fejös, 1933) with Annabella, and Seine Tochter ist der Peter/Peter is his daughter (Heinz Helbig, Willy Schmidt-Gentner, 1936). In the latter his scene was cut.

In Der Sündenbock/The Scapegoat (Hans Deppe, 1940), Norbert played his first leading role. He was also the main actor in the propagandistic NS youth film Jakko (Fritz Peter Buch, 1941). The blonde, dapper looking boy played a troubled young circus boy who joins the Hitler Naval Youth, where he finds meaning and purpose in his life.

After the end of the Second World War, this film was classified as a 'conditional film' because of the Nazi propaganda contained in it. The public screenings of the film have been limited since then.

He also appeared in a small part in the Nazi propaganda film Mein Leben für Irland/My Life for Ireland (Max W. Kimmich, 1941) with Anna Dammann. The film tells a story of Irish heroism and martyrdom over two generations of British occupation. The film was produced for Nazi-occupied Europe with the intent of challenging pro-British allegiances; yet in some cases it had the unintended effect of making audiences identify the Irish struggle with their own resistance against the Nazis.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2698/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Tobis.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3385/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tita Binz / Tobis.

Filmed material disappeared

During the later years of the Second World War, Norbert Rohringer was constantly used in mostly smaller roles in films.

In Symphonie eines Lebens/Symphony of a life (Hans Bertram, 1942), he played the son of Harry Baur and Henny Porten.

By the end of the war in 1945 he had participated in a total of 13 films. His final film was Wir beide liebten Katharina/We both loved Katharina (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1946) with Angelika Hauff. The romantic comedy was filmed in the final days of World War Two.

When Germany surrendered the film was to 20% completed. After the war this lavish Agfacolor production was not continued, and the already filmed material disappeared.

After the war Rohringer ended his film career and studied music at the Hochschule für Musik (University of Music and Performing Arts) in Vienna. He earned his money as a pianist and went on tour through France, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Until his death in 2009, Norbert Rohringer lived in Hamburg. He was 82. He is interred at the local Ohlsdorfer Friedhof (Ohlsdorf cemetery).

German postcard by Film-Foto- Verlag, no. A 3454/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tita Binz / Tobis.

German postcard by Film-Foto- Verlag, no. A 3560/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tita Binz / Tobis.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3898/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tita Binz / Tobis.

Sources: Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-Line. de), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

American actor Johnny Depp is one of the most versatile actors in today's Hollywood. He made his film debut as one of Freddy Krueger's victims in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). With his dark, intense eyes and highly defined cheekbones, he shot to fame as a teen idol in the TV series 21 Jump Street (1987). He is now best known for his many wonderful collaborations with director Tim Burton, and for his flamboyant pirate Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of Carribean franchise. He likes to play freakishly eccentric outcasts whose oddities are misunderstood by society. Depp has been nominated for three Oscars and has won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor.

British postcard by Music Factory, no. 087.

French postcard, no. 2006.

Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands (1990)

American postcard by Fotofolio, no. F829. Photo: Herb Ritts. Johnny Depp in for Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990).

French postcard by Editions Mercuri, no. 1624. Lobby card of Johnny Depp in Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994).

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End (2007)

French postcard by Sonis, no. C. 1783. Photo: Disney. Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Gore Verbinski, 2007).

Brooding teenager

John Christopher Depp II was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1963, to Betty Sue (Wells), who worked as a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer.

Depp was raised in Florida. He dropped out of school when he was 16 (or 15 - the sources differ), after his parents divorced. The brooding teenager fronted a series of music-garage bands, including the punk rock/New Wave band The Kids, which opened for Iggy Pop, Duran Duran, and The B-52's.

When he married Lori Anne Allison (Lori A. Depp), he took up the job of being a ballpoint-pen salesman to support himself and his wife during slack times in the music business. When he visited Los Angeles with his wife, he met actor Nicolas Cage, who advised him to turn to acting.

This culminated in Depp's film debut in the low-budget horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984), where he played a teenager who falls prey to dream-stalking demon Freddy Krueger.

He played a supporting role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film Platoon (1986), starring Charlie Sheen.

In 1987 he shot to stardom when he replaced Jeff Yagher as Officer Tom Hanson, who goes on an undercover operation by posing as a student in crime-ridden Los Angeles-area high schools in the TV series 21 Jump Street (1987).

After numerous roles in teen-oriented films, Depp spoofed the genre as 1950s teen rebel 'Cry-Baby' Wade Walker in John Waters' tongue-in-cheek Cry-Baby (1990). The film received positive reviews from critics, but did not achieve high audience numbers in its initial release. It has subsequently become a cult classic and spawned a Broadway musical of the same name which was nominated for four Tony Awards.

That year, Depp also started his great collaborations with director Tim Burton, playing the title role in the romantic dark fantasy Edward Scissorhands (1990) with Winona Ryder and Christopher Lee.

Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street (1987-1990)

French postcard, Réf. 613. Johnny Depp in the TV series 21 Jump Street (1987-1990).

French postcard in the Star series, no. C 257.

French postcard, no. Réf. 530.

Postcard. Johnny Depp in Cry-Baby (John Waters, 1990).

Canadian postcard by Canadian Postcard, no. A-434. Photo: Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990).

A serious, somewhat dark, idiosyncratic performer

Following Edward Scissorhands's success, Johnny Depp carved a niche for himself as a serious, somewhat dark, idiosyncratic performer, consistently selecting roles that surprised critics and audiences alike.

He continued to gain critical acclaim and increasing popularity by appearing in such features as Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). He starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis in this drama about a dysfunctional family.

He rejoined with Burton in the lead role of Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994), a biographical film about one of history's most inept film directors. Then he played a newly-orphaned accountant in the surrealist Western Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995), and an undercover FBI agent in the fact-based crime drama Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell, 1997), opposite Al Pacino.

Depp appeared as Hunter S. Thompson's alter ego in Terry Gilliam's trippy adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). The same year he teamed up again with Burton in Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton, 1999), brilliantly portraying Ichabod Crane.

With Chuck E. Weiss, Depp turned the Central Nightclub in Los Angeles, into the famous Viper Room at 8852 Sunset Blvd. The building was once owned by infamous gangster Bugsy Siegel.

It's also the place where River Phoenix passed away on 31 October 1993. Depp closed down the Viper Room for two weeks after Phoenix's death and he also closed it on every 31 October until 2004.

That year, he ended his ownership of the Viper room when he signed it over to Amanda Fox, the daughter of his missing partner in the club, Anthony Fox. Depp also once co-owned a restaurant/club in a former cinema in Paris called Man Ray (named after the avant-garde artist), with Sean Penn, John Malkovich and British musician Mick Hucknall.

French postcard, no. 2009.

Johnny Depp in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

British postcard by Heroes Publishing ltd., London, no. SPC 2767. Photo: Johnny Depp in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Lasse Hallström, 1993).

Johnny Depp and Alfred Molina in Dead Man (1993)

Vintage postcard, no. 6431. Johnny Depp and Alfred Molina in Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1993).

French postcard by Editions Mercuri, no. 1627. Lobby card of Johnny Depp in Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994).

British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SPC 2659.

The charming, conniving and roguish Capt. Jack Sparrow

Johnny Depp has played many different and often bigger-than-life characters in his career. He played a fact-based one, Insp. Fred Abberline in From Hell (Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes, 2001).

He stole the show in the finale to Robert Rodriguez's Mariachi trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), opposite Antonio Banderas.

In that same year he starred in the marvellous family blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski, 2003), playing a character that only the likes of Depp could pull off: the charming, conniving and roguish Capt. Jack Sparrow. He based Sparrow on rock legend Keith Richards and the Looney Tunes character, Pepe Le Pew. The film's enormous success included an Oscar nomination for Depp.

Depp was again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as kind-hearted Scottish novelist James Matthew Barrie, who penned the children's classic 'Peter Pan', in Finding Neverland (Marc Forster, 2004), with Kate Winslet. He appeared as the notorious second Earl of Rochester in the British film The Libertine (Lawrence Dunmore, 2004) opposite John Malkovich.

Depp collaborated again with Burton in a screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton, 2005), and the stop-motion animation Corpse Bride (Tim Burton, 2005), in which Depp voiced the character Victor Van Dort. Later followed Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton, 2007), Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton, 2010) and Dark Shadows (Tim Burton, 2012).

Depp reprised the role of Jack Sparrow in the Pirates sequels Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006), At World's End (Gore Verbinski, 2007) and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Rob Marshall, 2011), which were again major box office successes.

British postcard in the Film & Music Personalities series by Pyramid, Leicester, no. PC 2005.

Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Postcard. Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton, 2005).

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Danish postcard by Interstat. Photo: Disney. Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006).

Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End (2007)

French postcard by Sonis, no. C. 1698. Photo: Disney. Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Gore Verbinski, 2007).

French postcard by Sonis, no. C. 1781. Photo: Disney. Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006).

Bela Lugosi's Los Angeles home

Off-screen, Johnny Depp has dated several female celebrities, and has been engaged to Sherilyn Fenn, Jennifer Grey, Winona Ryder and Kate Moss. He was married to Lori Anne Allison in 1983, but divorced her in 1985.

Depp has two children with French singer/actress Vanessa Paradis: Lily-Rose Melody (1999) and Jack (2002). He married actress/producer Amber Heard in 2015. Heard filed for divorce from Johnny Depp in May, 2016. She was granted a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Depp in relation to a physical altercation between the couple, which resulted in Heard filing for divorce in the first place. Heard was granted $7 million as part of the former couple's divorce, which was finalised in 2017.

Depp has struggled with alcoholism and addiction for much of his life. Depp has stated that he began smoking at age 12 and began using alcohol and drugs shortly thereafter. In July 2018, Depp was sued for allegedly punching a crew member twice in the ribs during a foul-mouthed tirade. Court documents stated that the actor "reeked of alcohol" and took drugs on set.

According to IMDb, Johnny Depp resides in France, Los Angeles, and on an island he owns in the Bahamas. He divides his time in France between Meudon, a suburb of Paris and a villa in Plan-de-la-Tour, an hour outside of St Tropez in Southern France. He also purchased Bela Lugosi's Los Angeles home.

Depp is intensely protective of his private life. Inside the Actors Studio (1994) is one of the few televised interviews he's granted. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Despite this massive success (or maybe as a result), Depp's career suffered a downswing after a string of critical and commercial flops. Films like The Tourist (opposite Angelina Jolie), Dark Shadows (a rare misstep with Tim Burton) and The Lone Ranger failed to connect with audiences and critics alike and left many to wonder when Depp's career would recover."

It did. In recent years, Depp reprised the role of the Mad Hatter in Alice Through the Looking Glass (James Bobin, 2016), reprised his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg, 2017), and he was seen in the blockbuster Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (David Yates, 2018), written by J. K. Rowling and starring Eddie Redmayne. Depp is set to return as Gellert Grindelwald in the third Fantastic Beasts film, which is scheduled for release in November 2020.

British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SPC 2754.

German collectors card by Bravo.

Vintage postcard. Johnny Depp in Don Juan DeMarco (Jeremy Leven, 1994).

British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SPC 2829.

British postcard by Music Factory, no. 086.

British postcard by Music Factory, no. 241.

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

Ivo Blom recently bought this wonderful series of postcards published by Croissant in Paris for the film company Gaumont. The 10 postcards show scenes of the lost French 'phonoscène'Faust by pioneering film director Alice Guy. The earliest proof of a showing of the film, or rather series of short sound films, dates from 1905. So the film dates from that year or just before. The captions on the postcards refer to lines from the libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré for the opera 'Faust' (1859) by Charles Gounod, which was loosely based on Goethe's classic play. The film is not to be confused with Faust et Méphistophéles (Alice Guy, 1903), which still exists and is another film.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). The card refers to no. 4, the Duet of the First Act between Faust and Mephistopheles.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). This card refers to Faust's Cavatine, no. 12 of the Third Act.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). This card refers to the Chanson du Roi de Thulé, no. 14 of the Third Act.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). The card refers to the Quartet between Faust, Marguerite, Mephistopheles, and Marthe, no. 16 of the Third Act.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). The caption refers to no. 18 of the Third Act.

A forerunner of sound cinema

Rose Theresa writes in the volume 'Between Opera and Cinema' (2002) that Faust dates from 1907 and was Alice Guy's last and most complete operatic adaptation, existing of 22 phonoscène films, referring to famous moments in the opera. Longer scenes like that in the garden were filmed in multiple phonoscènes, while others matched the length of the accompanying wax cilinders with the music. However the date is a mistake. The site Le grimh shows an original ad for a Charleroi (Belgium) screening of the film, which already took place in 1905.

The Phonoscène was a kind of a forerunner of sound cinema, combining a chronophone sound recording with a chronograph film shot with actors lip-synching to the sound recording. The recording and film were synchronised by a mechanism patented in 1902 by Léon Gaumont, who presented the first phonoscènes in the same year in France. Alice Guy, who was head of film production at Gaumont between 1896 and 1906, shot countless phonoscènes after popular French operas such as Carmen, Mireille and Faust, but also recorded popular vaudeville singers and comedians such as Félix Mayol and Dranem.

Gounod's 'Faust' was - and still is - one of the most popular and well-known French operas. In the early cinema it was adapted several times to film by Georges Méliès, Gaumont and Cines, while Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's version of 1926 has become the most memorable one, thanks to the acting performances (e.g. by Emil Jannings as Mephisto) and the wonderful special effects. The most recent version is Aleksandr Sokoerov's Faust (2011), which won a Golden Lion in Venice.

Wikipedia describes the plot of Gounod's opera, which takes place in 16th century Germany. In the First Act, Faust, an aging scholar, determines that his studies have come to nothing and have only caused him to miss out on life and love. He curses hope and faith, and asks for infernal guidance. Méphistophélès appears and, with a tempting image of Marguerite at her spinning wheel, persuades Faust to buy the devil's services on Earth in exchange for Faust's in Hell. Faust's goblet of poison is magically transformed into an elixir of youth, making the aged doctor a handsome young gentleman. Then the strange companions set out into the world.

In the Second Act, at the city gates, a chorus of students, soldiers and villagers sings a drinking song. Valentin, leaving for war with his friend Wagner, entrusts the care of his sister Marguerite to his youthful friend Siébel. Méphistophélès appears, provides the crowd with wine, and sings a rousing, irreverent song about the Golden Calf. Méphistophélès maligns Marguerite, and Valentin tries to strike him with his sword, which shatters in the air. Valentin and friends use the cross-shaped hilts of their swords to fend off what they now know is an infernal power. Méphistophélès is joined by Faust and the villagers in a waltz. Marguerite appears and Faust declares his admiration, but she refuses Faust's arm out of modesty, a quality that makes him love her even more.

In the Third Act, the lovesick boy Siébel leaves a bouquet for Marguerite. Faust sends Méphistophélès in search of a gift for Marguerite and sings a cavatina, idealizing Marguerite as a pure child of nature. Méphistophélès brings in a decorated box containing exquisite jewelry and a hand mirror and leaves it on Marguerite's doorstep, next to Siébel's flowers. Marguerite enters, pondering her encounter with Faust at the city gates, and sings a melancholy ballad about the King of Thule. Marthe, Marguerite's neighbour, notices the jewellery and says it must be from an admirer. Marguerite tries on the jewels and is captivated by how they enhance her beauty, as she sings in the famous aria, the Jewel Song. Méphistophélès and Faust join the women in the garden and romance them. Marguerite allows Faust to kiss her, but then asks him to go away. She sings at her window for his quick return, and Faust, listening, returns to her. Under the watchful eye and malevolent laughter of Méphistophélès, it is clear that Faust's seduction of Marguerite will be successful.

In the Fourth Act, after being made pregnant and seemingly abandoned by Faust, Marguerite has given birth and has become a social outcast. She sings an aria at her spinning wheel. Siébel stands by her. The scene shifts to the square outside Marguerite's house. Valentin's company returns from the war to a military march. Siébel asks Valentin to forgive Marguerite. Valentin rushes to her cottage. While he is inside Faust and Méphistophélès appear, and the devil, knowing that Marguerite is not in there alone, sings a mocking burlesque of a lover's serenade under Marguerite's window. Valentin takes the bait and comes out of the cottage, now knowing that Faust has debauched his sister. The two men fight, but Faust is reluctant to hurt the brother of the woman he adores. Méphistophélès blocks Valentin's sword, allowing Faust to make the fatal thrust. With his dying breath Valentin blames Marguerite for his death and condemns her to Hell before the assembled townspeople. Marguerite goes to the church and tries to pray there but is stopped, first by the sadistic Méphistophélès and then by a choir of devils. She finishes her prayer but faints when she is cursed again by the devil.

In the Fifth and final act, Méphistophélès and Faust are surrounded by witches. Faust is transported to a cave of queens and courtesans, and Méphistophélès promises to provide Faust with the love of the greatest and most beautiful women in history. An orgiastic ballet suggests the revelry that continues throughout the night. As dawn approaches, Faust sees a vision of Marguerite and calls for her. Méphistophélès helps Faust enter the prison where Marguerite is being held for killing her child. They sing a love duet. Méphistophélès states that only a mortal hand can deliver Marguerite from her fate, and Faust offers to rescue her from the hangman, but she prefers to trust her fate to God and His angels. At the end she asks why Faust's hands are covered in blood, pushes him away, and falls down motionless. Méphistophélès curses, as a voice on high sings "Saved!". The bells of Easter sound and a chorus of angels sings "Christ is risen!". The walls of the prison open, and Marguerite's soul rises to heaven. In despair Faust follows it with his eyes; he falls to his knees and prays. Méphistophélès is turned away by the shining sword of the archangel.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). The caption refers to no. 18 of the Third Act.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). The caption refers to no. 24 of the Third Act.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). The caption refers to no. 21 of the Fourth Act.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). The caption refers to no. 25 of the Fourth Act, in which Valentin is killed by Faust with the help of Mephistopheles.

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Postcard for Faust (Alice Guy, 1905). The caption refers to no. 30 of the Fifth Act. Faust tries to convince Marguerite to flee with him, but she'd rather die than giving up her faith.

Sources: Alison McMahon, Faust libretto by Barbier and Carré, Rose Theresa (Between Opera and Cinema), Le Grimh and Wikipedia.

Gene Autry (1907-1998) was an American singer, and actor who gained fame as a singing cowboy in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films, and between 1950 and 1956 he hosted The Gene Autry Show on television.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 369. Photo: British Lion Republic.

Dutch postcard. Photo: Centrafilms.

American postcard by the Gene Autry Hotel, Palm Springs, California. Caption: America's first singing cowboy, Gene Autry, and his horse, Champion.

Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy

Orvon Grover 'Gene' Autry was born near Tioga in Grayson County in north Texas, in 1907. His parents were Delbert Autry and Elnora Ozment.

He worked on his father's ranch while at school. After leaving high school in 1925, Autry worked as a telegrapher for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway. His talent at singing and playing guitar led to performing at local dances.

While working as a telegraph operator in Chelsea, Oklahoma, Autry would sing and accompany himself on the guitar to pass the lonely hours. One night, he was encouraged to sing professionally by a customer, the famous humorist Will Rogers. As soon as he could save money to travel, he went to New York. In the autumn of 1928 he auditioned for Victor Records, but was turned down. He got the advice to sing on radio to gain experience and to come back in a year or two.

In 1928, Autry was singing on Tulsa radio station KVOO (now KFAQ) as 'Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy'. Autry signed a recording deal with Columbia Records in 1929. He worked in Chicago on the WLS-AM radio show 'National Barn Dance' for four years, and with his own show, where he met singer-songwriter Smiley Burnette.

Autry and Burnette were discovered by film producer Nat Levine in 1934. Together, Autry and Burnette made their film debut for Mascot Pictures Corp. in In Old Santa Fe (David Howard, Joseph Kane, 1934) starring Ken Maynard, as part of a singing cowboy quartet.

Levine then gave Autrey the starring role in the 12-part serial The Phantom Empire (Otto Brower, B. Reeves Eason, 1935) with Frankie Darro. Shortly thereafter, Mascot was absorbed by the newly formed Republic Pictures Corp. and Autry went along to make a further 44 films up to 1940, all B-Westerns in which he played under his own name, rode his horse, Champion, had Burnette as his regular sidekick, and had many opportunities to sing in each film.

Dutch postcard. Photo: Republic Pictures.

Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S,P.R.L., Merksem (Anvers). Photo: Republic Pictures.

Personifying the straight-shooting hero

During the 1930s and 1940s, Gene Autry personified the straight-shooting hero — honest, brave, and true — and profoundly touched the lives of millions of Americans. In the Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Money-Making Western Stars poll, Autry was listed every year from the first poll in 1936 to 1942 and 1946 to 1954 (he was serving in the AAF 1943–45).

Autrey held first place 1937 to 1942, and second place (after Roy Rogers) 1947 to 1954, when the poll ceased. He also appeared in the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll of all films from 1940 to 1942. His films often grossed ten times their average $50,000 production costs.

Gene Autry was the first of the singing cowboys in films, but was succeeded as the top star by Roy Rogers while Autry served as a flight officer with the Air Transport Command during World War II. Part of his military service included his broadcast of a radio show for one year; it involved music and true stories.

Gene briefly returned to Republic after the war to finish out his contract. The contract had been suspended for the duration of his military service, and he had tried to have it declared void after his discharge. Republic did then publicise him as 'King of the Singing Cowboys'. He appeared in the film Texans Never Cry (Frank McDonald, 1951), with a role for newcomer Mary Castle.

After 1951, Autry formed his own production company, Flying A Productions, to make Westerns under his own control, which continued the 1947 distribution agreement with Columbia Pictures. During the 1950s, Flying A produced his TV series The Gene Autry Show (1950), The Adventures of Champion (1955), and Annie Oakley (1954).

Dutch postcard, no. 3476. Photo: Republic Pictures.

Dutch postcard. Photo: Republic Pictures.

Back in the Saddle Again

Gene Autry was also one of the most important pioneering figures in the history of country music, considered the second major influential artist of the genre's development after Jimmie Rodgers. His singing cowboy films were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience.

In addition to his signature song, 'Back in the Saddle Again', and his hit 'At Mail Call Today', Autry is still remembered for his Christmas holiday songs, most especially his biggest hit 'Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer' as well as 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Here Comes Santa Claus', and 'Up on the House Top'.

From 1940 to 1956, Autry had a huge hit with a weekly show on CBS Radio, 'Gene Autry's Melody Ranch'. His horse, Champion, also had a CBS-TV and Mutual radio series, 'The Adventures of Champion'. In response to his many young radio listeners aspiring to emulate him, Autry created the Cowboy Code, or Ten Cowboy Commandments. These tenets promoting an ethical, moral, and patriotic lifestyle that appealed to youth organisations such as the Boy Scouts, which developed similar doctrines.

Autry retired from show business in 1964, having made almost 100 films up to 1955 and over 600 records. Autry was the owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles / California / Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.

At the age of 91, Gene Autry died in 1998 in Studio City, California, U.S. In 1932, Autry had married Ina May Spivey, the niece of Jimmy Long. After she died in 1980, he married Jacqueline Ellam, who had been his banker, in 1981. He had no children by either marriage. He is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio, and live performance. The town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma was named in his honour, as was the Gene Autry precinct in Mesa, Arizona.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1182. Photo: British Lion.

Dutch postcard, no. KF 31. Photo: Republic Pictures.

American postcard by Western Publishing & Novelty Co., Los Angeles, Calif, no. 849. Caption: Home of Gene Autry, North Hollywood, California.

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

Yesterday, 14 December 2019, the queen of the Nouvelle Vague, film actress, singer and director Anna Karina has passed away. French, but Danish-born Karina was the muse of director Jean-Luc Godard and starred in eight of his films. “Today, French cinema has been orphaned. It has lost one of its legends,” culture minister Franck Riester tweeted. Anna Karina was 79.

Dutch postcard by Hafbo film, no. 162. Photo: publicity still for Une femme est une femme/A Woman Is a Woman (Jean-Luc Godard, 1961).

East-German postcard by Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin, no. 2/74, 1974. Photo: Unifrance Film.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 471. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 209.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., Paris, no. 181, 1969. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Fashion Model

Anna Karina was born Hanne Karen Blarke Bayer in Solbjerg, Denmark, in 1940. Her mother was a dress shop owner and her father a ship's captain. Before she turned one, her father had left her mother.

First she was raised by her maternal grandparents, where she stayed until the age of four. Then she spent time in and out of foster homes, before returning to live with her mother from the age of eight. She has described her childhood as 'terribly wanting to be loved' and as a child, she made numerous attempts to run away from home.

She began her career in Denmark, where she sang in cabarets and worked as a model playing in commercials. At age 14, she appeared in the Danish short film Pigen og skoene/Girls and Shoes (Ib Schedes, 1954), which won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. She studied dance and painting in Denmark and for a while made a living selling her paintings.

In 1958, after a row with her mother, she hitchhiked to Paris. She had a break when, sitting briefly at the cafe Les Deux Magots, she was approached by a woman from an advertisement agency who asked her to do some photos. Hanne became a rising fashion model, and met Coco Chanel and Pierre Cardin. Chanel advised her to use as a professional name Anna Karina.

She made a series of Palmolive ads in a bath covered in soapsuds, and was noticed by Jean-Luc Godard, then a film critic for Cahiers du cinéma. Godard was casting his debut feature film, À bout de souffle/Breathless (1960) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. He offered her a small role, but she refused when he mentioned that there would be a nude scene.

However, she eventually accepted his offer to play a major role in his second film, Le Petit Soldat/The Little Soldier (1960) with Michel Subor. Karina, who was still under 21 had to persuade her estranged mother to sign the contract for her.

Anna Karina in Le soleil dans l'oeil (1962)

Dutch postcard by N.V. v.h. Weenenk & Snel, Baarn, no. 853. Photo: Hafbo-film. Publicity still for Le soleil dans l'oeil/Sun in Your Eyes (Jacques Bourdon, 1962).

French postcard by Edition Librairie de la Fontaine, Paris, no. 5 (Tirage limité à 250 exemplaires). Photo: Claude Schwartz / Spadem, Paris. Caption: Anna Karina, 1963.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. FK 110. Photo: Ufa.

Belgian collectors card by Music-Fan magazine, no. 47.

Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Pierrot le fou (1965)

French postcard by La Cinémathèque française, no. CF 5006, 1998. Photo: UGC Da International. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina in Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965).

Nouvelle Vague

Anna Karina and Jean-Luc Godard married during the shooting of their next film, Une femme est une femme/A Woman Is a Woman (1961) with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean-Claude Brialy. It is a tribute to American musical comedy and the first film which Godard shot in colour and Cinemascope.

Judd Blaise at AllMovie: "Rather than the sometimes alienating, dense intellectualism of later Godard works, Une femme est une femme offers aesthetic pleasure through luxurious visuals and a charming musical score by Michel Legrand. Against this bright backdrop, Karina proves particularly fetching, capturing the film's frolicsome mood in an unforced manner. While not one of Godard's most groundbreaking or influential films, Une femme est une femme is one of his most appealing and pleasurable efforts."

J. Hoberman at Criterion: "Mainly, A Woman Is a Woman is a valentine to Karina, who became pregnant during the course of the movie’s production; she and Godard were married in March 1961, an event that made the cover of Paris Match." At the Berlin Film Festival in 1961, Anna Karina was awarded as Best Actress for Une femme est une femme.

In the following years, the couple made Vivre sa Vie/My Life to Live (1962), Bande à part/Band of Outsiders (1964), Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution/Alphaville, a Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution (1965) with Eddie Constantine, Pierrot le fou/Pierrot Goes Wild (1965) with Jean-Paul Belmondo, Made in U.S.A. (1966) with Jean-Pierre Léaud and the anthology film Le plus vieux métier du monde/The Oldest Profession (1967).

Though their cinematic collaboration seemed harmonious, their relationship was tumultuous and bitter behind the scenes. It was made all the more difficult by the fact that their relation was under constant public scrutiny. Their three-year marriage ended in 1964, though they continued to work together until 1966. In 1967, Godard and Karina divorced.

Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V, Rotterdam, no. 6099. Photo: Combi Press, Amsterdam.

German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden-Westf., no. 1872.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 133.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 265. Photo: publicity still for La Religieuse/The Nun (Jacques Rivette, 1966).

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 330. Photo: publicity still for La Religieuse/The Nun (Jacques Rivette, 1966).

Hollywood

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "From all reports, Karina and Godard's relationship was symbiotic; it is certainly no coincidence that both actress and director went into a temporary artistic eclipse after their 1967 breakup."

Anna Karina's acting career was not, however, limited to Godard's films, and she had a successful collaboration with other well-known directors. Some consider as her best performance her role in La Religieuse/The Nun (Jacques Rivette, 1966) in which she plays an intelligent, freedom-loving woman who is forced into a convent against her will.

She also acted in the Italian productions Le Soldatesse/The Camp Followers (Valerio Zurlini, 1965) and the Albert Camus adaptation Lo Straniero/The Stranger (Luchino Visconti, 1967) starring Marcello Mastroianni.

Karina also maintained a singing career and scored hits with Sous le soleil exactement and Roller Girl. Both songs, which Serge Gainsbourg had especially written for her, were taken from the TV musical Anna (Pierre Koralnik, 1967).

After her divorce in 1967, she went to Hollywood. She acted in Justine (George Cukor, 1969) and then returned to Paris. Her later films included Laughter in the Dark (Tony Richardson, 1969), Rendez-vous à Bray/Appointment in Bray (André Delvaux, 1971) with Mathieu Carrière, Pane e cioccolata/Bread and Chocolate (Franco Brusati, 1973) starring Nino Manfredi, Chinesisches Roulette/Chinese Roulette (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1976), and Olyan mint otthon/Just Like Home (Márta Mészáros, 1978) with Jan Nowicki.

Anna Karina and Gérard Barray in Sheherazade (1963)

Small Romanian collector's card. Photo: Anna Karina and Gérard Barray in Sheherazade (Pierre-Gaspard-Huit, 1963).

Small Romanian collectors card. Photo: Anna Karina in Shéhérazade (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1963).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 177/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 M. Photo: Unifrance Film.

Big East-German card by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 6/71. Photo: Unifrance Film.

East-German postcard by Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin, no. 154/76, 1976. Photo: Linke.

Chansons de films

Anna Karina acted in but also wrote, produced and directed Vivre ensemble/Living Together (1973). She has also written three novels and made several appearances on television. In 2005 she released 'Chansons de films', a collection of songs sung in films.

She appeared on stage in Jacques Rivette's adaptation of La Religieuse/The Nun, 'Pour Lucrece, Toi et Tes Nuages', Francoise Sagan's 'Il Fait Beau Jour et Nuit' and Ingmar Bergman's 'Apres La Répétition/After the Repetition'.

Incidentally she played in films like L'oeuvre au noir/The Abyss (André Delvaux, 1988) with Gian Maria Volonté, Haut bas fragile/Up, Down, Fragile (Jacques Rivette, 1995) and the romantic thriller The Truth About Charlie (Jonathan Demme, 2002) starring Mark Wahlberg.

Karina's final film as a director was Victoria (2008) in which she also starred. Mark Deming at AllMovie: "Thirty-five years after directing her first feature film, iconic actress Anna Karina once again steps behind the camera for this charming comedy-drama shot in Canada. Jimmy (Emmanuel Reichenbach) and Stanislas (Jean-Francois Moran) are a pair of nightclub performers who play second-rate gay nightclubs as part of a drag act called 'Les Lolitas'."

After Godard, Anna Karina was married three times more: to scriptwriter-actor Pierre Fabre (1968–1973), actor-director Daniel Duval (1978–1981) and director Dennis Berry (1982–1994). Since 2009, she was married to Maurice Cooks.

On 14 December 2019, Anna Karina has died in a Paris hospital of the effects of cancer at the age of 79, her agent Laurent Balandras told AFP, adding that she passed away in the company of her fourth husband, American director Dennis Berry.

Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor.

Scenes from Vivre sa vie (1962). Source: Paulo A (YouTube).

Anna Karina sings Jamais je ne t'ai dit que je t'aimerai toujours in Pierrot le Fou (1965) with Jean-Paul Belmondo. Source: Tobe Auster (YouTube).

Trailer Made in U.S.A. (1966). Source: Danios 12345 (YouTube).

Japanese trailer Anna (1967). Source: Night of the Trailers (YouTube).

Sources: Judd Blaise (AllMovie), J. Hoberman (Criterion), James Travers (French Films.org), Mark Deming (AllMovie), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), The Guardian, IMDb and Wikipedia.

Carla Candiani (1916-2005) was an Italian film actress. Discovered by the Italian public in Raffaello Matarazzo's thriller Albergo degli assenti (1939), she took part in seventeen films during her career, from the late 1930s to the late 1940s.

Italian postcard by BFF Edit. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 2080. Photo: Ghergo.

Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scaramaglia Edizioni Roma), no. 13. Carla Candiani in Tosca (Carl Koch, Jean Renoir, 1939-1941).

An active sportswoman

Carla Candiani was born in Legnano, Italy, in 1916. She was an active sportswoman, attended a foreign language school and participated in castings to become an actress.

She made her film debut in a small role in the comedy Il feroce Saladin/The ferocious Saladin (Mario Bonnard, 1937) starring Angelo Musco and Alida Valli.

Raffaello Matarazzo entrusted her with one of the main roles of his thriller L'albergo degli absenti/The Property of the Absent (Raffaello Matarazzo, 1939). She played the role of Muriel, a wealthy heiress who has been the victim of several abduction attempts, the latest of which results in the disappearance of her secretary, Renata (Paola Barbara).

She met Matarazzo again the following year in the comedy Trappola d'amore/Dicky (Raffaello Matarazzo, 1940), playing the secretary of Dicky (Giuseppe Porelli), a noble art collector to whom she offers the services of her boyfriend and private detective (Paolo Stoppa) to ensure the safety of his collection.

She then played in four films, including the comedy L'imprevisto/Unexpected (Giorgio Simonelli, 1940) with Vanna Vanni and Emilio Cigoli.

In 1941, she performed the marchioness Attavanti, sister of the patriot Angelotti (Adriano Rimoldi), in the realist drama Tosca by Carl Koch and Jean Renoir, freely based on Victorien Sardou's play and less so on Giacomo Puccini's opera, and containing many shots on location in Rome. The leads were for Imperio Argentina, Rossano Brazzi, and Michel Simon, as Tosca, Mario Cavaradossi, and Baron Scarpia.

Carla Candiani in Il leone di Damasco (1942)

Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scaramaglia Edizioni Roma), no. 60. Photo: Pesce. Carla Candiani in Il leone di Damasco/The Lion of Damascus (Corrado d'Errico, Enrico Guazzoni, 1942).

Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scaramaglia Edizioni Roma), no. 159. Carla Candiani in Il leone di Damasco/The Lion of Damascus (Corrado d'Errico, Enrico Guazzoni, 1942).

Wife of a Count

In 1942, Carla Candiani played the title role in Corrado D'Errico's Capitan Tempesta/Captain Tempest, an adventure film based on the eponymous novel by Italian writer Emilio Salgari. While the Turcs are keeping Famagosta under siege, the city is strongly defended by Capitan Tempesta, none other than Leonora, the governor's daughter. She also manages to enter the castle of Hussif (Juan Calvo), who has imprisoned her lover Marcello (Adriano Rimoldi), tortured by the pretty Haradya (Doris Duranti). At the climax, Moulia El Kader (Carlo Ninchi), nicknamed 'The Lion of Damascus', permits the two lovers to be reunited.

She reprised this role in the sequel Il leone di Damasco/The Lion of Damascus (1942), again with Rimoldi, Ninchi, Duranti, etc. It was the last film of Corrado D'Errico, who because of a fatal illness was unable to finish the filming, so it was completed by Enrico Guazzoni.

The following year, Candiani was Countess Albine de Montholon, wife of Charles-Tristan de Montholon in Sant'Elena, piccola isola/Saint Helen, small island (Umberto Scarpelli, Renato Simoni, 1943), a film about Napoleon I's exile to St. Helena and with Ruggero Ruggeri as Bonaparte.

She also took part in the comedy Non sono superstizioso ... but!/I'm not superstitious ... but! (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1943) with Vittorio De Sica, Armando Falconi, and Maria Mercader.

She also participated in the first film by Mario Costa, the drama La sua strada/His Way, starring Lída Baarová, in which Candiani played the role of a wife. Although completed in 1943, the film was not released until after the war, in 1946.

She was then on the poster of Jacques de Baroncelli's comedy Rocambole (1948) and took part in the sequel, La Revanche de Baccarat (1948).

Carla Candiani retired shortly afterward to marry (probably in 1949) and devote herself to her family life as the wife of the Count Neni da Zara, owner of famous racing and jumping horses. Their daughter Maura was a famous rider. Candiani died in Anagni in 2005 at the high age of 89.

Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1941. Photo: Ghergo.

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 4303. Photo: Pesce / Scalera Film.

Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 20350. Photo: Venturini, Roma.

Sources: Wikipedia (French and Italian) and IMDb.

Hesperia, Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni Talli were the stars of the Italian silent drama Vertigine/Vertigo love (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919), produced by Film d'Arte Italiana (FAI). In Spain the film was distributed as El Vertigo and Chocolat Imperial published a series of six coloured 'cromos' of the film.

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 1 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Hesperia in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919). Unknown is who the two men are.

Hesperia, Giovanni Schettini and Tullio Carminati in Vertigine (1919)

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 2 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Giovanni Schettini, Hesperia and Tullio Carminati in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Hesperia and Tullio Carminati in Vertigine (1919)

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 3 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Tullio Carminati and Hesperia in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Two men who marked her rise and fall

None of our sources describes the plot of Vertigine/Vertigo love (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919), but happily the plot is described on the back of the Spanish collectors cards. We translated the Spanish texts for this post.

A party takes place at the Royal Palace in Birlandia, when the Prince Regent substitutes the Royal couple Marisa and Carlos de Seydoon who are dethroned. Carlos is killed by counter-revolutionaries, while Marisa, chased from the court, leads a life as countess Marisa de Seydoon (Hesperia).

She goes to Rome by train, by chance in the same compartment as count Enzo (Tullio Carminati) who is unaware of her beauties, so she uses all her assets to seduce him. They get acquainted at the dinner wagon and because of trouble with the train, they share the same hotel.

They make several excursions together during which their love blossoms. They meet on old study friend of Enzo, Fausto Ursini (Giovanni Schettini). Ursini visits Enzo because he needs money as creditors want to take away the estate so dear to his mother (Ida Carloni Talli). Touched, Enzo helps him and buys the estate.

Marisa passes wonderful days at the estate, while both she and Fausto's mother don't know it is by now Enzo's property. While Enzo is away, and the summer blossoms drug Fausto and Marisa, the two young people fall in love, even if Marisa keeps her distance. When Enzo returns, Marisa is afraid he may find out and accuses Fausto of ingratitude towards Enzo.

Fausto's mother suspects something is going on, but also Enzo notices Marisa is not herself. She finally admits Fausto has declared her his love. Enzo, blind of rage, reacts to Fausto, who admits his guilt and offers his life. Enzo instead forces Fausto to reveal his mother the truth. Fausto cannot cope with so much disgrace to his mother, so he commits suicide.

Enzo, realising that his woman will now forever doubt him, disappears. Marisa, who before felt the weight of her crown, now left by Enzo, retires to a lonely villa, to mourn over her tragic fate and the loss of both men who marked her rise and fall.

The female star of the film, Hesperia, was one of the Italian divas of the silent screen. She often worked with director Baldassarre Negroni, who also became her husband.

At the time, Giuseppe Lega, in the magazine Apollon, thought Vertigine/Vertigo love (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919) was a rather old-fashioned drama. He called it below the level of the talent of the young scriptwriter Luciano Doria, who adapted his own novel in cooperation with director Baldassarre Negroni. Hesperia made the most of it, Tullio Carminati could have been better, while best was Ida Carloni Talli.

Hesperia, Tullio Carminati and Giovanni Schettini in Vertigine (1919)

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 4 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Giovanni Schettini, Tullio Carminati and Hesperia in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 5 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Hesperia and Tullio Carminati in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Ida Carloni Talli and Giovanni Schettini in Vertigine (1919)

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 6 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Ida Carloni Talli and Giovanni Schettini in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano: I film del dopoguerra, 1919 - Italian), icff.co.uk and IMDb.

Bryant Washburn (1889–1963) was an American film actor, who appeared in 375 films between 1911 and 1947. From 1911, he was one of the leading actors of the Essanay company and later of Paramount. In the 1910s and the early 1920s, he was one of the most popular American actors.

British postcard. Photo: Essanay Film Mfg. Co.

Alternately playing heroes and villains

Bryant Washburn was born in 1889 in Chicago, Illinois, USA as Franklin Bryant Washburn III Washburn's parents were Franklin Bryant Washburn II and Metha Catherine Johnson Washburn. Bryant attended Lake View High School in Chicago

Washburn's early acting experience came in stock theatre. From 1911 on, he appeared in short films and features for the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company of Chicago. One of his first films was the silent comedy The Dark Romance of a Tobacco Tin (1911) with Francis X. Bushman. Apparently, the film was about blackface and interracial marriage.

The following years, he became one of Essanay's leading actors in such films as The Power of Conscience (Theodore Wharton, 1913) opposite Francis X. Bushman, and the comedy The Slim Princess (E. H. Calvert, 1915) starring Francis X. Bushman, Ruth Stonehouse and Wallace Beery. Alternately, he played heroes and villains.

Washburn quickly became a comedy star after appearing in films such as Skinner's Baby (Harry Beaumont, 1917), Skinner's Bubble (Harry Beaumont, 1917) and Skinner's Dress Suit (Harry Beaumont, 1917) with Hazel Daly and Virginia Valli. The third in the series, Skinner's Baby, was quite a success. It was Jackie Coogan's first film role, as the baby, though uncredited. The film is believed to be lost.

In 1918 Washburn moved over to Paramount/Famous Players-Lasky and graduated to bigger roles, either as romantic leads in second features or as supporting actor in A-grade productions. He played the lead in the silent drama Till I Come Back to You (Cecil B. DeMille, 1918) with Florence Vidor, and the comedy The Way of a Man with a Maid (Donald Crisp, 1918) with Wanda Hawley.

In 1917-1918 Washburn also played in a handful of films released by Pathé Exchange, such as the coming-of-age comedy Twenty-One (William Worthington, 1918) and the comic Western Ghost of the Rancho (William Worthington, 1918), and produced by small companies such as the Anderson-Brunton Company.

French postcard by Editions Paramount, Paris. Photo: Paramount.

British postcard. Photo: Pathé Frères Cinema Ltd.

Losing his looks

From the mid-1920s, Bryant Washburn played supporting parts in such films as the adventure film Rupert of Hentzau (Victor Heerman, 1923) starring Bert Lytell, Elaine Hammerstein and Lew Cody, and the silent fantasy-adventure comedy The Wizard of Oz (Larry Semon, 1925) with Dorothy Dwan as Dorothy, and Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman. Washburn managed to continue so well into the sound era.

By the time sound pictures arrived, Washburn had lost his looks and was relegated to minor or bit parts. In the drama What Price Hollywood? (George Cukor, 1932), he played a washed-up Hollywood star. An uncredited role. He also could be seen in The Call of the Savage (Lew Landers, 1935), a Universal serial based on the story 'Jan of the Jungle' by Otis Adelbert Kline.

One of his last roles was in the Western West of the Pecos (Edward Killy, 1945) starring Robert Mitchum and Barbara Hale. Bryant Wasburn died of a heart condition in 1963 in Hollywood. His interment was located in Culver City, California's Holy Cross Cemetery.

Wasburn was married twice, first to actress Mabel Forrest from 1914 on and later to actress Virginia Vance, from 1929 till her death in 1940 He had two sons with his first wife: Dwight and Bryant. Bryant Washburn, Jr. (1915–1960), was also an actor, a major in the US Air Force Reserve, served during World War II and Korea, and predeceased his father.

Washburn also had a daughter, Roberta Catherine (1930), with his second wife, Virginia. His daughter was later known as Sister Mary Luke of St. John's Convent in King City, CA.

French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 91. Photo: Hartsook.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Rolf Moebius (1915-2004) was a German actor. He was pre-war star of the Ufa and starred in Propaganda films like Das Gewehr über/Shoulder Arms (1939). Later he became a character actor, who often played military, academics, jurists or police officers. Moebius remained active as a TV guest star well into the 1980s.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1884/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Walther Jaeger.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2251/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Walther Jaeger / Ufa.

Converted to the cause of Nazi Germany

Rolf Moebius was born in 1915 in Riesa, Saxony, in the German Empire. He attended the drama school of the Staatstheater Berlin, and worked at the theatre.

In 1936, he made his film debut in a minor role in the drama Traumulus/The Dreamer (Carl Froelich, 1936) starring Emil Jannings. The following year, he co-starred opposite Lilian Harvey in the historical drama Fanny Elssler (Paul Martin, 1937) which was loosely based on the life of the dancer Fanny Elssler.

He also starred in the Propaganda film Urlaub auf Ehrenwort/Leave on Word of Honour (Karl Ritter, 1937), the last of three films set in the First World War which director Karl Ritter made during the period when Nazi Germany was rearming. For the Ufa, he appeared in the crime film Der Vorhang fällt/The Curtain Falls (Georg Jacoby, 1939) starring Anneliese Uhlig.

He also starred in the Propaganda film Das Gewehr über/Shoulder Arms (Jürgen von Alten, 1939). A German emigrant (F.W. Schröder-Schrom) to Australia becomes concerned that his son (Rolf Moebius) has been too strongly influenced by the democratic, permissive attitudes of the country and decides to send him back to Germany for military service.

While his son at first resents and resists his new lifestyle, he is eventually converted to the cause of Nazi Germany. Das Gewehr über/Shoulder Arms was one of a growing number of films of the late 1930s that were hostile towards life in the British Empire on the eve of the Second World War.

After an interval during the war years, he returned to the screen in a supporting role in Die Jahre vergehen/The Years Pass (Günther Rittau, 1945) starring Heidemarie Hatheyer.

German postcard by Ross Verlag. Photo: Germania-Forum-FIlm. Rolf Moebius in Das Gewehr überr/Shoulder Arms (Jürgen von Alten, 1939).

Big German postcard by Ross Verlag. Photo: Walther Jaeger.

The Plot to Assassinate Hitler

After the Second World War, Rolf Moebius turned back to the theatre. He also appeared in supporting roles in such films as the Krimi Die Lüge/The Lie (Gustav Fröhlich, 1950), starring Otto Gebühr and Sybille Schmitz.

In Austria he appeared in the comedy Der Feldherrnhügel/Grandstand for General Staff (Ernst Marischka, 1953), starring Annemarie Düringer. He also had a role in Der 20. Juli/The Plot to Assassinate Hitler (Falk Harnack, 1955) on the failed 20 July 1944 attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Wikipedia: "The film has a realism that comes close to the style of a documentary. Release of the film amounted to a race competition against G. W. Pabst's film, Es geschah am 20. Juli, (English title, Jackboot Mutiny), released in the same year, dealing with the same subject."

In the second half of the 1950s, his parts became smaller and his later, international films included Les Misérables (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1958) with Jean Gabin as Jean Valjean, the political thriller Geheimaktion schwarze Kapelle/The Black Chapel (Ralph Habib, 1959) with Peter van Eyck, and the thriller Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse/The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960), directed by Fritz Lang in his final film before his death.

In 1965 Moebius played the doctor in the Austrian family film Heidi (Werner Jacobs, 1965). His final film was Die neuen Leiden des jungen W./Werther in Blue-Jeans (Eberhard Itzenplitz, 1976), featuring Klaus Hoffmann. From then on Rolf Moebius focused on the theatre, until the 1980s. His final screen appearance was in the Krimi series Detektivbüro Roth (1986) with Manfred Krug.

Rolf Moebius died of pneumonia in 2004 in Berlin. He was 88. His partner was Carin Nosack.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2106/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Walther Jaeger.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2341/8, 1956. Photo: Kurt Wunsch / DEFA.

Sources: Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.

French singer and songwriter Alain Barrière (1935) passed away on 19 December 2019. He recorded a number of timeless hits in the 1960s which earned their place in French music history. Internationally he is known for participating in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest. At the height of his popularity, he made one venture into film acting.

Italian postcard.

French postcard by Publistar, Marseille, no. 975. Photo: Wolf Fiebig.

French postcard by Publistar, Marseille, no. 1088. Photo: Wolf Fiebig.

French postcard by Publistar, Marseille, no. 1228. Photo: Wolf Fiebig / RCA Victor.

French postcard by La Roue Tourne, Paris.

Bitten by the Music Bug

Alain Barrière was born as Alain Bellec in La Trinité-sur-Mer, France in 1935. He grew up in the son of hardworking fishmongers in a small town on the coast of Brittany.

In 1955 Barrière enrolled in the École nationale s des Ingénieurs d'arts et métiers in Angers. In 1958 the young student was bitten by the music bug. He bought a guitar and began to write songs. On graduating in engineering in 1960, he moved to Paris to take up employment, and started to perform in the evenings at a small cabaret.

In 1961, Alain Bellec adopted his stage name, Alain Barrière, and entered the Coq d’or young talents contest. He won the final at the prestigious Olympia music-hall with the self-written song Cathy. He had an original chanson style that did no concession to the burgeoning yé-yé scene.

He signed a record contract with RCA Victor and started to release singles regularly. It enabled him to give up his job and make at least a modest living from music. In 1963, Barrière's song Elle était si jolie (She Was So Pretty) was chosen as the French representative in the eighth Eurovision Song Contest in London. Elle était si jolie finished fifth of 16 entries.

The song turned out to be by far the biggest seller of Barrière's career to that point. This gave him access to a much wider audience. Barrière went on to support Paul Anka on a concert tour. He released his first album, Ma vie (My Life), in 1964 and the title-track became a huge hit.

In 1965 he played a leading role in a heist thriller, Pas de panique/No Panic (Sergio Gobbi, 1966), alongside Pierre Brasseur. This would be his only venture into acting, but his singing career reached its peak in the latter part of the decade with a string of hits making him one of France's biggest stars and a sell-out live attraction.

Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6934.

French postcard by Publistar, Marseille, in the Ministar series, no. 975B. Photo: Wolf Fiebig.

French postcard by PSG, no. 841. Offered by Corvisart, Epinal. Photo: J. Aubert.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 363. Offered by Corvisart, Epinal. Photo: Wolf Fiebig.

French promotion card by Barclay. Photo: Alain.

Money-Spinner

Alain Barrière gained a reputation for being outspoken, uncompromising and at times difficult to work with. In the early 1970s, he left his record company to set up his own label. He kept his fan base, which ensured his records and concerts continued to provide a good living, despite his being overlooked by sections of the French broadcast media.

1975 proved to be a turning-point in Alain Barrière's personal life. He married Anièce and they had a daughter Guénaelle. The duet Tu t'en vas (1975) with Noëlle Cordier, topped the French chart, and was a hit in many European countries.

Barrière and his wife opened Le Stirwen, a nightclub-restaurant in a converted castle in Brittany near the famous menhirs in Carnac. Although the venue proved successful and popular, Barrière found himself facing severe tax problems, a result of dubious advice.

In 1977 he took his family to the US, where they remained for four years. After returning to France, Barrière made several comeback attempts, to little avail. After another period spent overseas, this time in Quebec, the family were back in Brittany.

In 1997, Barrière's career was unexpectedly rejuvenated by the release of Ma vie: Trente années de chansons (My Life, Thirty Years of 'Chanson'), a CD containing remastered versions of his old hits. It was a money-spinner.

Shortly afterwards, he released Barriere 97, an album of new material, which also sold well. Alain Barrière published an autobiography Ma Vie in 2006. In the following years, he continued to release both retrospective and newly-recorded albums.

In 2019, Alain Barrière died of a heart attack in Carnac, France. He was 84. Twelve days earlier, his wife Agnès Cohen-Soal had passed away. They had a daughter, Guénaëlle Barrière (born Bellec).

Belgian postcard by Edit. Decker, Bruxelles, no. A 115.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 363. Photo: Wolf Fiebig / RCA Victor.

Small French collectors card by Publistar, Marseille.

French postcard by I.D.N. Photo: Alain Marouani / Barclay.

Alain Barriere and Noëlle Cordier sing Tu t'en vas. Source: Woud90 (YouTube).

Sources: rfi musique (French), Nostalgie (French), Wikipedia, and IMDb.