Gianna Maria Canale

June 29, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Eduardo De Filippo

≪ Previous: Zbigniew Cybulski

$

0

0

We're in Bologna, Italy visiting Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival (28 June - 5 July). One of the sections, we're following is Freda: a Master of Popular Cinema. Director Riccardo Freda (1909-1999) always consciously worked in popular genres, taking inspiration from classic literature and silent film. He was the author of some of the greatest successes of the post-war period, but was only discovered thanks to the French critics of the 1960s, and is since revered by generations of film lovers and filmmakers. Star of many of his spectacles was his wife, the Italian femme fatale Gianna Maria Canale (1927-2009). Her anatomy figured prominently in the sword-and-sandal epics and pirate adventures in which she played sultry temptresses or princesses in distress. La Canale was also a leading lady of international films of the 1950s and early 1960s.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 625, 1953. Photo: MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer).


British collectors card, no. 40. Publicity still for The Silent Enemy (William Fairchild, 1958).

Miss Calabria

Gianna Maria Canale was born of Greek descent in Reggio Calabria, in the south of Italy, in 1927.

When she was working as a steno typist, her film career started with a small role in the film Aquila Nera/Return of the Black Eagle (Riccardo Freda, 1946) starring Rossano Brazzi.

The next year she entered as Miss Calabria the now legendary Miss Italia 1947 contest. Lucia Bosè became Miss Italia, but Canale placed second before three other gorgeous, future film stars, Gina Lollobrigida, Eleonora Rossi-Drago and Silvana Mangano.

After the beauty contest Canale received publicity in many Italian magazines who compared her sultry, dark-haired looks to those of Ava Gardner. Egyptian born director Riccardo Freda (aka Robert Hampton), who had directed her in Aquila Nera, offered her a film contract and a role opposite Vittorio Gassman in Il cavaliere misterioso/The Mysterious Cavalier (Riccardo Freda, 1948).

In this film she had a nude scene. During the shooting the director and his leading lady fell in love. Freda left his wife and he and Canale got married in Brazil. There they shot two films, Guarany (Riccardo Freda, 1948) and O Caçula do Barulho (Riccardo Freda, 1949).

Canale could not get used to the South American climate and they returned to Italy. There she was often directed by her husband in such films as Il conte Ugolino/Count Ugolino (Riccardo Freda, 1949) with Carlo Ninchi, Il figlio di d'Artagnan/The Son of d’Artagnan (Riccardo Freda, 1950) again with Ninchi, and Vedi Napoli e poi muori/See Naples and Die (Riccardo Freda, 1951).

In their Black Eagle sequel La vendetta di Aquila Nera/The Revenge of the Black Eagle (Riccardo Freda, 1951) she was now the leading lady opposite Rossano Brazzi.


French postcard. Photo: MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer).


German postcard by Ufa (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, nr. FK 4259. Ratil price 25 Pfg. Photo: Columbia Film. publicity still for The Whole Truth (John Guillermin, 1958).

Queen of the Peplum

In 1951, Gianna Maria Canale played a supporting role in the American war film Go for Broke! (Robert Pirosh, 1951) starring Van Johnson. The director, Robert Pirosh, wrote his own script, a tribute to Japanese-American volunteers fighting in World War II.

Canale continued to appear in Italian films, but she also starred in such international films as the film noir Dramma nella Kasbah/The Man From Cairo (Ray Enright, 1953) starring George Raft, Madame du Barry (Christian-Jaque, 1954) with Martine Carol, and Napoléon (Sacha Guitry, 1955).

In Italy she starred in many Peplums or Sandaloni - sword and sandal films - including the first Hercules film Le fatiche di Ercole/Hercules (Pietro Francisi, 1958) which featured her as the Queen of the Amazons opposite bodybuilder Steve Reeves.

At AllMovie, critic Hal Erickson calls her “A practioner of the ‘enigmatic femme fatale’ school of screen performing (...) Most of Canale's film appearances were exotic to the point of self-mockery”, as witness Teodora, imperatrice di Bisanzio/Theodora Slave Empress (Riccardo Freda, 1954) and La Venere dei pirati/Queen of the Pirates (Mario Costa, 1961).

I vampiri/Evil's Commandment (1956) was her last film with Freda, and during the shooting they separated. I vampiri, the first Italian horror film of the sound era, was completed by future Italian fantasy specialist Mario Bava. In this stylish and elegant fantasy she plays Duchess Giselle du Grand who is kept alive with blood experiments.

Canale continued to appear in international films, including the biopic The Silent Enemy (William Fairchild, 1958) with Laurence Harvey as the controversial British war hero Lionel Crabb, and the thriller The Whole Truth (John Guillermin, 1958) as a temperamental Italian film star/murdered mistress of Stewart Granger.

One of the most interesting of her later films was Il boom (Vittorio de Sica, 1963), a somber comedy with Alberto Sordi that was sadly overlooked.

Gianna Maria Canale retired from the film industry in 1964. What happened then with her? Most of our sources only indicate that she became the widow of Riccardo Freda in 1999 and that Canale herself died in Florence in 2009, aged 81.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2916, 1967. Retail price: MDN 0,20. Photo: Progress. Publicity still for Le chevalier de Pardaillan/Clash of Steel (Bernard Borderie, 1962).


La Diva. A Tribute by Orazio Garofalo. Source: oraziogarofalorende (YouTube).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia and IMDb.

---

Eduardo De Filippo

June 30, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Erich von Stroheim

≪ Previous: Gianna Maria Canale

$

0

0

We're in Bologna, Italy visiting Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival (28 June - 5 July). One of the sections is 'Italian Episodes 1952-1968. The 1950s and 1960s were the golden age of Italian comedy and also a period in which the irregular structure of the episodic or anthology film imposed itself. Many of the episodes are flashes of genius that stay in the memory thanks to their short form, economic rhetoric and striking directness. One of the titles is Cova delle uova from Eduardo De Filippo's Marito e moglie (1952). Napolitan actor-director De Filippo was also a playwright, screenwriter, author and poet, best known for his plays Filumena Marturano and Napoli Milionaria. He began to direct films in 1940. During the 1950s, he turned out a string of successful light comedies, many based on his own plays. In addition to writing and directing his own films, he also wrote or collaborated on films with such directors as Vittorio De Sica.


Italian postcard.


Italian postcard.

Do not pay!

Eduardo De Filippo was born in Naples, Italy in 1900. He was the illegitimate son of actor/playwright Eduardo Scarpetta and theatre seamstress/costumier Luisa De Filippo. His sister was actress Titina De Filippo and his brother actor/writer Peppino De Filippo.

Eduardo began acting at the age of four or five, the sources differ. According to Italica, the website of Rai International, he made his debut in 1904 as a Japanese child in La geisha (The Geisha), written by his father. The next year, he was Peppiniello in his father's comedy Miseria e Nobiltà (Poverty and Nobility).

In 1914 he joined the regular staff of his step-brother Eduardo Scarpetta's theatre company, where he stayed until 1920 when he was called up for military service. In 1922, on completing his military service, he resumed his acting career in the theatre.

Like his father, he also started to write for the stage. Among his early plays are Farmacia di turno (The All-night Chemist, 1920), Uomo e galantuomo (Man and Gentleman, 1922), Requie a l'anema soja/I morti non fanno paura (May his soul rest, 1926) and Filosoficamente (Philosophically, 1928).

In the early 1930s he wrote Ogni anno punto e da capo (Every Year Back from the Start, 1931), È arrivato 'o trentuno (The 31st is Here, 1931), Natale in casa Cupiello (Christmas at the Cupiello's, 1931) and La voce del padrone/Il successo del giorno (Success of the Day, 1932).

In 1932 he formed a theatre company with his brother Peppino and sister Titina, called compagnia del Teatro Umoristico I De Filippo.

From 1933 they also appeared in films. In the French-Italian comedy Tre uomini in frack/Three Lucky Fools (Mario Bonnard, 1933), Eduardo co-starred with opera tenor Tito Schipa and French actor Fred Pasquali.

It was followed by Il cappello a tre punte/Three Cornered Hat (Mario Camerini, 1934) and Quei due (Gennaro Righelli, 1935). He started to directed the comedies he starred in, like In campagna è caduta una stella/In the Country Fell a Star (Eduardo De Filippo, 1939).

With Titina and Peppino De Filippo, he played in the comedy Non ti pago!/Do not pay! (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1942), which he also co-wrote. The trio enjoyed success in both mediums, but broke up soon after World War II ended.


Italian postcard. Photo: publicity still of Casanova farebbe così/Casanova Would Do It That Way! (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1942) with Peppino and Eduardo de Filippo and Clelia Matania.

Life Begins Anew

Eduardo De Filippo founded the Compagnia di Eduardo, which in 1946 staged Questi fantasmi (Ghosts - Italian Style), followed by the hugely successful Filumena Marturano, which was to become the most famous role of his sister Titina.

Other plays were Napoli milionaria (The Millions of Naples, 1945), Le voci di dentro (Inner Voices, 1948), Mia famiglia (Family of Mine, 1955) and Sabato, domenica e lunedì (Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 1959).

In the cinema he appeared with Alida Valli and Fosco Giachetti in the drama La vita ricomincia/Life Begins Anew (Mario Mattoli. 1945). It was the second most popular Italian film of the year after Roberto Rossellini's Paisan.

He also appeared in dramas like Assunta Spina/Scarred (Mario Mattoli, 1948) starring Anna Magnani, but De Filippo is better known for his comedies like Napoli milionaria/The Millions of Naples (Eduardo De Filippo, 1950) based on his own play, Filumena Marturano (Eduardo De Filippo, 1951) featuring Titiana and the anthology film L'oro di Napoli/The Gold of Naples (Vittorio De Sica, 1954). In a segment with Tina Pica he played ‘professor’ Ersilio Micci, a ‘wisdom seller’ solving problems.

Filomena Maurano was filmed again as Matrimonio all'italiana/Marriage Italian Style (Vittorio De Sica, 1964) starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

One of De Filippo’s most successful films as a director was Fortunella/Happy-go-lucky Girl (Eduardo De Filippo, 1958) featuring Giulietta Massina. Other interesting films are L'amore più bello/The Most Beautiful Love (Glauco Pellegrini, 1958) with Alida Valli and child star Edoardo Nevola, the war drama Tutti a casa/ Everybody Go Home (Luigi Comencini, 1960) with Alberto Sordi, and the fantasy Fantasmi a Roma/Ghosts of Rome (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1961) starring Marcello Mastroianni.

Later het mostly appeared on television. In 1973 his play Sabato, domenica e lunedi (1959, Saturday, Sunday and Monday), was put on at the Old Vic theatre in London. The production directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Laurence Olivier, won the London drama critics' award.

In 1981, Eduardo De Filippo was appointed life senator of the Italian Republic. He died four years later in Rome at the age of 84.

His last screen appearance was in the TV mini-series Cuore/Heart (Luigi Comencini, 1984) with Johnny Dorelli.

De Filippo was married three or maybe four times: to Vanna Polverosi (?), Dorothy Pennington (1928-1956), Thea Prandi (1956-1959), with whom he had two children, and to Isabella Quarantotti (1977-1984). His artistic legacy has been carried over by his son, Luca De Filippo.

His plays are often used for TV films, such as Filumena Marturano (Franza Di Rosa, 2010) featuring Mariangela Melato and Sabato, domenica e lunedì/Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Franza Di Rosa, 2012) with Massimo Ranieri.


Peppino De Filippo. Italian postcard in the series Gli Artisti di Napoli.


Italian postcard in the series Gli Artisti di Napoli.

Sources: Gianluca Toscano (IMDb), Italica, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Erich von Stroheim

July 1, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Rosa Porten

≪ Previous: Eduardo De Filippo

$

0

0

Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival (28 June - 5 July) in Bologna celebrates the 50th anniversary of Österreichisches Filmmuseum with a screening of the silent classic The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925) with Mae Murray and John Gilbert. As the sadistic, monocled Prussian officer in both American and French films, Austrian-born Erich von Stroheim (1885–1957) became ‘The Man You Love to Hate’. But maybe he is best known as one of the greatest and influential directors of the silent era, known for his extravaganza and the uncompromising accuracy of detail in his monumental films.

French card by Massilia. Photo: Paris Film. Collection: Amit Benyovits.

French postcard by Viny, no. 92. Photo: Milo Films. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 559. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Film. Publicity still for The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925) with Mae Murray and John Gilbert.

Deep Depressions And Terrible Temper Tantrums

Erich von Stroheim's most recent biographers, such as Richard Koszarski, say that he was born in Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1885 as Erich Oswald Stroheim.

He was the son of Benno Stroheim, a middle-class hat-maker, and Johanna Bondy, both of whom were practicing Jews. Stroheim emigrated to America at the end of 1909. On arrival at Ellis Island he claimed to be Count Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim und Nordenwall, the son of Austrian nobility like the characters he later played in his films. However, both Billy Wilder and Stroheim's agent Paul Kohner claimed that he spoke with a decidedly lower-class Austrian accent.

In 1912 while working at a tavern he met his first wife, Margaret Knox, and moved in with her. Knox acted as a sort of mentor to Von Stroheim, teaching him language and literature and encouraging him to write. Under Knox's tutelage, he wrote a novella entitled In the Morning, with themes that anticipated his films: corrupt aristocracy and innocence debased. The couple married in 1913, but money woes drove von Stroheim to deep depressions and terrible temper tantrums, and in 1914 Knox filed for divorce.

By then Von Stroheim was working in Hollywood. He began his cinema career in bit-parts and as a consultant on German culture and fashion. His first film was The Country Boy (Frederick A. Thomson, 1915) in which he was an uncredited diner in a restaurant.

His first credited role came in Old Heidelberg (John Emerson, 1915) starring Wallace Reed and Dorothy Gish. He began working with D. W. Griffith, taking uncredited roles in Intolerance (1916). Additionally, Von Stroheim acted as one of the many assistant directors on Intolerance, a film remembered in part for its huge cast of extras.

Later, he played the sneering German with the short Prussian military hairstyle in such films as Sylvia of the Secret Service (George Fitzmaurice, 1917) and The Hun Within (Chester Whitey, 1918) with Dorothy Gish.

In the war drama The Heart of Humanity (Allen Holubar, 1918), he tore the buttons from a nurse's uniform with his teeth, and when disturbed by a crying baby, threw it out of a window. Following the end of World War I, Von Stroheim turned to writing.

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Film. Mae Murray in The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 186/3. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for As You Desire me (George Fitzmaurice, 1932) with Erich von Stroheim and Greta Garbo.


Dutch postcard, no. 511. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for As You Desire me (George Fitzmaurice, 1932)with Owen Moore, Greta Garbo and Erich von Stroheim.

A Dictatorial And Demanding Director

In 1919, Erich von Strohem directed his own script for Blind Husbands (1919), and also starred in the film. As a director, Stroheim was known to be dictatorial and demanding, often antagonizing his actors. He is considered one of the greatest directors of the silent era, with his both cynical and romantic views of human nature.

His next directorial efforts were the lost film The Devil's Pass Key (1919) and Foolish Wives (1922), in which he also starred. Studio publicity for Foolish Wives claimed that it was the first film to cost one million dollars. ‘Von’ translated sexual subjects in a witty and ostentatious manner, and his first films for Universal are among the most acclaimed sophisticated films of the silent era.

In 1923, Von Stroheim began work on Merry-Go-Round. He cast the American actor Norman Kerry in a part written for himself, 'Count Franz Maximilian Von Hohenegg', and newcomer Mary Philbin in the lead actress role. However studio executive Irving Thalberg fired Von Stroheim during filming and replaced him with director Rupert Julian.

He left Universal for Goldwyn Films to make Greed (1924). This monumental film is now one of Von Stroheim's best remembered works as a director. It is a detailed filming of Frank Norris’ novel McTeague, about the power of money to corrupt. The original print ran for an astonishing 10 hours. Knowing this version was far too long, Stroheim cut out almost half the footage, reducing it to a six-hour version to be shown over two nights. It was still deemed too long, so Von Stroheim and director Rex Ingram edited it into a four-hour version that could be shown in two parts.

In the midst of filming, Goldwyn was bought by Marcus Loew and merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. After rejecting Von Stroheim's attempts to cut it to less than three hours, MGM removed Greed from his control and gave it to head scriptwriter June Mathis, with orders to cut it down to a manageable length. Mathis gave the print to a routine cutter, who reduced it to 2.5 hours. In what is considered one of the greatest losses in cinema history, a janitor destroyed the cut footage. The shortened release version was a box-office failure, and was angrily disowned by Von Stroheim.

Von Stroheim followed with his most commercially successful film The Merry Widow (1925) starring Mae Murray and John Gilbert, the more personal The Wedding March (1928) and the low-lost The Honeymoon (1928). Stroheim's unwillingness or inability to modify his artistic principles for the commercial cinema, his extreme attention to detail, his insistence on near-total artistic freedom and the resulting costs of his films led to fights with the studios.

As time went on he received fewer directing opportunities. In 1929, Von Stroheim was dismissed as the director of the film Queen Kelly after disagreements with star Gloria Swanson and producer and financier Joseph P. Kennedy over the mounting costs of the film and Von Stroheim's introduction of indecent subject matter into the film's scenario. It was followed by Walking Down Broadway, another project from which Von Stroheim was dismissed.

German postcard by Netter's Star Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Allianz Film GmbH.

French postcard by Edition P.I., Paris, no. 186. Photo: Astra Paris Films.

British postcard by Real Photograph, London, in the Picturegoer series, no. 20a. Photo: Fox.

Friendship, Comradeship And Human Relations

After the introduction of sound film, Erich von Stroheim returned to working principally as an actor, in both American and French films.

One of his most famous roles is the prison-camp commandant Von Rauffenstein in Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion/Grand Illusion (1937) with Jean Gabin. It is a classic anti-war film about friendship, comradeship, and human relations.

Working in France on the eve of World War II, Stroheim was prepared to direct the film La dame blanche from his own story and screenplay. Jean Renoir wrote the dialogue, Jacques Becker was to be assistant director and Von Stroheim himself, Louis Jouvet and Jean-Louis Barrault were to be the featured actors. The production was prevented by the outbreak of the war on 1 September 1939, and Stroheim returned to the United States.

There he appeared in Five Graves to Cairo (Billy Wilder, 1943). Today, he is perhaps best known as an actor for his role as Max von Mayerling in Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950), co-starring Gloria Swanson. For this role, Von Stroheim was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His character states in the film that he used to be one of the three great directors of the silent era, along with D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille, and he and Swanson watch excerpts from Queen Kelly in the film. Their characters in Sunset Boulevard thus had an autobiographical basis and reflected the humiliations Von Stroheim suffered through his career.

Erich von Stroheim was married three times. His second wife was Mae Jones. Their son Erich Jr. became an assistant director. With his third wife, actress Valerie Germonprez, he had another son, Joseph Erich von Stroheim, who eventually became a sound editor. From 1939 until his death, he lived with actress Denise Vernac. She had worked for him as his secretary since 1938, and co-starred with him in several films.

Von Stroheim spent the last part of his life in France where his silent film work was much admired by artists in the French film industry. In France he acted in films, wrote several novels that were published in French, and worked on various unrealized film projects. Erich von Stroheim was awarded the Légion d'honneur shortly before his death in 1957 in Maurepas near Paris, France at the age of 71.

Erich von Stroheim is smoking in Foolish Wives (1922) to the tune of Leo Riesman's Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Source: gregoryagogo (YouTube).

Trailer La Grande Illusion/Grand Illusion (1937). Source: Danios12345 (YouTube).

Walk of Fame, Hollywood.

Sources: Bruce Eder (AllMovie), Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Rosa Porten

July 2, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Francesca Bertini

≪ Previous: Erich von Stroheim

$

0

0

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2014 has some interesting side programmes. One of these is focusing on Rosa Porten (1884-1972), the elder and lesser known sister of German silent film star Henny Porten. Both sisters started in 1906 as an actress for the pioneering Messter company and Rosa became one of the first women in Germany to write and direct films.


German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 2257. Photo: Mac Walten, Berlin.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 97/1. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin / Treumann- Larsson Film, Berlin.

Writer-director

Rosa Porten was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1884 (some sources say 1883 or 1889). She was the eldest daughter of opera baritone and later film director Franz Porten and his wife Vincenzia Porten-Wybiral. Her sister Henny Porten later became a legendary star of the German silent cinema.

As a child Rosa got singing and acting lessons from her father and appeared together with her sister at school performances. Just like for her sister, Rosa Porten' s first film performance was in the 'tonbild' (early sound film) Meissner Porzellan (1906) directed by their father for Messters Projektion GmbH.

The following years she appeared in more of these early sound pictures like Die kleine Baronesse/The Little Daughter of the Baron (1908) and Im Fasching/In the carnival (1908).

However, Rosa would be more active as a screenwriter than as an actress. She started this job with the Messter production Das Liebesglück der Blinden/The joy of love of the blind (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, Curt A. Stark, 1911), in which her sister Henny made her debut as leading lady opposite Friedrich Zelnik.

In the 1910's Rosa Porten was extremely active as a screenwriter for Messter and wrote such 20 minutes films as Das große Schweigen/The Great Silence (Rudolf Biebrach, 1915) starring her sister Henny.

For the Treumann-Larsen company she and her husband Franz Eckstein wrote many scripts under the pseudonym of Dr. R. Portegg and they also directed these films. In some films of these films she even played the female lead too, such as in Die Wäscher-Resl (1916), the comedy Die Erzkokette (1917) with Reinhold Schünzel, the fast paced comedy Die Landpommeranze/The Unwieldy Country Woman (1917), Die Augen der Schwester/The Eyes of the Sister (1918), and Themis (1918).

In other examples of these Treumann-Larsen productions like Das Opfer der Yella Rogesius/The Sacrifice of Yella Rogesius (1917) and Wanda's Trick (1918), actress Wanda Treumann played the lead.

Probably the last film which the couple Eckstein-Porten directed together was Der nicht vom Weibe geborene (Franz Eckstein, Rosa Porten, 1918), starring Conrad Veidt as Satan.

Tosa Porten also wrote such novels as Filmprinzeß (Film Princess), Androgyne and Die neue Generation (The New Generation).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K 1592. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 149/2. Photo: Becker & Maass.

Scriptwriter

In the 1920's Rosa Porten and Franz Eckstein went to work for the National-Film AG in Berlin, but with Porten only as screenwriter and with Eckstein only as director.

Examples of their films are Lotte Lore (1921) and Hedda Gabler (1924), starring Asta Nielsen.

Mid-1920s Eckstein and Porten stopped at National Film, but they did three more films: Das Mädchen aus der Fremde/The Foreign Girl (1926/27), Fahrendes Volk/Wandering performers (1927), and Die Heiratsfalle/The marriage case (1928).

She stopped working as an actress. From 1931 to 1945 Rosa Porten lived happily in Pommern with Eckstein.

Her husband died two months before the Russians and Poles invaded Pommern, forcing her to flee and ending up in Munich, where she wrote for newspapers, radio and cinema.

She had a small part in the Italo-German coproduction Land der Sehnsucht/Land of Longing (Erich Engel, Camillo Mastrocinque, 1950), which was never finished.

Rosa Porten died in Munich in 1972.


German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 2259. Photo: Mac Walten, Berlin.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K 1589. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Source: Gabriele Hansch, Gerlinde Waz (Filmportal.de) (German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Francesca Bertini

July 3, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: The Beatles

≪ Previous: Rosa Porten

$

0

0

'1914: Cinema of A Hundred Years Ago' is one of the sections of Il Cinema Ritrovato. Tonight, the centennial will be celebrated with an evening screening of the epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914) at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, including the original choral and orchestral score restored by Timothy Brock. The section also presents European and American films about ancient worlds and contemporary conflicts, pacifist films and imperialist films, the first anti-war masterpiece (Maudite soit la guerre by Alfred Machin), films on female charm and fashion, and of course the diva films. The most famous diva film of the year was Sangue Blu (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914), starring Francesca Bertini (1892-1985). During the first quarter of the twentieth century this majestic diva of the Italian silent cinema often played the 'femme fatale', with men devouring eyes, glamorous attire, clenched fists, and in opulent settings...

Italian postcard by Fotocelere, Torino, no. 324.


Vintage postcard by L.I.F.J.


Italian postcard by La Rotofotografica, no. 44. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana, Roma.


Italian postcard by Ed. G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 244.


Italian postcard by Ed. G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 2029.


Czech postcard by Verlag Biografia, Kunstfilm G.m.b.H, Prag.


Italian postcard by Visto Censura, Torino, no. 6183-9-10-15.


Belgian postcard. Sent by mail in 1922.

Strong, Intense, and Charming Personality

Francesca Bertini was born Elena Seracini Vitiello in Firenze (Florence), Italy in 1892. She was the daughter of a comic theatre actress.

Bertini began performing on stages as a child, particularly in Naples, where her family was settled. In 1904, at the age of 16, she moved to Rome, where she improved her acting skills, especially on theatre stages, and attempted to perform in the just-born Italian cinema.

She made her film debut in La dea del mare (1907). She appeared in one-, two- and three-reelers for the Italian pioneering companies Cines and Celio. Gradually she developed her beauty and elegance, plus a strong, intense, and charming personality, which would be the key of her success as a silent film actress.

Her first important film was Histoire d'un pierrot/Pierrot the Prodigal (Baldassarre Negroni, 1914). Soon followed by appearances in L'amazzone mascherata/The Masked Amazon (Baldassarre Negroni, 1914), Sangue blu/Blue Blood (Nino Oxalia, 1914) and a small part in the successful historic epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914).

Bertini was the most versatile of the big three Italian Divas - Bertini, Lyda Borelli, and Pina Menichelli. Her strong face and dignified suffering carried a large number of films, now mostly lost.

However, one of her most impressive films has survived: Assunta Spina (Francesca Bertini, Gustavo Serena, 1914). David Melville reviews on IMDb: "Assunta Spina is a work of dazzling dramatic intensity - with a heroine who is striking in her sensuality and modernity. Unlike the languid paper dolls who populate silent films by Griffith and others, Francesca Bertini plays a fully sexual woman. A vulnerable but hard-headed child of the slums, she's not above flirting with a man who's not her fiance, or - once the fiance goes to jail for attacking her in a jealous rage - prostituting herself to an official in order to save him. Not a Madonna, not a whore, but a woman. Perhaps the first real woman in screen history."

Bertini did not just play the role of the main character, but she also wrote the script, directed and produced the film. Later she directed herself again in one of her other famous roles, Tosca, in La Tosca (1918).


Italian postcard, no. 5560. Photo: Caesar Film, Roma. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Italian postcard by Cine-Excelsa. Photo: Officine foto-artistiche Sborgi, Firenze.


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 136.


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 290. Sent by mail in 1927.


Italian postcard, no. 382. Photo: probably a publicity still for Assunta Spina (1914).


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: still from La signora dalle camelie (1915) with Gustavo Serena.


Italian postcard, no. 323. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Italian postcard, no. 236. Photo: Francesca Bertini and Amleto Novelli in La piovra (Edoardo Bencivenga, 1919).


Italian postcard, no. 525. Photo: Francesca Bertini and Amleto Novelli in La piovra (Edoardo Bencivenga, 1919).

Suffering Demi-mondaine

Next Francesca Bertini played another of her best roles, Margherita Gauthier. La signora dalle camelie/The Lady of the Camelias (Gustavo Serena, 1915) was based on Alexandre Dumas fils' classic stage play La dame aux camélias, which again was the basis for Giuseppe Verdi's classic opera La traviata.

It's the tragic story of a tuberculosis-ridden, suffering demi-mondaine who wants to get rid of her past and settle down with her lover, but this is denied, first by society (his father) and then by fate (her own illness and premature death).

The drama inspired many actresses. In 1915, La dame aux camélias had already been filmed twice, first with Vittoria Lepanto(1909) and later by the great French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1911). In 1915, Bertini's rival Hesperia made a competing version of La signora dalle camelie (Baldassarre Negroni, 1915) and in the US Clara Kimball Young made another version (1915).

In the following decades versions followed with Theda Bara (1917), Erna Morena (1917), Pola Negri (1920), Alla Nazimova (1921), Sybil Thorndike (1922), Tora Teje(1925), Norma Talmadge (1926), Yvonne Printemps 1934), Greta Garbo (1936), Micheline Presle (1953), Maria Felix (1954), Sara Montiel(1962), Isabelle Huppert(1981), Teresa Stratas (1983), etc.

Bertini became popular internationally. Her sophistication emulated around the world by female filmgoers. Reputedly, she earned $175,000 in 1915 - a record for the time.

She developed the current acting techniques of film actresses by making it more sober, banning broad gestures or the mincing ways of the Diva. She is one of the first film actresses to focus on reality, rather than on a dramatic stereotype, an anticipation of Neorealistic canons. The expression of authentic feelings was the key of her success through many films. She could perform with success the languid decadent heroine as well as the popular common woman.

Among her most popular films were Ultimo sogno (Roberto Roberti, 1920) and La donna nuda (Roberto Roberti, 1922) opposite Angelo Ferrari. The director of these films, Roberto Roberti, was the father of spaghetti western genius Sergio Leone.


Italian postcard, no. 441.


Italian postcard. Photo: still from Ultimo sogno (Roberto Roberti, 1920).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: publicity still for La giovinezza del diavolo/The youth of the devil (Roberto Roberti, 1922).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: publicity still of Francesca Bertini in Ultimo sogno (Roberto Roberti, 1921). The man could be the male protagonist, played by Mario Parpagnoli.


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Francesca Bertini in the Henry Kistemaeckers jr. adaptation La ferita (1920) by Roberto Roberti. While the film, originally entitled La blessure, was shot in 1920, it was only released in 1922 and hence - because of the new fascist regime - 'italianised' into La ferita. The woman right of the nun is Mary Fleuron, while Bertini is standing right. The two women are each other's rivals in the film.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Francesca Bertini in La ferita (Roberto Roberti, 1920).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Francesca Bertini in the Henry Bataille adaptation La donna nuda (Caesar Film 1920), directed by Roberto Roberti. The man could be Franco Gennaro who plays the old painter Rouchard. After a suicide attempt over her persistently infidel lover, the painter Pierre Bernier (Angelo Ferrari), the model Lolette (Bertini) recovers in the hospital and decides to return to her old tutor Rouchard. The film was a remake of a film with Lyda Borelli, made in 1914 by Carmine Gallone.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: still from La donna nuda (1922) with Angelo Ferrari.


Italian postcard. Photo: still from La giovinezza del diavolo (1922).

Countess Bertini

La giovinezza del diavolo (Roberto Roberti, 1922) was a remake of the female Faustian tale of Rapsodia satanica (1917), starring another silent diva, Lyda Borelli. But by the 1920s, Borelli had retired from stage & screen, after a wealthy and aristocratic marriage, even if her films lingered on in the cinemas.

Director of La giovinezza del diavolo was Roberto Roberti, but the film bore its quality mark by the artistic supervision of Gabriellino D'Annunzio, the son of the famous poet, who just had filmed La nave, with D'Annunzio's mistress, dancer Ida Rubinstein. La giovinezza del diavolo had an unlucky life. It received its censorship card only two years after production and was finally released in 1925, when the diva trend was definitively over. Only Raimondo Van Riel received praise for his part as Mefistofeles.

In 1921 Bertini married count and banker Paul Cartier. After a decade of divadom she withdrew from filming. She moved to Paris, but when her husband died, she moved back to Rome, where she would remain until her death. In order to take care of her son, she returned to the film sets, and thus in the second half of the 1920s she made a comeback.

She acted in a handful of late silent Franco-German coproductions, opposite established actors such as Jean Angelo, Fritz Kortnerand Rudolf Klein-Rogge: La fin de Monte Carlo/The End of Monte Carlo (Henri Étiévant, Mario Nalpas, 1926), Mein Leben für das Deine/Odette (Luitz-Morat, 1927), Tu m'appartiens/You Belong to Me (Maurice Gleize, 1928), and La possession (Léonce Perret, 1929).

She also acted in the multilinguals Königin einer Nacht/Queen for a Night (Marcel L'Herbier, 1930; also shot in a French and Italian version) and Odette (Jacques Houssin, Giorgio Zambon, 1934; shot in a French and an Italian version). The latter was the third version of Odette, based on a Stella Dallas-like tearjerker written by Victorien Sardou.

In 1914, Bertini had already performed in a Odette-like film, Sangue bleu, which narrative is close to that of Odette. In both versions she expressed the diep grief of a well-bred but fallen woman who loses her child because of a divorce. Years later, she is allowed to see her child once more, pretending to be a friend of the child's mother, and then she commits suicide.

Bertini continued to act with some regularity until 1930. From then on she made each decade one film. In 1976 Bernardo Bertolucci was able to convince her to emerge from her stubborn silence, accepting a role of a nun, sister Desolata, in Novecento/1900 (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1977). This was to be her last performance in a feature film.

In 1982 she was the subject of the documentary L'Ultima Diva/The Last Diva (1982), shot in her early 90s, she was as sharp and commanding as ever. She was also one of the Divas featured in Peter Delpeut's beautiful compilation film Diva Dolorosa (1999).

Francesca Bertini died in 1985 in Rome, at the age of 93.


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna, no. 1046.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 723/1, 1925-1926.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 723/2, 1925-1926.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 723/3, 1925-1926.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 723/5, 1925-1926.


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine (EC), no. 2066. Photo: Studio Rudolph, Paris. Collection: Didier Hanson.


French postcard by Europe, no. 227. Photo: Sélections Cinégraphiques Maurice Rouhier. Jean Angelo and Francesca Bertini in the late silent film La fin de Monte-Carlo (Henri Etievant, Mario Nalpas, 1927). In this film, Bertini plays Cora, a woman who suspects Jacques (Angelo) to have killed her husband. Still, she falls in love with him and they live their romance in Monte-Carlo. When Cora's father is desperately in need of money, Jacques takes over of battleship and menaces to bomb Monte-Carlo if the casino doesn't give him money...


Italian postcard by S.A. Pittaluga, no. 341. Francesca Bertini and Fritz Kortner in Mein Leben für das Deine/My Life for Yours (Luitz-Morat, 1928), an adaptation of the play Odette by Victorien Sardou. Francesca Bertini played the part of Odette in three film versions: Odette (1916), Odette (1935), and this film.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5171. Photo: Verleih Philipps & Co.


French postcard: Editions Cinémagazine, Paris, no. 490. This card must be from Bertini's career in the late 1920s. In Mein Leben für das Deine (an incomplete copy was found at the former Netherlands Filmmuseum (now Eye Institute)) she holds the same enormous fan of ostrich feathers as the one on this postcard. Here Francesca Bertini is not the young star anymore, but what a glamorous light, what a dress and what a pose!


Watercolour by F. Spotti.

Sources: Gianfranco Mingozzi (Francesca Bertini), David Melville (IMDb), Volker Boehm (IMDb), Greta de Groat (Unsung Divas of the Silent Screen), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

The Beatles

July 4, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Jan & Kjeld

≪ Previous: Francesca Bertini

$

0

0

Today is the final day of Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Italy. This week, the Piazza Maggiore radiated each night with the light of new restorations. Closing Night is entrusted to the music of The Beatles, the protagonists of A Hard Day's Night. We will see the restored version of the Fab Four's first film, in the presence of director Richard Lester, on the 50th anniversary of its first release in 1964, which even anticipated the release of the album of the same name.


Czechoslovakian postcard by Press Foto, Praha (Prague), no. S 148/10, 1965. Photo: publicity still for A Hard Day's Night (Richard Lester, 1964).


Big German postcard, no. HD 109.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Verrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 835. Retail price: 10 Pfg. Photo: Elektrola.


British Postcard by Fotofolio.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg. Retail price: 20 cent.


Vintage postcard.


Vintage postcard.

Beatlemania

A Hard Day's Night (Richard Lester, 1964), captured Beatlemania as it was happening.

George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr played themselves in a boisterous mock-documentary of the Beatles phenomenon.

When shooting began, they had not yet joined the British actor's union and were hastily inducted on the set with actor Wilfrid Brambell proposing their membership.

The resulting film was innocent in a way no other later rock 'n' roll film could be. A Hard Day's Night premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success.

The plot is just a study of A day in the life of the Fab Four beginning with them running from their adoring fans to catch a train. Every plot point circles around the band getting to a television show in order to perform a live concert, and within this stream of action is a series of slapstick, zany, and otherwise whacky bits of funniness. The film ends with an ear-shattering concert and the band yet again running from the adoring fans.

The film was nominated for two Oscars (Best Writing and Best Music) and John, Paul, George and Ringo were nominated for a BAFTA Award as ‘Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles’.

According to Ritchie Unterberger at AllMusic, the accompanying soundtrack album, A Hard Day's Night, saw the Beatles "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums had coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars."

That 'ringing guitar' sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record.


German Postcard, no. H 107.


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt N.V., Amsterdam. Sent by mail in 1964.

>
Dutch postcard by Remaco NV, Amsterdam.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam (SPARO).


Dutch postcard by Syba, no. 464. Sent by mail in 1964.


Vintage postcard.


French postcard by E.D.U.G. no. 412.


Italian postcard by Silvercart, Milano, no. 514/3. Photo: Nems Enterpriser London Ltd.


Dutch postcard.

Eight Arms to Hold You

Next the Beatles were going to make a Western. The story was going to be set in Texas and involved the four of them fighting over the affections of a cattle baron's daughter. There are even publicity photos showing them on horseback and wearing cowboy outfits.

However the film shut down production and the Beatles ended up making Help! (Richard Lester, 1965) instead. The original film title was Eight Arms to Hold You, although no one really liked it much and by the time the film was edited, it didn't really fit the storyline at all.

John Lennon had written the song Help! around the same time, and it suited the theme of the film so well it became the title song.

Ringo Starr, having accepted a ring from a fan, unwittingly becomes the target sacrifice of an eastern cult. Attempting to rid themselves of this deadly jewellery, the Beatlesencounter Mad Scientists, Scotland Yard, the entire compliment of the Nassau police force and one wayward long distance swimmer. As the Fab Four flee from England to Austria, to the Bahamas there's always time for a musical number.

The film inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said, "Help! was great but it wasn't our film — we were sort of guest stars."

The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who was lead singer and songwriter on the majority of songs, including the two singles performed on it: Help! and Ticket to Ride. The accompanying album, the group's fifth studio LP, again contained a mix of original material and covers.

Help! saw the band making increased use of vocal overdubs and incorporating classical instruments into their arrangements, notably the string quartet on the pop ballad Yesterday. Composed by McCartney, Yesterday would inspire the most recorded cover versions of any song ever written.

Although Help! was a much sillier and less sophisticated affair than their first feature, it too was a huge commercial success.

There followed two more Beatles-films. Magical Mystery Tour (1967), directed by themselves, lacked according to AllMusic"focus or even basic professionalism. The picture bombed when it was premiered on BBC television in December 1967, giving the media the first real chance they'd ever had to roast the Beatles over a flame".

The Beatles had little involvement with the last film, the animated feature Yellow Submarine (George Danning, 1968), either in terms of the film or the soundtrack. They participated only in the closing scene with the fictional counterparts of the Beatles voiced by other actors.

Yellow Submarine was a box-office hit, drawing in crowds both for its lush, wildly creative images, and its soundtrack of Beatles songs.


Dutch postcard. Prettige feestdagen is Dutch for Pleasant holidays.


Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor, no. 211. Photo: Fleetway Studio.


Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6334.


French postcard by Publistar, no. 971, offered by Corvisart, Epinal.


Italian postcard. Photo: Carisch.


Paul McCartney. Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


New and improved trailer for A Hard Day's Night (1964). Source: bf2sluvr (YouTube).


Trailer of The Yellow Submarine (George Danning, 1968). Source: britfix (YouTube).

Sources: Richie Unterberger (AllMusic), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Jan & Kjeld

July 5, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Jean Servais

≪ Previous: The Beatles

$

0

0

Jan and Kjeld Wennick were only 14 and 16 years old when they hit it big with their classic song Banjo Boy. In the early 1960s the two brothers from Copenhagen performed their hits in several Schlagerfilms.


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4372. Photo: CNR.


Dutch postcard by Hercules, Haarlem, no. 370. Photo for the film Marina, distributed in The Netherlands by Hafbo film.


German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 3126. Photo: CCC / Gloria / Maack. Publicity still for Marina (Paul Martin, 1960).

Left-handed

Kjeld Wennick (1944) was born in Gränna, Sweden, and his brother Jan (1946) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

At a young age Kjeld learned to play the banjo and from 1954 on he performed together with his father Svend. Jan often accompanied them and also learned to play the banjo.

In 1956 the duo Jan & Kjeld was formed. The boys won several song contests in Denmark, and soon they performed on radio and TV.

Their first record was a cover of Down by the Riverside.

In 1958 they made their film debut in the Danish family film Far til fire og ulveungerne/Father of Four Wolf Pups (Alice O'Fredericks, Robert Saaskin, 1958). The film was part of a popular film series about a single parent family featuring Karl Stegger as the father.

When they performed, Jan always stood at the left side. He was left-handed and so their banjos wouldn’t bump.


Dutch postcard by Hercules, Haarlem, no. 399.


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4542. Photo: Hafbo, the company which distributed their schlager film Marina (Paul Martin, 1960) in the Netherlands.


Dutch postcard, no. 5853.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 160 562.

Banjo Boy

In 1959, ‘The Kids from Copenhagen’ signed with Germany’s Ariola label and their first records were the covers Tom Dooley and Tiger Rag in 1959.

In the Dixieland classic Tiger Bay, Kjeld did a sensational scat in Louis Armstrong-style. The song became their first hit in Germany.

Their breakthrough was Banjo Boy (1959), which they sang in the film Kein Mann Zum Heiraten/No Man To Marry (Hans Deppe, 1959) with Marianne Hold.

Words and music for the song were written by Charly Niessen, who also composed songs for Peggy March and Hildegard Knef.

In Denmark (#1), Germany (#1), Holland (#4) and a lot of other countries Banjo Boy found the top 10. In Germany they sold 4,5 million copies of the record.

In 1960, American lyricist Buddy Kaye wrote English words for the song, and Banjo Boy reached #58 in the USA and #36 in Great Britain.


German postcard by ISV, no. K 14.


Dutch postcard.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/182. Photo: Ariola.

Schlager Films

In Germany Jan & Kjeld became so popular that they played their songs in Schlagerfilms like Wir wollen niemals auseinandergehen/We Will Never Part (Harald Reinl, 1960), Gauner-Serenade/Rogue Serenade (Thomas Engel, 1960) and Marina (Paul Martin, 1960) with Giorgia Moll.

Till 1963 'Die Banjo Boys' had twelve more hits in Germany with German language covers such as the Ricky Nelson cover Hello Mary Lou, which was #2 in Germany in 1961.

In 1966 the singing career of the Danish teenagers was over but over the years they kept appearing in Golden Oldies shows.

Ten years later Jan & Kjeld tried a come-back with two disco songs in Danish: Så lyk'lige som vi (So Lucky We Are)(1976) and Det går op, det går ned (It Goes Up, It Goes Down)(1977). Then Jan retired from show business.

In 1983, Kjeld started his own music label, Mega Records, and enjoyed a world success with the the million-selling Swedish pop group Ace of Base. In 2001 he sold his label to Edel Records.

In 2003 he was a jury member of the Danish version of the TV talent show Idols and in 2005 he groomed celebrities to sing a song in the Danish game show Showtime.

Since 2006 Kjeld Wennick owns a café near the harbour of Copenhagen.


Jan & Kjeld sing Mach doch nicht immer soviel Wind in Kein Mann Zum Heiraten/No Man To Marry (Hans Deppe, 1959). Source: fritz51203 (YouTube).


Jan & Kjeld perform the Louis Armstrong classic Tiger Bay (1959). Source: Frans Jaspers (YouTube).


Jan & Kjeld sing Banjo Boy in Wir wollen niemals auseinandergehen/We Will Never Part (Harald Reinl, 1960). Source: Alleengoedwerk (YouTube).

Sources: De Duitse Schlager (Dutch), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Jean Servais

July 6, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Erna Morena

≪ Previous: Jan & Kjeld

$

0

0

Belgian actor Jean Servais (1910-1976) was a  leading man of French films of the 1930s. He reverted  to melancholy-looking character parts in the 1950s. When he played a tough gang-leader in the landmark caper film Du rififi chez les hommes/Rififi (1955), he became again a star.


French postcard by Editions et Publications cinématographiques, no. 38.


French postcard by EC, no. 65. Photo: Roger Corbeau.

Victim of an Error

Jean Servais was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1910.

He was trained for acting at the Brussels Conservatoire (Brussels Conservatory of Dramatic Arts), where he won the Second Prize.

His acting skills came to the attention of Raymond Rouleau, and he was hired at the Théâtre du Marais, where he acted in Le mal de jeunesse, which was successful in Brussels and in Paris.

Later he was a member of Jean-Louis Barrault's theatre company for a time.

His first film role was as the simple country dweller who was the victim of an error by the justice system in Criminel/Criminal (Jack Forrester, 1932).

He had his breakthrough as Marius in a classic version of Les Misérables (Raymond Bernard, 1934) starring Harry Baur as Jean Valjean.

Other popular films were Jeunesse/Youth (Georges Lacombe, 1933), Angèle/Heartbeat (Marcel Pagnol, 1934) with Orane Demazis and Fernandel, and La Vie Est Magnifique/Life is wonderful (Maurice Cloche, 1938)

His film career was interrupted for several years by the Second World War. By the time he had returned before the cameras in 1946, he had acquired a brooding, haunted demeanor which lingered until the end of his days.

He played supporting roles Une si jolie petite plage (Yves Allégret, 1948) starring Gérard Philipe, and Le Plaisir (Max Ophüls, 1952), based on the stories by Guy de Maupassant.


French postcard. Photo: Forster / Films Epoc. Jean Servais in the film Jeunesse (Georges Lacombe, 1934),


French postcard by O.P. Paris, no. 149. Photo: Star.


French postcard by Deshairs, Grenoble, no. 65.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1019. Photo: Intran Studio.

Major Stardom

Jean Servais achieved major stardom in mid-life in Du rififi chez les hommes/Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955), in which he played the tough, straight-talking leader of a gang of jewel thieves.

This crime drama about the planning and execution of a nighttime robbery at a swanky English jewelry shop in the Rue de Rivoli is seen by many critics as a landmark caper film.

Lucia Bozzola at AllMovie: "The pinnacle of heist movies, blacklistee Jules Dassin's Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes (1955) is not only one of the best French noirs, but one of the top movies in the genre. Crafting an archetypal noir story about how human weakness can sabotage the best-laid."

Du rififi chez les hommes/Rififi became an oft-imitated international hit and Jules Dassin won an award at the Cannes Film Festivan for his direction.

Servais and Dassin reunited for Celui qui doit mourir/He Who Must Die (Jules Dassin, 1957) with Carl Möhner and based on Nikos Kazantzakis's novel O Hristos Xanastavronetai.

Jean Servais is also known for his film association with such directors as Luis Bunuel (La fièvre monte à El Pao, 1959) and Georges Franju (Thomas l'imposteur, 1964).

In the 1960s, Servais took small character roles in popular international fare such as The Longest Day (Darryl F. Zanuck, 1962) and L’ homme de Rio/That Man from Rio (Philippe de Broca, 1964) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.

In his last film, Le Protecteur/The Protector (Roger Hanin, 1974), he was a recently-released prisoner who tries to find his daughter who has fallen into the underworld of prostitution.

Jean Servais died of a heart failure in Paris, France, in 1976. He was married twice: to actress Dominique Blanchar and to Gilberte Graillot.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 155. Photo: Star.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 641, offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane'. Photo Studio Vallois.

Sources: Lucia Bozzola (AllMovie), AllMovie, IMDb and Wikipedia.

---

Erna Morena

July 7, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Dalida

≪ Previous: Jean Servais

$

0

0

Although her name is now largely forgotten, beautiful Erna Morena (1885-1962) appeared in about 120 films during five decades. She had an enormous career in the German silent cinema of the 1910s and 1920s as both an actress, producer and screenwriter, and until the mid-1930s she was regularly performing in German sound films.


German postcard by Messter Film GmbH. Photo: Schenker, 1914.


German postcard by NPG, no. 280. Photo: A. (Alex) Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1740. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Bewildered by her Subtle Performance

Erna Morena was born Ernestine Maria Fuchs in a bourgeois family in Wörth am Main, Germany, in 1885.

At the age of 17, she went to München (Munich) to attend the Kunstgewerbeschule (art school). Later, she spent six months in Paris, until finally at the end of the first decade she moved to Berlin and worked there as a nurse.

Morena started her acting career at the Schauspielschule des Deutschen Theaters (the acting school of the German Theatre) in 1910/1911 and swiftly got an engagement at the Ensemble Max Reinhardt.

She made her film debut in 1913. Her first film was Sphynx/The Sphinx (Eugen Illés, 1913), and she went on to play in several more dramas by Eugen Illés for the Duskes company.

In 1914, she moved to the Messter Film company, where she appeared with Emil Jannings and Theodoor Loos in Arme Eva/Poor Eva (Robert Wiene, 1914) and with Hella Moja in Die weiße Rose/The White Rose (Franz Hofer, 1915).

All her Messter-films were distributed under the trademark of 'Erna Morena Film Serie', rivalling the series ofAsta Nielsenand Henny Porten.

Around 1917 she moved to PAGU, where she starred in and adaptation of Franz Wedekind's play Lulu (Alexander Antalffy, 1917) opposite Harry Liedtke and Emil Jannings, and in Paul Leni's Prima Vera (Paul Leni, 1917), based on Alexandre Dumas'La dame aux camélias (Camille). Critics were bewildered by her subtle performance.

From 1915 to 1921 she was married to editor and stage author Wilhelm Herzog, who had also invented her stage name Erna Morena.

Morena also dabbled as a producer: in 1918 she founded in Berlin, Erna Morena Film GmbH, supported by some friends as partners. She produced films like Colomba (1918) with Werner Krauss, and Die 999. Nacht/The 999th Night (1919/1920) with Hans Albers. Because of the economic crisis after the November revolution, she had to stop producing after two years.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1986. Photo: Union-Film. Publicity still of Erna Morena in Rafaela/Wer weiss? (Arsen von Cserépy, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1984. Photo: Union-Film. Publicity still of Erna Morena, Harry Liedtke and Magnus Stifter in Rafaela/Wer weiss? (Arsen von Cserépy, 1917).


German postcard by Kunstverlag Juno, Charlottenburg, no. 110. Photo: Atelier Eberth. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard in the Film Sterne Series by Rotophot, no. 79/5. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin / P.A.G. Union. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Her Long Neck and Dark Looks

Erna Morena was one of the most unusual stars of the silent German cinema. Dark-haired, tall and with distinctive facial features, she had a star appeal as later Greta Garbo had.

Morena was most successful with her films by director Richard Oswald in the late 1910s and early 1920s, such as Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen/Diary of a Lost Woman (Richard Oswald, 1918) a forerunner of the version by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and the horror film Nachtgestalten/Figures of the Night (1920) starring Paul Wegener.

She also starred in some classic Expressionist films including Nerven/Nerves (Robert Reinert, 1919), Von morgens bis Mitternacht/From Morn to Midnight (Karl Heinz Martin, 1920) with Ernst Deutsch, and Der Gang in die Nacht/The Dark Road (F.W. Murnau, 1921) with Olaf Fönss and Conrad Veidt.

With her long neck and dark looks she often played exotic beauties, as in Die Lieblingsfrau des Maharadscha, 3./The Favorite Wife of the Maharadjah (Max Mack, 1921), and Das Indische Grabmal, 1. and 2./The Indian Tomb (Joe May, 1921), but also regal beauties in historical dramas as Fridericus Rex 1., 2., 3. and 4. (Arzén von Cserépy, 1922-1923) with Otto Gebühr, Wallenstein 1. and 2. (Rolf Randolf, 1925), Bismarck 1. and 2. (Ernst Wendt, 1925), and Das Schicksal derer von Habsburg/The destiny of the Habsburgs (Rolf Raffé, 1928) in which she played Empress Elisabeth - Sissi.

Of course there were also contemporary set stories like Der Berg des Schicksals/The Mountain of Destiny (Arnold Fanck, 1924) with Luis Trenker, the film that inspired Leni Riefenstahl to pursue a career in film; Mutter und Kind/Mother and Child (Carl Froehlich, 1924); Man spielt nicht mit Liebe/One Does Not Play with Love (G.W. Pabst, 1926) starring Werner Krauss and Lili Damita; Grand Hotel (Johannes Guter, 1927) with a script by Bela Balazs, and Somnambul/The Somnambulist (Adolf Trotz, 1929) with Fritz Kortner.

She even played in one Dutch film: De bruut/The brute (1922) directed by Theo Frenkel, who had an active career in Germany in the 1920s; and in the French film, Le fauteuil 47/ Chair nr. 47 (Gaston Ravel, 1926) with Dolly Davis.


German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 1741. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 150. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Photchemie, Berlin, no. K. 1697. Photo: Hans Holdt, München. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 311/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Wasow, München (Munich).

Heydays Over

Erna Morena seems to have made the passage to sound cinema quite smoothly as there was no big arrest in her number of film roles.

Still, from the young star and protagonist of the films of the late-1910s and early 1920s she had to be satisfied now with playing mothers, secondary roles. Her heydays were over.

Among her more interesting films of this period are Das Lied der Nationen/The Song of the Nations (Rudolf Meinert, 1931) with Camilla Horn, Eine Nacht im Paradies/A Night in Paradise (Carl Lamac, 1932) starringAnny Ondra, Drei Kaiserjäger/Three Imperial Light Infantrymen (Franz Hofer, Robert Land, 1933), and the operetta Abschiedswalzer/Farewell Waltz (Géza von Bolváry, 1934).

In the mid-1930s, she opened a pension for artists in München (Munich), and only returned to the film set for small parts in a handful of films, including the notorious Jud Süss (Veit Harlan, 1940).

After the war she appeared in only one film, Veit Harlan's Unsterbliche Geliebte/Eternal Beloved (1951), an emblematic title as the film meant Morena's goodbye.

One decade later, Erna Morena died in München, in 1962. Between 1913 and 1951 she had appeared in about 120 films. She had a daughter, Eva-Maria Herzog.

In 2006 filmmakers Bettina Neuhaus and Natasja Giebels made a poetic film portrait about the life story and personality of Erna Morena, Schwarzer Schwan/Black Swan.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, nr. 1060/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3423/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3002/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4019/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Balazs, Berlin.

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

Dalida

July 8, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Jean Daragon

≪ Previous: Erna Morena

$

0

0

Singer and actress Dalida (1933-1987) was born and raised in Egypt, but she lived most of her adult life in France. The former Miss Egypt 1954 received 55 gold records and was the first singer to receive a diamond disc. She also appeared in Egyptian and French films. The immensely popular diva died a tragic death in 1987. She has now become a cult figure for a whole new generation of fans.


French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 1048. Photo: Noa.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/183. Photo: Ariola.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 444. Photo: Barclay / Herman Léonard.


Italian postcard. Photo: RCA.

The Egyptian Version of Hollywood

Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1933 in a middle-class family. Her family was of Italian origin, her parents having emigrated at the turn of the century from Calabria, Italy. She was the middle child between two brothers, Orlando and Bruno, who would later in Dalida's career change his name to Orlando like his other brother and become her manager. Dalida’s father, Pietro Gigliotti, was first violinist (primo violino) at the Cairo Opera House.

Dalida’s early life was spent in the district of Shoubra, where she attended the Scuola Tecnica Commerciale Maria Ausiliatrice, an Italian Catholic school.

In 1950, Dalida participated in the Miss Ondine beauty pageant and won the title, and shortly after began working as a model for Donna, a Cairo-based fashion house. At the age of 20, Dalida won the Miss Egypt pageant.

The doors of the Cairo film industry, the Egyptian version of Hollywood, opened wide before her. She was cast as a sultry brunette vamp in the film Sigara wa Kass/A Cigarette and a Glass (Niazi Mostafa, 1954).

She was spotted by French director Marc de Gastyne, who he gave her a role in his film Le Masque de Toutankhamon/The Mask of Tutankhamun (Marc de Gastyne, 1954).

Much to the reluctance of her parents, she moved to Paris on Christmas Eve of the same year with the intention of pursuing a film career. It was about this time she adopted the name Dalila, which was shortly thereafter changed to the more familiar Dalida.


German postcard, no. 539.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 905. Photo: Sam Lévin.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. N 122.

Ciao Ciao Bambina

Dalida’s quest for a career in French cinema proved to be no success.

Instead, she began taking singing lessons, and was booked as a cabaret act on the Champs Élysées, which proved successful.

Performing the song Étrangère au Paradis (Stranger in Paradise) in a variety show at the Paris Olympia theatre, Dalida was introduced to Lucien Morisse and Eddie Barclay, who played a considerable part in launching the starlet’s career.

Morisse was artistic producer of the popular Radio Europe 1, and Barclay was an established record producer. After signing a recording contract with Barclay, Dalida’s debut single Madona was promoted heavily by Morisse, and was a moderate success.

However, the release of Bambino in 1956 would prove to be even more triumphant - it spent 46 weeks in the French top ten and remains one of the biggest-selling singles in French history, and for its sales (which exceeded 300,000 copies) Dalida was awarded her first gold disc in 1957.

In the same year, she would also support Charles Aznavour at the Olympia. The follow up single to Bambino, the exotic-sounding Gondolier was also a great success, as were other early releases such as Come Prima (Tu Me Donnes), Ciao Ciao Bambina, and a cover of The Drifters’ Save the Last Dance For Me, Garde-Moi la Dernière Danse.

Dalida would perform and record in more than 10 languages including: French, Italian, Arabic, German, Spanish, English, Dutch, Japanese, Hebrew, and Greek. She collected 19 international number one hit singles to her name, spanning over forty years. Worldwide sales of her music are estimated at over 130 million, establishing her as one of the most noteworthy multi-lingual recording artists of the twentieth century.


French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 1108. Photo: Kasparian.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., presented by Corvisart, no. 293. Photo: Herman Leonard.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 148. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Gigi l’Amoroso

Dalida incidentally appeared in such French films as Brigade des mœurs (Maurice Boutel, 1958), Rapt au deuxième bureau/Operation Abduction (Jean Stelli, 1958) and Che femmina... e che dollari!/Parlez-moi d'amour (Giorgio Simonelli, 1960) with Jacques Sernas.

She toured extensively through Europe, Egypt and the United States from 1958 through the early 1960s, and Dalida soon became well-known throughout Europe. However, her tour of America was less successful and fame eluded her in English-speaking markets.

In 1961, Dalida performed a month of shows at the Olympia, with each selling out completely. Shortly afterwards Dalida embarked upon a tour of Hong Kong and Vietnam. Throughout the 1960s Dalida would frequently perform sell-out shows at the Olympia, and international dates became more frequent.

She also starred in films like L'inconnue de Hong Kong/Stranger from Hong-Kong (Jacques Poitrenaud, 1963) opposite Serge Gainsbourg, and Menage all'italiana/Menage Italian Style (Franco Indovina, 1968) with Ugo Tognazzi.

In December 1968, she was awarded the Médaille de la Présidence de la République by Général de Gaulle, the only person from the music industry to have received this accolade.

The early 1970s became a transitional period for the singer, highlighted by some of her most successful singles. After gaining a keen interest in academia in the mid-1960s she chose to sing songs with more profound lyrics.

In 1973, a French version of the Italian song Paroles Paroles, originally performed by Mina, was recorded by Dalida and her close friend Alain Delon. The song became a big hit and was the number one single in France and Japan.

The follow up, Il Venait d’Avoir Dix-Huit Ans, reached number one in nine countries, and sold three and a half million copies in Germany.

Gigi l’Amoroso, released in 1974, would actually perform even better in the charts than its predecessor, reaching number one in 12 countries.

Touring would follow this period of unprecedented sales, with Dalida performing in Japan, Canada and Germany. In February 1975, French music critics presented the singer with the prestigious Prix de l'Académie du Disque Français.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 207. Photo: Sam Lévin / Disques Barclay.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


French postcard by Edition Lyna, Paris, no. 2017. Photo: A. Marouani.

Overdose of Barbiturates

1976 saw another career reinvention for Dalida; releasing what is widely regarded as the first French disco single, J’attendrai. Around the same time, the popularity of the variety show in France was soaring, and Dalida made many television appearances during this period, not only in France but across Europe.

One of her films was Comme sur des roulettes/As Easy as Pie (Nina Companéez, 1977). She had hits with the Arabic song Salma ya Salama and Génération ‘78, a disco-fused combination of her biggest hit singles to date. It also became the first French single to be accompanied by a video clip. During this disco period, Dalida would earn a gay audience, a following which is still maintained today.

In November, Dalida performed a Broadway-themed show at Carnegie Hall in New York, choreographed by Lester Wilson, who created the dance routines for John Travolta in the previous year’s cinema smash Saturday Night Fever (John Badham, 1977).

1981 marked the release of Rio do Brasil, and several dates were played at the Olympia, emulating her successful 1980 tour. On the night of her first performance she became the first singer in the world to be awarded with a diamond disc, in recognition of her record sales which at that point in her career had exceeded 86 million.

Her last album of completely new recordings was Le visage de l'amour (1986). Dalida underwent two major ophthalmic operations in 1985, forcing her to put her career on hiatus.

In 1986, she would play the role of a young grandmother in the French-Egyptian film Al-yawm al-Sadis/Le sixième jour/The Sixth Day (Youssef Chahine, 1986), for which she received favourable critical response.

Her last live performance, took place in Ankara, Turkey, in 1987. Despite enormous career success, Dalida’s private life was marred by a series of failed relationships and personal problems. Her first husband, Lucien Morisse, committed suicide several years after her divorce. Two of her lovers, Luigi Tenco and Richard Chanfray also took their own lives.

On 3 May 1987 Dalida died as a result of an overdose of barbiturates, leaving a suicide note reading "Life has become unbearable ... Forgive me." Dalida was buried in Cimetière de Montmartre (Montmartre Cemetery), Paris, and a life-size statue of her was erected outside her tomb.

In 2005, her life was documented in the two-part TV film Dalida (Joyce Buñuel, 2005), with Sabrina Ferilli and Christophe Lambert.


Dalida sings the Italian version of Bang Bang. Source: FilippoEdo (YouTube).


Dalida sings Gondolier. Source: Andreideathboy (YouTube).


Remix of Salma ya salama. Source: Tarxiri (YouTube).

Sources: RFI Musique (French), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Jean Daragon

July 10, 2014, 12:28 am

≫ Next: Johanna Matz

≪ Previous: Dalida

$

0

0

Jean Daragon (1870-1923) was a French stage and screen actor, who was married to actress Marguerite Moreno.


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 60. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinema. Publicity still of Jean Daragon as De Beaufort in the Alexandre Dumas adaptation Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Jean Baptiste Emile Daragon was born in Clermont-Ferrand at the French Auvergne in 1870.

From c. 1900 he became a well-known stage actor, playing e.g. in Les aventures du capitaine Corcoran/The adventures of Captain Corcoran (1902) and L'auberge des Adrets/The Inn of the Adrets (1903) at Théâtre du Châtelet.

In 1908 he married actress Marguerite Moreno and followed her to Buenos Aires.

They returned to France when war was imminent. While Moreno worked in a hospital, Daragon was obese and suffered from emphysema, so he was exempted from military service during the First World War.

When war broke out, all theaters were closed so Daragon and Moreno’s income was drastically reduced. With Moreno and many other Parisian stage actors he acted in Henri Diamant-Berger’s Paris pendant la guerre/Paris during the war (1916), a silent film which still exists.

Together with Moreno and Claude Mérelle, Daragon also acted in the Gaumont production Debout les morts!/Standing dead! (1916) directed by Henri Pouctal, Léonce Perret and André Heuzé, and scripted by Henri Diamant-Berger.

Debout les morts! was based on Vicente Blasco Ibanez’ The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which would be adapted for film again by Rex Ingram in 1921, starring Rudolph Valentino and Alice Terry.


French postcard by Comoedia in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 53. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.


Marguerite Moreno in Vingt ans après. French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 52. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinema. Publicity still of Moreno as Anne d'Autriche in Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).

The Return of the Musketeers

After the First World War, Jean Daragon acted in stage plays like Aux jardins de Murcie/In the gardens of Murcia (Théâtre Antoine, 1919, dir. Firmin Gémier), Le courrier de Lyon/The Courier of Lyon (Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, 1920), and Sapho (Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, 1921), the latter two with Moreno.

In the cinema he acted  in Musidora’s film Pour Don Carlos/Don Carlos (Jacques Lasseyne, Musidora, 1920), based on Pierre Benoit’s 1920 novel.

In 1922 he played the part of the Duc de Beaufort in Henri Diamant-Berger’s sequel to his Les Trois Mousquetaires: Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (1922).

His wife Marguerite Moreno played Anne of Austria in the same film.

Daragon’s last film was Le doute/Doubt (Gaston Roudès, 1923), starring Rachel Devirys, Victor Francen and Jacques de Féraudy.

Jean Daragon died in 1923, in Paris.


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Collection: Didier Hanson. The four musketeers were played by Jean Yonnel (D'Artagnan), Henri Rollan (Athos), Pierre de Guingand (Aramis) and Charles Martinelli (Porthos).


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Publicity still for Vingt ans après/The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922). Collection: Didier Hanson.

Sources: Judith Thurman  (Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette) and IMDb.

Paris pendant la guerre exists as a bonus on the Flicker Alley 2-disc DVD of J’accuse.

Johanna Matz

July 10, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Louise Carletti

≪ Previous: Jean Daragon

$

0

0

Austrian actress Johanna Matz (1932) made a blitz career in the 1950s as the natural ‘Wiener Mädel’ (the Viennese Gal). She acted in more than forty films and TV films, but she considered herself primarily a theatre actress.


German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 40. Photo: Niczky.


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin, no. CK-118. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Ufa.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 5. Photo: Cosmos-Neusser / Gloria / Appelt.

Clean and Spontaneous

Johanna Maria Emilie Dorothea Matz was born in Vienna in 1932. When 'Hannerl' was just four years old, she began taking ballet lessons at the Vienna Academy.

Later she had a stage training at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar. At the final presentation in 1950 she was discovered by Berthold Viertel and engaged for the prestigious Burgtheater, where she would be a contract player untill 1993.

In 1951 she made her film debut in Asphalt (Harald Röbbeling, 1951) as a girl who becomes a prostitute.

In the comedies Der alte Sünder/The Old Sinner (Franz Antel, 1951) and Zwei in einem Auto/Two in a car (Ernst Marischka, 1951) she played her typical character, the clean and spontaneous girl from Vienna.

She became a film star with her sweet and charming role in the operetta Die Försterchristl/The Forester's Daughter (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1952) opposite Will Quadflieg.

Director Otto Preminger then invited her to Hollywood where she played the lead in the German language version of the controversial comedy The Moon is Blue (Otto Preminger, 1953). In Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach (Otto Preminger, 1953) she starred with Hardy Krüger and Johannes Heesters. Krüger and Matz also played brief roles as tourists at the Empire State Building sequence in the English language version while the stars of that version, William Holden and Maggie McNamara, played the same roles in the German version.


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4157. Photo: K.L. Haenchen / Ufa. Publicity still for Man müßte nochmal zwanzig sein/One would have to be twenty again (Hans Quest, 1958).


German collector's card.


German postcard by Rüdel Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1242. Photo: Filmaufbau / Schorchtfilm. Publicity still for Ingrid - die Geschichte eines Fotomodells/Ingrid, the Story of a Model (Géza von Radványi, 1955).

Operettas and Classic Dramas

In 1954 Johanna Matz also made Mannequins für Rio (Kurt Neumann, 1954), a melodrama about white slavery co-starring Scott Brady and Raymond Burr. This film was also made in an English language with the same stars as They Were So Young.

That year she returned to the stage, because she considered herself primarily a theatre actress. She became a popular performer of the heroins of the classic dramas by Arthur Schnitzler, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, but also as the star in operettas.

Occasionally she played in such films like Mozart/The Life and Loves of Mozart (Karl Hartl, 1955) opposite Oskar Werner, Regine (Harald Braun, 1956) with Horst Buchholz, Frau Warrens Gewerbe/Mrs. Warren's Profession (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1960) with Lilli Palmer, Die Glücklichen Jahre der Thorwalds/The Happy Years of the Thorwalds (John Olden, Wolfgang Staudte, 1962) with Elisabeth Bergner, and the Heimatfilm Ruf der Wälder/Call of the Forests (Franz Antel, 1965) with Mario Girotti(Terence Hill).

Since the end of the 1960s she was mainly seen in Austrian TV productions.

In the cinema she was seen in the Heinz Rühmannvehicle Der Kapitän/The Captain (Kurt Hoffmann, 1971) and the Eric Malpass adaptation Als Mutter streikte/When Mother Went on Strike (Eberhard Schröder, 1975) with Peter Hall.

One of her last screen appearances was as herself in Bellaria - So lange wir leben!/Bellaria: As Long as We Live! (Douglas Wolfsperger, 2002), a beautiful documentary about the traditional Viennese cinema Bellaria, which is specialized in German cinema from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, and its regular customers.

Johnna Matz was married twice. First to actor Karl Hackenberg (1956-2002) with whom she had a child. After his death, she married to Harry von Wutzler. The couple lives retired in Unterachen am Attersee in Austria.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. S 773. Photo: Wesel / Berolina. Publicity still for Es wird alles wieder gut/Everything Is Going to Be All Right (Géza von Bolváry, 1957).


Austrian postcard by Verlag Hubmann (HDH), Wien, no. 218. Photo: Hämmerer, Wien.


East-German postcard by Progress, no. 1306, 1960. Photo: publicity still for Frau Warrens Gewerbe/Mrs. Warren's Profession (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1960).


Trailer for Mannequins für Rio/They Were So Young (1954) with Raymond Burr, Scott Brady and Ingrid Stenn. Source: Rudi Polt (YouTube).


Johanna Matz sings Das Gibt's Nur Einmal in the Der Kongress Tanzt/Congress Dances (Franz Antel, 1956), a remake of the classic film operetta of 1931 starring Lilian Harvey.

Sources: Rudi Polt (IMDb), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line) (German), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Louise Carletti

July 11, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Gustav 'Bubi' Scholz

≪ Previous: Johanna Matz

$

0

0

Beautiful, photogenic actress Louis Carletti (1922-2002) was the young and sweet star of the French cinema of the late 1930s and 1940s.


French postcard by Editions E.C., Paris, no. 92. Photo: Discina.


French postcard by Collection Chantal, no. 838. Photo: G. Aldo / Discina, Paris.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 18.

A Family of Trapeze Artists

Louise Carletti was born Luisa Armida Paola Carboni in a family of trapeze artists in Marseille, France, in 1922.

She had her first performance as an acrobat at the age of seven at the music hall of Marseille. Her sister Victoria would later become known as the actress Carlettina.

Louise was discovered by the famous film director Jacques Feyder when she did a dance act with Victoria. At 15, Louise made her first film appearance in the circus film Les Gens du voyage/People Who Travel (Jacques Feyder, 1938), starring Françoise Rosay.

Her breakthrough came two years later with the successful films L' Enfer des anges/Angels of the Underground (1940, Christian-Jaque) with Mouloudji, and Nous, les gosses/Portrait of Innocence (1941, Louis Daquin) with Gilbert Gil.


French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 93. Photo: Le Studio.


French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 307. Photo: Studio Piaz.


French postcard by Editions Continental, no. 107/A. Photo: Continental Films.


French postcard by Viny, no. 43. Photo: Filmexport.

Raoul André

The next years Louise Carletti became a busy film star, and she proved to be equally good in comic as in dramatic parts.

In 1942, when she was 20, she played opposite the legendary actor Henri Garat in Annette et la dame blonde/Annette and the Blonde Woman (Jean Dréville, 1942).

Other better known productions of those years are Macao, l'enfer du jeu/Gambling Hell (Jean Delannoy, 1942) with the legendary silent film star Sessue Hayakawa, Patricia (Paul Mesnier, 1942), Des jeunes filles dans la nuit/Young Girls at Night (1943, René Le Hénaff), L'ennemi sans visage/The Enemy Without a Face (1946, Robert-Paul Dagan), and Fausse identité/False Identity (André Chotin, 1947) with Raymond Bussières.

In 1946, she appeared in Le Village de la colère/The Village of Wrath, her first film directed by Raoul André.

In 1955 they married, and their daughter, Ariane Carletti, would also become an actress.

In the 1950s Louise mainly worked with her husband in films like Une fille à croquer/Good Enough to Eat (1951) opposite Gaby Morlay, Les pépées au service secret/The Pépées in secret service (1956), and La planque/The Hideout (1961) with Mouloudji.

Her last film was the adventure Mission spéciale à Caracas/Mission to Caracas (Raoul André, 1965). That same year she retired to occupy herself with her family.

Louise Carletti died in 2002 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, at age 80.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 26. Photo: Pathé.


French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 53. Photo: Le Studio.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 124. Photo: Roger Carlet.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (French), Allocine (French), and IMDb.

Gustav 'Bubi' Scholz

July 12, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Irene von Meyendorff

≪ Previous: Louise Carletti

$

0

0

Gustav ‘Bubi’ Scholz (1930-2000) was the most prominent German boxer of the post-war period. The southpaw was only a professional boxer, never an amateur. He celebrated his greatest triumphs in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and had some international successes. He also recorded Schlagers and appeared in films.


German postcard by Ufa (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 342. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Klaus Collignon / Ufa.

Southpaw

Gustav Wilhelm Hermann Scholz was born in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, in 1930. His father was a blacksmith, his mother was a homemaker.

‘Bubi’ earned his first money with selling newspapers. He studied to become a cook. From 1947 on he visited the boxing schools of Karl Schwarz and Bruno Müller, and from 1948 on the Olympia-boxschule where he met his future trainer Lado Taubeneck.

Scholz became both a good tactical and a good technical boxer, a southpaw. He never fought as an amateur and in 1948, he won his first professional match against Horst Eichler on points.

In 1951 he boxed for the first time for the national title. He won from Walter Schneider and became the German welterweight champion. He defended this title twice in 1952 – against Karl Oechsle and Leo Starosch. Later that year he voluntarily gave up this title for the middleweight championship.

In 1955 he was suddenly diagnosed with tuberculosis, and he was forbidden to box. Although he trained secretly he did not do any boxing matches until 1957.

With a K.O. victory in the third round against Peter ‘dä Aap (the Ape)' Müller, he became National champion middleweight.

From his victory in 1958 on the French champion Charles Humez till 1961, Bubi was the European champion middleweight and in 1964 he held the title in the heavyweight. In total he played 96 fights, of which he won 88, including 41 by knockout, he lost only twice (both defeats on points). In 1962 he had lost on points from the American World Champion middleweight, Harold Johnson.

The matches of the prominent boxer were visited by such celebrities as film star Curd Jürgens and politician Willy Brandt. Although he would never become a world champion, Scholz takes the rank of 45th as ‘Best Boxer of all time’ in the middleweight class in the independent, eternal world computer rankings of BoxRec.


German postcard by Kolibri Filmverlag, Minden/Westf., no. 1193. Photo: CCC / Gloria-Film / Grimm. Publicity still for Marina (Paul Martin, 1960).


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 1212. Photo: Grimm / CCCfilm / Gloria. Publicity still for Marina (Paul Martin, 1960) with Giorgia Moll.


German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 3313. Photo: Prisma / Telefilm. Publicity still for Schlagerparade 1961/Geh'n Sie nicht allein nach Hause - Die Schlagerparade 1961 (Franz Marischka, 1961).

Schlagers and Films

In 1965 Bubi Scholz finished his boxing career and started the advertising agency Zühlke & Scholz.

During his boxing career he had done several side-activities. He had recorded some Schlagers like Sie hat nur bluejeans (She only had blue jeans) and he also had performed in a few films.

In 1960 he had appeared at the side of Rocco Granata and the Italian actress Giorgia Moll in the Schlagerfilm Marina (Paul Martin, 1960).

Although a reviewer at IMDb compared his performance with “walking through after a K.O.”, Scholz appeared the following year in another Schlagerfilm, Schlagerparade 1961 (Ernst Marischka, 1961) with Renate Ewert and Chris Howland.

On TV he could be seen in the comedy Der Meisterboxer/The Box Champion (Günter Fiedler, Willy Millowitsch, 1960). Later, he appeared with the other legendary boxing champion, Max Schmeling, as two policemen in the comedy Glückspilze/Lucky Devils (Thomas Engel, 1971) with Heli Finkenzeller and Christian Wolff.

Now his active boxing career was over, Scholz became depressed and was known for his binge-drinking. He reached the low point in 1984, when he shot his wife, Helga Scholz-Druck, with whom he had been married since 1955. He was arrested the following day, and was sentenced to an imprisonment of three years for manslaughter.

After his period in jail, he appeared in two more films. He first appeared as a boxing coach in the short drama Chicago 6 x 6 (Clemens Füsers, 1989).

His last film was Mord aus Liebe/Murder out of Love (Georg Stefan Troller, 1993) with actress Ingrid von Bergen, who herself had spent nearly 5 years in prison for manslaughter.

In 1993, the 63-year-old Scholz married the 35-year-old Sabine Arndt. In the late 1990s he suffered several strokes and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

His life was filmed for the TV film Die Bubi Scholz Story/The Bubi Scholz Story (Roland Suso Richter, 1999). Young Bubi was interpreted by Benno Furmann, while Götz George played the older Scholz.

Gustav ‘Bubi’ Scholz himself could not attend the premiere because of his poor health at that time.  He died in 2000 in an elderly home in Berlin.


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhoff, no. FK 4877. Photo: Ufa / Grimm.


German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 3064. Photo: CCC / Gloria-Film / Grimm. Publicity still for Marina (Paul Martin, 1960).


German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Peter Rondholz.


Bubi Scholz sings Sie hat nur blue jeans. Source: Blizzardjens (YouTube).

Sources: Oliver Marschalek (Neue deutsche Biographie) (German), Michael Mielke (Weltonline) (German), BoxRec, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Irene von Meyendorff

July 13, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Ada Svedin

≪ Previous: Gustav 'Bubi' Scholz

$

0

0

Baroness Irene von Meyendorff (1916-2001) never planned to become a film star, but she appeared in more than 40 films. Unexpectedly, the breathtaking beautiful, ice-cold blonde became a star of the Ufa in the 1940s. Her beauty attracted Josef Goebbels, who got a harsh rebuff by her. After the war she played several parts in interesting German films and led a full, remarkable life.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 201, 1941-1944. Photo: Foto Baumann.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3836/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Foto Baumann. / Ufa. From Tatiana.

The Horny Goat of Babelsberg

Irene von Meyendorff was born as Irene Isabella Margarethe Paulina Caecilia Freiin von Meyendorff in Reval, Russian Empire (now Tallinn, Estonia) in 1916. She was the eldest child of a German-Baltic aristocrat.

After the October Revolution, the family fled to Bremen in Germany. There Irene's mother Elisabeth left her conservative husband with the children to live an unconventional life in the theatre circles of Weimar/Thuringia.

In the early 1930s Irene went to Berlin to work as a cutter in the Ufa film studios of Babelsberg. The breathtaking beautiful, blond young woman was soon discovered for the screen.

Her debut was a mediocre swashbuckler film, Die letzten Vier von Santa Cruz/The Last Four of Santa Cruz (Werner Klingler, 1936), which unexpectedly made her a star.

She then appeared with Lída Baarová in Verräter/The Traitor (Karl Ritter, 1936), and with Hans Albers and Francoise Rosay in the circus film Fahrendes Volk/People Who Travel (Jacques Feyder, 1938).

Von Meijendorff starred opposite Erich Ponto in Schneider Wibbel/Tailor Wibbel (Viktor de Kowa, 1939) based on a script by Helmut Käutner, and opposite Hans Moser in the comedy Einmal der liebe Herrgott sein/To Be God For Once (Hans H. Zerlett, 1942). She also starred in operetta films such as Frau Luna/Lady Luna (Theo Lingen, 1943) with Lizzi Waldmüller.

Maybe her best part during this period was the noble Hamburg Patrician daughter Octavia in Veit Harlan's Opfergang/The Great Sacrifice (1944) with Carl Raddatzand Kristina Söderbaum. She also appeared in Harlan’s propaganda film Kolberg/Burning Hearts (Veit Harlan, 1945) starring Söderbaum and Heinrich George.

This film was the pride and joy of the Nazi propaganda machine. It was filmed during the last year of the war. Lavish financial and material resources were expended to produce the film and it premiered just ahead of the advancing allied armies.

Von Meyendorff never was a sympathizer of the Nazi system though. Her first husband, Dr. Heinz Zahler, was a member of the Kreisau Circle, a group of religious motivated anti-Nazi-bourgeois. Her beauty attracted Josef Goebbels, minister of propaganda, who got a harsh rebuff by her ("You would degrade me - and you would degrade yourself"), according to her own recollections. Reportedly, Goebbels's nasty nick name ‘Bock von Babelsberg' (Horny Goat of Babelsberg) was Irene's creation.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3611/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis /Star Foto Atelier.


German postcard by Ross-Verlag, no. A 3035/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz, Berlin.

A Modern Adam and Eve

Between 1946 and 1949 some German films showed the will not to just simply go on like nothing happened but to search for new forms of entertainment in the light of the Second World War and the guilt of the German people.

Irene von Meyendorff starred in one of these films, Film ohne Titel/Film Without a Title (Rudolf Jugert, 1948) with Hans Söhnker and Hildegard Knef. Reviewer Herbert Schwaab writes at IMDb that the film is an “interesting reflection about the rights to be entertained: Which stories can be told, when all stories seem to have been finished? It shows the attempts of a film crew to shoot a film. They offer several versions of one simple love story in different film form (melodrama or German expressionism) until they come out with the right form (which is this film itself).”

That same year she was also seen in the bio The Mozart Story (Karl Hartl, Frank Wisbar, 1948) featuring Hans Holt. This was an Austrian film that was begun by Karl Hartl prior to World War II, but was shelved, unfinished, when the war began. After the war, the American rights to the film were purchased by Screen Guild. American-German director Frank Wisbar supervised the English dubbing, and even added some new scenes, with Wilton Graff as Mozart's great rival Antonio Salieri. The result was released as a new film, when it was actually at least 10 years old.

Hal Erickson at AllMovie comments: “Despite its patchwork construction, The Mozart Story weaves a cogent and credible (if not altogether accurate) version of Mozart's life and work.”

Another interesting film was Der Apfel ist Ab/The Original Sin (Helmut Käutner, 1948), a fascinating fantasy about a modern Adam and Eve.

The next year she played the lead role in the comedy Einmaleins der Ehe/1 x 1 of the Marriage (Rudolf Jugert, 1949) opposite Hans Söhnker and in 1950 she co-starred in Epilog: Das Geheimnis der Orplid/Epilogue (Helmut Käutner, 1950) a suspenseful drama about people on board of a boat.

In 1953 she starred in the crime film Gift im Zoo/Poison in the Zoo (1953, Hans Müller) with Carl Raddatz. She again worked with Helmut Käutner in the romance Bildnis einer Unbekannten/Portrait of an Unknown Woman (Helmut Käutner, 1954) starring Ruth Leuwerikand O.W. Fischer.

During the second half of the 1950s her roles became less frequent and her films less interesting. She focused more on her stage career and played in theatres in Stuttgart, Zürich, Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3762/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Ufa / Foto Baumann.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2592, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis / Quick.

Irina

In 1960 Irene von Meyendorff met British actor James Robertson Justice on the set of Die Botschafterin/The Ambassadress (Harald Braun, 1960). The couple fell passionately in love. She left her third husband, journalist Pit Severin, to follow Robertson Justice to England. (Her second husband had been film producer Joachim Matthes).

Incidentally she appeared in German films like Lange Beine - lange Finger/Long Legs, Long Fingers (Alfred Vohrer, 1966) starring Senta Berger.

She became a British citizen in 1967, and changed her name to Irina. She did small parts in international films with her husband such as the crime film Hell is empty (John Ainsworth, Bernard Knowles, 1967) starring Martine Carolin her last role, and the costume drama Mayerling (Terence Young, 1968) with Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve.

Her last film was the Italian production Il gesto/The Gesture (Marcello Grottesi, 1973) with Ilse Steppat and Willy Birgel.

A series of strokes gradually prevented James Robertson Justice working and led to his bankruptcy. Earning her living as a teacher at a local Language School, Irina nursed him until his death in 1975.

After 14 years of living together, they were finally married on his deathbed in hospital.

In 1990, she married his best friend and their neighbour, the millionaire and philanthropist Keith ‘Toby’ Bromley. She was a passionate gardener and excellent cook, her rose garden at Ashley Manor - the home she and Keith Bromley shared - was renowned locally as was her extensive hospitality.

Even at the age of 70 she sailed to the Artic and the Orinoco River. For her long and acclaimed work in the German cinema, she was awarded the Filmband in Gold in 1988.

In 2001, Irene von Meyendorf died in 2001 of natural causes in King's Somborne, Hampshire, UK, after a full, remarkable life. She had one son, Andreas Zahler, who died in 1985. She had two grandchildren, Rebecca, daughter of Andreas Zahler, and a son from his first marriage.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3449/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis / Star-Foto-Atelier.


Vintage postcard in the Camera series by F.B.Z. Photo: Julius.


French postcard by EPC (Editions et Publications Cinematographoques), no. 250. Photo: Ufa / A.C.E.

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

---

Ada Svedin

July 15, 2014, 12:38 am

≫ Next: Richard Todd

≪ Previous: Irene von Meyendorff

$

0

0

German actress Ada Svedin (1894-1975) starred in several silent film operettas, produced and directed by Ludwig Czerny, who also became her husband.


Dutch postcard. Photo: publicity still for Die blonde Geisha/The blonde Geisha (Ludwig Czerny, 1923).

Spotted By Chance

Ada Svedin was born in Hohensalza, Germany (now Inowrocław, Poland) in 1894 (according to IMDb in Berlin in 1900). Her father was a composer and musician.

Ada started her career as a secretary at the Deutsche Bank in Brussels, Belgium.

When she came to Berlin, film director Ludwig Czerny spotted her by chance. He engaged her for his films in which she from early on impersonated leading roles.

Among her first films were Er geniesst/He enjoys (1918), Die geborgte Villa/The borrowed villa (1918), Die Notbremse/The emergency brake (1918) and Wie die Grossen/As the great (1918), made for the production company of Oskar Einstein.

In 1919 Czerny engaged her for the female lead role in his Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Willi Achsel, Ludwig Czerny, 1919) opposite Charles Willy Kayser.

That year, she also appeared with Kayser in Das Nachttelegramm/The night Telegram (Ludwig Czerny, 1919). She also had a part in Das Caviar-Mäuschen/The Little Caviar Mouse (Gerhard Dammann, 1919).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 944/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Noto-Film / Schünemann.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 944/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Noto-Film / Schünemann.

The Czerny-Springefeld Method

Ada Svedin and her director married in 1919. Czerny founded the production company Noto-Film Gmbh and in the coming years, he directed and produced several silent film operettas starring his wife.

German Wikipedia: “Czerny had co-developed an invention (the so-called Czerny-Springefeld method) which copied a score sheet into the film negative. Thus the conductor and his orchestra could use this as a template for the cinematic musical passages; and singers in the cinema sang in sync with the lip movements the arias of the actors on the screen”

Svedin played a countess in Das Kussverbot/The kiss ban (Ludwig Czerny, 1920).

In her next film Miss Venus (Ludwig Czerny, 1921), Charles Willy Kayser was her co-star again. Sonny boy Willy Fritsch made his film debut in a supporting part in this silent film operetta.

In Jenseits des Stromes/Beyond the stream (Ludwig Czerny, 1922), Svedin co-starred with Walter Janssen, but in Die blonde Geisha/The blonde Geisha (1923), Kayser was her film partner once again.

In spite of the considerable effort of Czerny, Svedin and their Noto-Film, these films proved to be technically imperfect and also quite unsuccessful.

Svedin’s final silent operetta was Das Mädel von Pontecuculi/The Girl from Pontecuculi (Ludwig Czerny, 1924), again with Charles Willy Kayser as her co-star.

After this production Svedin retired from the film business. Noto-Film made one more film and then also stopped. Czerny produced some short documentaries during the 1930s.

Ada Svedin died in 1975 in her homeplace Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 688/5, 1919-1924. Photo: Noto-Film / Schünemann. Publicity still for the silent operetta film Das Mädel von Pontecuculi/The Girl from Pontecuculi (Ludwig Czerny, 1924).

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), KinoTV.com, Fimportal.de, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Richard Todd

July 15, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Margareta Pîslaru

≪ Previous: Ada Svedin

$

0

0

Richard Todd (1919–2009) was an Irish-born British stage and film actor and soldier. During the 1950s, he was one of Britain's biggest stars at the box office, and also achieved some success in Hollywood.


German postcard by ISV, no. A 39. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

D-Day

Richard Todd OBE was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland in 1919. His father, Andrew William Palethorpe-Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for his country.

Richard spent a few of his childhood years in India, where his father served as an army physician. Later his family moved to Devon and Todd attended Shrewsbury School. Upon leaving school, Todd trained for a potential military career at Sandhurst before inaugurating his acting training at The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

This change in career led to estrangement from his mother. When he learned at age 19 that she had committed suicide, he did not grieve long for her, he admitted in later life. A year earlier, he had first appeared professionally as an actor at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park in a 1936 production of Twelfth Night.

His first film appearance was as an extra in the Will Hays comedy Good Morning, Boys (Marcel Varnel, 1937). He played in regional theatres and then co-founded the Dundee Repertory Theatre in 1939.

During the Second World War, Todd joined the British Army, receiving a commission in 1941. Initially, he served in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry before joining the Parachute Regiment and being assigned to the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion as part of the British 6th Airborne Division.

On D-Day, he participated as a captain, in the British Airborne Operation Tonga. Todd was among the first British officers to land in Normandy. His battalion were reinforcements that parachuted in after glider forces had landed and completed the main assault against Pegasus Bridge near Caen. He later met up with Major John Howard on Pegasus Bridge and helped repel several German counterattacks.

As an actor, Todd would later play Howard in the film The Longest Day (Ken Annakin a.o., 1962), while Todd himself was played by another actor.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. W. 940. Photo: Associated British Pathé.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 632. Photo: Associated British Prods.

A Career Boost

After the war, Richard Todd returned to repertory theatre in the UK. He was appearing in a play when he was spotted by Robert Lennard, a casting director for Associated British Picture Corporation.

That company offered him a screen test, and subsequently signed him for a long-term contract in 1948. He was cast in the crime film For Them That Trespass (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1949).

Todd had appeared in the Dundee Repertory stage version of The Hasty Heart, playing the role of Yank and was subsequently chosen to appear in the West End version of the play, this time in the leading role of Captain Lachlan McLachlan.

He then replaced Richard Basehart in the Broadway production and was cast opposite Ronald Reagan in the Warner Bros. film adaptation, The Hasty Heart (Vincent Sherman, 1949), which was filmed in Britain. Todd was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Captain MacLachlan, won a Golden Globe as Best Newcomer and was also voted favorite British male film star in Britain's National Film Awards.

Next, Alfred Hitchcock used him in Stage Fright (1950) starring Jane Wyman and Marlene Dietrich. Then he made a film in Hollywood, the drama Lightning Strikes Twice (King Vidor, 1951). Neither did particularly well at the box office.

He appeared in three historical adventure films for Disney, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (Ken Annakin, 1952), The Sword and the Rose (Ken Annakin, 1953), and Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (1953) with Glynis Johns.

For the BBC he appeared as Heathcliff in a very popular TV adaptation of the novel Wuthering Heights (Rudolph Cartier, 1953), with Yvonne Mitchell as Cathy. Nigel Kneale, responsible for the adaptation, said the production came about purely because Todd had turned up at the BBC and told them that he would like to play Heathcliff for them. Kneale had to write the script in only a week as the broadcast was rushed into production.

Todd's career received a boost when 20th Century-Fox signed him to a non-exclusive contract and cast him as the United States Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall in the box-office hit A Man Called Peter (1955), with Jean Peters.

This was followed by the war film, The Dam Busters (Michael Anderson, 1955) with Michael Redgrave. This was the true story of how the British attacked German dams in WW2 by using an ingenious technique to drop bombs where they would be most effective. Todd played Wing Commander Guy Gibson, which would become the defining role of his career for which he would be remembered.

Other notable films he starred in include the historical drama The Virgin Queen (Henry Koster, 1955) starring Bette Davis, Saint Joan (Otto Preminger, 1957) featuring Jean Seberg as Joan of Arc, the British war film The Yangtse Incident (Michael Anderson, 1957) and the thriller Intent to Kill (Jack Cardiff, 1958).


Yugoslavian postcard by IOM, Beograd. Photo: Sedmo Silo.

An Anachronism

Richard Todd was the first choice of author Ian Fleming to play James Bond in Dr. No. Todd had to turn down the role due to scheduling conflicts. And the part went to a certain Sean Connery.

Todd unsuccessfully attempted to produce a film of Ian Fleming's The Diamond Smugglers and a television series based on true accounts of the Queen's Messengers. However, he did appear in such films as the crime drama Never Let Go (John Guillermin, 1960) with Peter Sellers, the war drama The Long and the Short and the Tall (Leslie Norman, 1961), the Western The Hellions (Irwin Allen, Ken Annakin, 1961), the crime drama The Boys (Sidney J. Furie, 1962) and The Longest Day (Ken Annakin a.o., 1962).

Todd’s opportunities in the cinema substantially declined throughout the 1960s as the counter-culture movement in the Arts took hold and Todd's character-type as the heroic patriotic male lead became an anachronism to a younger audience's sentiment.

Later films included The Very Edge (Cyril Frankel, 1963) and the horror thriller Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray/Dorian Gray (Massimo Dallamano, 1970) featuring Helmut Berger.

In 1970 he founded Triumph Theatre Productions, with which he toured extensively abroad in many plays. In the 1970s, he also gained new fans when he appeared as the reader for Radio Four's Morning Story.

In the 1980s his distinctive voice was heard as narrator of the series Wings Over the World, a show about the history of aviation shown on Arts & Entertainment television. He appeared before the camera in the episode about the Lancaster bomber.

His last film appearance was in the little known action drama Olympus Force: The Key (James Fortune, Robert Garofalo, 1988) with Linda Thorson. Todd continued to act on television, including roles in Virtual Murder (1992), Silent Witness (2000), and in the Doctor Who story Kinda in 1982.

His active acting career extended into his eighties. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1993. Todd was the subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions, in March 1960 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios, and in November 1988, when Michael Aspel surprised him on stage at the Theatre Royal Windsor.

Both Todd's marriages ended in divorce. His first was to actress Catherine Grant-Bogle, whom he met in Dundee Repertory and was married to from 1949 until 1970; they had a son Peter (1952–2005) and a daughter Fiona. In 1960 he had a son Jeremy with model Patricia Nelson. He was married to model Virginia Mailer from 1970 until 1992; they had two sons, Andrew and Seamus (1977–1997).

Two of Todd's children committed suicide. In 1997, Seamus Palethorpe-Todd shot himself in the head in the family home in Lincolnshire. An inquest determined that the suicide might have been a depressive reaction to the drug he was taking for severe acne. In 2005, Peter killed himself with a shotgun, following marital difficulties. His sons' suicides affected Todd profoundly; he admitted to visiting their adjoining graves regularly.

Richard Todd himself suffered from cancer, and died in his sleep at his Little Humby home in 2009. He was buried between his two sons Seamus and Peter at St. Guthlacs, the church in Little Ponton, England.


French postcard by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Find A Grave, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Margareta Pîslaru

July 16, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Bill Ramsey

≪ Previous: Richard Todd

$

0

0

Margareta Pîslaru (1943) was one of the most popular Romanian pop singers of the Communistr period. The multitalented artist also works as a composer, lyricist, TV producer, artistic director and she acted in many films. Since 1983, she lives and works in the USA.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 170. Retail price: 2 Lei.

Sensation

Margareta Pîslaru or Pâslaru was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1943. She grew up in an artistic environment and studied piano, ballet, and painting.

Only 4½ years, she played a child's role in the opera Madame Butterfly by Giaccomo Puccini.

At the age of 15, she made her singing debut at la Casa de Cultură Grivița Roșie in 1958, accompanied by Paul Ghentzer.

The following year, she was discovered by Ileana Pop in 1959 and the following year she performed in the TV show Toată lumea face sport (Everybody sports), dedicated to Romanian winners at the Olympics in Rome.

She became a sensation and George Grigoriu of Trio Grigoriuis was so impressed with her that he composes the song Chemarea mării (Call of the Sea) for her. The song became an evergreen and Pislaru would dominate the Romanian music scene for decades.

She performed both pop and folk music, with equal success. Among her classic songs are Timpul (Time), Dacă ai ghici (I you guess), and Diamant fermecat (Diamond Magic).

Although sung in Romanian, the style of her repertoire is very similar to the light pop music of the 1960s as well as to that of singers as Barbra Streisand and Petula Clark. Pislaru collaborated with many first-class musicians, like Radu Goldis.

She made her film debut in Fumatul, strict oprit!/Smoking strictly forbidden! (Valerio Lazarov, 1963) starring Mircea Crisan.

In 1964 theatre director Liviu Ciulei asked her for the role of Polly Peachum in the play The Three Penny Opera by Bertold Brecht. Her performance - full of aplomb and humour - was a revelation and the play ran for four hundred performances.

In 1966 she was chosen for the role of Julia in the Romanian-Soviet film Tunelul/The Tunnel (Francisc Munteanu, 1966) with Ion Dichiseanu and Florin Piersic. For this role she won an award at the Golden Pelican Festival 1966.

As a result, she was offered several more film parts. Director Lucian Bratu gave her the lead role in Un film cu o fata fermecatoare/A charming girl (1967) with Stefan Iordache, and she sang a song in the musical comedy Impuscaturi pe portative/Shooting on portable (Cezar Grigoriu, 1968) with Nancy Holloway.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2727, 1966. Photo: publicity still for Tunelul/The Tunnel (Francisc Munteanu, 1966).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2728, 1966. Photo: publicity still for Tunelul/The Tunnel (Francisc Munteanu, 1966) with Ion Dichiseanu.

Magic Bag

Margareta Pîslaru’s most memorable film is Veronica (Elisabetei Bostan, 1973) with Lulu Mihaescu and singer Angela Moldovan.

In this fresh and candid children’s film, Pîslaru played a fairy godmother, who gives a present to the girl Veronica in a foster home. It is a magic bag that will fulfil any desire. Veronica refuses to share this gift with other children and for this she is punished. From then on she has very exciting dream adventures.

Pîslaru returned in the sequel Veronica se intoarce/Veronica Returns (Elisabetei Bostan, 1974). Other film successes were Gloria nu cântă /Gloria sings (Alexandru Bocanet, 1976) with Thomas Caragiu, and Melodii, melodii/Songs, Song (Francisc Munteanu, 1978) with Jean Constantin and Marga Barbu.

Margareta Pîslaru was married to Gheorghe (Gyuri) Sencovici until his death in 2008. They have a daughter, Ana Maria, and a grandson, Luca. Since 1983, the family lived and worked in the United States.

In the 1990s, she did a lot of humanitarian work. She is a honorary member for Unicef, Unesco and the Romanian Red Cross. For her work she was honoured with many awards.

Since 2013 she is a Cavalier of The Crown of Romania Order. On the soundtrack of the prize-winning Romanian film Moartea domnului Lazarescu/The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, 2005), two of her songs can be heard Cum e oare (Telling It Like It Really Is) and Chemarea marii (The Waves of the Ocean). Margareta Pîslaru spends her time nowadays between Manhattan and Bucharest.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Sources: CinemaRx (Romanian), Wikipedia (Romanian and English) and IMDb.

Bill Ramsey

July 17, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Dietmar Schönherr (1926-2014)

≪ Previous: Margareta Pîslaru

$

0

0

German-American pop and jazz singer and actor Bill Ramsey (1931) is best-known for his German-language hits of the 1950s and 1960s. In Germany he was called ‘the man with the black voice’. Ramsey had innumerable television appearances, toured through Europe, the US, and North Africa. He also appeared in 29 films, as a singer or as the comic sidekick.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/83. Photo: Polydor / Filipp.

The Man With the Black Voice

William McCreery Ramsey, called Bill, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1931. He was the son of a teacher and an advertising manager for Procter & Gamble.

In his youth, Bill sang in a college dance band. He began to study sociology and business from 1949 to 1951 at Yale-university in New Haven and sang jazz, Swing and Blues in the evenings. His greatest influences were Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington and Louis Jordan.

Due to the Korean War, compulsory military service was again introduced in the US and Ramsey served with the US Air Force in Germany.

During this period, he appeared in clubs like Jazz Cellar in Frankfurt/Main and was discovered by an employee of the American Forces Network (AFN) and hired to entertain troops. There Ramsey advanced to executive producer and had, although still in service, more time for appearances at festivals.

As of 1953, he appeared with, among others, Ernst Mosch, Paul Kuhn, and James Last. In 1955, the jazz pianist and music producer Heinz Gietz organized an appearance with the public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk for Ramsey.

There he appeared for the musical film Liebe, Tanz und 1000 Schlager/Love, dance and 1000 hits (Paul Martin, 1955) with Peter Alexander and Caterina Valente.

Upon his discharge from the military he continued his studies in America. In 1957 Ramsey returned to Germany and continued his studies in Frankfurt.

Producer Heinz Gietz took Ramsey under contract in 1958 and in the same year his first single Yes, Fanny, ich tu das with Polydor was released. It was a small but respectable success and launched the style, with which ‘the man with the black voice’ would land hits in the future.

His music was oriented on Anglo American pop hits of the late 1950s. In 1959 he had a #1 hit with Souvenirs. Among Ramsey’s hits were German-language covers of Hank Ballard, The Beatles, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, and Andy Williams.

In addition, he also performed originals, composed almost exclusively by Heinz Gietz. The ironical texts of Kurt Feltz or Hans Bradtke often commented current events.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/219. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood (credited on the postcard). Possibly made for Heimweh nach St. Pauli (Werner Jacobs, 1963) in which he and Jayne Mansfield both played supporting parts. However, IMDb credits Lothar Winkler as the stills photographer of this Schlager film in which Mansfield sings the classic Snicksnack Snucklechen.


Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht., no. AX 5011.

The Comic Sidekick

Bill Ramsey and Gietz signed to the Columbia label of the EMI Group in 1962, where they would continue their success.

His popularity provided numerous appearances in film and television, where he was seen as a singer and in comedy roles.

He starred as the comic sidekick in films like Die Abenteuer des Grafen Bobby/Count Bobby's adventures (Géza von Cziffra, 1961) with Peter Alexander, the crime film Zwischen Schanghai und St. Pauli/Between Shanghai and St. Pauli (Wolfgang Schleif, 1962) with Joachim Hansen, and the Euro-Western Old Shatterhand (Hugo Fregonese, 1964) starring Lex Barkerin the title role and Pierre Brice as Winnetou.

Till the middle of the 1960s, Bill Ramsey was a regular in the German charts, but the beat music changed the market. In the second half of the 1960s Ramsey took up predominantly English-language songs and dedicated himself again to jazz and blues. In this musically varied decade he presented Operetta, Musical and Beat songs as well as a LP with Children’s songs.

Ramsey changed to Heinz Gietz’ record company Cornet in 1966, and later in the same year to Polydor. Ramsey appeared on different labels in the 1970s.

On TV, he moderated such shows as Hits for Schlappohren (1971) and Talent Shed (1974-1980).

In the cinema he was seen in the box-office hit Die Schweizermacher/The Swissmakers (Rolf Lyssy, 1978) with Emil Steinberger. The comedy deals with the many woes of foreigners who decide to obtain Swiss nationality but are forced to deal with bureaucratic and cultural barriers. Die Schweizermacher is one of the most successful Swiss films ever.

Ramsey was a lecturer for many years at Hamburg University for Music and Performing Arts.

He still appears regularly as pop and jazz singer, mostly in duet with the guitarist Juraj Galan, with whom he released several albums. The duo's LP Live in the House of Commons won the German record critics prize.

Bill Ramsey is the host of Radio HR2’s Swingtime. In 2008 and 2009 he was on tour with Max Greger and Hugo Strasser as Swing legends.

Since 1984, Bill Ramsey is a German citizen. He lived occasionally in Zurich, later in Wiesbaden and since 1991 with his fourth wife Petra in Hamburg. His wife is a doctor, and works as his Manager.


Dutch postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden-Westf., no. 1256. Photo: Erwin Schneider.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam, no. 667.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden-Westf., no. 1524. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Alfa / Gloria. Publicity still for Adieu, Lebewohl, Goodbye (Paul Martin, 1961).

Source: Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.

Dietmar Schönherr (1926-2014)

July 18, 2014, 3:01 pm

≫ Next: Beata Tyszkiewicz

≪ Previous: Bill Ramsey

$

0

0

Yesterday, Austrian film actor and talk show host Dietmar Schönherr died. Since 1944, Schönherr had appeared in 120 films, often as the athletic and romantic hero. As a voice actor he was the German voice of James Dean. Dietmar Schönherr passed away on the island of Ibiza in Spain, aged 88.


Belgian postcard by Cox, no. 49.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, no. V 327. Photo: Mondial - Gloria-Film / Lilo. Publicity still for Rosenmontag/Love's Carnival (Willy Birgel, 1955).


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 2645. Photo: CCC / Deutsche Film Hansa / Grimm. Publicity still for Einmal eine grosse Dame sein/To be a big lady once (Erik Ode, 1957).


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. A 1606. Photo: Grimm / Kurt Ulrich / Bavaria. Publicity still for Schwarzwälderkirsch/Black Forest Cherry (Géza von Bolváry, 1958).

Ufa Propaganda Film

Dietmar Schönherr was born as Dietmar Otto von Schönleiten in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1926. He was born into a military family. His grandfather was a general, and his father, Otto Schönherr Edler von Schönleiten served as an officer in the Austrian General staff. After the Anschluss, the family left for Potsdam, where Dietmar studied at the Victoria- (now Helmholtz-) Gymnasium.

Film director Alfred Weidenmann discovered him there and asked the 17-year old for the leading part in the Ufa propaganda film Junge Adler/Young Eagles (Alfred Weidenmann, 1943) starring Willy Fritsch. His film salary was higher than what his father had earned in a year.

In May 1944, he signed as a volunteer for the army, but deserted in the final days of World War II. This experience made him a peace activist and humanist.

In 1946 Schönherr started an architecture studies, but soon returned to acting. He appeared in films like the French-Austrian sports comedy Les amours de Blanche Neige/Wintermelodie/Winter Melody (Edi Wieser, 1947).

From 1947 till 1952 he worked for the Austrian radio as a speaker, actor, reporter, director and author. Then he moved to Köln (Cologne) to work as a moderator and author for the WDR radio.

In 1955 his breakthrough came with the romantic film drama Rosenmontag/Love's Harmony (Willy Birgel, 1955), with Ruth Niehaus and Elma Karlowa.

Schönherr became popular as a film, theatre and TV actor. He played in more than 100 films, made hundreds of TV productions, performed on the stages of all the German speaking countries but also in Tel Aviv.

As a voice actor he became the German voice of James Dean in Jenseits von Eden/East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1955), ...denn sie wissen nicht, was sie tun/Rebel Without A Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) and Giganten/Giant (George Stevens, 1956). He also dubbed Sidney Poitier, Audie Murphy, and Steve McQueen in Thomas Crown ist nicht zu fassen/The Thomas Crown Affair (Norman Jewison, 1956).


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden-Westf., no. 2331. Photo: Corona / Schorcht / Lilo. Publicity still for Preis der Nationen/Das Mädchen Marion/Price of the Nations (Wolfgang Schleif, 1956).


German postcard by Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (Ufa), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4236. Retail price: 25 Pfg. Photo: Filipp / Wernerpress / Ufa.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 876. Photo: Wessely / Union-Film / Börczök. Publicity still for Die unvollkommene Ehe/The imperfect marriage (Robert A. Stemmle, 1959).


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 536. Retail price: 10 Pfg. Photo: CCC-Gloria Film / Grimm. Still for Du bist wunderbar/You are wonderful (Paul Martin, 1959).

Space Patrol

During the 1950s, Dietmar Schönherr was the athletic and romantic hero in popular films like the musical comedy Bonjour, Kathrin (Karl Anton, 1956) with Caterina Valente, the Heimatfilm Der schwarze Blitz/The Black Blitz (Hans Grimm, 1958) featuring former Ski-champion Toni Sailer, and the romance Ingeborg (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1960), but he also appeared in more serious films.

Interesting are La donna dell'altro/Jons and Erdme (Victor Vicas, 1959) starring Giulietta Masina, and the psychological thriller Schachnovelle/Brainwashed (Gerd Oswald, 1960), based on the novel by Stefan Zweig.

In the 1960s he appeared in films like Die Glucklichen Jahre der Thorwalds/The Happy Years of the Thorwalds (John Olden, Wolfgang Staudte, 1962) an adaptation of John B. Priestley's play Time and the Conways, the comedy Kohlhiesels Töchter/Kohlhiesel's Daughters (Axel von Ambesser, 1962) featuring Liselotte Pulver, the thriller Die Nylonschlinge/Nylon Noose (Rudolf Zehetgruber, 1963) with Helga Sommerfeld, and Das Geheimnis der chinesischen Nelke/Secret of the Chinese Carnation (Rudolph Zehetgruber, 1964) with Paul Dahlke.

His most popular role was Major Cliff Allister McLane in the first German Sci-fi series, Raumpatrouille/Space Patrol (1966) with Eva Pflug and Claus Holm. This series about the fantastic adventures of spaceship Orion, is still a cult phenomenon in German speaking countries.

In 1965, Dietmar Schönherr married Danish singer and film star Vivi Bach. Together they moderated the innovative and beloved TV show Wünsch Dir was (Do A Wish) from 1969 till 1973.

In 1973 he became the first talk show host on German TV in Je später der Abend (How Later The Evening). Privately, he often fought for peace and other social causes. From 1985 on, he supported solidarity programs in Nicaragua.

Schönherr also worked as an author of novels, children’s books and travel books like Nicaragua mi amor (1985), and translated books by André Gide and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Among his later films were Raffl (Christian Berger, 1984), the thriller Brandnacht/Night on Fire (Markus Fischer, 1993) with Bruno Ganz, the comedy Back in Trouble (Andy Bausch, 1997), and the drama Leo und Claire/Leo & Claire (Joseph Vilsmaier, 2001).

His final film appearance was a role in the Swiss comedy Handyman (Jürg Ebe, 2005). He continued to appear on TV.

In 1972 and 1999, Schönherr was awarded the Goldene Kamera, and in 1999 he also won the Heinz Galinski-Preis.

For years, Dietmar Schönherr and Vivi Bach lived happily on the Spanish island Ibiza. There first Vivi died in 2013, and yesterday, 15 months later, her husband passed away in a hospital on the island. Dietmar Schönherr was 88.


German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 71. Photo: Lantin.


German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no 146. Photo: Lantin.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin., no. 1847, 1963. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: publicity still for Treibjagd auf ein Leben/Drive on a life (Ralph Lothar, 1961) with Ingrid Andrée.


German Trailer of Schachnovelle/Brainwashed (1960). Source: Filmportal.de (YouTube).

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