Paul van Yperen's Blog, page 326
November 28, 2016
Ewan McGregor
Scottish actor Ewan McGregor (1971) first received worldwide acclaim with his role as heroin addict Mark Renton in Trainspotting (1996). Later, he played the young Obi-Wan in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and poet Christian in the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001).
British postcard by Editions Limited, no. PRT-019.
Energetic, powerful and photogenic
Ewan Gordan McGregor was born in 1971 in Crieff, Scotland, just a few miles north of Edinburgh. His parents were the schoolteachers James Charles Stuart McGregor and Carole Diane Lawson. His uncle is actor Denis Lawson. He also has a brother Colin, who became a RAF pilot.
As a child, Ewan did little acting, but enjoyed singing, and became a soloist for his school's orchestra and choir. At age 16, he left Morrison Academy in Crieff to join the Perth Repertory Theatre. His parents encouraged him to leave school and pursue his acting goals rather than be unhappy. Ewan worked as a stagehand and had small roles in the productions of the Perth Repertory Theatre. Then, he studied three years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, he landed a major role as Private Mick Hopper in the excellent TV series Lipstick on Your Collar (Renny Rye, 1993), written by Dennis Potter. McGregor then starred in the miniseries The Scarlet & The Black (Ben Bolt, 1993), an adaptation of Henri Beyle Stendhal's 1830 novel.
In that same year, McGregor made his film debut with a bit part in the American drama Being Human (Bill Forsyth, 1993), which starred Robin Williams. The film undeservedly flopped and closed almost as soon as it opened, which limited McGregor's exposure. He continued to make television appearances in the United States and Britain, including Family Style (Justin Chadwick, 1993), Doggin' Around (Desmond Davis, 1994) and an episode of the crime series Kavanagh QC (Colin Gregg, 1995).
He got his first major film role in the Noir Shallow Grave (Danny Boyle, 1994), which was received well by the critics. Samuli Launonen at IMDb : “A great modern thriller containing all the necessary ingredients of a decent suspense story: constantly growing tension, sly humour, and genuinely surprising plot twists. (…) The three leads are all great, but there's no question about who the movie belongs to: Ewan McGregor is energetic, powerful and photogenic in his portrayal of a young journalist.”
In 1995, McGregor married, French production designer Eve Mavrakis. He continued to work in British films as the surfing parable Blue Juice (Carl Prechezer, 1995) with Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book (1996).
Then he had his big break with Trainspotting (1996), his second film with director Danny Boyle. McGregor shaved his head and lost 30 lbs to play the main character and heroin addict Mark Renton. The film, an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel, and McGregor's role received worldwide critical acclaim.
Following this success, he took a completely different role as Frank Churchill in the Jane Austen adaptation Emma (Douglas McGrath, 1996), starring Gwyneth Palthrow. His next films included Brassed Off (Mark Herman, 1996), The Serpent's Kiss (Philippe Rousselot, 1997), A Life Less Ordinary (Danny Boyle, 1997), and Nightwatch (Ole Bornedal, 1998). He also acted opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christian Bale in Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, 1999), as a 1970s-era glam rocker in the mode of Iggy Pop.
Ewan McGregor landed the largest role of his career when he signed on in 1998 as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. McGregor already had a connection with the iconic movie series as his uncle, Denis Lawson, appeared as Wedge Antilles in the original three films. He studied Alec Guinness ' films in preparation for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi to ensure accuracy in everything from his accent to the pacing of his words. Star Wars: Episode I–The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999) was a box-office blockbuster, which launched the then 28-year-old actor into mega stardom. The next two instalments of the trilogy would follow years later.
British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SFC 3096.
British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no. PC 2111.
Another challenging role
In the early 21st century, Ewan McGregor started his own production company called Natural Nylon. He founded it with fellow actors Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Jonny Lee Miller and Sean Pertwee. The group's first film was the biopic Nora (Pat Murphy, 2000), which dramatised the real-life relationship between Irish author James Joyce and Nora Barnacle. McGregor starred as Joyce opposite Susan Lynch as Barnacle.
McGregor took on another challenging role in the musical Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2000), set in Paris in 1899. McGregor starred as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine, played by Nicole Kidman.
Perry Seibert at AllMovie : “A bold artistic statement, Moulin Rouge is Baz Luhrmann's first masterpiece. Frantically edited, paced, and photographed, the film is not an easy undertaking; it forces the viewer to accept it on its terms. The sets, costumes, and sound are stylish in the extreme. The greatest risk the film takes is having the characters speak predominantly in song lyrics. The young writer Christian (Ewan McGregor) and the doomed performer Satine (Nicole Kidman) argue about whether they will fall in love while telling each other, 'Love lifts us up where we belong' and 'I will always love you.' When they aren't speaking in song lyrics, they sing to each other, with McGregor doing a better than credible job with Elton John's 'Your Song'.”
McGregor was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his part and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast. Later that same year, the war film Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott, 2001) was released with McGregor among an ensemble cast. He continued his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the second film of the trilogy, Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clone (George Lucas, 2002), which was another commercial success.
McGregor was able to parlay his popularity into many more films. When Tim Burton was looking for someone in McGregor's age range to play Albert Finney as a young man in the fantasy film Big Fish (2003), he was given the part. The film was a critical and commercial success as well. McGregor also starred in the drama Young Adam (David Mackenzie, 2003). He played Joe Taylor, one of two barge workers who pull up the corpse of a young woman from a river. Also that year, McGregor and Renée Zellweger starred in Down With Love (Peyton Reed, 2003), a homage to 1960s romantic comedies.
During 2004, McGregor and his best friend Charley Boorman created a documentary about riding their motorcycles from London to New York. The pair travelled east through Europe and Asia, and then flew to Alaska to finish the journey to New York. The entire journey, entitled Long Way Round, covered over 19,000 miles and 12 countries. The project was conceived partly to raise awareness of the worldwide efforts of UNICEF.
McGregor reprised his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi for the final time for Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas, 2005). He also lent his voice to the animated family film Robots (Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha, 2005), starred with Scarlett Johansson in the big-budget Sci-Fi actioner The Island (Michael Bay, 2005), and filmed the psychological thriller Stay (Marc Forster, 2005).
British postcard by Anabas, Essex, no. AP 749, 1999.
British postcard by Go Card. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)
Amazingly good
After multiple commercial and critical successes, Ewan McGregor tried his hand at two arthouse films in 2006. His first was Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Ed Blum's directorial debut about a day in the life of seven British couples. The second was Miss Potter (Chris Noonan, 2007), a biopic on the life of popular author Beatrix Potter (Renée Zellweger). McGregor portrays Norman, her editor and paramour.
He also tried his hand at stage acting. From 2005 till 2007 he played Sky Masterson in the revival of Guys & Dolls at London's Piccadilly Theatre, and for this part, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2007. He also appeared on stage as Iago in Othello (2007–2008).
In between, McGregor and Boorman created a follow-up documentary to their 2004 trip. For Long Way Down (2007), they rode their motorcycles from John o' Groats in northern Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa. Next he appeared in the films Cassandra's Dream (Woody Allen, 2007) with Colin Farrell, Incendiary (Sharon Maguire, 2008) and Deception (Marcel Langenegger, 2008) with Hugh Jackman.
McGregor starred with Jim Carrey as a gay couple in I Love You Phillip Morris (Glenn Ficarra, John Requa, 2009), and appeared in the blockbuster Angels & Demons (Ron Howard, 2009), the sequel to the popular Dan Brown novel and film, The DaVinci Code. For the title role in Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer (2010), he won the Best Actor award at the 23rd European Film Awards.
Bruce Eder at AllMovie : “McGregor is amazingly good in a role that gives him relatively little to work with - his is a character that not only has no name, but no past to speak of and no family entanglements, so his experience shouldn't resonate much with the audience. But what should become a cipher that few can penetrate instead becomes a kind of big-screen everyman for audience members to relate to - up to a point. This is a very cold movie at its center, very distant, despite McGregor's success at fleshing out a character that is hardly more than a skeleton, in terms of what he brings to us. He's just vulnerable enough, and surprised and skeptical enough - about what he's been asked to do, and the world of politics to which he's been asked to enter - to give us something to grab on to.”
His later films include Beginners (Mike Mills, 2010), Perfect Sense (David Mackenzie, 2011) opposite Eva Green, the British romantic comedy-drama Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Lasse Hallström, 2011), Lo imposible (J.A. Bayona, 2012), and August: Osage County (John Wells, 2013).
He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2013 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to drama and charity. Ewan McGregor and his wife have three daughters: Clara Mathilde (1996), Esther Rose (2001), and 4-year-old Jamiyan adopted from Mongolia in 2006.
His recent films include the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead (Don Cheadle, 2015) and the British thriller Our Kind of Traitor (Susanna White, 2016). For 2017 is scheduled T2: Trainspotting, in which he will return as Mark Renton, again under the direction of Danny Boyle. On TV he will star in the third season of the hit series Fargo, now set in 2010.
Trailer Trainspotting (1996). Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).
Trailer Moulin Rouge! (2001). Source: Athena Stamos (YouTube).
Trailer The Ghost Writer (2010). Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).
Sources: Samuli Launonen (IMDb), Perry Seibert (AllMovie), Bruce Eder (AllMovie), Biography.com, AllMovie, Wikipedia and .
British postcard by Editions Limited, no. PRT-019.
Energetic, powerful and photogenic
Ewan Gordan McGregor was born in 1971 in Crieff, Scotland, just a few miles north of Edinburgh. His parents were the schoolteachers James Charles Stuart McGregor and Carole Diane Lawson. His uncle is actor Denis Lawson. He also has a brother Colin, who became a RAF pilot.
As a child, Ewan did little acting, but enjoyed singing, and became a soloist for his school's orchestra and choir. At age 16, he left Morrison Academy in Crieff to join the Perth Repertory Theatre. His parents encouraged him to leave school and pursue his acting goals rather than be unhappy. Ewan worked as a stagehand and had small roles in the productions of the Perth Repertory Theatre. Then, he studied three years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, he landed a major role as Private Mick Hopper in the excellent TV series Lipstick on Your Collar (Renny Rye, 1993), written by Dennis Potter. McGregor then starred in the miniseries The Scarlet & The Black (Ben Bolt, 1993), an adaptation of Henri Beyle Stendhal's 1830 novel.
In that same year, McGregor made his film debut with a bit part in the American drama Being Human (Bill Forsyth, 1993), which starred Robin Williams. The film undeservedly flopped and closed almost as soon as it opened, which limited McGregor's exposure. He continued to make television appearances in the United States and Britain, including Family Style (Justin Chadwick, 1993), Doggin' Around (Desmond Davis, 1994) and an episode of the crime series Kavanagh QC (Colin Gregg, 1995).
He got his first major film role in the Noir Shallow Grave (Danny Boyle, 1994), which was received well by the critics. Samuli Launonen at IMDb : “A great modern thriller containing all the necessary ingredients of a decent suspense story: constantly growing tension, sly humour, and genuinely surprising plot twists. (…) The three leads are all great, but there's no question about who the movie belongs to: Ewan McGregor is energetic, powerful and photogenic in his portrayal of a young journalist.”
In 1995, McGregor married, French production designer Eve Mavrakis. He continued to work in British films as the surfing parable Blue Juice (Carl Prechezer, 1995) with Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book (1996).
Then he had his big break with Trainspotting (1996), his second film with director Danny Boyle. McGregor shaved his head and lost 30 lbs to play the main character and heroin addict Mark Renton. The film, an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel, and McGregor's role received worldwide critical acclaim.
Following this success, he took a completely different role as Frank Churchill in the Jane Austen adaptation Emma (Douglas McGrath, 1996), starring Gwyneth Palthrow. His next films included Brassed Off (Mark Herman, 1996), The Serpent's Kiss (Philippe Rousselot, 1997), A Life Less Ordinary (Danny Boyle, 1997), and Nightwatch (Ole Bornedal, 1998). He also acted opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christian Bale in Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, 1999), as a 1970s-era glam rocker in the mode of Iggy Pop.
Ewan McGregor landed the largest role of his career when he signed on in 1998 as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. McGregor already had a connection with the iconic movie series as his uncle, Denis Lawson, appeared as Wedge Antilles in the original three films. He studied Alec Guinness ' films in preparation for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi to ensure accuracy in everything from his accent to the pacing of his words. Star Wars: Episode I–The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999) was a box-office blockbuster, which launched the then 28-year-old actor into mega stardom. The next two instalments of the trilogy would follow years later.
British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SFC 3096.
British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no. PC 2111.
Another challenging role
In the early 21st century, Ewan McGregor started his own production company called Natural Nylon. He founded it with fellow actors Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Jonny Lee Miller and Sean Pertwee. The group's first film was the biopic Nora (Pat Murphy, 2000), which dramatised the real-life relationship between Irish author James Joyce and Nora Barnacle. McGregor starred as Joyce opposite Susan Lynch as Barnacle.
McGregor took on another challenging role in the musical Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2000), set in Paris in 1899. McGregor starred as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine, played by Nicole Kidman.
Perry Seibert at AllMovie : “A bold artistic statement, Moulin Rouge is Baz Luhrmann's first masterpiece. Frantically edited, paced, and photographed, the film is not an easy undertaking; it forces the viewer to accept it on its terms. The sets, costumes, and sound are stylish in the extreme. The greatest risk the film takes is having the characters speak predominantly in song lyrics. The young writer Christian (Ewan McGregor) and the doomed performer Satine (Nicole Kidman) argue about whether they will fall in love while telling each other, 'Love lifts us up where we belong' and 'I will always love you.' When they aren't speaking in song lyrics, they sing to each other, with McGregor doing a better than credible job with Elton John's 'Your Song'.”
McGregor was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his part and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast. Later that same year, the war film Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott, 2001) was released with McGregor among an ensemble cast. He continued his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the second film of the trilogy, Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clone (George Lucas, 2002), which was another commercial success.
McGregor was able to parlay his popularity into many more films. When Tim Burton was looking for someone in McGregor's age range to play Albert Finney as a young man in the fantasy film Big Fish (2003), he was given the part. The film was a critical and commercial success as well. McGregor also starred in the drama Young Adam (David Mackenzie, 2003). He played Joe Taylor, one of two barge workers who pull up the corpse of a young woman from a river. Also that year, McGregor and Renée Zellweger starred in Down With Love (Peyton Reed, 2003), a homage to 1960s romantic comedies.
During 2004, McGregor and his best friend Charley Boorman created a documentary about riding their motorcycles from London to New York. The pair travelled east through Europe and Asia, and then flew to Alaska to finish the journey to New York. The entire journey, entitled Long Way Round, covered over 19,000 miles and 12 countries. The project was conceived partly to raise awareness of the worldwide efforts of UNICEF.
McGregor reprised his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi for the final time for Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas, 2005). He also lent his voice to the animated family film Robots (Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha, 2005), starred with Scarlett Johansson in the big-budget Sci-Fi actioner The Island (Michael Bay, 2005), and filmed the psychological thriller Stay (Marc Forster, 2005).
British postcard by Anabas, Essex, no. AP 749, 1999.
British postcard by Go Card. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)
Amazingly good
After multiple commercial and critical successes, Ewan McGregor tried his hand at two arthouse films in 2006. His first was Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Ed Blum's directorial debut about a day in the life of seven British couples. The second was Miss Potter (Chris Noonan, 2007), a biopic on the life of popular author Beatrix Potter (Renée Zellweger). McGregor portrays Norman, her editor and paramour.
He also tried his hand at stage acting. From 2005 till 2007 he played Sky Masterson in the revival of Guys & Dolls at London's Piccadilly Theatre, and for this part, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2007. He also appeared on stage as Iago in Othello (2007–2008).
In between, McGregor and Boorman created a follow-up documentary to their 2004 trip. For Long Way Down (2007), they rode their motorcycles from John o' Groats in northern Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa. Next he appeared in the films Cassandra's Dream (Woody Allen, 2007) with Colin Farrell, Incendiary (Sharon Maguire, 2008) and Deception (Marcel Langenegger, 2008) with Hugh Jackman.
McGregor starred with Jim Carrey as a gay couple in I Love You Phillip Morris (Glenn Ficarra, John Requa, 2009), and appeared in the blockbuster Angels & Demons (Ron Howard, 2009), the sequel to the popular Dan Brown novel and film, The DaVinci Code. For the title role in Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer (2010), he won the Best Actor award at the 23rd European Film Awards.
Bruce Eder at AllMovie : “McGregor is amazingly good in a role that gives him relatively little to work with - his is a character that not only has no name, but no past to speak of and no family entanglements, so his experience shouldn't resonate much with the audience. But what should become a cipher that few can penetrate instead becomes a kind of big-screen everyman for audience members to relate to - up to a point. This is a very cold movie at its center, very distant, despite McGregor's success at fleshing out a character that is hardly more than a skeleton, in terms of what he brings to us. He's just vulnerable enough, and surprised and skeptical enough - about what he's been asked to do, and the world of politics to which he's been asked to enter - to give us something to grab on to.”
His later films include Beginners (Mike Mills, 2010), Perfect Sense (David Mackenzie, 2011) opposite Eva Green, the British romantic comedy-drama Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Lasse Hallström, 2011), Lo imposible (J.A. Bayona, 2012), and August: Osage County (John Wells, 2013).
He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2013 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to drama and charity. Ewan McGregor and his wife have three daughters: Clara Mathilde (1996), Esther Rose (2001), and 4-year-old Jamiyan adopted from Mongolia in 2006.
His recent films include the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead (Don Cheadle, 2015) and the British thriller Our Kind of Traitor (Susanna White, 2016). For 2017 is scheduled T2: Trainspotting, in which he will return as Mark Renton, again under the direction of Danny Boyle. On TV he will star in the third season of the hit series Fargo, now set in 2010.
Trailer Trainspotting (1996). Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).
Trailer Moulin Rouge! (2001). Source: Athena Stamos (YouTube).
Trailer The Ghost Writer (2010). Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).
Sources: Samuli Launonen (IMDb), Perry Seibert (AllMovie), Bruce Eder (AllMovie), Biography.com, AllMovie, Wikipedia and .
November 27, 2016
Doris Duranti
Doris Duranti (1917-1995) was a beautiful star of the Italian cinema of the late 1930s and early 1940s, and the main competitor of actress Clara Calamai. She was also the lover of a notorious fascist.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit, no. 2092. Photo: Venturini, Roma.
The quarrel of the first naked breast
Dora Franca Duranti was born in Livorno (Leghorn), Italy, in 1917.
From 1935 on, so at a young age, she started her film career as extra or in minor parts in films like Aldebaran (Alessandro Blasetti, 1935) starring Gino Cervi , the Tito Schipa vehicle Vivere/To Live (Guido Brignone, 1937) and La gondola delle chimere/The Phantom Gondola (Augusto Genina, 1936) with Fosco Giachetti . She collaborated again with Genina and Giachetti in Lo squadrone bianco/White Squadron (Augusto Genina, 1936), shot in Libya.
Essential for her career was the film agent Eugenio Fontana, who for years arranged her deals with directors and producers. In Sentinelle di bronzo/Sentinels of Bronze (Romolo Marcellini, 1937) Duranti obtained her first real success as the protagonist, a coloured woman.
From that moment on she became a film star, famous for her elegant movements but also her aggressive behaviour. Between Sentinelle di bronzo and 1945, Duranti made some 17 films.
Among her major performances were Lola in Cavalleria rusticana (Amleto Palermi, 1939) adapted from the famous opera by Mascagni, and the title roles in La contessa Castiglione (Flavio Calzavara, 1942) and Carmela (Flavio Calzavara, 1942).
In the latter, Duranti showed a naked breast, which gave life to a famous quarrel between Duranti and her rival star Clara Calamai who also flashed one breast in the period piece La cena delle beffe/The Jester's Supper (Alessandro Blasetti, 1941). Duranti, however, claimed she was the first showing her breast standing up, proud and without make up, in contrast to Calamai who showed while lying down. Anyway, neither of the two was first, as Vittoria Carpi had already flashed a breast in the fantasy film La corona di ferro/The Iron Crown (Alessandro Blasetti, 1940).
German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3793/1, 1941-1944. Photo: DIFU.
German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 208, 1941-1944. Photo: DIFU.
The actress par excellence for His Excellence
Doris Duranti had become one the best payed and highest esteemed actresses of the fascist regime, but, unwisely, she also started an affair with Alessandro Pavolini.
In 1938, this notorious fascist had become Minister of Popular Culture in the government of Repubblica Sociale Italiana led by Benito Mussolini. Pavolini for instance rejected the neorealist scripts by Luchino Visconti, Giuseppe De Santis and others.
Duranti became known as ‘the actress par excellence/for His Excellence’. Mussolini first opposed, then accepted the affair. He seems to have been smitten with Duranti’s performance in Il re si diverte/The King's Jester (Mario Bonnard, 1941), an adaptation of the opera Rigoletto, with Michel Simon as Rigoletto and Duranti as Margot.
When the fascist regime fell in 1943, Duranti followed her lover Pavolini to the North, where they first lived in Venice, where the so-called Repubblica Sociale Italiana thought of reviving Rome’s Cinecittà.
After that they moved to Lake Como, Pavolini was one of the main leaders in mobilising the fascists against the Allies. He was responsible for a brutal massacre in Ferrara in November 1943, revenging the killing of a high official (it was never revealed whether partisans really had been responsible). Pavolini also had a major part in the execution in January 1944 of the members of the Grand Council who had Mussolini arrested in July 1943. Among them was Mussolini’s son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editore Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 20910. Photo: Venturini.
Italian postcard by Armando Terzoli, Roma. Photo: Venturini, Roma.
Passage to Switzerland
When things went bad for the fascist Republic and the Allies were heading north, Pavolini managed to get Doris Duranti a passage to Switzerland and she moved to Lugano. Here she was imprisoned and she tried to kill herself by opening her veins.
Pavolini was captured in April 1945 by the Partisans, shot and hung in public in Milan next to the corpse of Mussolini. Duranti later on married a police lieutenant and moved with him to South America, where she remained for many years.
In 1950 Duranti returned to Italy, where audiences apparently had forgiven her her past. She played in several Italian films and even had quite a few leads in films like the comedy Il voto/The Vote (Mario Bonnard, 1950), the crime drama I falsari/The Counterfeiters (Franco Rossi, 1950) with Fosco Giachetti , and the romantic war drama Clandestino a Trieste/Fugitive in Trieste (Guido Salvini, 1951).
All in all she played in some 14 films between 1950 and 1954, including one French film: La minute de vérité'/The Moment of Truth (Jean Delannoy, 1952). She then met the famous journalist and radio reporter Mario Ferretti, the two fell in love and they moved to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, where they opened up a restaurant.
Duranti’s last performance was in the film Divina creatura/The Divine Nymph (Patroni Griffi, 1976) starring Laura Antonelli. In 1995 Doris Duranti died in Santo Domingo at the age of 78 years. Her life has been the subject of the TV-series Doris, una diva di regime (Alfredo Giannetti, 1991) with Elide Melli playing Duranti.
A little homage to Duranti. Source: Marco Sisi (YouTube).
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian), and .
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit, no. 2092. Photo: Venturini, Roma.
The quarrel of the first naked breast
Dora Franca Duranti was born in Livorno (Leghorn), Italy, in 1917.
From 1935 on, so at a young age, she started her film career as extra or in minor parts in films like Aldebaran (Alessandro Blasetti, 1935) starring Gino Cervi , the Tito Schipa vehicle Vivere/To Live (Guido Brignone, 1937) and La gondola delle chimere/The Phantom Gondola (Augusto Genina, 1936) with Fosco Giachetti . She collaborated again with Genina and Giachetti in Lo squadrone bianco/White Squadron (Augusto Genina, 1936), shot in Libya.
Essential for her career was the film agent Eugenio Fontana, who for years arranged her deals with directors and producers. In Sentinelle di bronzo/Sentinels of Bronze (Romolo Marcellini, 1937) Duranti obtained her first real success as the protagonist, a coloured woman.
From that moment on she became a film star, famous for her elegant movements but also her aggressive behaviour. Between Sentinelle di bronzo and 1945, Duranti made some 17 films.
Among her major performances were Lola in Cavalleria rusticana (Amleto Palermi, 1939) adapted from the famous opera by Mascagni, and the title roles in La contessa Castiglione (Flavio Calzavara, 1942) and Carmela (Flavio Calzavara, 1942).
In the latter, Duranti showed a naked breast, which gave life to a famous quarrel between Duranti and her rival star Clara Calamai who also flashed one breast in the period piece La cena delle beffe/The Jester's Supper (Alessandro Blasetti, 1941). Duranti, however, claimed she was the first showing her breast standing up, proud and without make up, in contrast to Calamai who showed while lying down. Anyway, neither of the two was first, as Vittoria Carpi had already flashed a breast in the fantasy film La corona di ferro/The Iron Crown (Alessandro Blasetti, 1940).
German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3793/1, 1941-1944. Photo: DIFU.
German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 208, 1941-1944. Photo: DIFU.
The actress par excellence for His Excellence
Doris Duranti had become one the best payed and highest esteemed actresses of the fascist regime, but, unwisely, she also started an affair with Alessandro Pavolini.
In 1938, this notorious fascist had become Minister of Popular Culture in the government of Repubblica Sociale Italiana led by Benito Mussolini. Pavolini for instance rejected the neorealist scripts by Luchino Visconti, Giuseppe De Santis and others.
Duranti became known as ‘the actress par excellence/for His Excellence’. Mussolini first opposed, then accepted the affair. He seems to have been smitten with Duranti’s performance in Il re si diverte/The King's Jester (Mario Bonnard, 1941), an adaptation of the opera Rigoletto, with Michel Simon as Rigoletto and Duranti as Margot.
When the fascist regime fell in 1943, Duranti followed her lover Pavolini to the North, where they first lived in Venice, where the so-called Repubblica Sociale Italiana thought of reviving Rome’s Cinecittà.
After that they moved to Lake Como, Pavolini was one of the main leaders in mobilising the fascists against the Allies. He was responsible for a brutal massacre in Ferrara in November 1943, revenging the killing of a high official (it was never revealed whether partisans really had been responsible). Pavolini also had a major part in the execution in January 1944 of the members of the Grand Council who had Mussolini arrested in July 1943. Among them was Mussolini’s son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editore Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 20910. Photo: Venturini.
Italian postcard by Armando Terzoli, Roma. Photo: Venturini, Roma.
Passage to Switzerland
When things went bad for the fascist Republic and the Allies were heading north, Pavolini managed to get Doris Duranti a passage to Switzerland and she moved to Lugano. Here she was imprisoned and she tried to kill herself by opening her veins.
Pavolini was captured in April 1945 by the Partisans, shot and hung in public in Milan next to the corpse of Mussolini. Duranti later on married a police lieutenant and moved with him to South America, where she remained for many years.
In 1950 Duranti returned to Italy, where audiences apparently had forgiven her her past. She played in several Italian films and even had quite a few leads in films like the comedy Il voto/The Vote (Mario Bonnard, 1950), the crime drama I falsari/The Counterfeiters (Franco Rossi, 1950) with Fosco Giachetti , and the romantic war drama Clandestino a Trieste/Fugitive in Trieste (Guido Salvini, 1951).
All in all she played in some 14 films between 1950 and 1954, including one French film: La minute de vérité'/The Moment of Truth (Jean Delannoy, 1952). She then met the famous journalist and radio reporter Mario Ferretti, the two fell in love and they moved to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, where they opened up a restaurant.
Duranti’s last performance was in the film Divina creatura/The Divine Nymph (Patroni Griffi, 1976) starring Laura Antonelli. In 1995 Doris Duranti died in Santo Domingo at the age of 78 years. Her life has been the subject of the TV-series Doris, una diva di regime (Alfredo Giannetti, 1991) with Elide Melli playing Duranti.
A little homage to Duranti. Source: Marco Sisi (YouTube).
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian), and .
November 26, 2016
Maria Sebaldt
Maria Sebaldt (1930) is a German actress who appeared in many lightweight entertainment films of the 1950 and 1960s. Her parts were often flirtatious and playful. Highlights were the comedies Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (1956) and Die Zürcher Verlobung/The Zurich Engagement (1957), both directed by Helmut Käutner. Later she was very popular on TV.
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. I 297. Photo: Kurt Ulrich-Film / Deutsche Film Hansa (DFH) / Wesel. Publicity still for Der Greifer/The Copper (Eugen York, 1958).
A touch of realism that is very refreshing
Maria Katharina Helene Sebaldt was born in 1930 in Berlin-Steglitz. Her father was a portrait painter and flute soloist, who worked after the war as the department head of Paramount film distribution.
From 1946 to 1949 Maria took private acting lessons from actress Anne Marie Asmus and studied at the Weimar Stanislawsky School. In 1947 she already made her stage debut in Maximilian Böttcher’s Krach im Hinterhaus. It was followed by numerous stage engagements in such cities as Sondershausen, Berlin and Munich.
Her film debut was a small part as a room maid in the farce So ein Affentheater/Monkey business (Erik Ode, 1953), followed by a part next to Rudolf Prack in the Heimatfilm Wenn am Sonntagabend die Dorfmusik spielt/Sunday Night when the village music plays (Rudolf Schündler, 1953). From then on she focused on film and television.
She appeared in musical films like the film operetta Der Zigeunerbaron/The Gypsy Baron (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1954), starring Paul Hörbiger , Der Zarewitsch/The Little Czar (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1954) and Tausend Sterne leuchten/A Thousand Stars Aglitter (Harald Philipp, 1959) starring Germaine Damar , but she also played in dramas such as Anastasia, die letzte Zarentochter/The Story of Anastasia (Falk Harnack, 1956) featuring Lilli Palmer . This film is based on the true story of a woman in Berlin who was pulled from the Landwehr Canal in 1920 and who later claimed to be Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II of Russia.
Sebaldt appeared with Heinz Rühmann in the funny Carl Zuckmayer adaptation Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (Helmut Käutner, 1956). Ray Cooper at IMDb : “ Heinz Rühmann excels in one of his most popular roles as ex-con who puts on the uniform of a Captain and fools the whole German army. Very funny, smart, beautifully realized, colorful comedy drama with great cast overshadowed by Rühmann's one-of-a-kind turn“.
Another highlight among Sebaldt’s films is the comedy Die Zürcher Verlobung/The Zurich Engagement (Helmut Käutner, 1957) with Lilo Pulver . At IMDb , Stefan Kahrs writes: “The film has dated much less badly than other romantic comedies from this era. Amongst other reasons is that the central characters are not meant to be perfect, not even perfect for each other, and this adds a touch of realism that is very refreshing. The cast is excellent, in both supporting and leading roles.”
Other comedies with Sebaldt are Vater, Mutter und neun Kinder/Father, Mother and nine Children (Erich Engels, 1958) with Heinz Erhardt, and the Peter Alexander vehicle Peter schießt den Vogel ab/Peter shoots the bird (Géza von Cziffra, 1959). Eddie Constantine was her co-star in the gangster parody Hoppla, jetzt kommt Eddie/ Hoopla, Now Comes Eddie (Werner Klingler, 1958).
She also had a small role in the literary adaptation Die Buddenbrooks (Alfred Weidenmann, 1959) based on the famous novel by Thomas Mann. She played the cunning gangster Virginia Peng in Nick Knattertons Abenteuer - Der Raub der Gloria Nylon/The Kidnapping of Miss Nylon (Hans Quest, 1959), the live-action version of Manfred Schmidt's popular comic series Nick Knatterton.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb. Berlin, no. 321. Photo: Real-Film. Publicity still for Der Kaufmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (Helmut Käutner, 1956).
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. T 890. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Bavaria / Schorcht. Publicity still for Eine Frau die weiss wass sie will/Mother of Pearl (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1958).
Western action, comical elements, thrills, shoot'em up, brawls
In 1960, Maria Sebaldt reunited with Heinz Rühmann in the Father Brown mystery Das schwarze Schaf/The Black Sheep (Helmuth Ashley, 1960). She appeared in the operetta film Der Vogelhändler/The Bird Seller (Géza von Cziffra, 1962) next to Conny Froboess .
Jan Onderwater at IMDb : “The plot of the operetta was changed to fit into 90 minutes, but maybe also for the original being unacceptably corny; but it is all to no avail. Von Cziffra directed without imagination and spirit and he is hopelessly inadequate in using the Ultrascope format. The result is a dull film, not helped much by an average cast; Conny Froboess seems not at all to be comfortable with her part and Ruth Stephan and Rudolf Platte , both always good for comic interludes, are very disappointing; it is only Maria Sebaldt who sometimes brings some life into the film.“
She reunited with Peter Alexander for the Austrian comedy Charley's Tante/Charley's Aunt (Géza von Cziffra, 1963), an adaptation of the British farce Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas. The result was also disappointing.
Better was the exciting and cynical Euro-Western Pistoleros de Arizona/5.000 dollari sull'asso/Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace (Alfonso Balcázar, 1965). Ma-cortes at IMDb : “The film packs Western action, comical elements, thrills, shoot'em up, brawls, and results to be quite entertaining.”
Interesting was also the comedy …aber Jonny!/...But Johnny! (Alfred Weidenmann, 1973) with Horst Buchholz as a callboy.
On television, Sebaldt became popular with her part in the series Ich heirate eine Familie/I marry a family (1983-1986). Between 1986 and 1991, she played the worrying Hannelore Wichert in Die Wicherts von nebenan/The Wicherts next door, now a cult-series in Germany.
She also guest-starred in German series like Der Kommissar (1969, 1973), Derrick (1976, 1978, 1980, 1981), Der Alte/The Old Fox (1978, 1982), Tatort (1979) and Das Traumschiff/The Dream Ship (1991, 1993, 2003, 2006, 2010, 2014).
In France, she appeared in the TV Miniseries Toutes griffes dehors/Claws (Michel Boisrond, 1982) with Sophie Desmarets . More recently she appeared in the documentary Germaine Damar - Der tanzende Stern/Germaine Damar – The Dancing Star (Michael Wenk, 2011) in which she tells about her former colleague from Luxemburg. Sebaldt worked extensively for the radio and as a voice actress she was the German voice for foreign colleagues as Antonella Lualdi , Eva Marie Saint and Joanne Woodward.
From 1965 until his death in 2010 Maria Sebaldt was married with her Austrian-Swiss colleague Robert Freitag. In 1997, she published with Freitag’s first wife, the actress Maria Becker, the cookbook Essen und trinken und fröhlich sein (Eat and drink and be merry). Maria Sebaldt has a daughter, sculptor Katharina Freitag (1967) and a grandson, Julian, and she lives in Grünwald near Munich.
German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Hilde Zemann, München.
Trailer for Hoppla, jetzt kommt Eddie/ Hoopla, Now Comes Eddie (1958). Source: Film- und Fernsehjuwelen (YouTube).
Trailer for Nick Knattertons Abenteuer - Der Raub der Gloria Nylon/The Kidnapping of Miss Nylon (1959). Source: Film- und Fernsehjuwelen (YouTube).
Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-Line- German), Jan Onderwater (IMDb), Ma-cortes (IMDb), Stefan Kahrs (IMDb), Ray Cooper (IMDb), Wikipedia (German and English) and .
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. I 297. Photo: Kurt Ulrich-Film / Deutsche Film Hansa (DFH) / Wesel. Publicity still for Der Greifer/The Copper (Eugen York, 1958).
A touch of realism that is very refreshing
Maria Katharina Helene Sebaldt was born in 1930 in Berlin-Steglitz. Her father was a portrait painter and flute soloist, who worked after the war as the department head of Paramount film distribution.
From 1946 to 1949 Maria took private acting lessons from actress Anne Marie Asmus and studied at the Weimar Stanislawsky School. In 1947 she already made her stage debut in Maximilian Böttcher’s Krach im Hinterhaus. It was followed by numerous stage engagements in such cities as Sondershausen, Berlin and Munich.
Her film debut was a small part as a room maid in the farce So ein Affentheater/Monkey business (Erik Ode, 1953), followed by a part next to Rudolf Prack in the Heimatfilm Wenn am Sonntagabend die Dorfmusik spielt/Sunday Night when the village music plays (Rudolf Schündler, 1953). From then on she focused on film and television.
She appeared in musical films like the film operetta Der Zigeunerbaron/The Gypsy Baron (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1954), starring Paul Hörbiger , Der Zarewitsch/The Little Czar (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1954) and Tausend Sterne leuchten/A Thousand Stars Aglitter (Harald Philipp, 1959) starring Germaine Damar , but she also played in dramas such as Anastasia, die letzte Zarentochter/The Story of Anastasia (Falk Harnack, 1956) featuring Lilli Palmer . This film is based on the true story of a woman in Berlin who was pulled from the Landwehr Canal in 1920 and who later claimed to be Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II of Russia.
Sebaldt appeared with Heinz Rühmann in the funny Carl Zuckmayer adaptation Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (Helmut Käutner, 1956). Ray Cooper at IMDb : “ Heinz Rühmann excels in one of his most popular roles as ex-con who puts on the uniform of a Captain and fools the whole German army. Very funny, smart, beautifully realized, colorful comedy drama with great cast overshadowed by Rühmann's one-of-a-kind turn“.
Another highlight among Sebaldt’s films is the comedy Die Zürcher Verlobung/The Zurich Engagement (Helmut Käutner, 1957) with Lilo Pulver . At IMDb , Stefan Kahrs writes: “The film has dated much less badly than other romantic comedies from this era. Amongst other reasons is that the central characters are not meant to be perfect, not even perfect for each other, and this adds a touch of realism that is very refreshing. The cast is excellent, in both supporting and leading roles.”
Other comedies with Sebaldt are Vater, Mutter und neun Kinder/Father, Mother and nine Children (Erich Engels, 1958) with Heinz Erhardt, and the Peter Alexander vehicle Peter schießt den Vogel ab/Peter shoots the bird (Géza von Cziffra, 1959). Eddie Constantine was her co-star in the gangster parody Hoppla, jetzt kommt Eddie/ Hoopla, Now Comes Eddie (Werner Klingler, 1958).
She also had a small role in the literary adaptation Die Buddenbrooks (Alfred Weidenmann, 1959) based on the famous novel by Thomas Mann. She played the cunning gangster Virginia Peng in Nick Knattertons Abenteuer - Der Raub der Gloria Nylon/The Kidnapping of Miss Nylon (Hans Quest, 1959), the live-action version of Manfred Schmidt's popular comic series Nick Knatterton.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb. Berlin, no. 321. Photo: Real-Film. Publicity still for Der Kaufmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (Helmut Käutner, 1956).
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. T 890. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Bavaria / Schorcht. Publicity still for Eine Frau die weiss wass sie will/Mother of Pearl (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1958).
Western action, comical elements, thrills, shoot'em up, brawls
In 1960, Maria Sebaldt reunited with Heinz Rühmann in the Father Brown mystery Das schwarze Schaf/The Black Sheep (Helmuth Ashley, 1960). She appeared in the operetta film Der Vogelhändler/The Bird Seller (Géza von Cziffra, 1962) next to Conny Froboess .
Jan Onderwater at IMDb : “The plot of the operetta was changed to fit into 90 minutes, but maybe also for the original being unacceptably corny; but it is all to no avail. Von Cziffra directed without imagination and spirit and he is hopelessly inadequate in using the Ultrascope format. The result is a dull film, not helped much by an average cast; Conny Froboess seems not at all to be comfortable with her part and Ruth Stephan and Rudolf Platte , both always good for comic interludes, are very disappointing; it is only Maria Sebaldt who sometimes brings some life into the film.“
She reunited with Peter Alexander for the Austrian comedy Charley's Tante/Charley's Aunt (Géza von Cziffra, 1963), an adaptation of the British farce Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas. The result was also disappointing.
Better was the exciting and cynical Euro-Western Pistoleros de Arizona/5.000 dollari sull'asso/Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace (Alfonso Balcázar, 1965). Ma-cortes at IMDb : “The film packs Western action, comical elements, thrills, shoot'em up, brawls, and results to be quite entertaining.”
Interesting was also the comedy …aber Jonny!/...But Johnny! (Alfred Weidenmann, 1973) with Horst Buchholz as a callboy.
On television, Sebaldt became popular with her part in the series Ich heirate eine Familie/I marry a family (1983-1986). Between 1986 and 1991, she played the worrying Hannelore Wichert in Die Wicherts von nebenan/The Wicherts next door, now a cult-series in Germany.
She also guest-starred in German series like Der Kommissar (1969, 1973), Derrick (1976, 1978, 1980, 1981), Der Alte/The Old Fox (1978, 1982), Tatort (1979) and Das Traumschiff/The Dream Ship (1991, 1993, 2003, 2006, 2010, 2014).
In France, she appeared in the TV Miniseries Toutes griffes dehors/Claws (Michel Boisrond, 1982) with Sophie Desmarets . More recently she appeared in the documentary Germaine Damar - Der tanzende Stern/Germaine Damar – The Dancing Star (Michael Wenk, 2011) in which she tells about her former colleague from Luxemburg. Sebaldt worked extensively for the radio and as a voice actress she was the German voice for foreign colleagues as Antonella Lualdi , Eva Marie Saint and Joanne Woodward.
From 1965 until his death in 2010 Maria Sebaldt was married with her Austrian-Swiss colleague Robert Freitag. In 1997, she published with Freitag’s first wife, the actress Maria Becker, the cookbook Essen und trinken und fröhlich sein (Eat and drink and be merry). Maria Sebaldt has a daughter, sculptor Katharina Freitag (1967) and a grandson, Julian, and she lives in Grünwald near Munich.
German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Hilde Zemann, München.
Trailer for Hoppla, jetzt kommt Eddie/ Hoopla, Now Comes Eddie (1958). Source: Film- und Fernsehjuwelen (YouTube).
Trailer for Nick Knattertons Abenteuer - Der Raub der Gloria Nylon/The Kidnapping of Miss Nylon (1959). Source: Film- und Fernsehjuwelen (YouTube).
Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-Line- German), Jan Onderwater (IMDb), Ma-cortes (IMDb), Stefan Kahrs (IMDb), Ray Cooper (IMDb), Wikipedia (German and English) and .
November 25, 2016
Imported from the USA: Kirk Douglas
No, he is not dead, as People Magazine announced in 2014. Cleft-chinned, gravelly voiced and steely-eyed American actor, producer, director, and author Kirk Douglas (1916) lives! He was a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s and 1960s, known for his strong characters in serious dramas, Westerns and war films. During a sixty-year acting career, he appeared in over 90 films, and in 1960 he helped to end the Hollywood Blacklist. So today we import on EFSP: the last surviving superstar from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
German postcard by ISV, no. A 42. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for The Racers (Henry Hathaway, 1955).
French postcard in the Collection Cinema Couleur by Editions La Malibran, Paris/Nancy, 1989. Photo: John Bryson. Publicity still for Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli, 1956).
Israelian postcard by Editions de Luxe. Photo: publicity still for The Last Sunset (Robert Aldrich, 1961).
The ragman's son
Kirk Douglas was born as 'the ragman's son' (the name of his 1988 autobiography) known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, in Amsterdam, New York, in 1916. His parents, Bryna (Sanglel) and Herschel Danielovitch, were Jewish immigrants from Chavusy, Mahilyow Voblast (now in Belarus). Kirk had six sisters.
Growing up in a poor ghetto, 'Izzy' Demsky sold snacks to mill workers and delivered newspapers to earn enough to buy milk and bread to help his family. He was a fine student and wrestled competitively during his time at St. Lawrence University. He worked at more than forty different jobs before getting an acting job. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts gave him a special scholarship, but he only appeared in a handful of minor Broadway productions before joining the US Navy in 1941. He then legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas.
After the war, Douglas returned to New York City and found work in radio, theatre and commercials. His stage break occurred in Kiss and Tell, which led to other roles. On the insistence of ex-classmate Lauren Bacall producer Hal B. Wallis screen-tested Douglas and cast him opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946). He played a young, insecure man, stung with jealousy, whose life was dominated by a ruthless older woman, and he hid his feelings with alcohol. It would be the last time that Douglas portrayed a weakling in a film role.
His performance received rave reviews and further work quickly followed, including an appearance in the Film Noir I walk alone(Byron Haskin, 1948). It was the first time he worked alongside Burt Lancaster . They appeared in seven films together, including the dynamic western Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (John Sturges, 1957), the John Frankenheimer political thriller Seven Days in May (1964) and their final pairing in the gangster comedy Tough Guys (Jeff Kanew, 1986).
Spanish postcard by Soberanas, no. 280. Photo: publicity still for Champion (Mark Robson, 1949) with Ruth Roman.
Belgian collectors card by De Beukelaer, Antwerp, no A 43. Photo: Warner Bros.
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 55.
Vincent van Gogh
Douglas scored his first Oscar nomination playing the tough, unscrupulous boxing hero Midge Kelly in the gripping The Champion (Mark Robson, 1949). His acting style, relying on expressing great concentration, realism, and powerful emotions, made him a star. Among his early films were the musical drama Young Man with a Horn (Michael Curtiz, 1950) opposite Lauren Bacall, Billy Wilder's Film Noir on the press Ace in the Hole (1951) which won a best foreign film award at the Venice Film Festival, and the Film Noir Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951), nominated for four Academy Awards.
The quality of his work continued to garner the attention of critics. He was again nominated for an Oscar for his role as a film producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (Vincente Minnelli, 1952) opposite Lana Turner. Douglas plays a hard-nosed film producer who manipulates and uses his actors, writers, and directors. The film won five Academy Awards out of six nominations.
Douglas showed a lighter, comic touch in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Richard Fleischer, 1954). In this adaptation of Jules Verne's 19th-century novel, he played a happy-go-lucky sailor who was the opposite in every way to the brooding Captain Nemo ( James Mason ). The film was one of Walt Disney's most successful live-action films, won two minor Oscars and was a major box-office hit.
He got another Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli, 1956), based on Irving Stone's best-seller and filmed in France. Douglas was noted not only for the veracity of van Gogh's appearance but for how he conveyed the painter's massive creative power and his tortured soul. His moving and memorable Van Gogh is considered one of his finest roles. Douglas won a Golden Globe award.
Douglas demonstrated his independent streak and broke his contracts with Hal Wallis and Warner Brothers to gain total control over his projects. In Italy, he made the successful Ulisse/Ulyssus (Mario Camerini, 1954) an adaptation of Homer's second epic, that describes Ulysses' efforts to return to his home after the end of ten years of war. Douglas formed his own film company, Bryna Productions, named after his mother. The company was behind two pivotal film roles in his career. The first was as French army officer Colonel Dax in then relatively unknown director Stanley Kubrick's brilliant anti-war epic Paths of Glory (1957). During World War I, Dax tries to save three soldiers from the firing squad. While Paths of Glory did not do well at the box office, it has since become one of the great anti-war films.
Douglas reunited with Kubrick for yet another epic, the magnificent Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960). The film also marked a key turning point in the life of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy communist witch hunt in the 1950s. At Douglas' insistence Trumbo was given on-screen credit for his contributions. This began the dissolution of the infamous blacklisting policies begun almost a decade previously that had destroyed so many careers and lives. However, Trumbo's family later claimed that Douglas overstated his role.
Romanian collectors card. Photo: publicity still for Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960) with Peter Ustinov.
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1268. Photo: Paramount Films.
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 253. Photo: Centfox.
It Runs in the Family
Douglas remained busy throughout the 1960s, starring in many films. He produced and starred as a rebellious modern-day cowboy in Lonely Are the Brave (David Miller, 1962), considered a cult classic. He acted in the mystery The List of Adrian Messenger (John Huston, 1963), alongside John Wayne in the World War II story In Harm's Way (Otto Preminger, 1965), and in the tongue-in-cheek Western The War Wagon (Burt Kennedy, 1967).
On stage, he starred in 1963 in the Broadway production pf Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. He bought the film rights, but no Hollywood studio could be convinced to bring the story to the screen. Kirk's son Michael Douglas finally filmed the tale, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman, 1975), starring Jack Nicholson. The film won all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in Lead Role, Actress in Lead Role, Director, and Screenplay).
Although Douglas wasn't as busy as previous years, he made nearly 40 films and appeared on various television shows between 1970 and 2008. In 1970, he starred in the Western There Was a Crooked Man... (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970) alongside Henry Fonda. In 1973, he directed his first film, Scalawag. In 1978, he costarred with John Cassavetes and Amy Irving in the excellent horror film The Fury, directed by Brian De Palma. In 1980, he starred in The Final Countdown (Don Taylor, 1980), playing the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which travels through time to the day before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It was produced by his son Peter Douglas.
His other films included the Western comedy The Villain (Hal Needham, 1979) with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Sci-fi thriller Saturn 3 (Stanley Donen, 1980) and the Australian Western The Man from Snowy River (George Miller, 1982), which received a fair degree of critical acclaim and was the most popular Australian film of all time until Crocodile Dundee (Peter Faiman, 1986). In 1986, he also reunited with his longtime costar Burt Lancaster in the crime comedy Tough Guys (Jeff Kanew, 1986), with Eli Wallach. Less known are his roles in such European films as Un uomo da rispettare/The Master Touch (Michele Lupo, 1972) with Giuliano Gemma , and Veraz (Xavier Castano, 1991).
Douglas has long been involved in humanitarian causes and has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the US State Department since 1963. France honoured him with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He was presented with a honorary Academy Award by Steven Spielberg in 1996. Despite a helicopter crash and a stroke suffered in the 1990s, Douglas focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life since. He underwent years of voice therapy and made the film Diamonds (John Mallory Asher, 1999), in which he played an old prizefighter who was recovering from a stroke. It costarred his longtime friend from his early years, Lauren Bacall.
Kirk Douglas is the last surviving superstar from the Golden Age of Hollywood. He lives with Belgium-born producer Anne Buydens, his wife of over 60 years. They had two children, television and film producer Peter Douglas (1955) and actor and stand-up comedian Eric Douglas. In 2004, Eric died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 46. With his first wife, Bermudian actress Diana Dill, Kirk Douglas also has two children, Michael Douglas (1944) and Joel Douglas (1947). In 2003, Michael and Joel produced It Runs in the Family (Fred Schepisi, 2003), in which Kirk starred with Michael, Michael's son Cameron Douglas, and Diana Dill, playing his wife. His most recent film appearance was in a strong non-speaking role in Meurtres à l'Empire State Building (William Karel, 2008), a French tribute and doc-crime-drama celebrating American Film Noir and the icons of the Hollywood golden age.
Trailer Ulysses (1954). Source: junkiefix (YouTube).
Trailer Spartacus (1960). Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).
Sources: (IMDb), (IMDb), Ella Alexander (The Independent), Wikipedia and .
German postcard by ISV, no. A 42. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for The Racers (Henry Hathaway, 1955).
French postcard in the Collection Cinema Couleur by Editions La Malibran, Paris/Nancy, 1989. Photo: John Bryson. Publicity still for Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli, 1956).
Israelian postcard by Editions de Luxe. Photo: publicity still for The Last Sunset (Robert Aldrich, 1961).
The ragman's son
Kirk Douglas was born as 'the ragman's son' (the name of his 1988 autobiography) known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, in Amsterdam, New York, in 1916. His parents, Bryna (Sanglel) and Herschel Danielovitch, were Jewish immigrants from Chavusy, Mahilyow Voblast (now in Belarus). Kirk had six sisters.
Growing up in a poor ghetto, 'Izzy' Demsky sold snacks to mill workers and delivered newspapers to earn enough to buy milk and bread to help his family. He was a fine student and wrestled competitively during his time at St. Lawrence University. He worked at more than forty different jobs before getting an acting job. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts gave him a special scholarship, but he only appeared in a handful of minor Broadway productions before joining the US Navy in 1941. He then legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas.
After the war, Douglas returned to New York City and found work in radio, theatre and commercials. His stage break occurred in Kiss and Tell, which led to other roles. On the insistence of ex-classmate Lauren Bacall producer Hal B. Wallis screen-tested Douglas and cast him opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946). He played a young, insecure man, stung with jealousy, whose life was dominated by a ruthless older woman, and he hid his feelings with alcohol. It would be the last time that Douglas portrayed a weakling in a film role.
His performance received rave reviews and further work quickly followed, including an appearance in the Film Noir I walk alone(Byron Haskin, 1948). It was the first time he worked alongside Burt Lancaster . They appeared in seven films together, including the dynamic western Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (John Sturges, 1957), the John Frankenheimer political thriller Seven Days in May (1964) and their final pairing in the gangster comedy Tough Guys (Jeff Kanew, 1986).
Spanish postcard by Soberanas, no. 280. Photo: publicity still for Champion (Mark Robson, 1949) with Ruth Roman.
Belgian collectors card by De Beukelaer, Antwerp, no A 43. Photo: Warner Bros.
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 55.
Vincent van Gogh
Douglas scored his first Oscar nomination playing the tough, unscrupulous boxing hero Midge Kelly in the gripping The Champion (Mark Robson, 1949). His acting style, relying on expressing great concentration, realism, and powerful emotions, made him a star. Among his early films were the musical drama Young Man with a Horn (Michael Curtiz, 1950) opposite Lauren Bacall, Billy Wilder's Film Noir on the press Ace in the Hole (1951) which won a best foreign film award at the Venice Film Festival, and the Film Noir Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951), nominated for four Academy Awards.
The quality of his work continued to garner the attention of critics. He was again nominated for an Oscar for his role as a film producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (Vincente Minnelli, 1952) opposite Lana Turner. Douglas plays a hard-nosed film producer who manipulates and uses his actors, writers, and directors. The film won five Academy Awards out of six nominations.
Douglas showed a lighter, comic touch in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Richard Fleischer, 1954). In this adaptation of Jules Verne's 19th-century novel, he played a happy-go-lucky sailor who was the opposite in every way to the brooding Captain Nemo ( James Mason ). The film was one of Walt Disney's most successful live-action films, won two minor Oscars and was a major box-office hit.
He got another Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli, 1956), based on Irving Stone's best-seller and filmed in France. Douglas was noted not only for the veracity of van Gogh's appearance but for how he conveyed the painter's massive creative power and his tortured soul. His moving and memorable Van Gogh is considered one of his finest roles. Douglas won a Golden Globe award.
Douglas demonstrated his independent streak and broke his contracts with Hal Wallis and Warner Brothers to gain total control over his projects. In Italy, he made the successful Ulisse/Ulyssus (Mario Camerini, 1954) an adaptation of Homer's second epic, that describes Ulysses' efforts to return to his home after the end of ten years of war. Douglas formed his own film company, Bryna Productions, named after his mother. The company was behind two pivotal film roles in his career. The first was as French army officer Colonel Dax in then relatively unknown director Stanley Kubrick's brilliant anti-war epic Paths of Glory (1957). During World War I, Dax tries to save three soldiers from the firing squad. While Paths of Glory did not do well at the box office, it has since become one of the great anti-war films.
Douglas reunited with Kubrick for yet another epic, the magnificent Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960). The film also marked a key turning point in the life of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy communist witch hunt in the 1950s. At Douglas' insistence Trumbo was given on-screen credit for his contributions. This began the dissolution of the infamous blacklisting policies begun almost a decade previously that had destroyed so many careers and lives. However, Trumbo's family later claimed that Douglas overstated his role.
Romanian collectors card. Photo: publicity still for Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960) with Peter Ustinov.
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1268. Photo: Paramount Films.
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 253. Photo: Centfox.
It Runs in the Family
Douglas remained busy throughout the 1960s, starring in many films. He produced and starred as a rebellious modern-day cowboy in Lonely Are the Brave (David Miller, 1962), considered a cult classic. He acted in the mystery The List of Adrian Messenger (John Huston, 1963), alongside John Wayne in the World War II story In Harm's Way (Otto Preminger, 1965), and in the tongue-in-cheek Western The War Wagon (Burt Kennedy, 1967).
On stage, he starred in 1963 in the Broadway production pf Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. He bought the film rights, but no Hollywood studio could be convinced to bring the story to the screen. Kirk's son Michael Douglas finally filmed the tale, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman, 1975), starring Jack Nicholson. The film won all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in Lead Role, Actress in Lead Role, Director, and Screenplay).
Although Douglas wasn't as busy as previous years, he made nearly 40 films and appeared on various television shows between 1970 and 2008. In 1970, he starred in the Western There Was a Crooked Man... (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970) alongside Henry Fonda. In 1973, he directed his first film, Scalawag. In 1978, he costarred with John Cassavetes and Amy Irving in the excellent horror film The Fury, directed by Brian De Palma. In 1980, he starred in The Final Countdown (Don Taylor, 1980), playing the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which travels through time to the day before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It was produced by his son Peter Douglas.
His other films included the Western comedy The Villain (Hal Needham, 1979) with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Sci-fi thriller Saturn 3 (Stanley Donen, 1980) and the Australian Western The Man from Snowy River (George Miller, 1982), which received a fair degree of critical acclaim and was the most popular Australian film of all time until Crocodile Dundee (Peter Faiman, 1986). In 1986, he also reunited with his longtime costar Burt Lancaster in the crime comedy Tough Guys (Jeff Kanew, 1986), with Eli Wallach. Less known are his roles in such European films as Un uomo da rispettare/The Master Touch (Michele Lupo, 1972) with Giuliano Gemma , and Veraz (Xavier Castano, 1991).
Douglas has long been involved in humanitarian causes and has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the US State Department since 1963. France honoured him with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He was presented with a honorary Academy Award by Steven Spielberg in 1996. Despite a helicopter crash and a stroke suffered in the 1990s, Douglas focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life since. He underwent years of voice therapy and made the film Diamonds (John Mallory Asher, 1999), in which he played an old prizefighter who was recovering from a stroke. It costarred his longtime friend from his early years, Lauren Bacall.
Kirk Douglas is the last surviving superstar from the Golden Age of Hollywood. He lives with Belgium-born producer Anne Buydens, his wife of over 60 years. They had two children, television and film producer Peter Douglas (1955) and actor and stand-up comedian Eric Douglas. In 2004, Eric died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 46. With his first wife, Bermudian actress Diana Dill, Kirk Douglas also has two children, Michael Douglas (1944) and Joel Douglas (1947). In 2003, Michael and Joel produced It Runs in the Family (Fred Schepisi, 2003), in which Kirk starred with Michael, Michael's son Cameron Douglas, and Diana Dill, playing his wife. His most recent film appearance was in a strong non-speaking role in Meurtres à l'Empire State Building (William Karel, 2008), a French tribute and doc-crime-drama celebrating American Film Noir and the icons of the Hollywood golden age.
Trailer Ulysses (1954). Source: junkiefix (YouTube).
Trailer Spartacus (1960). Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).
Sources: (IMDb), (IMDb), Ella Alexander (The Independent), Wikipedia and .
November 24, 2016
EFSP's Dazzling Dozen: published by Takken
In the city of Utrecht, in the heart of the Netherlands, a little publishing company produced dozens of interesting film star postcards during the 1950s and 1960s. They often worked together with Photo press bureau 't Sticht, also in Utrecht. Recently I found Takken's superb Marilyn Monroe postcard with a publicity still for The Asphalt Jungle (1950). There is little known about 'Uitg. Takken', but twelve dazzling postcards were easily selected.
Alida Valli . Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1683. Photo: publicity still for Senso (Luchino Visconti, 1954).
Marilyn Monroe . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 1708. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston, 1950).
Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby. Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3021. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Publicity still for High Society (Charles Walters, 1956).
Margaret Lockwood . Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. 3239. Photo: Eagle Lion.
Rita Hayworth . Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, no. 3317. Photo: Columbia. Publicity still for Down to earth (Alexander Hall, 1947).
Giulietta Masina . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3381. Photo: N.V. Standaardfilms. Publicity still for La strada (1954).
Romy Schneider . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3573. Photo: publicity still for Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin/Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (Ernst Marischka, 1957).
Mickey Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield . Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, no. 3674. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Marlon Brando . Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. 3730. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Sayonara (Joshua Logan, 1957).
Tommy Steele , Elvis Presley, Lizabeth Scott. Dutch multi-view postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. 3823, 1958. The photo of Elvis with Lizabeth Scott was a publicity still for the film Loving You (1957, Hal Kanter).
Peter Kraus . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4445. Photo: Hafbo. Publicity still for Die Frühreifen/The precocious (Josef von Báky, 1957).
Elke Sommer . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4982. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday, hosted by Beth at the The Best Hearts are Crunchy. You can visit her by clicking on the button below.
Alida Valli . Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1683. Photo: publicity still for Senso (Luchino Visconti, 1954).
Marilyn Monroe . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 1708. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston, 1950).
Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby. Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3021. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Publicity still for High Society (Charles Walters, 1956).
Margaret Lockwood . Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. 3239. Photo: Eagle Lion.
Rita Hayworth . Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, no. 3317. Photo: Columbia. Publicity still for Down to earth (Alexander Hall, 1947).
Giulietta Masina . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3381. Photo: N.V. Standaardfilms. Publicity still for La strada (1954).
Romy Schneider . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3573. Photo: publicity still for Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin/Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (Ernst Marischka, 1957).
Mickey Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield . Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, no. 3674. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Marlon Brando . Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. 3730. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Sayonara (Joshua Logan, 1957).
Tommy Steele , Elvis Presley, Lizabeth Scott. Dutch multi-view postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. 3823, 1958. The photo of Elvis with Lizabeth Scott was a publicity still for the film Loving You (1957, Hal Kanter).
Peter Kraus . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4445. Photo: Hafbo. Publicity still for Die Frühreifen/The precocious (Josef von Báky, 1957).
Elke Sommer . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4982. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday, hosted by Beth at the The Best Hearts are Crunchy. You can visit her by clicking on the button below.
November 23, 2016
Jean Desailly
French actor Jean Desailly (1920-2008) was a member of the Comédie-Française from 1942 to 1946, and later participated in about ninety films. He achieved his greatest popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. For sixty years, he formed a celebrated married theatrical couple with his second wife, Simone Valère.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 113. Photo: Pathé Cinéma.
A sensitive and heart-warming performance
Jean Desailly was born in Paris in 1920. His father was the composer Reynaldo Hahn’s secretary.
Jean studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts with the intention of becoming a commercial artist. At the same time he was acting in an itinerant theatre company, La Roulette, and then chose to attend the Conservatoire de Paris where he left with the first acting prize.
In 1942, he joined the Comédie-Française. In 1943, he created Paul Claudel's Soulier de satin with Madeleine Renaud under the direction of Jean-Louis Barrault.
In the cinema he starred in the murder mystery Le voyageur de la Toussaint/Traveler on All Saints' Day (Louis Daquin, 1943) about a young man who returns to his hometown of La Rochelle and becomes the unexpected heir to a large fortune. He is confronted with ‘the syndicate’, a powerful bourgeois family who has always despised his parents because they were music hall artists. The film was an adaptation of a story by Georges Simenon, Desailly’s favourite writer and co-starred Assia Noris , Jules Berry and Simone Valère, with whom he fell in love.
D.B. Dumonteil at IMDb : “Jean Desailly (debut) as the innocent young man gives a sensitive and heart-warming performance. His smile lightens this dark atmosphere along with that of his uncle 's young widow, an ex-usherette whom the whole family despises as well.”
French postcard. This postcard was made for the exclusive release at the Madeleine cinema. Photo: Prod. CAPAC. Jean Desailly and Madeleine Sologne in Une grande fille toute simple/Just a Big Simple Girl (Jacques Manuel, 1948). The sets were by Robert Gys.
Belgian postcard. Prod. CAPAC. Artistes Associés. Madeleine Sologne and Jean Desailly in Une grande fille toute simple (Jacques Manuel 1948). This card was for the showing of the film at the Palais des Arts/Feestpaleis.
An ideal juvenile lead
In 1946 Jean Desailly became a leading member of the Jean-Louis Barrault-Madeleine Renaud company at the Théâtre Marigny. There he played in a wide repertoire from Les Fausses Confidences, Bérénice and Le Songe d'une nuit d'été. With the Renaud-Barrault at the Odéon-Théâtre de France, he played both leading roles in le Mariage de Figaro: Figaro on tour in the provinces and Count Almaviva in Paris.
In the cinema, Desailly made an ideal juvenile lead such as the shy suitor of Odette Joyeux , who is enamoured by the ghost of a dead nobleman (Jacques Tati) in Sylvie et le fantôme/Sylvie and the ghost (Claude Autant-Lara, 1946). That year, Desailly also appeared as Pierre Blanchar ’s best friend in the costume drama Patrie/Homeland (Louis Daquin, 1946) which was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, and he played Blanchar’s son in the drama La symphonie pastorale/Pastoral Symphony (Jean Delannoy, 1946).
In the latter, a minister and his son both fall for the same blind young woman ( Michèle Morgan ). Three years later, the comedy Occupe-toi d'Amélie/Keep an Eye on Amelia (Claude Autant-Lara, 1949) was entered into the Cannes Film Festival. In this Georges Feydeau adaptation, Desailly starred opposite Danielle Darrieux as Amélie.
He then played the title role of Colette's inexperienced gigolo in Chéri (Pierre Billon, 1950). One of his best films is the bittersweet Les Grandes Manœuvres/The Grand Maneuver (René Clair, 1955), starring Michèle Morgan and Gérard Philipe .
It is a charming romantic comedy-drama set in a French provincial town just before World War I. Another success was Maigret tend un piège/Maigret Sets a Trap (Jean Delannoy, 1958) with Jean Gabin as Simenon’s fictional detective Jules Maigret. Desailly shines as the poor but dangerous Maurice, a neurotic, mother-fixated artist. For this role he was nominated for a BAFTA award, the British Oscar.
French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 47. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
His discreet bourgeois charm
During the 1960s and 1970s, Jean Desailly continued to combine the stage with the cinema. He starred in another Simenon adaptation, the murder mystery La mort de Belle/The End of Belle (Édouard Molinaro, 1961) with Alexandra Stewart, and he played a commissioner opposite criminals Jean-Paul Belmondo and Serge Reggiani in the classic crime film Le Doulos/The Finger Man (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1962). ‘Doulos’ refers both to a kind of hat and to the slang term for a police informant.
Desailly had the leading role in La Peau douce/The Soft Skin (François Truffaut, 1964). He played successful, married publisher and lecturer Pierre, who meets a beautiful air hostess ( Françoise Dorléac ) with whom he has a love affair. He is hiding the affair, but Pierre cannot stand staying away from her.
In The Guardian , Ronald Bergan describes it as Desailly’s ‘most famous film portrayal, in which he displayed his discreet bourgeois charm’: “Truffaut described the character as ‘having something childish about him ... a man who is strong in social life but weak in love,’ which is exactly what Desailly depicts.”
Truffaut's own life followed the same path as Desailly’s character when the director left his wife for Françoise Dorléac . Desailly played another man in a marriage crisis in the little known Dutch film De dans van de reiger/The Heron Dance (Fons Rademakers, 1966) with Gunnel Lindblom.
Desailly was married twice. With his first wife, Nicole, he had two children. In 1998, he married actress Simone Valère after 48 years of living together. In 1968, the couple had left the Jean-Louis Barrault-Madeleine Renaud company and together they formed a new theatre company which they directed successively at successively the Théâtre Hébertot, the Théâtre Edouard-VII and the Théâtre de la Madeleine. In the following decades, a wide repertoire was played by them at these theatres. Their favourite play was L'Amour Fou by André Roussin, which they performed 450 times.
Desailly’s later films include Un flic/A Cop (1972), the last film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Desailly played a small part opposite Alain Delon and Catherine Deneuve , as a distinguished gentleman who is robbed of a statue. A box-office hit was Le Professionnel/The Professional (Georges Lautner, 1981) in which Desailly played a Minister opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo . He also appeared in the comedy La dilettante (Pascal Thomas, 1999), featuring Catherine Friot.
In 2001, he and Simone Valère celebrated their 60 years together in the theatre with their final stage success, La Maison du lac (On Golden Pond), by Ernest Thompson, directed by Georges Wilson. Desailly was awarded the prestigious Molière acting prize in 2002 and he retired. Six years later, in 2008, Jean Desailly died in Paris. He was 87.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 176. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 113. Photo: Pathé Cinéma.
Sources: Ronald Bergan (The Guardian), D.B. Dumonteil (IMDb), Wikipedia (English and French) and .
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 113. Photo: Pathé Cinéma.
A sensitive and heart-warming performance
Jean Desailly was born in Paris in 1920. His father was the composer Reynaldo Hahn’s secretary.
Jean studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts with the intention of becoming a commercial artist. At the same time he was acting in an itinerant theatre company, La Roulette, and then chose to attend the Conservatoire de Paris where he left with the first acting prize.
In 1942, he joined the Comédie-Française. In 1943, he created Paul Claudel's Soulier de satin with Madeleine Renaud under the direction of Jean-Louis Barrault.
In the cinema he starred in the murder mystery Le voyageur de la Toussaint/Traveler on All Saints' Day (Louis Daquin, 1943) about a young man who returns to his hometown of La Rochelle and becomes the unexpected heir to a large fortune. He is confronted with ‘the syndicate’, a powerful bourgeois family who has always despised his parents because they were music hall artists. The film was an adaptation of a story by Georges Simenon, Desailly’s favourite writer and co-starred Assia Noris , Jules Berry and Simone Valère, with whom he fell in love.
D.B. Dumonteil at IMDb : “Jean Desailly (debut) as the innocent young man gives a sensitive and heart-warming performance. His smile lightens this dark atmosphere along with that of his uncle 's young widow, an ex-usherette whom the whole family despises as well.”
French postcard. This postcard was made for the exclusive release at the Madeleine cinema. Photo: Prod. CAPAC. Jean Desailly and Madeleine Sologne in Une grande fille toute simple/Just a Big Simple Girl (Jacques Manuel, 1948). The sets were by Robert Gys.
Belgian postcard. Prod. CAPAC. Artistes Associés. Madeleine Sologne and Jean Desailly in Une grande fille toute simple (Jacques Manuel 1948). This card was for the showing of the film at the Palais des Arts/Feestpaleis.
An ideal juvenile lead
In 1946 Jean Desailly became a leading member of the Jean-Louis Barrault-Madeleine Renaud company at the Théâtre Marigny. There he played in a wide repertoire from Les Fausses Confidences, Bérénice and Le Songe d'une nuit d'été. With the Renaud-Barrault at the Odéon-Théâtre de France, he played both leading roles in le Mariage de Figaro: Figaro on tour in the provinces and Count Almaviva in Paris.
In the cinema, Desailly made an ideal juvenile lead such as the shy suitor of Odette Joyeux , who is enamoured by the ghost of a dead nobleman (Jacques Tati) in Sylvie et le fantôme/Sylvie and the ghost (Claude Autant-Lara, 1946). That year, Desailly also appeared as Pierre Blanchar ’s best friend in the costume drama Patrie/Homeland (Louis Daquin, 1946) which was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, and he played Blanchar’s son in the drama La symphonie pastorale/Pastoral Symphony (Jean Delannoy, 1946).
In the latter, a minister and his son both fall for the same blind young woman ( Michèle Morgan ). Three years later, the comedy Occupe-toi d'Amélie/Keep an Eye on Amelia (Claude Autant-Lara, 1949) was entered into the Cannes Film Festival. In this Georges Feydeau adaptation, Desailly starred opposite Danielle Darrieux as Amélie.
He then played the title role of Colette's inexperienced gigolo in Chéri (Pierre Billon, 1950). One of his best films is the bittersweet Les Grandes Manœuvres/The Grand Maneuver (René Clair, 1955), starring Michèle Morgan and Gérard Philipe .
It is a charming romantic comedy-drama set in a French provincial town just before World War I. Another success was Maigret tend un piège/Maigret Sets a Trap (Jean Delannoy, 1958) with Jean Gabin as Simenon’s fictional detective Jules Maigret. Desailly shines as the poor but dangerous Maurice, a neurotic, mother-fixated artist. For this role he was nominated for a BAFTA award, the British Oscar.
French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 47. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
His discreet bourgeois charm
During the 1960s and 1970s, Jean Desailly continued to combine the stage with the cinema. He starred in another Simenon adaptation, the murder mystery La mort de Belle/The End of Belle (Édouard Molinaro, 1961) with Alexandra Stewart, and he played a commissioner opposite criminals Jean-Paul Belmondo and Serge Reggiani in the classic crime film Le Doulos/The Finger Man (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1962). ‘Doulos’ refers both to a kind of hat and to the slang term for a police informant.
Desailly had the leading role in La Peau douce/The Soft Skin (François Truffaut, 1964). He played successful, married publisher and lecturer Pierre, who meets a beautiful air hostess ( Françoise Dorléac ) with whom he has a love affair. He is hiding the affair, but Pierre cannot stand staying away from her.
In The Guardian , Ronald Bergan describes it as Desailly’s ‘most famous film portrayal, in which he displayed his discreet bourgeois charm’: “Truffaut described the character as ‘having something childish about him ... a man who is strong in social life but weak in love,’ which is exactly what Desailly depicts.”
Truffaut's own life followed the same path as Desailly’s character when the director left his wife for Françoise Dorléac . Desailly played another man in a marriage crisis in the little known Dutch film De dans van de reiger/The Heron Dance (Fons Rademakers, 1966) with Gunnel Lindblom.
Desailly was married twice. With his first wife, Nicole, he had two children. In 1998, he married actress Simone Valère after 48 years of living together. In 1968, the couple had left the Jean-Louis Barrault-Madeleine Renaud company and together they formed a new theatre company which they directed successively at successively the Théâtre Hébertot, the Théâtre Edouard-VII and the Théâtre de la Madeleine. In the following decades, a wide repertoire was played by them at these theatres. Their favourite play was L'Amour Fou by André Roussin, which they performed 450 times.
Desailly’s later films include Un flic/A Cop (1972), the last film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Desailly played a small part opposite Alain Delon and Catherine Deneuve , as a distinguished gentleman who is robbed of a statue. A box-office hit was Le Professionnel/The Professional (Georges Lautner, 1981) in which Desailly played a Minister opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo . He also appeared in the comedy La dilettante (Pascal Thomas, 1999), featuring Catherine Friot.
In 2001, he and Simone Valère celebrated their 60 years together in the theatre with their final stage success, La Maison du lac (On Golden Pond), by Ernest Thompson, directed by Georges Wilson. Desailly was awarded the prestigious Molière acting prize in 2002 and he retired. Six years later, in 2008, Jean Desailly died in Paris. He was 87.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 176. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 113. Photo: Pathé Cinéma.
Sources: Ronald Bergan (The Guardian), D.B. Dumonteil (IMDb), Wikipedia (English and French) and .
November 22, 2016
Karin Ingmarsdotter (1920)
The Swedish silent film Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way/Karin Daughter of Ingmar (1920) was a production by Svenska Biografteatren AB. It is the second part in Victor Sjöström's large-scale adaptation of Selma Lagerlöf's novel Jerusalem, and the sequel to Ingmarsönerna/Sons of Ingmar (1919) which Sjöstrom had directed a year earlier. Karin Ingmarsdotter depicted chapter three and four from the novel, and featured Tora Teje as Karin.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/1. Photo: Tora Teje in Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920).
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/2. Photo: Tora Teje in Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920).
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/3. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Tor Weijden.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/4. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Tor Weijden.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/5. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Nils Lundell and Victor Sjöström .
I don't think they will need any coffee!
Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) is situated in the Dalarna region in Sweden, where the workers are stern believers. Karin ( Tora Teje ) is the daughter of the rich farmer Big Ingmar ( Victor Sjöström ). She is courted by young Halvor (Tor Weijden) who wants to marry her.
Ingmar is willing to give Halvor Karin's hand, provided the future groom should not be like his father: a drunkard. In the scheduled probation by Ingmar, Halvor is once weak and takes to the bottle when he and Karin visit the city of Falun. After shopping Halvor is fed drunk by rascals, while Eljas Eloff Ersson (Nils Lundell) and his greedy father exacerbate the situation. Disgusted, Karin rejects Halvor, despite his protests.
Then the dream bursts and Karin marries Eljas. But Karin gets from bad to worse, her decision proves to be wrong. While Halvor's slip remains unique, Elias is slipping rapidly into alcoholism. During a flood Big Ingmar saves children but is hit himself by a floating log. He notices his watch has been ruined by the blast and realises he will die. Afterwards Eljas inherits all and becomes the main farmer. Not hindered by his own father and his father-in-law anymore, he succumbs to alcoholism.
Things become worse when Karin's little brother Lill-Ingmar (Bertil Malmstedt) crushes the liquor bottle of Eljas and his drinking buddy. Eljas tricks Little Ingmar in drinking vodka. Karin is fed up and manages to host her kid brother with schoolmaster Storm and his wife, who will take up his education. Little Ingmar gives his father's watch to Halvor, as he made his son promise to give the watch to someone he wronged in his lifetime. Halvor repairs the watch and gives Little Ingmar a new one.
When Eljas hears about the clock he visits Halvor, but falls from the stairs so badly, he is bedridden in Halvor's house. His alcoholism and misbehaviour increase. When he finally dies, Halvor is suspected to have 'helped' him. As a widow, many suitors show up to Karin, so Halvor finally presents himself too, but Karin hesitates because of all what happened. Finally, Big Ingmar's ghost reminds her that Ingmar's sons just need to ask for God's ways. Karen hastily dismisses the suitors and keeps Halvor. Little Ingmar leaves them behind for the stove in the kitchen, but turning to the camera he says: I don't think they will need any coffee!
The critical reception for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) was unenthusiastic. Victor Sjöström decided to not direct any more parts of Selma Lagerlöf's novel Jerusalem. Eventually the film adaptation of the novel was finished by Gustaf Molander with Ingmarsarvet/The Ingmar Inheritance (1925) and Till österland/To the Orient (1926) with Lars Hanson , Jenny Hasselqvist and Mona Mårtenson . Molander had started his career as a scriptwriter for Sjóström.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/6. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Victor Sjöström and Bertil Malmstedt.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/7. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje .
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/8. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Nils Lundell.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/9. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Bertil Malmstedt and Tora Teje .
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/10. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Bertil Malmstedt and Tora Teje .
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/11. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje .
See also our post on Ingmarssönerna/Dawn of Love/Sons of Ingmar (Victor Sjöström, 1919).
Sources: Svenska Filminstitutet (Swedish), IMDb and Wikipedia (German and English). N.B. The description on German Wikipedia is quite different from the content in the database of the Svenska Filminstitutet.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/1. Photo: Tora Teje in Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920).
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/2. Photo: Tora Teje in Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920).
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/3. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Tor Weijden.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/4. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Tor Weijden.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/5. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Nils Lundell and Victor Sjöström .
I don't think they will need any coffee!
Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) is situated in the Dalarna region in Sweden, where the workers are stern believers. Karin ( Tora Teje ) is the daughter of the rich farmer Big Ingmar ( Victor Sjöström ). She is courted by young Halvor (Tor Weijden) who wants to marry her.
Ingmar is willing to give Halvor Karin's hand, provided the future groom should not be like his father: a drunkard. In the scheduled probation by Ingmar, Halvor is once weak and takes to the bottle when he and Karin visit the city of Falun. After shopping Halvor is fed drunk by rascals, while Eljas Eloff Ersson (Nils Lundell) and his greedy father exacerbate the situation. Disgusted, Karin rejects Halvor, despite his protests.
Then the dream bursts and Karin marries Eljas. But Karin gets from bad to worse, her decision proves to be wrong. While Halvor's slip remains unique, Elias is slipping rapidly into alcoholism. During a flood Big Ingmar saves children but is hit himself by a floating log. He notices his watch has been ruined by the blast and realises he will die. Afterwards Eljas inherits all and becomes the main farmer. Not hindered by his own father and his father-in-law anymore, he succumbs to alcoholism.
Things become worse when Karin's little brother Lill-Ingmar (Bertil Malmstedt) crushes the liquor bottle of Eljas and his drinking buddy. Eljas tricks Little Ingmar in drinking vodka. Karin is fed up and manages to host her kid brother with schoolmaster Storm and his wife, who will take up his education. Little Ingmar gives his father's watch to Halvor, as he made his son promise to give the watch to someone he wronged in his lifetime. Halvor repairs the watch and gives Little Ingmar a new one.
When Eljas hears about the clock he visits Halvor, but falls from the stairs so badly, he is bedridden in Halvor's house. His alcoholism and misbehaviour increase. When he finally dies, Halvor is suspected to have 'helped' him. As a widow, many suitors show up to Karin, so Halvor finally presents himself too, but Karin hesitates because of all what happened. Finally, Big Ingmar's ghost reminds her that Ingmar's sons just need to ask for God's ways. Karen hastily dismisses the suitors and keeps Halvor. Little Ingmar leaves them behind for the stove in the kitchen, but turning to the camera he says: I don't think they will need any coffee!
The critical reception for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) was unenthusiastic. Victor Sjöström decided to not direct any more parts of Selma Lagerlöf's novel Jerusalem. Eventually the film adaptation of the novel was finished by Gustaf Molander with Ingmarsarvet/The Ingmar Inheritance (1925) and Till österland/To the Orient (1926) with Lars Hanson , Jenny Hasselqvist and Mona Mårtenson . Molander had started his career as a scriptwriter for Sjóström.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/6. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Victor Sjöström and Bertil Malmstedt.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/7. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje .
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/8. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Nils Lundell.
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/9. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Bertil Malmstedt and Tora Teje .
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/10. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Bertil Malmstedt and Tora Teje .
Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/11. Photo: publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God's Way (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje .
See also our post on Ingmarssönerna/Dawn of Love/Sons of Ingmar (Victor Sjöström, 1919).
Sources: Svenska Filminstitutet (Swedish), IMDb and Wikipedia (German and English). N.B. The description on German Wikipedia is quite different from the content in the database of the Svenska Filminstitutet.
November 21, 2016
Beniamino Gigli
Actor and opera singer Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957) was one of the most famous Italian tenors, internationally respected for the beauty of his voice and his vocal technique. Between 1935 and 1950, 'Benito Mussolini's favourite singer' also starred in various German and Italian entertainment films.
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute / Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Itala-Film.
German postcard. Photo: Tobis / Itala.
Italian postcard. Photo: Novo Film.
Italian postcard by Grafiche N. Moneta, Milano. Photo: Itala Film. Publicity still for Solo per te/Only for Thee (Carmine Gallone, 1937). Promotion for the film starting from Thursday 28... at the Cinema Corso.
Caruso Secondo
Beniamino Gigli (also written as Benjamino Gigli) was born in 1890 in Recanati, near Ancona, as the son of an opera loving shoemaker. His brother Lorenzo became a famous Italian painter.
In 1914 Beniamino won his first award in an international singing contest in Parma and later that year he made his début at the opera of Rovigo as Enzo in Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda.
Soon his star rose, thanks to his part in Mefistofele by Arrigo Boito, which he performed in Palermo (1915), Naples (1915), Rome (1916), at La Scala in Milan under the direction of Arturo Toscanini (1918) and finally at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1920).
After the death of the famous opera tenor Enrico Caruso in 1921, Gigli became even more famous. He appeared as Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème and in the title role of Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier, both of which he would later record in full.
He was often nicknamed Caruso Secondo, though his voice was much sweeter than the dark, heroic voice of Caruso. At the Met, Gigli got competition from Giovanni Martinelli and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi. After 12 years, Gigli left the Met in 1932, ostensibly after refusing to take a pay cut.
He returned to Italy, and sang in houses there, elsewhere in Europe, and in South America. In 1935, he started to perform in the cinema although he was - and would never become - a good actor and he was not in his prime any more either. Still, his films were cherished by European audiences.
The story lines of his films often doubled the plots of the operas in which Gigli's character sang in real life as well. Gigli made many records, not only of his opera songs, but of the popular songs he sang in his films too.
After the war, Gigli started to do his opera performances again and he even did a big tour in the early 1950s. His health deteriorated and he had to stop, first with the operas and in the end with his solo performances as well.
Gigli's first film was Non ti scordar di me!/Vergiss mein nicht/Forget Me Not (1935), directed by Augusto Genina in a Berlin studio. In the film the female lead was played by Magda Schneider and the script was written by her husband Ernst Marischka. Because of Gigli's heavy accent, Genina had provided a script about an Italian opera singer who meets a young German teacher (Schneider) who is still troubled over a lost romance and is struck when Gigli starts to sing Non ti scordar di me. The song was especially written for the film by Ernesto De Curtis. Genina was worried about Gigli's rotund physique, regarded as unfit to represent a romantic lover, but when the film came out women adored him.
So several follow ups to Non ti scordar di me followed. First of all, there was Forget me not (1936), a British version of the same film, in which Schneider's part was played by Joan Gardner and the script was written by Hugh Gray and Arthur Wimperis.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9400/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Itala Film.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9919/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Itala-Film.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1530/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Itala-Film.
Italian postcard by Ed. Libreria Ottoboni, Recanati / Fototipia Berretto, Terni. Photo: Magrint. Gigli at Portorecanati, August 1953.
Italian postcard by Editrice Ottoboni, Recanati. Sent by mail in 1966. Photo: Stortoni.
Cinecittà
Beniamino Gigli played and sang in a series of entertainment films shot in Germany. They were directed by former Weimar cinema actor Johannes Riemann and by the former theatre innovator Karlheinz Martin.
In Ave Maria (Johannes Riemann, 1936), Käthe von Nägy played a golddigger who falls for the tenor's wealth, but in the end falls for himself. In Du bist mein Glück/Thou Art My Joy (Karlheinz Martin, 1936), Isa Miranda appeared in a double role and the film was partly shot in Genoa, Liguria. Gigli co-starred in Die Stimme des Herzens/The Voice of the Heart (Karlheinz Martin, 1937) with Geraldine Katt and Ferdinand Marian .
Gigli then returned to Rome to play in films shot at the Cinecittà studios, first the multilingual Solo per te/Mutter lied/Only for Thee (Carmine Gallone, 1937), co-starring Maria Cebotari as the singer's unfaithful wife and young Peter Bosse as their son. Bosse had already played the singer's son in Vergiss mein nicht/Forget Me Not (Augusto Genina, 1935).
After a small part as a tenor in the historical film Giuseppe Verdi (Carmine Gallone, 1938) featuring Fosco Giachetti as the composer, Gigli starred again in Gallone's Dir gehört mein Herz/My Heart Belongs to Thee (Carmine Gallone, 1938), which had an almost exclusively German cast including Carla Rust, Lucie Englisch and Paul Kemp , but was again shot at Cinecittà.
After a part in the German short Der Trichter Nr. II/The funnel No II (1939), Gigli continued at Cinecittà with Der singende Tor/The singing gate (Johannes Meyer, 1939) with Norwegian star Kirsten Heiberg . It was also released in Italian as Casa lontana.
In 1940 Gigli played in the multilingual Ritorno/Traummusik/Return (Géza von Bolváry, 1940). It was followed by Mamma/Mother (Guido Brignone, 1941) in which Gigli sang the song which forever stuck to him: Mamma. In Vertigine/Tragödie einer Liebe/Broken Love (Guido Brignone, 1941) he appeared with Emma Grammatica and Camilla Horn .
In 1943 Gigli's gave his last film performances of the war years. First he appeared in the multilingual I Pagliacci/Lache, Bajazzo/Laugh Pagliacci (Giuseppe Fatigati, Leopold Hainisch, 1943), with Paul Hörbiger and Dagny Servaes acting in both versions. The female lead was played by Alida Valli in the Italian version and by Claude Farell (Monika Burg) in the German version.
The second film of 1943 was Silenzio, si gira!/Silence, Action! (Carlo Campogalliani, 1943) with Rossano Brazzi, which mingled opera and cinema world and in which Gigli had a double role as an opera singer and his stealing stand in.
Gigli had been Benito Mussolini's favourite singer, for which he was criticised, but it was cleared that he had never been a collaborator. So, in the postwar era he could play without any problems in Voglio bene soltanto a te/I only care for you (Giuseppe Fatigati, 1946), and Una voce nel tuo cuore/A Voice in Your Heart (Alberto d'Alversa, 1949) which starred Vittorio Gassmann .
He also appeared on the stages and the audience acclaim was greater and more clamorous than ever. Gigli had his last film lead in Taxi di notte/Singing Taxi Driver (Carmine Gallone, 1950), a comedy about a singing taxi driver who finds a baby but not its mother.
Gigli's last performance was a small part in Puccini (Carmine Gallone, 1953), a biopic on the famous composer played by Gabriele Ferzetti . Gigli played an opera singer, of course. Before his retirement in 1955, Gigli undertook an exhausting world tour of Farewell Concerts. This impaired his health in the two years that remained to him, during which time he helped prepare his Memoirs (based primarily on an earlier Memoir, fleshed out by a series of interviews).
Beniamino Gigli died in Rome in 1957, because of a heart attack. Gigli lied in his Memoirs of 1957, saying that he was married six months earlier than he really was. This was to conceal that his wife Costanza was pregnant before reaching the altar. Gigli had two children with Costanza: Enzo Gigli and Rina Gigli. (The latter was a well-known soprano in her own right.) Later, Gigli had a second family with Lucia Vigarani, producing three children. Gigli is rumoured to have had at least three other children with as many different women. Gigli's exact number of offspring is unknown.
Beniamino Gigli sings O sole mio in Non ti scordar di me!/Vergiss mein nicht/Forget Me Not (1935). Source: Tenor65 (YouTube).
Beniamino Gigli sings Mamma. Source: Kyoto Melody (YouTube).
Beniamino Gigli sings La giubba from I pagliacci/Laugh Pagliacci (1947) while the heart broken Paul Hörbiger watches the stage. Source: Greek Callas (YouTube).
Sources: Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (Italian, English, German and Dutch), and .
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute / Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Itala-Film.
German postcard. Photo: Tobis / Itala.
Italian postcard. Photo: Novo Film.
Italian postcard by Grafiche N. Moneta, Milano. Photo: Itala Film. Publicity still for Solo per te/Only for Thee (Carmine Gallone, 1937). Promotion for the film starting from Thursday 28... at the Cinema Corso.
Caruso Secondo
Beniamino Gigli (also written as Benjamino Gigli) was born in 1890 in Recanati, near Ancona, as the son of an opera loving shoemaker. His brother Lorenzo became a famous Italian painter.
In 1914 Beniamino won his first award in an international singing contest in Parma and later that year he made his début at the opera of Rovigo as Enzo in Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda.
Soon his star rose, thanks to his part in Mefistofele by Arrigo Boito, which he performed in Palermo (1915), Naples (1915), Rome (1916), at La Scala in Milan under the direction of Arturo Toscanini (1918) and finally at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1920).
After the death of the famous opera tenor Enrico Caruso in 1921, Gigli became even more famous. He appeared as Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème and in the title role of Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier, both of which he would later record in full.
He was often nicknamed Caruso Secondo, though his voice was much sweeter than the dark, heroic voice of Caruso. At the Met, Gigli got competition from Giovanni Martinelli and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi. After 12 years, Gigli left the Met in 1932, ostensibly after refusing to take a pay cut.
He returned to Italy, and sang in houses there, elsewhere in Europe, and in South America. In 1935, he started to perform in the cinema although he was - and would never become - a good actor and he was not in his prime any more either. Still, his films were cherished by European audiences.
The story lines of his films often doubled the plots of the operas in which Gigli's character sang in real life as well. Gigli made many records, not only of his opera songs, but of the popular songs he sang in his films too.
After the war, Gigli started to do his opera performances again and he even did a big tour in the early 1950s. His health deteriorated and he had to stop, first with the operas and in the end with his solo performances as well.
Gigli's first film was Non ti scordar di me!/Vergiss mein nicht/Forget Me Not (1935), directed by Augusto Genina in a Berlin studio. In the film the female lead was played by Magda Schneider and the script was written by her husband Ernst Marischka. Because of Gigli's heavy accent, Genina had provided a script about an Italian opera singer who meets a young German teacher (Schneider) who is still troubled over a lost romance and is struck when Gigli starts to sing Non ti scordar di me. The song was especially written for the film by Ernesto De Curtis. Genina was worried about Gigli's rotund physique, regarded as unfit to represent a romantic lover, but when the film came out women adored him.
So several follow ups to Non ti scordar di me followed. First of all, there was Forget me not (1936), a British version of the same film, in which Schneider's part was played by Joan Gardner and the script was written by Hugh Gray and Arthur Wimperis.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9400/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Itala Film.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9919/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Itala-Film.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1530/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Itala-Film.
Italian postcard by Ed. Libreria Ottoboni, Recanati / Fototipia Berretto, Terni. Photo: Magrint. Gigli at Portorecanati, August 1953.
Italian postcard by Editrice Ottoboni, Recanati. Sent by mail in 1966. Photo: Stortoni.
Cinecittà
Beniamino Gigli played and sang in a series of entertainment films shot in Germany. They were directed by former Weimar cinema actor Johannes Riemann and by the former theatre innovator Karlheinz Martin.
In Ave Maria (Johannes Riemann, 1936), Käthe von Nägy played a golddigger who falls for the tenor's wealth, but in the end falls for himself. In Du bist mein Glück/Thou Art My Joy (Karlheinz Martin, 1936), Isa Miranda appeared in a double role and the film was partly shot in Genoa, Liguria. Gigli co-starred in Die Stimme des Herzens/The Voice of the Heart (Karlheinz Martin, 1937) with Geraldine Katt and Ferdinand Marian .
Gigli then returned to Rome to play in films shot at the Cinecittà studios, first the multilingual Solo per te/Mutter lied/Only for Thee (Carmine Gallone, 1937), co-starring Maria Cebotari as the singer's unfaithful wife and young Peter Bosse as their son. Bosse had already played the singer's son in Vergiss mein nicht/Forget Me Not (Augusto Genina, 1935).
After a small part as a tenor in the historical film Giuseppe Verdi (Carmine Gallone, 1938) featuring Fosco Giachetti as the composer, Gigli starred again in Gallone's Dir gehört mein Herz/My Heart Belongs to Thee (Carmine Gallone, 1938), which had an almost exclusively German cast including Carla Rust, Lucie Englisch and Paul Kemp , but was again shot at Cinecittà.
After a part in the German short Der Trichter Nr. II/The funnel No II (1939), Gigli continued at Cinecittà with Der singende Tor/The singing gate (Johannes Meyer, 1939) with Norwegian star Kirsten Heiberg . It was also released in Italian as Casa lontana.
In 1940 Gigli played in the multilingual Ritorno/Traummusik/Return (Géza von Bolváry, 1940). It was followed by Mamma/Mother (Guido Brignone, 1941) in which Gigli sang the song which forever stuck to him: Mamma. In Vertigine/Tragödie einer Liebe/Broken Love (Guido Brignone, 1941) he appeared with Emma Grammatica and Camilla Horn .
In 1943 Gigli's gave his last film performances of the war years. First he appeared in the multilingual I Pagliacci/Lache, Bajazzo/Laugh Pagliacci (Giuseppe Fatigati, Leopold Hainisch, 1943), with Paul Hörbiger and Dagny Servaes acting in both versions. The female lead was played by Alida Valli in the Italian version and by Claude Farell (Monika Burg) in the German version.
The second film of 1943 was Silenzio, si gira!/Silence, Action! (Carlo Campogalliani, 1943) with Rossano Brazzi, which mingled opera and cinema world and in which Gigli had a double role as an opera singer and his stealing stand in.
Gigli had been Benito Mussolini's favourite singer, for which he was criticised, but it was cleared that he had never been a collaborator. So, in the postwar era he could play without any problems in Voglio bene soltanto a te/I only care for you (Giuseppe Fatigati, 1946), and Una voce nel tuo cuore/A Voice in Your Heart (Alberto d'Alversa, 1949) which starred Vittorio Gassmann .
He also appeared on the stages and the audience acclaim was greater and more clamorous than ever. Gigli had his last film lead in Taxi di notte/Singing Taxi Driver (Carmine Gallone, 1950), a comedy about a singing taxi driver who finds a baby but not its mother.
Gigli's last performance was a small part in Puccini (Carmine Gallone, 1953), a biopic on the famous composer played by Gabriele Ferzetti . Gigli played an opera singer, of course. Before his retirement in 1955, Gigli undertook an exhausting world tour of Farewell Concerts. This impaired his health in the two years that remained to him, during which time he helped prepare his Memoirs (based primarily on an earlier Memoir, fleshed out by a series of interviews).
Beniamino Gigli died in Rome in 1957, because of a heart attack. Gigli lied in his Memoirs of 1957, saying that he was married six months earlier than he really was. This was to conceal that his wife Costanza was pregnant before reaching the altar. Gigli had two children with Costanza: Enzo Gigli and Rina Gigli. (The latter was a well-known soprano in her own right.) Later, Gigli had a second family with Lucia Vigarani, producing three children. Gigli is rumoured to have had at least three other children with as many different women. Gigli's exact number of offspring is unknown.
Beniamino Gigli sings O sole mio in Non ti scordar di me!/Vergiss mein nicht/Forget Me Not (1935). Source: Tenor65 (YouTube).
Beniamino Gigli sings Mamma. Source: Kyoto Melody (YouTube).
Beniamino Gigli sings La giubba from I pagliacci/Laugh Pagliacci (1947) while the heart broken Paul Hörbiger watches the stage. Source: Greek Callas (YouTube).
Sources: Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (Italian, English, German and Dutch), and .
November 20, 2016
Gil Vidal
Good-looking French actor Gil Vidal (1931) was a popular jeune premier of the 1950s.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1009. Photo: Studio Vallois.
A potential rival for Alain Delon
Gil Vidal was born in Narbonne, France in 1931. He became popular popular as an actor in the 1950s.
Gil played the lover of Annie Girardot in L'Homme aux clés d'or/The Man with the Golden Keys (Léo Joannon, 1956) and was the fiancé of Sophie Daumier in À pied, à cheval et en voiture/On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels (Maurice Delbez, 1957).
The handsome, young Vidal seemed to become a potential rival for Alain Delon , but soon he was outstripped by the latter.
Vidal mostly played supporting parts, but he did co-star with Dalida in Le Masque de Toutankhamon/The Mask of Tutankhamun (Marco de Gastyne, 1955), which was filmed in Egypt.
Other films in which he played supporting roles were Filles de nuit/Girls Night (Maurice Cloche, 1957) and Péché de jeunesse/Youthful sin (Louis Duchesne, 1958) with Agnès Laurent . He also worked in the French theatre, especially on tour though the provinces.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 873. Photo: Studio Vauclair, Paris.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 678. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
Photonovel Heartthrob
In 1957, parallel to his film career, Gil Vidal made his first steps into the world of the Roman-photo (photo comic or photonovel) where he got the leading roles thanks to his good looks.
He appeared alongside Marie-Jose Nat in Notre amour est sans issue (Our love is hopeless), published by the magazine Lectures d'Aujourd'hui.
But he was especially interested in the cinema although he did not get the chances he hoped for. In 1959, he played the young emperor in the operetta Sissi in the Mogador theatre in Paris. In the 1960s, he recorded some records.
Then he tried a second career in Italy where we appeared with Anna Magnani in the French-Italian film Le magot de Josefa/Josefa's Loot (Claude Autant-Lara, 1963).
Later, he worked in Spanish films, such as Presagio/Presage (Miguel Iglesias, 1970) and also appeared in some French television productions, including the popular TV series Les Rois maudits/The Cursed Kings (Claude Barma, 1972).
His last film credit is the Spanish comedy El lio de papa/The mess of dad (Miguel Iglesias, 1985).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 889. Photo: Studio Vallois.
Sources: Wikipedia (French) and .
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1009. Photo: Studio Vallois.
A potential rival for Alain Delon
Gil Vidal was born in Narbonne, France in 1931. He became popular popular as an actor in the 1950s.
Gil played the lover of Annie Girardot in L'Homme aux clés d'or/The Man with the Golden Keys (Léo Joannon, 1956) and was the fiancé of Sophie Daumier in À pied, à cheval et en voiture/On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels (Maurice Delbez, 1957).
The handsome, young Vidal seemed to become a potential rival for Alain Delon , but soon he was outstripped by the latter.
Vidal mostly played supporting parts, but he did co-star with Dalida in Le Masque de Toutankhamon/The Mask of Tutankhamun (Marco de Gastyne, 1955), which was filmed in Egypt.
Other films in which he played supporting roles were Filles de nuit/Girls Night (Maurice Cloche, 1957) and Péché de jeunesse/Youthful sin (Louis Duchesne, 1958) with Agnès Laurent . He also worked in the French theatre, especially on tour though the provinces.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 873. Photo: Studio Vauclair, Paris.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 678. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
Photonovel Heartthrob
In 1957, parallel to his film career, Gil Vidal made his first steps into the world of the Roman-photo (photo comic or photonovel) where he got the leading roles thanks to his good looks.
He appeared alongside Marie-Jose Nat in Notre amour est sans issue (Our love is hopeless), published by the magazine Lectures d'Aujourd'hui.
But he was especially interested in the cinema although he did not get the chances he hoped for. In 1959, he played the young emperor in the operetta Sissi in the Mogador theatre in Paris. In the 1960s, he recorded some records.
Then he tried a second career in Italy where we appeared with Anna Magnani in the French-Italian film Le magot de Josefa/Josefa's Loot (Claude Autant-Lara, 1963).
Later, he worked in Spanish films, such as Presagio/Presage (Miguel Iglesias, 1970) and also appeared in some French television productions, including the popular TV series Les Rois maudits/The Cursed Kings (Claude Barma, 1972).
His last film credit is the Spanish comedy El lio de papa/The mess of dad (Miguel Iglesias, 1985).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 889. Photo: Studio Vallois.
Sources: Wikipedia (French) and .
November 19, 2016
Siegfried Arno
Siegfried or Sig Arno (1895-1975) was regularly being referred to as the ‘German Charlie Chaplin’. The German-Jewish character actor appeared in ninety silent and early sound films before he had to flee Nazi-Germany. From 1939 on, he appeared as a supporting actor in over 50 Hollywood films, often as the ‘funny European’. He may be best remembered from The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges, 1942) as Toto, the nonsense-talking mustachioed man who hopelessly pursues Mary Astor's ‘Princess Centimillia’.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 24/1. Photo: Ufa / Ama-Film. Collection: Didier Hanson.
The tall, thin performer with his pronounced nose
Sig Arno was born Siegfried Aron in Hamburg, Germany, in 1895. He attended the Talmud Torah School in Hamburg and trained as a fashion designer at the Hamburger Kunstgewerbeschule (Hamburg school of applied arts).
He also was a member of the Hamburg theatre club, and from 1912 till 1914 he had his first employment at the Stadttheater Harburg and later at the Neuen Operettentheater in Hamburg. He went to work in Prague and Berlin. From 1922 on, he became a popular comedian in the Berlin theatres.
And soon he also became a star in the cinema. He went on to co-star in such silent German films as Die Frau von vierzig Jahren/The Wife of Forty Years (Richard Oswald, 1925) starring Diana Karenne , and as Lya de Putti ’s husband in the Ufa production Manon Lescaut (Arthur Robison, 1926). He also appeared in the French silent film La danseuse Orchidée/The Orchid Dancer (Léonce Perret, 1928), featuring Louise Lagrange .
But he was most popular for his comic starring roles, such as in Schatz, mach' Kasse/Darling, Count the Cash (Felix Basch, 1926) with Ossi Oswalda , Familientag im Hause Prellstein/Family Gathering in the House of Prellstein (Hans Steinhoff, 1927), starring S.Z. Sakall , and Das Mädel mit der Peitsche/The Girl with the Whip (Carl Lamac, 1929) with Anny Ondra .
Initially his younger brother Bruno Arno appeared at his side. The tall, thin performer with his pronounced nose soon formed a double-act with the corpulent comedian Kurt Gerron and as ‘Beef and Steak’ they were regulars at the Kürfurstendam cabaret of comedians, the KaDeKo. They also co-starred in such silent comedies as Wir halten fest und treu zusammen/We Stick Together Through Thick and Thin (Herbert Nossen, 1929). It was an effort to create a German equivalent to Laurel and Hardy .
Arno also acted in such classic films as G.W. Pabst's Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney/The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927), Die Büchse der Pandora/Pandora's Box (1929) and Tagebuch einer Verlorenen/Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), the latter two starring Louise Brooks .
He again co-starred again with Anny Ondra in the early sound film Die vom Rummelplatz/Fairground People (Carl Lamac, 1930). The sound revolution had damaged Ondra's career in British films and led her to return to Germany. Die vom Rummelplatz showcased Ondra's talents as a musical comedy star who sings and dance.
A typical Jewish comedy was Keine Feier ohne Meyer/Without Meyer, No Celebration is Complete (Carl Boese, 1931). Arno played the ambitious young Jewish man Meyer, who tries to pass himself off as a successful business tycoon in order to marry into an upper-class family. Another was the farce Um eine Nasenlänge/ To a nose (Johannes Guter, 1931). Siegfried Arno maintained his commitment to stage and cabaret work and, in 1930 he was cast in the premiere of the acclaimed revue Im weißen Rößl (The White Horse Inn) at Berlin’s Großes Schauspielhaus, alongside Max Hansen and Camilla Spira.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5687/1, 1930-1931.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7346/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Alex Binder.
The target of anti-Semitic graffiti
In 1933, after the fire in the Reichstag, Siegfried Arno had to leave the country due to the rise of Hitler. His posters had become the target of anti-Semitic graffiti. He worked in cabarets and theatres in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. In the Netherlands he had an extended spell with fellow KaDeKo performer Willy Rosen’s ‘Theater der Prominenten’ troupe. Here he reunited with his double-act partner Kurt Gerron.
In Portugal he worked with other German exiles on the romantic comedy Gado Bravo/Wild Cattle (António Lopes Ribeiro, Max Nosseck, 1934), one of the first Portuguese sound films, starring Nita Brandao. In Belgium he directed the film comedy De roem van het regiment/The fame of the regiment (1936). He stayed in Europe until 1939, and then moved to Hollywood.
He got a small part in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle, 1939) starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo. During the next twenty years Siegfried Arno appeared in over fifty films in Hollywood. Among his best known films are The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin, 1940), Tales of Manhattan (Julien Duvivier, 1942) and The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges, 1942).
His thick accent limited him to supporting roles. F Gwynplaine MacIntyre at IMDb : “Still, he carved out a respectable career (usually playing comic waiters with funny accents), and many Hollywood films of the 1940s would be less enjoyable without Arno's expert comic timing.”
Arno also appeared three times on Broadway, in the musical Song of Norway (1944-1946), the play Time Remembered (1957-1958), based on Jean Anouilh’s play Léocadia, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1958, and the play The Cold Wind and the Warm (1958-1959).
From 1955 on, he again appeared regularly in the German and Austrian theatres. In 1966, Arno won a Filmband in Gold (the honorary German film award) "for his continued outstanding individual contributions to the German film over the years." Arno was also a successful portrait painter.
He was married three times. His wives were actress Lia (Caroline) Dahms (1922–1932, ended in divorce), Barbara Kiranoff (1934–1953, ended in divorce) and Austrian actress Kitty Mattern (1953–1975, ended with his death). With Dahms he had a son, costume and set-designer Peter Arno (1926).
Siegfried Arno died from Parkinson's disease in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, in 1975, aged 79.
Trude Berliner & Siegfried Arno in Musikstadt Berlin 1931 (1931). Source: Jozef Sterkens (YouTube).
Sources: Jörg Schöning (CineGraph – German), Brendon Nash (Cabaret Berlin), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), F Gwynplaine MacIntyre (IMDb), José L Bernabé Tronchoni (Find A Grave), Internet Broadway Database, Wikipedia (English and German), and .
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 24/1. Photo: Ufa / Ama-Film. Collection: Didier Hanson.
The tall, thin performer with his pronounced nose
Sig Arno was born Siegfried Aron in Hamburg, Germany, in 1895. He attended the Talmud Torah School in Hamburg and trained as a fashion designer at the Hamburger Kunstgewerbeschule (Hamburg school of applied arts).
He also was a member of the Hamburg theatre club, and from 1912 till 1914 he had his first employment at the Stadttheater Harburg and later at the Neuen Operettentheater in Hamburg. He went to work in Prague and Berlin. From 1922 on, he became a popular comedian in the Berlin theatres.
And soon he also became a star in the cinema. He went on to co-star in such silent German films as Die Frau von vierzig Jahren/The Wife of Forty Years (Richard Oswald, 1925) starring Diana Karenne , and as Lya de Putti ’s husband in the Ufa production Manon Lescaut (Arthur Robison, 1926). He also appeared in the French silent film La danseuse Orchidée/The Orchid Dancer (Léonce Perret, 1928), featuring Louise Lagrange .
But he was most popular for his comic starring roles, such as in Schatz, mach' Kasse/Darling, Count the Cash (Felix Basch, 1926) with Ossi Oswalda , Familientag im Hause Prellstein/Family Gathering in the House of Prellstein (Hans Steinhoff, 1927), starring S.Z. Sakall , and Das Mädel mit der Peitsche/The Girl with the Whip (Carl Lamac, 1929) with Anny Ondra .
Initially his younger brother Bruno Arno appeared at his side. The tall, thin performer with his pronounced nose soon formed a double-act with the corpulent comedian Kurt Gerron and as ‘Beef and Steak’ they were regulars at the Kürfurstendam cabaret of comedians, the KaDeKo. They also co-starred in such silent comedies as Wir halten fest und treu zusammen/We Stick Together Through Thick and Thin (Herbert Nossen, 1929). It was an effort to create a German equivalent to Laurel and Hardy .
Arno also acted in such classic films as G.W. Pabst's Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney/The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927), Die Büchse der Pandora/Pandora's Box (1929) and Tagebuch einer Verlorenen/Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), the latter two starring Louise Brooks .
He again co-starred again with Anny Ondra in the early sound film Die vom Rummelplatz/Fairground People (Carl Lamac, 1930). The sound revolution had damaged Ondra's career in British films and led her to return to Germany. Die vom Rummelplatz showcased Ondra's talents as a musical comedy star who sings and dance.
A typical Jewish comedy was Keine Feier ohne Meyer/Without Meyer, No Celebration is Complete (Carl Boese, 1931). Arno played the ambitious young Jewish man Meyer, who tries to pass himself off as a successful business tycoon in order to marry into an upper-class family. Another was the farce Um eine Nasenlänge/ To a nose (Johannes Guter, 1931). Siegfried Arno maintained his commitment to stage and cabaret work and, in 1930 he was cast in the premiere of the acclaimed revue Im weißen Rößl (The White Horse Inn) at Berlin’s Großes Schauspielhaus, alongside Max Hansen and Camilla Spira.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5687/1, 1930-1931.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7346/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Alex Binder.
The target of anti-Semitic graffiti
In 1933, after the fire in the Reichstag, Siegfried Arno had to leave the country due to the rise of Hitler. His posters had become the target of anti-Semitic graffiti. He worked in cabarets and theatres in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. In the Netherlands he had an extended spell with fellow KaDeKo performer Willy Rosen’s ‘Theater der Prominenten’ troupe. Here he reunited with his double-act partner Kurt Gerron.
In Portugal he worked with other German exiles on the romantic comedy Gado Bravo/Wild Cattle (António Lopes Ribeiro, Max Nosseck, 1934), one of the first Portuguese sound films, starring Nita Brandao. In Belgium he directed the film comedy De roem van het regiment/The fame of the regiment (1936). He stayed in Europe until 1939, and then moved to Hollywood.
He got a small part in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle, 1939) starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo. During the next twenty years Siegfried Arno appeared in over fifty films in Hollywood. Among his best known films are The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin, 1940), Tales of Manhattan (Julien Duvivier, 1942) and The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges, 1942).
His thick accent limited him to supporting roles. F Gwynplaine MacIntyre at IMDb : “Still, he carved out a respectable career (usually playing comic waiters with funny accents), and many Hollywood films of the 1940s would be less enjoyable without Arno's expert comic timing.”
Arno also appeared three times on Broadway, in the musical Song of Norway (1944-1946), the play Time Remembered (1957-1958), based on Jean Anouilh’s play Léocadia, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1958, and the play The Cold Wind and the Warm (1958-1959).
From 1955 on, he again appeared regularly in the German and Austrian theatres. In 1966, Arno won a Filmband in Gold (the honorary German film award) "for his continued outstanding individual contributions to the German film over the years." Arno was also a successful portrait painter.
He was married three times. His wives were actress Lia (Caroline) Dahms (1922–1932, ended in divorce), Barbara Kiranoff (1934–1953, ended in divorce) and Austrian actress Kitty Mattern (1953–1975, ended with his death). With Dahms he had a son, costume and set-designer Peter Arno (1926).
Siegfried Arno died from Parkinson's disease in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, in 1975, aged 79.
Trude Berliner & Siegfried Arno in Musikstadt Berlin 1931 (1931). Source: Jozef Sterkens (YouTube).
Sources: Jörg Schöning (CineGraph – German), Brendon Nash (Cabaret Berlin), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), F Gwynplaine MacIntyre (IMDb), José L Bernabé Tronchoni (Find A Grave), Internet Broadway Database, Wikipedia (English and German), and .
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