Paul van Yperen's Blog, page 442
October 2, 2013
Antonie Kamerling
Every year during the last week of September, Utrecht is the Dutch capital of film with the Netherlands Film Festival. During the festival, EFSP provides you daily with postcards of Dutch films and stars from the past. Handsome blonde Antonie Kamerling (1966-2010) was a Dutch television and film actor and musician. He started as a soap hunk, but soon played interesting roles in a variety of respected films and TV productions. His international films were less successful but he found a new and promising career in stage musicals. Then his suicide at 44 shocked the Netherlands.
Dutch postcard by Emdeehaa B.V., Oosterbeek. Photo: Grundy / JE. Publicity still for Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden/Good Times, Bad Times (1990-1995).
Soap Actor
Anthonie Willem Constantijn Gneomar Kamerling was born in Arnhem, the Netherlands in 1966. His younger sister is actress Liesbeth Kamerling.
Kamerling was still a law student when he was cast for a key role in the new Dutch prime time soap opera Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden/Good Times, Bad Times (1990). His character, Peter Kelder, quickly became one of the most popular on the program. On the set, he met actress Isa Hoes, and later married her.
In 1993 he got the lead in the film De Kleine Blonde Dood/The Little Blonde Death (Jean van de Velde, 1993), based on the novel by Boudewijn Büch. At the time, his casting was quite controversial, as soap actors were considered to be inferior to 'professional' actors. Kamerling eventually got nominated for a Gouden Kalf for best actor, the most important Dutch film award.
He played lead roles in the interesting TV film Respect (Eric Oosthoek, 1994) opposite Willem Nijholt, and the international production Suite 16 (Dominique Deruddere, 1994) as a gigolo manipulated by wheelchair-bound Pete Postlethwaite.
In 1997, he starred in another film by Van de Velde, the soccer comedy All Stars (Jean van de Velde, 1997). It was with more than 300,000 visitors a big hit in the Dutch cinemas.
For the film, he sang the theme song, Toen Ik Je Zag (When I Saw You), written by the popular Dutch singer Guus Meeuwis. The song was released as a single under his character's name, Hero, and soon was a number one hit on the Dutch charts. He formed the band Hero en de Hero's and recorded more singles and an album, but none of these made the charts.
He had more success on stage in such plays as Torch Song Trilogy (1997) with Paul de Leeuw, and Elisabeth (1999).
Dutch postcard by Sanyo en Fischer. Promotion card for the Nederlandse Artiesten Elftal (the Dutch Artists Soccer Team).
The Exorcist
In the new Millenium, Antonie Kamerling played in several more films. His most successful Dutch film was Ik ook van jou/I Love You Too (Ruud van Hemert, 2001), about the relationship between a young male student and a young woman (Angela Schijf) with borderline personality disorder.
He also played in television series like All Stars – De Serie (1999-2001) and the soap Onderweg naar morgen/ONM (2005).
He tried an international breakthrough with supporting parts in productions like Soul Assassin (Laurence Malkin, 2001), the thriller Mindhunters (Renny Harlin, 2004) starring LL Cool J, and as the cold hearted Nazi Officer Kessel in Exorcist: The Beginning (Renny Harlin, 2004), the fourth installment of The Exorcist series.
Exorcist: The Beginning was retooled from Paul Schrader's already completed Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, which Hollywood executives feared was not marketable. Mark Demming at AllMovie : “Renny Harlin brought a more visually aggressive approach to the story than Schrader's more contemplative vision. In 2004, Harlin's film, Exorcist: The Beginning, was released to middling critical and financial response, while the following year, Schrader's version went into limited release following film festival screenings.”
Later in his career, Kamerling played in Dutch stage musicals, including starring roles in Turks Fruit/Turkish Delight (2006-2007) and Sunset Boulevard (2008). For Turks Fruit, an original Dutch musical, he was nominated for the Musical Award for best actor.
Later films included the Bulgarian romantic drama Prima Primavera (János Edelényi, 2009) and the Hungarian drama Budapest (Walter Carvalho, 2009).
He also did a cameo as his soap character Peter Kelder in the hit comedy New Kids Turbo (Steffen Haars, Flip Van der Kuil, 2010).
Together with his wife, Kamerling did charity work with development organization Edukans, helping their efforts to provide basic education to underprivileged children in developing countries.
Antonie Kamerling suffered from depression for several years and in 2010, he committed suicide in his home in Zevenhoven, The Netherlands. He was 44 years old. He had two children with Isa Hoes, son Merlijn and daughter Vlinder.
After his death, his final role in the series Levenslied/Life Song (2010-2011) was screened on TV.
Trailer for Suite 16 (1994). Source: ReneHuybrechtse (YouTube).
Antonie Kamerling sings Toen Ik Je Zag in All Stars (1997). Source: Jeroen Sportel (YouTube).
Trailer The Exorcist, the beginning (2005). Source: OvoZootropo (YouTube).
Sources: Mark Demming (AllMovie), NRC.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and .
Dutch postcard by Emdeehaa B.V., Oosterbeek. Photo: Grundy / JE. Publicity still for Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden/Good Times, Bad Times (1990-1995).
Soap Actor
Anthonie Willem Constantijn Gneomar Kamerling was born in Arnhem, the Netherlands in 1966. His younger sister is actress Liesbeth Kamerling.
Kamerling was still a law student when he was cast for a key role in the new Dutch prime time soap opera Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden/Good Times, Bad Times (1990). His character, Peter Kelder, quickly became one of the most popular on the program. On the set, he met actress Isa Hoes, and later married her.
In 1993 he got the lead in the film De Kleine Blonde Dood/The Little Blonde Death (Jean van de Velde, 1993), based on the novel by Boudewijn Büch. At the time, his casting was quite controversial, as soap actors were considered to be inferior to 'professional' actors. Kamerling eventually got nominated for a Gouden Kalf for best actor, the most important Dutch film award.
He played lead roles in the interesting TV film Respect (Eric Oosthoek, 1994) opposite Willem Nijholt, and the international production Suite 16 (Dominique Deruddere, 1994) as a gigolo manipulated by wheelchair-bound Pete Postlethwaite.
In 1997, he starred in another film by Van de Velde, the soccer comedy All Stars (Jean van de Velde, 1997). It was with more than 300,000 visitors a big hit in the Dutch cinemas.
For the film, he sang the theme song, Toen Ik Je Zag (When I Saw You), written by the popular Dutch singer Guus Meeuwis. The song was released as a single under his character's name, Hero, and soon was a number one hit on the Dutch charts. He formed the band Hero en de Hero's and recorded more singles and an album, but none of these made the charts.
He had more success on stage in such plays as Torch Song Trilogy (1997) with Paul de Leeuw, and Elisabeth (1999).
Dutch postcard by Sanyo en Fischer. Promotion card for the Nederlandse Artiesten Elftal (the Dutch Artists Soccer Team).
The Exorcist
In the new Millenium, Antonie Kamerling played in several more films. His most successful Dutch film was Ik ook van jou/I Love You Too (Ruud van Hemert, 2001), about the relationship between a young male student and a young woman (Angela Schijf) with borderline personality disorder.
He also played in television series like All Stars – De Serie (1999-2001) and the soap Onderweg naar morgen/ONM (2005).
He tried an international breakthrough with supporting parts in productions like Soul Assassin (Laurence Malkin, 2001), the thriller Mindhunters (Renny Harlin, 2004) starring LL Cool J, and as the cold hearted Nazi Officer Kessel in Exorcist: The Beginning (Renny Harlin, 2004), the fourth installment of The Exorcist series.
Exorcist: The Beginning was retooled from Paul Schrader's already completed Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, which Hollywood executives feared was not marketable. Mark Demming at AllMovie : “Renny Harlin brought a more visually aggressive approach to the story than Schrader's more contemplative vision. In 2004, Harlin's film, Exorcist: The Beginning, was released to middling critical and financial response, while the following year, Schrader's version went into limited release following film festival screenings.”
Later in his career, Kamerling played in Dutch stage musicals, including starring roles in Turks Fruit/Turkish Delight (2006-2007) and Sunset Boulevard (2008). For Turks Fruit, an original Dutch musical, he was nominated for the Musical Award for best actor.
Later films included the Bulgarian romantic drama Prima Primavera (János Edelényi, 2009) and the Hungarian drama Budapest (Walter Carvalho, 2009).
He also did a cameo as his soap character Peter Kelder in the hit comedy New Kids Turbo (Steffen Haars, Flip Van der Kuil, 2010).
Together with his wife, Kamerling did charity work with development organization Edukans, helping their efforts to provide basic education to underprivileged children in developing countries.
Antonie Kamerling suffered from depression for several years and in 2010, he committed suicide in his home in Zevenhoven, The Netherlands. He was 44 years old. He had two children with Isa Hoes, son Merlijn and daughter Vlinder.
After his death, his final role in the series Levenslied/Life Song (2010-2011) was screened on TV.
Trailer for Suite 16 (1994). Source: ReneHuybrechtse (YouTube).
Antonie Kamerling sings Toen Ik Je Zag in All Stars (1997). Source: Jeroen Sportel (YouTube).
Trailer The Exorcist, the beginning (2005). Source: OvoZootropo (YouTube).
Sources: Mark Demming (AllMovie), NRC.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and .
Giuliano Gemma is dead
On 1 October 2013, Italian film actor Giuliano Gemma (1938-2013) died following a car accident near Rome. During the 1960s, he enjoyed great success as one of the heroes of the Spaghetti Western. Gemma was 75.
Yugoslavian postcard by Cik Razglednica.
Ringo
Giuliano Gemma was born in Rome in 1938. While he was playing as a kid, he found a WW II bomb that exploded and the signs of injury stayed visible on his face.
He practiced many sports like boxing, gymnastics, and tennis. Gemma first worked as a stuntman, then was offered real acting parts. His first parts included bit roles in the comedies Venezia, la luna e tu/Venice, the Moon and You (Dino Risi, 1958), starring Alberto Sordi and the ‘Italian Jayne Mansfield’, Marisa Allasio , and Arrangiatevi!/You're on Your Own (Mauro Bolognini, 1959) with Peppino De Filippo and Totò.
Director Duccio Tessari offered him his first leading part in the Peplum satire Arrivano i titani/My Son, the Hero (Duccio Tessari, 1962), co-starring Jacqueline Sassard, Pedro Armendáriz and Antonella Lualdi .
He also appeared as Garibaldi’s General in Luchino Visconti's classic Il Gattopardo/The Leopard (1963), based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel of the same name.
Encouraged by the success of Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars the previous year, Duccio Tessari decided to produce his own Spaghetti Western, Una pistola per Ringo/A Pistol for Ringo (1965). The score was composed by Ennio Morricone.
Giuliano Gemma billed as Montgomery Wood starred as the gunfighter Ringo aka Angel Face. Gemma portrayed his character, loosely based on gunfighter Johnny Ringo, as the antithesis of Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name. Ringo is talkative, well dressed, clean-shaven and preferring milk to whiskey.
A Pistol for Ringo was an Italian-Spanish coproduction, shot on location in Almeria, Spain. The film was a huge success on the domestic market following its release in Italy and Spain and a year later it also did well in the other West-European countries and in the US.
The success of A Pistol for Ringo inspired numerous sequels, most notably Il ritorno di Ringo/The Return of Ringo (Duccio Tessari, 1965) with Lorella De Luca (aka Hally Hammond). Gemma went on to star in Spaghetti Westerns like Un dollaro bucato/Blood for a Silver Dollar (Giorgio Ferroni, 1965), Adios, Gringo (Giorgio Stegani, 1965) and I giorni dell'ira/Day of Anger (Tonino Valerii, 1967) opposite Lee van Cleef.
He also appeared in non-Westerns, like the French historical romantic adventure film Angélique et le Roy/Angelique and the King (Bernard Borderie, 1966), the third part in the Angélique series featuring Michèle Mercier . Other example were the Euro-Spy film Kiss Kiss... Bang Bang (Duccio Tessari, 1966), and the crime film I bastardi/Sons of Satan (Duccio Tessari), starring Rita Hayworth.
Italian postcard by Forte.
Desert Of Tartars
Giuliano Gemma's career survived the demise of the Spaghetti Western genre. In 1970 he had a huge success with the comedy Quando le Donne Avevano la Coda/When Women Had Tails (Pasquale Festa Campanile, 1970), set in pre-historic times when ‘women had tails’ and were hunted by cavemen.
Another box office hit was the action comedy Anche gli angeli mangiano fagioli/Even Angels Eat Beans (Enzo Barboni, 1973) opposite Bud Spencer . In Germany, it was awarded with the Goldene Leinwand (Golden Screen) Award in 1974. He returned in the sequel, Anche gli angeli tirano di destro/Charleston (Enzo Barboni, 1974) with Ricky Bruch (at his debut) who replaced Bud Spencer .
Gemma also played in a variety of art-house offerings, such as the drama Delitto d'amore/Somewhere Beyond Love (Luigi Comencini, 1974) with Stefania Sandrelli, and Il deserto dei tartari/Desert of Tartars (Valerio Zurlini, 1976) for which he won a David di Donatello, the Italian equivalent of the Oscar.
Three years later, he won the Grolla d'oro award for Best Actor for his part in the crime-drama Un uomo in ginocchio/A Man on His Knees (Damiano Damiani, 1979) with Michele Placido. He also worked with Damiani on the Giallo (Italian horror thriller) L'avvertimento/The Warning (Damiano Damiani, 1980), co-starring Martin Balsam.
He also played in the Giallo Tenebrae/Tenebre (Dario Argento, 1982), starring Anthony Franciosa. In 1985 he reunited with Ducio Tessari for Tex e il signore degli abissi/Tex And The Lord Of The Deep (1985), based on the Italian comic series about ranger Tex Willer, written by Gian Luigi Bonelli. The film was meant to be the pilot of a TV Series but had very little success.
More successful was the comedy Speriamo che sia femmina/Let's Hope It's a Girl (Mario Monicelli, 1986), which won the David di Donatello for Best Film and many other awards.
Gemma remained active on Italian television and incidentally appeared in interesting films like Un bel dì vedremo/One fine day we'll see (Tonino Valerii, 1997) and the period drama Juana la Loca/Mad Love (Vicente Aranda, 2001) which received 3 Goya awards. Pilar López de Ayala starred as the tragic Queen Joanna of Castile madly in love to an unfaithful husband, Philip the Handsome, Archduke of Austria.
Gemma also worked as a sculptor. Recently, he starred in a web comic named Man Born Again (2012) by Eclypsed Word, and he had a role in Woody Allen’s magical realist comedy To Rome with Love (2012).
On 1 October 2013, Giuliano Gemma died following a car accident near Rome. He was taken to a hospital in Civitavecchia and pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. He was 75. Two other passengers, a man and his son, were also injured in the accident.
Giuliano Gemma was married to Baba Richerme. They had two daughters, Vera and Giuliana Gemma. Vera Gemma is also an actress.
Trailer for Il ritorno di Ringo/The Return of Ringo (Duccio Tessari, 1965). Source: Neverlando74 (YouTube).
Sources: Wikipedia and
Yugoslavian postcard by Cik Razglednica.
Ringo
Giuliano Gemma was born in Rome in 1938. While he was playing as a kid, he found a WW II bomb that exploded and the signs of injury stayed visible on his face.
He practiced many sports like boxing, gymnastics, and tennis. Gemma first worked as a stuntman, then was offered real acting parts. His first parts included bit roles in the comedies Venezia, la luna e tu/Venice, the Moon and You (Dino Risi, 1958), starring Alberto Sordi and the ‘Italian Jayne Mansfield’, Marisa Allasio , and Arrangiatevi!/You're on Your Own (Mauro Bolognini, 1959) with Peppino De Filippo and Totò.
Director Duccio Tessari offered him his first leading part in the Peplum satire Arrivano i titani/My Son, the Hero (Duccio Tessari, 1962), co-starring Jacqueline Sassard, Pedro Armendáriz and Antonella Lualdi .
He also appeared as Garibaldi’s General in Luchino Visconti's classic Il Gattopardo/The Leopard (1963), based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel of the same name.
Encouraged by the success of Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars the previous year, Duccio Tessari decided to produce his own Spaghetti Western, Una pistola per Ringo/A Pistol for Ringo (1965). The score was composed by Ennio Morricone.
Giuliano Gemma billed as Montgomery Wood starred as the gunfighter Ringo aka Angel Face. Gemma portrayed his character, loosely based on gunfighter Johnny Ringo, as the antithesis of Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name. Ringo is talkative, well dressed, clean-shaven and preferring milk to whiskey.
A Pistol for Ringo was an Italian-Spanish coproduction, shot on location in Almeria, Spain. The film was a huge success on the domestic market following its release in Italy and Spain and a year later it also did well in the other West-European countries and in the US.
The success of A Pistol for Ringo inspired numerous sequels, most notably Il ritorno di Ringo/The Return of Ringo (Duccio Tessari, 1965) with Lorella De Luca (aka Hally Hammond). Gemma went on to star in Spaghetti Westerns like Un dollaro bucato/Blood for a Silver Dollar (Giorgio Ferroni, 1965), Adios, Gringo (Giorgio Stegani, 1965) and I giorni dell'ira/Day of Anger (Tonino Valerii, 1967) opposite Lee van Cleef.
He also appeared in non-Westerns, like the French historical romantic adventure film Angélique et le Roy/Angelique and the King (Bernard Borderie, 1966), the third part in the Angélique series featuring Michèle Mercier . Other example were the Euro-Spy film Kiss Kiss... Bang Bang (Duccio Tessari, 1966), and the crime film I bastardi/Sons of Satan (Duccio Tessari), starring Rita Hayworth.
Italian postcard by Forte.
Desert Of Tartars
Giuliano Gemma's career survived the demise of the Spaghetti Western genre. In 1970 he had a huge success with the comedy Quando le Donne Avevano la Coda/When Women Had Tails (Pasquale Festa Campanile, 1970), set in pre-historic times when ‘women had tails’ and were hunted by cavemen.
Another box office hit was the action comedy Anche gli angeli mangiano fagioli/Even Angels Eat Beans (Enzo Barboni, 1973) opposite Bud Spencer . In Germany, it was awarded with the Goldene Leinwand (Golden Screen) Award in 1974. He returned in the sequel, Anche gli angeli tirano di destro/Charleston (Enzo Barboni, 1974) with Ricky Bruch (at his debut) who replaced Bud Spencer .
Gemma also played in a variety of art-house offerings, such as the drama Delitto d'amore/Somewhere Beyond Love (Luigi Comencini, 1974) with Stefania Sandrelli, and Il deserto dei tartari/Desert of Tartars (Valerio Zurlini, 1976) for which he won a David di Donatello, the Italian equivalent of the Oscar.
Three years later, he won the Grolla d'oro award for Best Actor for his part in the crime-drama Un uomo in ginocchio/A Man on His Knees (Damiano Damiani, 1979) with Michele Placido. He also worked with Damiani on the Giallo (Italian horror thriller) L'avvertimento/The Warning (Damiano Damiani, 1980), co-starring Martin Balsam.
He also played in the Giallo Tenebrae/Tenebre (Dario Argento, 1982), starring Anthony Franciosa. In 1985 he reunited with Ducio Tessari for Tex e il signore degli abissi/Tex And The Lord Of The Deep (1985), based on the Italian comic series about ranger Tex Willer, written by Gian Luigi Bonelli. The film was meant to be the pilot of a TV Series but had very little success.
More successful was the comedy Speriamo che sia femmina/Let's Hope It's a Girl (Mario Monicelli, 1986), which won the David di Donatello for Best Film and many other awards.
Gemma remained active on Italian television and incidentally appeared in interesting films like Un bel dì vedremo/One fine day we'll see (Tonino Valerii, 1997) and the period drama Juana la Loca/Mad Love (Vicente Aranda, 2001) which received 3 Goya awards. Pilar López de Ayala starred as the tragic Queen Joanna of Castile madly in love to an unfaithful husband, Philip the Handsome, Archduke of Austria.
Gemma also worked as a sculptor. Recently, he starred in a web comic named Man Born Again (2012) by Eclypsed Word, and he had a role in Woody Allen’s magical realist comedy To Rome with Love (2012).
On 1 October 2013, Giuliano Gemma died following a car accident near Rome. He was taken to a hospital in Civitavecchia and pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. He was 75. Two other passengers, a man and his son, were also injured in the accident.
Giuliano Gemma was married to Baba Richerme. They had two daughters, Vera and Giuliana Gemma. Vera Gemma is also an actress.
Trailer for Il ritorno di Ringo/The Return of Ringo (Duccio Tessari, 1965). Source: Neverlando74 (YouTube).
Sources: Wikipedia and
October 1, 2013
Wilma
Every year during the last week of September, Utrecht is the Dutch capital of film with the Netherlands Film Festival. During the festival, EFSP provides you daily with postcards of Dutch films and stars from the past. In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, sweet little Wilma (1957) was a popular Dutch child star. At 11, she had hits in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and also appeared in some Schlager films.
German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 5000, 1969. Photo: Constantin / Rialto / Vogelmann.
Spanking at School
Wilhelmina Landkroon was born in Enschede, Netherlands in 1957. She is the sister of composer, text writer and singer Henny Thijssen and singer Reiny Landkroon.
Only eleven years old, Wilma had her first chart success in the Netherlands and Germany with the song Heintje, bau ein Schloss für mich (Heintje, build a castle for me) in 1968. The song, written and produced by Gert Timmerman, was an answer to that other child star Heintje ’s hit Ich bau dir ein Schloss (I Build You A Castle), and was with 500,000 records even a bigger success than the original song.
Two other hits followed, including Een klomp met een zeiltje/A Clog with a Sail (1969), before the cooperation with Timmerman stopped. Ben Essing then became her manager.
Late 1969, when German Klaus Lorenzen became the new producer of the sweet young singer, Wilma started to record some of her songs in different languages, as English and even Japanese. With her clear voice, she had international chart successes singing Tulips from Amsterdam and Lavender blue.
She also sang her hits in German Schlager films like Unser Doktor ist der Beste/Our doctor is the best (Harald Vock, 1969) with Roy Black and Helga Anders, and in Klassenkeile/Spanking at School (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1969) with Uschi Glas and Walter Giller . Because of her many performances, Wilma herself neglected school.
German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 5009, 1969. Photo: Constantin / Rialto / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Klassenkeile/Spanking at School (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1969).
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. AX 7119.
Melancholy View
The Dutch singer and composer Pierre Kartner became Wilma’s new producer. In the following years she had success in the Netherlands with songs like the #1 hit Zou het erg zijn lieve opa (Would You Mind Dear Granddad) (1971), a duet with Vader Abraham (Pierre Kartner), but her later records were less successful.
In 1973, she tried a new, more adult repertoire with the band De Makkers, but just a few years later she was nearly forgotten. When her divorced father got ill, she lived in a children’s home in Enschede for a while and in 1975, she was even arrested for burglary.
When she was 19, Wilma married, and had two sons. Both her father and her former manager Ben Essing died. As an adult, she never received any of the earnings from her international career as a successful child star, and in 1994, a house fire destroyed all her golden records and other memorabilia.
In 2003, she recorded a new CD, Wilma – toen en nu (Wilma – Then and Now), with old and new songs of her. In the song Gouden platen – volle zalen (Golden Records – Full Halls) she gives a melancholy view on her life as a successful child star.
In 2005 Wilma Landkroon was a guest in Paul de Leeuw’s TV show Paul’s parenavond. Her memories of her manager Ben Essing, her producer Pierre Kartner and the music industry were not very positive. In 2009 she recorded the duet Niets of Niemand (Nothing or Nobody) with the singer Sylvia Corpiér. It was a hit, but again she returned to her anonymous life.
Nowadays, Wilma is a grandmother. In a recent interview she told that she can also see the positive side of her career as a child star now.
Wilma sings 80 rode rozen (80 red roses) (1969). Source: Hermanb1 (YouTube).
Wilma sings Ein holzschuh mit Segel (A Clog With A Sail) (1969) in the film Unser Doktor ist der Beste/Our doctor is the best (1969). Source: Maikfurhrer (YouTube).
Sources: Anne de Vroomen (Geschiedenis24), Muziekencyclopedie.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (German, English and Dutch) and .
German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 5000, 1969. Photo: Constantin / Rialto / Vogelmann.
Spanking at School
Wilhelmina Landkroon was born in Enschede, Netherlands in 1957. She is the sister of composer, text writer and singer Henny Thijssen and singer Reiny Landkroon.
Only eleven years old, Wilma had her first chart success in the Netherlands and Germany with the song Heintje, bau ein Schloss für mich (Heintje, build a castle for me) in 1968. The song, written and produced by Gert Timmerman, was an answer to that other child star Heintje ’s hit Ich bau dir ein Schloss (I Build You A Castle), and was with 500,000 records even a bigger success than the original song.
Two other hits followed, including Een klomp met een zeiltje/A Clog with a Sail (1969), before the cooperation with Timmerman stopped. Ben Essing then became her manager.
Late 1969, when German Klaus Lorenzen became the new producer of the sweet young singer, Wilma started to record some of her songs in different languages, as English and even Japanese. With her clear voice, she had international chart successes singing Tulips from Amsterdam and Lavender blue.
She also sang her hits in German Schlager films like Unser Doktor ist der Beste/Our doctor is the best (Harald Vock, 1969) with Roy Black and Helga Anders, and in Klassenkeile/Spanking at School (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1969) with Uschi Glas and Walter Giller . Because of her many performances, Wilma herself neglected school.
German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 5009, 1969. Photo: Constantin / Rialto / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Klassenkeile/Spanking at School (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1969).
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. AX 7119.
Melancholy View
The Dutch singer and composer Pierre Kartner became Wilma’s new producer. In the following years she had success in the Netherlands with songs like the #1 hit Zou het erg zijn lieve opa (Would You Mind Dear Granddad) (1971), a duet with Vader Abraham (Pierre Kartner), but her later records were less successful.
In 1973, she tried a new, more adult repertoire with the band De Makkers, but just a few years later she was nearly forgotten. When her divorced father got ill, she lived in a children’s home in Enschede for a while and in 1975, she was even arrested for burglary.
When she was 19, Wilma married, and had two sons. Both her father and her former manager Ben Essing died. As an adult, she never received any of the earnings from her international career as a successful child star, and in 1994, a house fire destroyed all her golden records and other memorabilia.
In 2003, she recorded a new CD, Wilma – toen en nu (Wilma – Then and Now), with old and new songs of her. In the song Gouden platen – volle zalen (Golden Records – Full Halls) she gives a melancholy view on her life as a successful child star.
In 2005 Wilma Landkroon was a guest in Paul de Leeuw’s TV show Paul’s parenavond. Her memories of her manager Ben Essing, her producer Pierre Kartner and the music industry were not very positive. In 2009 she recorded the duet Niets of Niemand (Nothing or Nobody) with the singer Sylvia Corpiér. It was a hit, but again she returned to her anonymous life.
Nowadays, Wilma is a grandmother. In a recent interview she told that she can also see the positive side of her career as a child star now.
Wilma sings 80 rode rozen (80 red roses) (1969). Source: Hermanb1 (YouTube).
Wilma sings Ein holzschuh mit Segel (A Clog With A Sail) (1969) in the film Unser Doktor ist der Beste/Our doctor is the best (1969). Source: Maikfurhrer (YouTube).
Sources: Anne de Vroomen (Geschiedenis24), Muziekencyclopedie.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (German, English and Dutch) and .
September 30, 2013
Jules Croiset
Every year during the last week of September, Utrecht is the Dutch capital of film with the Netherlands Film Festival. During the festival, EFSP provides you daily with postcards of Dutch films and stars from the past. Heavy-set Dutch actor Jules Croiset (1937) is known for his grandiose, solo stage performances. He also appeared in more than 40 films and television shows since 1960.
Dutch postcard, no. 1273, 1973. Publicity still for Help, de dokter verzuipt!/Help! The Doctor Is Drowning (Nicolai van der Heijde, 1974).
His Parents’ Footsteps
Julien Gustave Croiset was born in Deventer, The Netherlands in 1937. He was born into a family of actors. Jules was the son of Max Croiset, star of films like Dood water/Dead water (Gerard Rutten, 1933) and actress Jeanne Verstraete. His brother is actor-director Hans Croiset. His nephew Eli Asser is a well-known author of TV series and stage plays. And his grandfather was actor Guus Verstraete.
When he was 2 years old, just before war broke out, his Belgian-born mother, a Christian, abandoned his father, a Jew who was an actor, and married a Nazi collaborator. Jules and his brother were sent to a farm in the north of Holland, hidden from the Germans.
After the war, Jules sought to talk about his past and his half-Jewishness with his father, but the elder Croiset remained silent.
Jules followed in his parents’ footsteps and made his stage debut in 1955. In 1960 he appeared in the TV film Romeo en Julia in Berlijn/Romeo and Juliet in Berlin (Frits Butzelaar, 1960) with Manfred de Graaf. That year he also made his film debut in the romantic comedy De zaak M.P./The Manneken Pis Case (Bert Haanstra, 1960) with Albert Mol.
During the 1960s, he appeared mainly on stage, but also in several TV films. His TV roles included Petja in the Anton Chekhov adaptation De kersentuin/The Cherry Orchard (Willy van Hemert, 1963), Mitja in Alexander Pushkin’s De Postmeester/The Stationmaster (Paul Pouwels, 1965) and Victor in Federico García Lorca’s Yerma (Jan Retèl, 1967).
Max Croiset. Dutch postcard, no. 38996. Photo: Nederlandse Filmgemeenschap, Holland. Publicity still for Dood water/Dead water (Gerard Rutten, 1934) with Max Croiset (left) and Arnold Marlé. Collection: Egbert Barten.
Walt Disney Classics
In 1974, Jules Croiset landed the lead role in the film comedy Help, de dokter verzuipt!/Help! The Doctor Is Drowning (Nikolai van der Heyde, 1974). He played small town doctor Angelino who falls in love at first sight with schoolteacher Irene (Martine Bijl). The film was a box office hit, but for Croiset it did not lead to more film roles.
Even in the sequel, Laat de dokter maar schuiven (Nikolai van der Heyde, 1980), the doctor was played by another actor, Jo de Meijere. Chip Douglas at IMDb : “Although writer Toon Kortooms was very pleased with the way his book was translated to the screen (he would be, as he only wrote it after the first film became a hit). Critics and audiences did not agree.“
Croiset had a very successful stage career and did some grandiose solo performances. In 1979 he won the prestigious Louis d'Or award for his role as Platonov in the play by Anton Chekhov.
He also continued to appear regularly in popular TV series and played supporting parts in films like De mantel der Liefde/The Cloak of Love (Adriaan Ditvoorst, 1978) with Willeke van Ammelrooy, De Witte Waan/White Madness (Adriaan Ditvoorst, 1984) starring Thom Hoffman, and the horror thriller Amsterdamned (Dick Maas, 1988).
Croiset also became a well known voice actor for children’s animations, like the Dutch-British TV series Doctor Snuggles (Jeffrey O'Kelly, 1979), about a friendly and optimistic inventor. He masterfully provided the voices of Doc in the second Dutch version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Shere Khan in The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967), Prince John in Robin Hood (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1973) and characters of many other Walt Disney classics.
Help, de dokter verzuipt!/Help! The Doctor Is Drowning (1974). Source: Kpuccie (YouTube).
Abducted By A Neo-Nazi Commando
In 1988, the Belgian police announced that Jules Croiset had reported being abducted by a neo-Nazi commando in the dingy industrial city of Charleroi, which he was visiting while on tour. Croiset said he had been seized by two men and a woman who forced him into a sewer tunnel, bound him, ripped his Star of David chain from his neck and daubed a swastika on his chest. After violent humiliations, he told the police, he escaped from his sewer prison.
The news of the kidnapping stunned the Netherlands. A big demonstration was held at an Amsterdam church, and the Justice Minister said he was considering creating a special prosecutor to investigate neo-Nazi activities.
However, early 1989 the Belgian police announced that the actor had confessed to staging his own kidnapping. After this bizarre affair, Croiset tried to put his life together and reconcile with his wife and children.
During the 1990s he returned to work and could also be seen in Dutch films like the horror dud Intensive Care (Dorna van Rouveroy, 1991), Hoffman's honger/Hoffman's Hunger (Leon de Winter, 1993) starring Elliot Gould and Jacqueline Bisset, the drama De vlinder tilt de kat op/The Butterfly Lifts the Cat Up (Willeke van Ammelrooy, 1994) and the fantasy Nachtvlinder/Night Butterfly (Herman van Veen, 1999).
These films were only moderately successful at best, but Croiset also appeared in very popular Dutch TV series like Flodder (Dick Maas, 1994) and Baantjer (1997-2001). More recently he had guest roles in such popular series as Keyzer & de Boer advocaten/Keyzer & De Boer Lawyers (2007) and Flikken Maastricht/Maastricht Cops (2008).
Jules Croiset is the father of actors Vincent Croiset and Niels Croiset. In 2011 he and his son Vincent played a father and his illiterate son in the short film Letter (Reinout Hellenthal, 2011).
Letter (2011). Source: Nieuwebeeldkr8 (YouTube).
Sources: James M. Markham (The New York Times), Wikipedia (Dutch and English), and .
Dutch postcard, no. 1273, 1973. Publicity still for Help, de dokter verzuipt!/Help! The Doctor Is Drowning (Nicolai van der Heijde, 1974).
His Parents’ Footsteps
Julien Gustave Croiset was born in Deventer, The Netherlands in 1937. He was born into a family of actors. Jules was the son of Max Croiset, star of films like Dood water/Dead water (Gerard Rutten, 1933) and actress Jeanne Verstraete. His brother is actor-director Hans Croiset. His nephew Eli Asser is a well-known author of TV series and stage plays. And his grandfather was actor Guus Verstraete.
When he was 2 years old, just before war broke out, his Belgian-born mother, a Christian, abandoned his father, a Jew who was an actor, and married a Nazi collaborator. Jules and his brother were sent to a farm in the north of Holland, hidden from the Germans.
After the war, Jules sought to talk about his past and his half-Jewishness with his father, but the elder Croiset remained silent.
Jules followed in his parents’ footsteps and made his stage debut in 1955. In 1960 he appeared in the TV film Romeo en Julia in Berlijn/Romeo and Juliet in Berlin (Frits Butzelaar, 1960) with Manfred de Graaf. That year he also made his film debut in the romantic comedy De zaak M.P./The Manneken Pis Case (Bert Haanstra, 1960) with Albert Mol.
During the 1960s, he appeared mainly on stage, but also in several TV films. His TV roles included Petja in the Anton Chekhov adaptation De kersentuin/The Cherry Orchard (Willy van Hemert, 1963), Mitja in Alexander Pushkin’s De Postmeester/The Stationmaster (Paul Pouwels, 1965) and Victor in Federico García Lorca’s Yerma (Jan Retèl, 1967).
Max Croiset. Dutch postcard, no. 38996. Photo: Nederlandse Filmgemeenschap, Holland. Publicity still for Dood water/Dead water (Gerard Rutten, 1934) with Max Croiset (left) and Arnold Marlé. Collection: Egbert Barten.
Walt Disney Classics
In 1974, Jules Croiset landed the lead role in the film comedy Help, de dokter verzuipt!/Help! The Doctor Is Drowning (Nikolai van der Heyde, 1974). He played small town doctor Angelino who falls in love at first sight with schoolteacher Irene (Martine Bijl). The film was a box office hit, but for Croiset it did not lead to more film roles.
Even in the sequel, Laat de dokter maar schuiven (Nikolai van der Heyde, 1980), the doctor was played by another actor, Jo de Meijere. Chip Douglas at IMDb : “Although writer Toon Kortooms was very pleased with the way his book was translated to the screen (he would be, as he only wrote it after the first film became a hit). Critics and audiences did not agree.“
Croiset had a very successful stage career and did some grandiose solo performances. In 1979 he won the prestigious Louis d'Or award for his role as Platonov in the play by Anton Chekhov.
He also continued to appear regularly in popular TV series and played supporting parts in films like De mantel der Liefde/The Cloak of Love (Adriaan Ditvoorst, 1978) with Willeke van Ammelrooy, De Witte Waan/White Madness (Adriaan Ditvoorst, 1984) starring Thom Hoffman, and the horror thriller Amsterdamned (Dick Maas, 1988).
Croiset also became a well known voice actor for children’s animations, like the Dutch-British TV series Doctor Snuggles (Jeffrey O'Kelly, 1979), about a friendly and optimistic inventor. He masterfully provided the voices of Doc in the second Dutch version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Shere Khan in The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967), Prince John in Robin Hood (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1973) and characters of many other Walt Disney classics.
Help, de dokter verzuipt!/Help! The Doctor Is Drowning (1974). Source: Kpuccie (YouTube).
Abducted By A Neo-Nazi Commando
In 1988, the Belgian police announced that Jules Croiset had reported being abducted by a neo-Nazi commando in the dingy industrial city of Charleroi, which he was visiting while on tour. Croiset said he had been seized by two men and a woman who forced him into a sewer tunnel, bound him, ripped his Star of David chain from his neck and daubed a swastika on his chest. After violent humiliations, he told the police, he escaped from his sewer prison.
The news of the kidnapping stunned the Netherlands. A big demonstration was held at an Amsterdam church, and the Justice Minister said he was considering creating a special prosecutor to investigate neo-Nazi activities.
However, early 1989 the Belgian police announced that the actor had confessed to staging his own kidnapping. After this bizarre affair, Croiset tried to put his life together and reconcile with his wife and children.
During the 1990s he returned to work and could also be seen in Dutch films like the horror dud Intensive Care (Dorna van Rouveroy, 1991), Hoffman's honger/Hoffman's Hunger (Leon de Winter, 1993) starring Elliot Gould and Jacqueline Bisset, the drama De vlinder tilt de kat op/The Butterfly Lifts the Cat Up (Willeke van Ammelrooy, 1994) and the fantasy Nachtvlinder/Night Butterfly (Herman van Veen, 1999).
These films were only moderately successful at best, but Croiset also appeared in very popular Dutch TV series like Flodder (Dick Maas, 1994) and Baantjer (1997-2001). More recently he had guest roles in such popular series as Keyzer & de Boer advocaten/Keyzer & De Boer Lawyers (2007) and Flikken Maastricht/Maastricht Cops (2008).
Jules Croiset is the father of actors Vincent Croiset and Niels Croiset. In 2011 he and his son Vincent played a father and his illiterate son in the short film Letter (Reinout Hellenthal, 2011).
Letter (2011). Source: Nieuwebeeldkr8 (YouTube).
Sources: James M. Markham (The New York Times), Wikipedia (Dutch and English), and .
September 29, 2013
Esther de Boer-van Rijk
Every year during the last week of September, Utrecht is the Dutch capital of film with the Netherlands Film Festival. During the festival, EFSP provides you daily with postcards of Dutch films and stars from the past. Esther de Boer-van Rijk (1853-1937) was the most popular Dutch actress ever. She was a national icon as the tragic fisherwoman Kniertje in the stage classic Op hoop van zegen (The Good Hope) by Herman Heijermans and played the role again in both a silent (1918) and a sound film version (1934). She also appeared in a dozen other Dutch silent films.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934).
Ultramodern Pieces
Esther van Rijk was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in 1853. She was the daughter of administrator Moses van Rijk and seamstress Adriana Wolfhart. Esther was the fourteenth and youngest child in a simple Jewish orthodox family. From an early age, the stage attracted her, against the wishes of her parents.
In 1874, she played her first role as a professional actress as Laura in Emma Berthold by J.J. Cremer. In 1881, she married the musician Henri de Boer, with whom she had a child, Sophie de Vries-de Boer. A year later they moved to Amsterdam.
After several years of farces and vaudevillians, she developed into an actress specialized in avant-garde theatre pieces by authors like Ibsen, Strindberg and Zola. These were for that time ultramodern pieces about everyday reality, in which actors had to play as faithful as possible.
From 1893, she worked for the Nederlandsche Toneel Vereeniging (The Dutch Theatre Association) under director Louis Chrispijn and later for its successor De Toneelvereeniging (The Theatre Association).
Dutch postcard by Weenenk & Snel, Den Haag. Photo: Willem Coret.
Dutch postcard by Foto-Industrie De Voorkeur, Amsterdam. Photo: Leenheer. Inscription by author Herman Heijermans.
Poverty And Honour
With her natural acting style, she became the key feature of the social conscious stage work by Herman Heijermans. Her first roles in his plays were Ester in Ghetto (1898) and Engel in Het Zevende Gebod (The Seventh Commandment) (1899).
In 1900 followed the highlight of her career, as the fisherman’s widow Kniertje in Op hoop van Zegen (The Good Hope) (1900), a role she played 1200 times. Driven by poverty and honour Kniertje sends the last of her kin to sea. Her two sons will work on the Op hoop van zegen. Unknown to them, the ship in question is falling apart at the seams and rotting to boot, so the greedy owner Bos has gotten it heavily insured.
Later, De Boer-van Rijk was also featured in the film versions of 1918 and 1934. Other roles in Heijermans plays included Annemie the maid in De Meid (The Maid) (1908), mother Schulz in Glück Auf, spel van de mijnen (Glück Auf, play of the mines) (1911), and Eva in Eva Bonheur (1917).
Heijermans did not admire her work unconditionally: "The great artiste is great in the petty bourgeois environment, into the atmosphere that I loved. She is more or less deficit in the romantic and classical repertoire or in the salon pieces”, he wrote in 1916.
Dutch postcard by Foto-Industrie De Voorkeur, Amsterdam, no 22927. Photo: Leenheer. Esther de Boer-van Rijk in her Kniertje costume.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934). Collection: Egbert Barten.
Socially Conscious Drama
After the dissolution of De Toneelvereeniging in 1924, Esther de Boer-van Rijk founded the Gezelschap Esther de Boer-van Rijk (Company Esther de Boer-van Rijk) and in 1933 the De Boer-van Rijk ensemble. But she has also played in all the major companies of its time, also abroad. In a London performance as Kniertje she made a big impression, although she played the role (in an entirely English-speaking cast) in Dutch.
Her popularity was great, partly because her game had contributed to the elimination of wrongs for which Heijermans in his socially conscious drama had raised the issue.
She also appeared in several Dutch silent films. In 1913, she made her film debut in the sea drama De Bertha/The Bertha (Louis H. Chrispijn Senior, 1913) with Annie Bos.
The next year, she appeared in Een telegram uit Mexico/A Telegram from Mexico (Louis H. Chrispijn Senior, 1914) about a Dutch colonist who gets caught up in the Mexican revolution. It was produced by Hollandia Filmfabriek, the main Dutch silent film studio.
Other Hollandia productions were Gebroken levens /Broken Lives (Louis H. Chrispijn Senior, 1914), De vrouw Clasina/The Woman Clasina (Maurits Binger, 1915) and Het geheim van den vuurtoren/The Secret of the Lighthouse (Maurits Binger, 1915) as the mother of smuggler Alex Benno.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934) with Frits van Dongen .
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag/M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (1934, Alex Benno, Louis Saalborn) with Jan van Ees . Collection Egbert Barten.
The Good Hope
Esther de Boer-van Rijk also worked for other studios, such as for Rembrandt Film in the family drama Diamant/Diamond (Johan Gildemeijer, 1916) as the wife of Louis Bouwmeester .
Then followed the first film version of Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Maurits Binger, 1918) with Annie Bos and Jan van Dommelen. Only a part of this film is known to exist.
Later silent films include Cirque Hollandais/Circus Hollandais (Theo Frenkel Senior, 1924) with Louis Bouwmeester , and De cabaret-prinses/The Cabaret Princess (Theo Frenkel Senior, 1925).
Her final film and her only sound production was the second version of Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (1934), directed by Alex Benno. The film, co-starring Frits van Dongen and Jan van Ees as her sons, became one of most successful productions of the Dutch pre-war cinema.
Chip Douglas at IMDb : “Esther de Boer van Rijk carries the picture as Kniertje and gives a moving performance. It's a good thing she got the chance to be seen and heard on film so her iconic portrayal has been preserved (and luckily, it has).” Her autobiography Ik kijk terug. Episodes uit mijn leven (I look back. Episodes of my life) appeared also in 1934.
Esther de Boer-van Rijk died in 1937 in Amsterdam. She was 84.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, Louis Saalborn, 1934) with Aaf Bouber .
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag/M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (1934, Alex Benno, Louis Saalborn) with Aaf Bouber , Cissy van Bennekom , Clara Visscher and Annie Verhulst.
Dutch postcard by Cinema Palace / M.H.D.-Film. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934). Probably published to commemorate the death of De Boer-van Rijk in 1937.
Sources: Joosje Lakmaker (Ons Amsterdam) (Dutch), Chip Douglas (IMDb), Film in Nederland, Historici.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (Dutch) and .
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934).
Ultramodern Pieces
Esther van Rijk was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in 1853. She was the daughter of administrator Moses van Rijk and seamstress Adriana Wolfhart. Esther was the fourteenth and youngest child in a simple Jewish orthodox family. From an early age, the stage attracted her, against the wishes of her parents.
In 1874, she played her first role as a professional actress as Laura in Emma Berthold by J.J. Cremer. In 1881, she married the musician Henri de Boer, with whom she had a child, Sophie de Vries-de Boer. A year later they moved to Amsterdam.
After several years of farces and vaudevillians, she developed into an actress specialized in avant-garde theatre pieces by authors like Ibsen, Strindberg and Zola. These were for that time ultramodern pieces about everyday reality, in which actors had to play as faithful as possible.
From 1893, she worked for the Nederlandsche Toneel Vereeniging (The Dutch Theatre Association) under director Louis Chrispijn and later for its successor De Toneelvereeniging (The Theatre Association).
Dutch postcard by Weenenk & Snel, Den Haag. Photo: Willem Coret.
Dutch postcard by Foto-Industrie De Voorkeur, Amsterdam. Photo: Leenheer. Inscription by author Herman Heijermans.
Poverty And Honour
With her natural acting style, she became the key feature of the social conscious stage work by Herman Heijermans. Her first roles in his plays were Ester in Ghetto (1898) and Engel in Het Zevende Gebod (The Seventh Commandment) (1899).
In 1900 followed the highlight of her career, as the fisherman’s widow Kniertje in Op hoop van Zegen (The Good Hope) (1900), a role she played 1200 times. Driven by poverty and honour Kniertje sends the last of her kin to sea. Her two sons will work on the Op hoop van zegen. Unknown to them, the ship in question is falling apart at the seams and rotting to boot, so the greedy owner Bos has gotten it heavily insured.
Later, De Boer-van Rijk was also featured in the film versions of 1918 and 1934. Other roles in Heijermans plays included Annemie the maid in De Meid (The Maid) (1908), mother Schulz in Glück Auf, spel van de mijnen (Glück Auf, play of the mines) (1911), and Eva in Eva Bonheur (1917).
Heijermans did not admire her work unconditionally: "The great artiste is great in the petty bourgeois environment, into the atmosphere that I loved. She is more or less deficit in the romantic and classical repertoire or in the salon pieces”, he wrote in 1916.
Dutch postcard by Foto-Industrie De Voorkeur, Amsterdam, no 22927. Photo: Leenheer. Esther de Boer-van Rijk in her Kniertje costume.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934). Collection: Egbert Barten.
Socially Conscious Drama
After the dissolution of De Toneelvereeniging in 1924, Esther de Boer-van Rijk founded the Gezelschap Esther de Boer-van Rijk (Company Esther de Boer-van Rijk) and in 1933 the De Boer-van Rijk ensemble. But she has also played in all the major companies of its time, also abroad. In a London performance as Kniertje she made a big impression, although she played the role (in an entirely English-speaking cast) in Dutch.
Her popularity was great, partly because her game had contributed to the elimination of wrongs for which Heijermans in his socially conscious drama had raised the issue.
She also appeared in several Dutch silent films. In 1913, she made her film debut in the sea drama De Bertha/The Bertha (Louis H. Chrispijn Senior, 1913) with Annie Bos.
The next year, she appeared in Een telegram uit Mexico/A Telegram from Mexico (Louis H. Chrispijn Senior, 1914) about a Dutch colonist who gets caught up in the Mexican revolution. It was produced by Hollandia Filmfabriek, the main Dutch silent film studio.
Other Hollandia productions were Gebroken levens /Broken Lives (Louis H. Chrispijn Senior, 1914), De vrouw Clasina/The Woman Clasina (Maurits Binger, 1915) and Het geheim van den vuurtoren/The Secret of the Lighthouse (Maurits Binger, 1915) as the mother of smuggler Alex Benno.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934) with Frits van Dongen .
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag/M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (1934, Alex Benno, Louis Saalborn) with Jan van Ees . Collection Egbert Barten.
The Good Hope
Esther de Boer-van Rijk also worked for other studios, such as for Rembrandt Film in the family drama Diamant/Diamond (Johan Gildemeijer, 1916) as the wife of Louis Bouwmeester .
Then followed the first film version of Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Maurits Binger, 1918) with Annie Bos and Jan van Dommelen. Only a part of this film is known to exist.
Later silent films include Cirque Hollandais/Circus Hollandais (Theo Frenkel Senior, 1924) with Louis Bouwmeester , and De cabaret-prinses/The Cabaret Princess (Theo Frenkel Senior, 1925).
Her final film and her only sound production was the second version of Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (1934), directed by Alex Benno. The film, co-starring Frits van Dongen and Jan van Ees as her sons, became one of most successful productions of the Dutch pre-war cinema.
Chip Douglas at IMDb : “Esther de Boer van Rijk carries the picture as Kniertje and gives a moving performance. It's a good thing she got the chance to be seen and heard on film so her iconic portrayal has been preserved (and luckily, it has).” Her autobiography Ik kijk terug. Episodes uit mijn leven (I look back. Episodes of my life) appeared also in 1934.
Esther de Boer-van Rijk died in 1937 in Amsterdam. She was 84.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, Louis Saalborn, 1934) with Aaf Bouber .
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag/M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (1934, Alex Benno, Louis Saalborn) with Aaf Bouber , Cissy van Bennekom , Clara Visscher and Annie Verhulst.
Dutch postcard by Cinema Palace / M.H.D.-Film. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934). Probably published to commemorate the death of De Boer-van Rijk in 1937.
Sources: Joosje Lakmaker (Ons Amsterdam) (Dutch), Chip Douglas (IMDb), Film in Nederland, Historici.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (Dutch) and .
September 28, 2013
Rutger Hauer
Every year during the last week of September, Utrecht is the Dutch capital of film with the Netherlands Film Festival. During the festival, EFSP provides you daily with postcards of Dutch films and stars from the past. Blonde, blue-eyed, tall and handsome Dutch actor Rutger Hauer (1944) played everything from romantic leads to action heroes to sinister villains. During the 1970s, he had his international breakthrough with the Dutch films by Paul Verhoeven and later he became a cult star with Blade Runner (1982), The Hitcher (1986) and Blind Fury (1989).
American postcard by Zoetrope Images LTD, Boston, Mass., no. 405. Photo: publicity still for Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982).
A Bit Of A Rebel
Rutger Oelsen Hauer was born in Breukelen, the Netherlands in 1944 in a family of actors. His parents, Arend Hauer and Teunke Hauer-Mellema, operated an acting school in Amsterdam. Because both his parents were often off working, he and his three sisters were raised by a nanny. A bit of a rebel during his childhood, he chafed at the rules and rigors of school and was often getting into mischief. His grandfather had been the captain of a schooner and at age 15, Hauer ran away to work on a freighter for a year. Upon his return he attended night school and started working in the construction industry. When he again bombed at school, his parents enrolled him in drama classes.
He then worked five years for the Noorder Compagnie, a Dutch stage company. His screen career began in 1969 as the hero in the popular Dutch television series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969), a medieval action drama. The role of the dashing knight made him famous in the low countries, and Hauer reprised his role for the German remake Floris von Rosemund (Ferry Radax, 1975).
Hauer's career changed course when Paul Verhoeven cast him in Turks fruit/Turkish Delight (1973) opposite Monique van de Ven. The sensual and tragic romance found box-office favour abroad as well as at home. It brought him several international offers. In Germany he made the exploitation film Pusteblume//The Blonde Love Machine (Adrian Hoven, 1974) and the thriller Das Amulett des Todes/Cold Blood (Ralf Gregan, Günter Vaessen, 1975) with Vera Tschechowa . Hauer was invited to make his English-language debut in the British film The Wilby Conspiracy (Ralph Nelson, 1975) opposite Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine. Set in South Africa, the film was an action-drama with a focus on apartheid. Hauer's supporting role, however, was barely noticed in Hollywood, and he returned to Dutch films.
Hauer reunited with Monique van de Ven and Paul Verhoeven for Keetje Tippel/Katie Tippel (1975). He worked again with Verhoeven on Soldaat van Oranje/Soldier of Orange (1977), and Spetters (1980), both with Jeroen Krabbé. Especially Soldaat van Oranje was a huge success and was instrumental in his international breakthrough. After making a television series and five films directed by Paul Verhoeven, they had a falling-out on their last combined effort, the much-troubled Flesh+Blood (1985). The two have not worked again since. According to IMDb , Hauer turned down roles in both Verhoeven’s Robocop (1987) and Zwartboek/Blackbook (2006).
Jeroen Krabbé. Dutch postcard.
Tears in Rain
Rutger Hauer made his American debut in the Sylvester Stallone film Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth, 1981) as a psychopathic and cold-blooded terrorist named Wulfgar. The following year, he appeared in arguably his most famous and acclaimed role as the eccentric and violent but sympathetic anti-hero Roy Batty in the science fiction thriller Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982), in which role he improvised the famous tears in rain soliloquy.
Hauer went on to play the adventurer courting Theresa Russell in Eureka (Nicolas Roeg, 1983), the investigative reporter opposite John Hurt in The Osterman Weekend (Sam Peckinpah, 1983), and the knight paired with Michelle Pfeiffer in Ladyhawke (Richard Donner, 1985). He continued to make an impression on audiences in The Hitcher (Robert Harmon, 1986), in which he played a mysterious hitchhiker intent on murdering a lone motorist and anyone else in his way.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rutger Hauer became well known to the British public for a series of humorous Guinness commercials where he is clad in black. His appearance is credited for an increase in sales of Guinness.
His films included Wanted: Dead or Alive (Gary Sherman, 1986), La leggenda del santo bevitore/The Legend of the Holy Drinker (Ermanno Olmi, 1989), the martial arts action adventure Blind Fury (Philip Noyce, 1989) and the science fiction adventure The Blood of Heroes (David Webb Peoples, 1990).
Hauer acted in several British and American television productions, including Inside the Third Reich (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1982) as Hitler’s young architect Albert Speer, Escape from Sobibor (Jack Gold, 1987) for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, Fatherland (Christopher Menaul, 1994), Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight (Yves Simoneau, 1994), Hostile Waters (David Drury, 1997), Merlin (1998), The 10th Kingdom (2000), Smallville (2003), Alias (J.J. Abrams, 2003), and Salem's Lot (Mikael Salomon, 2004).
Carice van Houten. Photo by Victor Bergen-Henegouwen in Volkskrant Magazine, no. 378, 2007.
True Blood
After years of mainly television and straight-to-video movies, Rutger Hauer made a kind of come-back to the cinema in the new century. He played an assassin in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (George Clooney, 2002), a villainous cardinal with influential power in Sin City (Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, 2005) and a devious corporate executive running Wayne Enterprises in the blockbuster Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005).
In 2007, he published his autobiography All Those Moments: Stories of Heroes, Villains, Replicants, and Blade Runners (co-written with Patrick Quinlan), where he discusses many of his roles. He returned to the Dutch cinema in films like Bride Flight (Ben Sombogaart, 2008), Oogverblindend/Dazzle (Cyrus Frisch, 2009), Black Butterflies (Paula van der Oest, 2011) with Carice van Houten, and as Freddie Heineken in De Heineken Ontvoering/The Heineken Kidnapping (Maarten Treurniet, 2011). 2011 turned out to be one of Hauer’s busiest years that was also highlighted by major parts as the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel in The Mill & the Cross (Lech Majewski, 2011), a violent hobo in the neo-exploitation thriller Hobo With a Shotgun (Jason Eisener, 2011), and an undertaker in the horror film The Rite (Mikael Håfström, 2011).
Hauer is a dedicated environmentalist. He fought for the release of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society leader, Paul Watson, who was convicted in 1994 for sinking a Norwegian whaling vessel. Hauer has also established an AIDS awareness organization called the Rutger Hauer Starfish Association.
Since 1969 his partner is painter and sculptor Ineke ten Cate, whom he married in 1985. From a brief earlier marriage, he has a daughter, actress Ayesha Hauer (1966). His grandson is fashion model Leandro Maeder.
Rutger Hauer can be seen in several new films or TV series. Recently he played Abraham Van Helsing in Dracula/Dracula 3D (Dario Argento, 2012) starring Thomas Kretschman, Michelangelo in the TV film Michelangelo - Il cuore e la pietra/Michelangelo (Giacomo Gatti, 2012), Maciste, a retired Mr. Universe in Il Futuro/The Future (Alicia Scherson, 2013), and the vampire Niall Brigant in the hit series True Blood (2013). We ain't seen nothing yet!
Official Trailer Flesh + Blood (1985). Source: Old Hollywood Trailers (YouTube).
Theatrical Trailer Blade Runner: Director's Cut (1992). Source: Cinematic Trailers (YouTube).
Trailer De Heineken Ontvoering/The Heineken Kidnapping (2011). Source: Afilmtube (YouTube).
Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and .
American postcard by Zoetrope Images LTD, Boston, Mass., no. 405. Photo: publicity still for Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982).
A Bit Of A Rebel
Rutger Oelsen Hauer was born in Breukelen, the Netherlands in 1944 in a family of actors. His parents, Arend Hauer and Teunke Hauer-Mellema, operated an acting school in Amsterdam. Because both his parents were often off working, he and his three sisters were raised by a nanny. A bit of a rebel during his childhood, he chafed at the rules and rigors of school and was often getting into mischief. His grandfather had been the captain of a schooner and at age 15, Hauer ran away to work on a freighter for a year. Upon his return he attended night school and started working in the construction industry. When he again bombed at school, his parents enrolled him in drama classes.
He then worked five years for the Noorder Compagnie, a Dutch stage company. His screen career began in 1969 as the hero in the popular Dutch television series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969), a medieval action drama. The role of the dashing knight made him famous in the low countries, and Hauer reprised his role for the German remake Floris von Rosemund (Ferry Radax, 1975).
Hauer's career changed course when Paul Verhoeven cast him in Turks fruit/Turkish Delight (1973) opposite Monique van de Ven. The sensual and tragic romance found box-office favour abroad as well as at home. It brought him several international offers. In Germany he made the exploitation film Pusteblume//The Blonde Love Machine (Adrian Hoven, 1974) and the thriller Das Amulett des Todes/Cold Blood (Ralf Gregan, Günter Vaessen, 1975) with Vera Tschechowa . Hauer was invited to make his English-language debut in the British film The Wilby Conspiracy (Ralph Nelson, 1975) opposite Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine. Set in South Africa, the film was an action-drama with a focus on apartheid. Hauer's supporting role, however, was barely noticed in Hollywood, and he returned to Dutch films.
Hauer reunited with Monique van de Ven and Paul Verhoeven for Keetje Tippel/Katie Tippel (1975). He worked again with Verhoeven on Soldaat van Oranje/Soldier of Orange (1977), and Spetters (1980), both with Jeroen Krabbé. Especially Soldaat van Oranje was a huge success and was instrumental in his international breakthrough. After making a television series and five films directed by Paul Verhoeven, they had a falling-out on their last combined effort, the much-troubled Flesh+Blood (1985). The two have not worked again since. According to IMDb , Hauer turned down roles in both Verhoeven’s Robocop (1987) and Zwartboek/Blackbook (2006).
Jeroen Krabbé. Dutch postcard.
Tears in Rain
Rutger Hauer made his American debut in the Sylvester Stallone film Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth, 1981) as a psychopathic and cold-blooded terrorist named Wulfgar. The following year, he appeared in arguably his most famous and acclaimed role as the eccentric and violent but sympathetic anti-hero Roy Batty in the science fiction thriller Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982), in which role he improvised the famous tears in rain soliloquy.
Hauer went on to play the adventurer courting Theresa Russell in Eureka (Nicolas Roeg, 1983), the investigative reporter opposite John Hurt in The Osterman Weekend (Sam Peckinpah, 1983), and the knight paired with Michelle Pfeiffer in Ladyhawke (Richard Donner, 1985). He continued to make an impression on audiences in The Hitcher (Robert Harmon, 1986), in which he played a mysterious hitchhiker intent on murdering a lone motorist and anyone else in his way.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rutger Hauer became well known to the British public for a series of humorous Guinness commercials where he is clad in black. His appearance is credited for an increase in sales of Guinness.
His films included Wanted: Dead or Alive (Gary Sherman, 1986), La leggenda del santo bevitore/The Legend of the Holy Drinker (Ermanno Olmi, 1989), the martial arts action adventure Blind Fury (Philip Noyce, 1989) and the science fiction adventure The Blood of Heroes (David Webb Peoples, 1990).
Hauer acted in several British and American television productions, including Inside the Third Reich (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1982) as Hitler’s young architect Albert Speer, Escape from Sobibor (Jack Gold, 1987) for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, Fatherland (Christopher Menaul, 1994), Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight (Yves Simoneau, 1994), Hostile Waters (David Drury, 1997), Merlin (1998), The 10th Kingdom (2000), Smallville (2003), Alias (J.J. Abrams, 2003), and Salem's Lot (Mikael Salomon, 2004).
Carice van Houten. Photo by Victor Bergen-Henegouwen in Volkskrant Magazine, no. 378, 2007.
True Blood
After years of mainly television and straight-to-video movies, Rutger Hauer made a kind of come-back to the cinema in the new century. He played an assassin in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (George Clooney, 2002), a villainous cardinal with influential power in Sin City (Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, 2005) and a devious corporate executive running Wayne Enterprises in the blockbuster Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005).
In 2007, he published his autobiography All Those Moments: Stories of Heroes, Villains, Replicants, and Blade Runners (co-written with Patrick Quinlan), where he discusses many of his roles. He returned to the Dutch cinema in films like Bride Flight (Ben Sombogaart, 2008), Oogverblindend/Dazzle (Cyrus Frisch, 2009), Black Butterflies (Paula van der Oest, 2011) with Carice van Houten, and as Freddie Heineken in De Heineken Ontvoering/The Heineken Kidnapping (Maarten Treurniet, 2011). 2011 turned out to be one of Hauer’s busiest years that was also highlighted by major parts as the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel in The Mill & the Cross (Lech Majewski, 2011), a violent hobo in the neo-exploitation thriller Hobo With a Shotgun (Jason Eisener, 2011), and an undertaker in the horror film The Rite (Mikael Håfström, 2011).
Hauer is a dedicated environmentalist. He fought for the release of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society leader, Paul Watson, who was convicted in 1994 for sinking a Norwegian whaling vessel. Hauer has also established an AIDS awareness organization called the Rutger Hauer Starfish Association.
Since 1969 his partner is painter and sculptor Ineke ten Cate, whom he married in 1985. From a brief earlier marriage, he has a daughter, actress Ayesha Hauer (1966). His grandson is fashion model Leandro Maeder.
Rutger Hauer can be seen in several new films or TV series. Recently he played Abraham Van Helsing in Dracula/Dracula 3D (Dario Argento, 2012) starring Thomas Kretschman, Michelangelo in the TV film Michelangelo - Il cuore e la pietra/Michelangelo (Giacomo Gatti, 2012), Maciste, a retired Mr. Universe in Il Futuro/The Future (Alicia Scherson, 2013), and the vampire Niall Brigant in the hit series True Blood (2013). We ain't seen nothing yet!
Official Trailer Flesh + Blood (1985). Source: Old Hollywood Trailers (YouTube).
Theatrical Trailer Blade Runner: Director's Cut (1992). Source: Cinematic Trailers (YouTube).
Trailer De Heineken Ontvoering/The Heineken Kidnapping (2011). Source: Afilmtube (YouTube).
Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and .
Happy Birthday, Brigitte Bardot!
We interrupt our Dutch Film Star Postcard Festival for breaking news! Today is BB's 79th birthday! Yes, gorgeous Brigitte Bardot was born on 28 September 1934, at 5 Place Violet in the 15th district of Paris, France. We salute her with our twelve favourite BB postcards - without any order - we love them all. Congratulations, Mme. Bardot!
Dutch postcard printed by gebr. Spanjersberg N.V. Rotterdam. The first postcard I ever bought of BB.
German postcard by ISV, no. H 60. Over 11,000 views at Flickr and 62 favourites.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 599. Photo: Sam Lévin.
German postcard by ISV, Sort. IV/6. See also the same picture on this big card.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 597. Photo: Sam Lévin. I love these long shots Lévin made of BB. She was Lévin's favourite model. This card shows why: the picture accentuates her petite figure and also shows that she knew how to pose - a bit naughty and with class.
German postcard by ISV, no. H 11. ISV also produced this card with a photograph that must be taken at the same session, or is it even the same photo, mirrored and coloured?
German postcard by Krüger, nr. 902/142. Photo: Ufa.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1018. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Big German card by ISV, no. HX 102. This is our most popular postcard at Flickr! More than 92,000 views and 128 favourites.
German postcard by UFA (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin-Tempelhoff), no. CK 142. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Georg Michalke / UFA. Sam Lévin is for me the best photographer of BB, but Georg Michalke comes in second. What a sensual picture!
French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2085. Photo: Sam Lévin.
And no. 12? Our header of course!
Dutch postcard printed by gebr. Spanjersberg N.V. Rotterdam. The first postcard I ever bought of BB.
German postcard by ISV, no. H 60. Over 11,000 views at Flickr and 62 favourites.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 599. Photo: Sam Lévin.
German postcard by ISV, Sort. IV/6. See also the same picture on this big card.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 597. Photo: Sam Lévin. I love these long shots Lévin made of BB. She was Lévin's favourite model. This card shows why: the picture accentuates her petite figure and also shows that she knew how to pose - a bit naughty and with class.
German postcard by ISV, no. H 11. ISV also produced this card with a photograph that must be taken at the same session, or is it even the same photo, mirrored and coloured?
German postcard by Krüger, nr. 902/142. Photo: Ufa.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1018. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Big German card by ISV, no. HX 102. This is our most popular postcard at Flickr! More than 92,000 views and 128 favourites.
German postcard by UFA (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin-Tempelhoff), no. CK 142. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Georg Michalke / UFA. Sam Lévin is for me the best photographer of BB, but Georg Michalke comes in second. What a sensual picture!
French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2085. Photo: Sam Lévin.
And no. 12? Our header of course!
September 27, 2013
Heleentje van Cappelle
Every year during the last week of September, Utrecht is the Dutch capital of film with the Netherlands Film Festival. During the festival, EFSP provides you daily with postcards of Dutch films and stars from the past. Child star Heleentje van Cappelle (1944) sang the first Dutch number 1 hit ever. Her song Naar de speeltuin was also turned into a popular short film, Naar de speeltuin/To the Playground (1952).
Dutch postcard. Photo: Henk Booms. Publicity still for Naar de speeltuin/To the playground (1951).
Cheery Tune
Heleentje van Cappelle (sometimes Capelle) was born in Hilversum, The Netherlands in 1944. Her father was Frans van Cappelle, an accordionist and musical director of the orchestra Les Gars de Paris.
In 1951 she sang along with children's choir De Karekieten (The reed warblers) and the Orkest zonder naam (Orchestra Without Name) the song Naar de speeltuin/To the playground. She was 7 years old at the time.
The song is the Dutch version of Pack die Badehose ein, which was sung by the German child star ‘die kleine Cornelia’ aka Conny Froboess and was written by Froboess father. Pack die Badehose ein (Pack your swimsuit) is a cheery tune about a group of children going swimming on a hot summer's day at Wannsee.
For the humorous Dutch version, the setting is a playground. At first, Ger de Roos of the Orkest zonder naam and Willy François of De Karekieten could not find a suitable soloist among the members of the choir, so Heleentje had been asked as a singer.
On 1 February 1952 the song reached the highest position of the first Dutch charts, where it stayed for three months. The song was followed by an eponymous LP and a short film was made, also entitled Naar de speeltuin/To the playground (1952), with again Heleentje in the lead.
‘die kleine Cornelia’ aka Conny Froboess . German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel. Photo: Schönbrunn / Constantin-Film.
Missing
Heleentje van Cappelle also recorded the song Meisje klein/Little Girl, with singer Annie de Reuver, but Naar de speeltuin proved to be a case of single luck. About two years after her breakthrough she disappeared again from the spotlights.
During the 1960s, she worked in a record store and later she was employed by Philips. In the early 1970s, she worked as a receptionist at a hotel in Paris and in 1972 she married a French Antillean from Guadeloupe. She opened a restaurant with a cabaret in Paris. In 1973 she was featured in a Dutch TV program that looked back at the history of broadcasting. After that, Van Cappelle disappeared again.
In 2011, the Dutch television program Vermist/Missing paid attention to Heleentje van Cappelle. Former colleagues like Annie de Reuver and Marga van Praag helped to figure out where the former child star had gone. It was discovered that Van Cappelle had a home address in Guadeloupe and worked in France in a hotel in Grasse, France. In the studio, Heleen van Cappelle told that she had chosen to leave the Netherlands to escape from all confrontations with her hit song Naar de speeltuin.
That year, her song was rereleased in a version with Belgian singer Jo Benna, and in 2013 the song was used again for a commercial by Dutch supermarket C1000.
Naar de speeltuin/To the Playground (1952). Source: Eric Kiel (YouTube).
Sources: Esther Groenewegen (Back to the 50’s) (Dutch) and Wikipedia (Dutch).
Dutch postcard. Photo: Henk Booms. Publicity still for Naar de speeltuin/To the playground (1951).
Cheery Tune
Heleentje van Cappelle (sometimes Capelle) was born in Hilversum, The Netherlands in 1944. Her father was Frans van Cappelle, an accordionist and musical director of the orchestra Les Gars de Paris.
In 1951 she sang along with children's choir De Karekieten (The reed warblers) and the Orkest zonder naam (Orchestra Without Name) the song Naar de speeltuin/To the playground. She was 7 years old at the time.
The song is the Dutch version of Pack die Badehose ein, which was sung by the German child star ‘die kleine Cornelia’ aka Conny Froboess and was written by Froboess father. Pack die Badehose ein (Pack your swimsuit) is a cheery tune about a group of children going swimming on a hot summer's day at Wannsee.
For the humorous Dutch version, the setting is a playground. At first, Ger de Roos of the Orkest zonder naam and Willy François of De Karekieten could not find a suitable soloist among the members of the choir, so Heleentje had been asked as a singer.
On 1 February 1952 the song reached the highest position of the first Dutch charts, where it stayed for three months. The song was followed by an eponymous LP and a short film was made, also entitled Naar de speeltuin/To the playground (1952), with again Heleentje in the lead.
‘die kleine Cornelia’ aka Conny Froboess . German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel. Photo: Schönbrunn / Constantin-Film.
Missing
Heleentje van Cappelle also recorded the song Meisje klein/Little Girl, with singer Annie de Reuver, but Naar de speeltuin proved to be a case of single luck. About two years after her breakthrough she disappeared again from the spotlights.
During the 1960s, she worked in a record store and later she was employed by Philips. In the early 1970s, she worked as a receptionist at a hotel in Paris and in 1972 she married a French Antillean from Guadeloupe. She opened a restaurant with a cabaret in Paris. In 1973 she was featured in a Dutch TV program that looked back at the history of broadcasting. After that, Van Cappelle disappeared again.
In 2011, the Dutch television program Vermist/Missing paid attention to Heleentje van Cappelle. Former colleagues like Annie de Reuver and Marga van Praag helped to figure out where the former child star had gone. It was discovered that Van Cappelle had a home address in Guadeloupe and worked in France in a hotel in Grasse, France. In the studio, Heleen van Cappelle told that she had chosen to leave the Netherlands to escape from all confrontations with her hit song Naar de speeltuin.
That year, her song was rereleased in a version with Belgian singer Jo Benna, and in 2013 the song was used again for a commercial by Dutch supermarket C1000.
Naar de speeltuin/To the Playground (1952). Source: Eric Kiel (YouTube).
Sources: Esther Groenewegen (Back to the 50’s) (Dutch) and Wikipedia (Dutch).
September 26, 2013
Adolphe Engers
Every year during the last week of September, Utrecht is the Dutch capital of film with the Netherlands Film Festival. During the festival, EFSP provides you daily with postcards of Dutch films and stars from the past. Today's star is Adolphe Engers (1884-1945), who appeared in some 55 German and Dutch films during the 1920s and 1930s.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3186/1, 1928-1929. Collection: Egbert Barten.
Extra for the Comédie-Française
Adolphe Engers was born in 1884 in Gulpen, in the south of the Netherlands. He was the son of a policeman, and attended a trade school in Elberfeld, Germany. There he also took acting classes from Max Martersteig. He returned to the Netherlands and worked a while for an insurance company.
Soon he moved to Paris and started to work as an extra for French theatre companies like the Comédie-Française. In Paris he made also his first film appearances. In 1912 he returned to Holland and got employ here as a stage actor. He also worked as a translator, in particular of the works of Franz Molnar.
Engers made his Dutch film debut with De Kroon der schande/The Crown of Shame (Maurits Binger, 1918) before he appeared in the British-Dutch production Fate's Plaything/Wat eeuwig blijft (Maurits Binger, B.E. Doxat-Pratt, 1920) and the Dutch production De Bruut/The Brute (Theo Frenkel, 1922).
Ernst Winar . Vintage postcard, no. 988/1. Collection: Egbert Barten. The Dutch actor-director Ernst Winar directed Adolphe Engers in the silent Flappy serial in Berlin, and later again in Holland in the film musical Op stap/On the Road (1935).
Asta Nielsen
In 1920 Adolphe Engers moved to Germany where he became a very busy film actor. He played in well-known films like Die Benefiz-Vorstellung der vier Teufel/The Benefit performance of the Four Devils (A.W. Sandberg, 1920), Die Geliebte Roswolskys/The Lover of Roswolky (Felix Basch, 1921) starring the Danish diva Asta Nielsen , Sie und die Drei/She and the Three (Ewald André Dupont, 1922) starring Henny Porten , Der Frauenkönig/The King of the Ladies (Jaap Speyer, 1923), Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s delicious comedy Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs/Finances of the Grand Duke (1924), Auf Befehl der Pompadour/By Order of That Pompadour Woman (Friedrich Zelnik, 1924) and Elegantes Pack/Elegant Suit (Jaap Speyer, 1925).
Adolphe Engers was also very successful with his leading role in the Flappy serial, three short films directed by Dutch director Ernst Winar for the Berliner Terra Film AG. Winar directed him also in the Dutch-German crime film De man op den Achtergrond/Der Mann im Hintergrund/The Man in the Background (Ernst Winar, 1923).
In the second part of the 1920s the impressive actor went on to appear in such films as Der Prinz und die Tänzerin/The Prince and the Dancer (Richard Eichberg, 1926) with Hans Albers , Die Fahrt ins Abenteuer/The Wooing of Eve (Max Mack, 1926) with Ossi Oswalda and Willy Fritsch , Gehetzte Frauen/Badgered Women (Richard Oswald, 1927) again opposite Asta Nielsen , Die Königin seines Herzens/The Queen of His Heart (Victor Janson, 1928) with Liane Haid , Don Juan in der Mädchenschule/Don Juan in the Girls’ School ( Reinhold Schünzel , 1928), Sündig und süss/Sinful and Sweet (Carl Lamac, 1929) with Anny Ondra , and Sensation im Wintergarten/Their Son (Joe May, Gennaro Righelli, 1929) till the end of the silent era. He also appeared on stage, e.g. at the Deutschen Künstlertheater.
Dutch vintage postcard by Monopole Film NV. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Egbert Barten.
Berufsverbot
The sound film meant the end of Adolphe Enger's film career in Germany. After a tour through the Dutch Indies, he returned to Holland where he co-wrote and played the lead in the film Terra Nova/New Land (Gerard Rutten, 1932). This fisher drama was meant as the first Dutch sound film, but disappeared completely after differences about the result between the director and the producer.
In the following years, Engers acted regularly in front of the camera, while the Dutch film industry blossomed and many German emigrants started to work here. Engers appeared in the musical Op stap/On the Road ( Ernst Winar , 1935) with Fien de la Mar , the military comedy De Big van het regiment/The Mascot of the Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935) with Frits van Dongen a.k.a. Philip Dorn, Op een avond in mei/One Evening in May (Jaap Speyer, 1936), Veertig Jaren/Forty Years (Johan De Meester, Edmond T. Gréville, 1938) and as a nervous magician in the comic thriller De spooktrein/The Ghost Train (Carl Lamac, 1939), again co-starring with Fien de la Mar .
In the 1930s he was also active as an author of stage plays and novels like Ardjoena - Indische roman (1936). He also gave acting classes at the Conservatory of The Hague. At the start of World War II, he was a member of the stage company De Komedianten (The Comedians), but the Nazis gave the half Jewish Engers a Berufsverbot.
Engers last film was a curiosity he made while hiding for the Nazis. Moord in het modehuis/Murder in the Fashion Store (Alfred Mazure, Piet van der Ham, 1943), was a film version of Mazure’s popular detective comic Dick Bos. The film would never be shown in the cinema. One of the reasons was that Mazure refused to make a Nazi of his hero.
Adolphe Engers died in 1945 in The Hague. In 1991 suddenly a copy of his lost film Terra Nova (1932) was found. The former Dutch Filmmuseum (now Eye) reconstructed the film, added a new score to it and reissued the film in 1994.
Dutch vintage postcard by Monopole Film NV. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Egbert Barten.
Source: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmtotaal.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (German) and .
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3186/1, 1928-1929. Collection: Egbert Barten.
Extra for the Comédie-Française
Adolphe Engers was born in 1884 in Gulpen, in the south of the Netherlands. He was the son of a policeman, and attended a trade school in Elberfeld, Germany. There he also took acting classes from Max Martersteig. He returned to the Netherlands and worked a while for an insurance company.
Soon he moved to Paris and started to work as an extra for French theatre companies like the Comédie-Française. In Paris he made also his first film appearances. In 1912 he returned to Holland and got employ here as a stage actor. He also worked as a translator, in particular of the works of Franz Molnar.
Engers made his Dutch film debut with De Kroon der schande/The Crown of Shame (Maurits Binger, 1918) before he appeared in the British-Dutch production Fate's Plaything/Wat eeuwig blijft (Maurits Binger, B.E. Doxat-Pratt, 1920) and the Dutch production De Bruut/The Brute (Theo Frenkel, 1922).
Ernst Winar . Vintage postcard, no. 988/1. Collection: Egbert Barten. The Dutch actor-director Ernst Winar directed Adolphe Engers in the silent Flappy serial in Berlin, and later again in Holland in the film musical Op stap/On the Road (1935).
Asta Nielsen
In 1920 Adolphe Engers moved to Germany where he became a very busy film actor. He played in well-known films like Die Benefiz-Vorstellung der vier Teufel/The Benefit performance of the Four Devils (A.W. Sandberg, 1920), Die Geliebte Roswolskys/The Lover of Roswolky (Felix Basch, 1921) starring the Danish diva Asta Nielsen , Sie und die Drei/She and the Three (Ewald André Dupont, 1922) starring Henny Porten , Der Frauenkönig/The King of the Ladies (Jaap Speyer, 1923), Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s delicious comedy Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs/Finances of the Grand Duke (1924), Auf Befehl der Pompadour/By Order of That Pompadour Woman (Friedrich Zelnik, 1924) and Elegantes Pack/Elegant Suit (Jaap Speyer, 1925).
Adolphe Engers was also very successful with his leading role in the Flappy serial, three short films directed by Dutch director Ernst Winar for the Berliner Terra Film AG. Winar directed him also in the Dutch-German crime film De man op den Achtergrond/Der Mann im Hintergrund/The Man in the Background (Ernst Winar, 1923).
In the second part of the 1920s the impressive actor went on to appear in such films as Der Prinz und die Tänzerin/The Prince and the Dancer (Richard Eichberg, 1926) with Hans Albers , Die Fahrt ins Abenteuer/The Wooing of Eve (Max Mack, 1926) with Ossi Oswalda and Willy Fritsch , Gehetzte Frauen/Badgered Women (Richard Oswald, 1927) again opposite Asta Nielsen , Die Königin seines Herzens/The Queen of His Heart (Victor Janson, 1928) with Liane Haid , Don Juan in der Mädchenschule/Don Juan in the Girls’ School ( Reinhold Schünzel , 1928), Sündig und süss/Sinful and Sweet (Carl Lamac, 1929) with Anny Ondra , and Sensation im Wintergarten/Their Son (Joe May, Gennaro Righelli, 1929) till the end of the silent era. He also appeared on stage, e.g. at the Deutschen Künstlertheater.
Dutch vintage postcard by Monopole Film NV. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Egbert Barten.
Berufsverbot
The sound film meant the end of Adolphe Enger's film career in Germany. After a tour through the Dutch Indies, he returned to Holland where he co-wrote and played the lead in the film Terra Nova/New Land (Gerard Rutten, 1932). This fisher drama was meant as the first Dutch sound film, but disappeared completely after differences about the result between the director and the producer.
In the following years, Engers acted regularly in front of the camera, while the Dutch film industry blossomed and many German emigrants started to work here. Engers appeared in the musical Op stap/On the Road ( Ernst Winar , 1935) with Fien de la Mar , the military comedy De Big van het regiment/The Mascot of the Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935) with Frits van Dongen a.k.a. Philip Dorn, Op een avond in mei/One Evening in May (Jaap Speyer, 1936), Veertig Jaren/Forty Years (Johan De Meester, Edmond T. Gréville, 1938) and as a nervous magician in the comic thriller De spooktrein/The Ghost Train (Carl Lamac, 1939), again co-starring with Fien de la Mar .
In the 1930s he was also active as an author of stage plays and novels like Ardjoena - Indische roman (1936). He also gave acting classes at the Conservatory of The Hague. At the start of World War II, he was a member of the stage company De Komedianten (The Comedians), but the Nazis gave the half Jewish Engers a Berufsverbot.
Engers last film was a curiosity he made while hiding for the Nazis. Moord in het modehuis/Murder in the Fashion Store (Alfred Mazure, Piet van der Ham, 1943), was a film version of Mazure’s popular detective comic Dick Bos. The film would never be shown in the cinema. One of the reasons was that Mazure refused to make a Nazi of his hero.
Adolphe Engers died in 1945 in The Hague. In 1991 suddenly a copy of his lost film Terra Nova (1932) was found. The former Dutch Filmmuseum (now Eye) reconstructed the film, added a new score to it and reissued the film in 1994.
Dutch vintage postcard by Monopole Film NV. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Egbert Barten.
Source: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmtotaal.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (German) and .
September 25, 2013
Jeroen Krabbé
Every year during the last week of September, Utrecht is the Dutch capital of film with the Netherlands Film Festival. During the festival, EFSP provides you daily with postcards of Dutch films and stars from the past. Burly, handsome Dutch actor and film director Jeroen Krabbé (1944) appeared in many Dutch and international films. He had his international breakthrough with two Dutch films by Paul Verhoeven, and later played the villain in the James Bond film The Living Daylights (1987).
Dutch postcard.
The Most Expensive Dutch Film Ever
Jeroen Aart Krabbé was born into an artistic family in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1944. He was the son of Margreet (née Reiss), a Jewish film translator, and Maarten Krabbé, a well-known painter. After studies at the Rietveld Academy of Art, Amsterdam (1961-1962), Krabbé changed course and went to Drama School in Amsterdam, graduating in 1965.
In 1963, he made his film debut in the comedy Fietsen naar de maan/Bicycling to the Moon (Jef van der Heyden, 1963). Other early film appearances were in the German-Dutch comedy Professor Columbus (Rainer Erler, 1968) with Rudolf Platte , the American family film The Little Ark (James B. Clark, 1972) based on a novel by Jan de Hartog about the big flood in 1953 which struck a big part of The Netherlands, and the Dutch production Alicia (Wim Verstappen, 1974). However, Krabbé was mainly active on stage and TV. He founded a touring theatre company, directed plays, worked as a costume designer, and translated foreign plays into Dutch.
Internationally he first came to prominence in Paul Verhoeven's Dutch film Soldaat van Oranje/Soldier of Orange (1977) opposite Rutger Hauer. Soldaat van Oranje is set during the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, and shows how individual students have different roles in the war. The film had a budget of ƒ 5,000,000 (€2,300,000), at the time the most expensive Dutch film ever. With 1,547,183 viewers, it was the most popular Dutch film of 1977 and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980. In the election for best Dutch film of the twentieth century at the Netherlands Film Festival in 1999 Soldaat van Oranje/Soldier of Orange reached the second place, right after another Paul Verhoeven film Turks fruit/Turkish Delight (1973). Krabbé had a supporting part in Verhoeven’s Spetters (Paul Verhoeven, 1980), which was a small success in the US.
He played the lead in Een Vlucht Regenwulpen/A Flight of Rainbirds (Ate de Jong, 1981) and in the terrific erotic thriller De vierde man/The Fourth Man (Paul Verhoeven, 1983). In the latter Renée Soutendijk plays a woman who may or may not have killed her three previous husbands. Krabbe is the intended fourth, a broken-down bisexual writer who is pulled into Soutendijk's web like an unsuspecting fly. De vierde man/The Fourth Man was a decent box office hit in the Netherlands, and was even more successful in the United States, where it received widespread critical acclaim. This helped to launch Krabbé’s international career.
Rudolf Platte . German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag. Photo: CCC / Gloria.
James Bond Villain
Jeroen Krabbé had already started to work in international productions. He had a part in the Emmy Award-winning miniseries World War III (Boris Sagal, David Greene, 1982) with Rock Hudson and David Soul. In Great-Britain he played Ben Kingsley’s neighbour in the drama Turtle Diary (John Irvin, 1985) based on a screenplay adapted by Harold Pinter from Russell Hoban's novel.
His first big American film was the Whoopi Goldberg comedy Jumpin' Jack Flash (Penny Marshall, 1986). However, it was his roles as villains in a string of international productions which brought him international stardom. Notable roles included Losado in No Mercy (Richard Pearce, 1986) opposite Richard Gere, and Gianni Franco in The Punisher (Mark Goldblatt, 1989) starring Dolph Lundgren.
He is probably best remembered as KGB agent General Georgi Koskov in The Living Daylights (John Glen, 1987), the fifteenth entry in the James Bond film series and the first to star Timothy Dalton.
Other interesting films were the British-Dutch production Shadow Man (Piotr Andrejew, 1988) about a Polish-Jewish refugee (Tom Hulce) during a fictional war in Amsterdam, the British drama Scandal (Michael Caton Jones, 1989), a fictionalised account of the Profumo Affair, with Ian McKellan as the conservative Minister of War.
He also played in two early films by Steven Soderbergh, the mystery thriller Kafka (Steven Soderbergh, 1991), featuring Jeremy Irons, and King of the Hill (Steven Soderbergh, 1993), which was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
Maximilian Schell . German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf.no. 2275. Photo: Real / Europa / Gabriele. Publicity still for Ein Herz kehrt heim/A Heart returns home (Eugen York, 1956).
The Discovery of Heaven
In Hollywood, Jeroen Krabbé appeared in the romantic drama The Prince of Tides (Barbra Streisand, 1991), and as Dr. Charles Nichols in the box-office smash The Fugitive (Andrew Davis, 1993) opposite Harrison Ford. In the meanwhile he kept working in the European cinema. In the Netherlands, he appeared in Voor een Verloren Soldaat/For a Lost Soldier (Roeland Kerbosch, 1992) based upon the autobiographical novel of the same title by ballet dancer and choreographer Rudi van Dantzig. He appeared as the composer Handel in Farinelli (Gérard Corbiau 1994) about the life and career of the Italian castrato singer Farinelli (Stefano Dionisi).
He was both director and producer of Left Luggage (1998), a film about Orthodox Jews during the 1970s in Antwerp, Belgium, co-starring Isabella Rossellini and Maximilian Schell . Left Luggage was entered into the 48th Berlin International Film Festival. Krabbé also directed The Discovery of Heaven (Jeroen Krabbé, 2001), based on the novel by Harry Mulisch and starring Stephen Fry.
He continued to appear in international productions, like the American biographical drama Dangerous Beauty (Marshall Herskovitz, 1998), Ever After: A Cinderella Story (Andy Tennant, 1998) starring Drew Barrymore, the big budget Hollywood crime comedy Ocean's Twelve (Steven Soderbergh, 2004) with George Clooney and Brad Pitt, and the British gothic horror film Snuff-Movie (Bernard Rose, 2005) in which he starred as a horror film maker. His television work includes playing Satan in the Biblical telefilm Jesus (Roger Young, 1999) and an uncanny psychic in series 11 of Midsomer Murders, Talking to the Dead (2008).
Apart from acting and directing he is an accomplished artist. In 2004 Jeroen Krabbé: Schilder/Jeroen Krabbé: painter by Ruud van der Neut, a comprehensive account of his career in painting, was published in Dutch and English editions. He also co-authored a Dutch cookbook. Krabbé has three sons with his wife Herma, radio and TV presenter Martijn Krabbé, artist and TV presenter Jasper Krabbé and Jacob Krabbé. His brother is master chess player, journalist and novelist Tim Krabbé.
Recently Jeroen Krabbé appeared in the successful Dutch TV series In therapie/In Treatment (Alain de Levita, 2011), the comedy Alleen maar nette mensen/Only Decent People (Lodewijk Crijns, 2012) as the father of Geza Weisz, and the historical war drama Tula: The Revolt (Jeroen Leinders, 2013), about the big slave uprising on the island of Curacao in 1795.
Trailer De vierde man/The Fourth Man (1983). Source: Malvolio80 (YouTube).
Trailer The Discovery of Heaven (2001). Source: Ximon.nl (YouTube).
Official trailer Tula: The Revolt (2013). Source: Tula PR (YouTube).
Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Poul Webb (Art & Artists), Wikipedia (English and Dutch), and .
Dutch postcard.
The Most Expensive Dutch Film Ever
Jeroen Aart Krabbé was born into an artistic family in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1944. He was the son of Margreet (née Reiss), a Jewish film translator, and Maarten Krabbé, a well-known painter. After studies at the Rietveld Academy of Art, Amsterdam (1961-1962), Krabbé changed course and went to Drama School in Amsterdam, graduating in 1965.
In 1963, he made his film debut in the comedy Fietsen naar de maan/Bicycling to the Moon (Jef van der Heyden, 1963). Other early film appearances were in the German-Dutch comedy Professor Columbus (Rainer Erler, 1968) with Rudolf Platte , the American family film The Little Ark (James B. Clark, 1972) based on a novel by Jan de Hartog about the big flood in 1953 which struck a big part of The Netherlands, and the Dutch production Alicia (Wim Verstappen, 1974). However, Krabbé was mainly active on stage and TV. He founded a touring theatre company, directed plays, worked as a costume designer, and translated foreign plays into Dutch.
Internationally he first came to prominence in Paul Verhoeven's Dutch film Soldaat van Oranje/Soldier of Orange (1977) opposite Rutger Hauer. Soldaat van Oranje is set during the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, and shows how individual students have different roles in the war. The film had a budget of ƒ 5,000,000 (€2,300,000), at the time the most expensive Dutch film ever. With 1,547,183 viewers, it was the most popular Dutch film of 1977 and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980. In the election for best Dutch film of the twentieth century at the Netherlands Film Festival in 1999 Soldaat van Oranje/Soldier of Orange reached the second place, right after another Paul Verhoeven film Turks fruit/Turkish Delight (1973). Krabbé had a supporting part in Verhoeven’s Spetters (Paul Verhoeven, 1980), which was a small success in the US.
He played the lead in Een Vlucht Regenwulpen/A Flight of Rainbirds (Ate de Jong, 1981) and in the terrific erotic thriller De vierde man/The Fourth Man (Paul Verhoeven, 1983). In the latter Renée Soutendijk plays a woman who may or may not have killed her three previous husbands. Krabbe is the intended fourth, a broken-down bisexual writer who is pulled into Soutendijk's web like an unsuspecting fly. De vierde man/The Fourth Man was a decent box office hit in the Netherlands, and was even more successful in the United States, where it received widespread critical acclaim. This helped to launch Krabbé’s international career.
Rudolf Platte . German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag. Photo: CCC / Gloria.
James Bond Villain
Jeroen Krabbé had already started to work in international productions. He had a part in the Emmy Award-winning miniseries World War III (Boris Sagal, David Greene, 1982) with Rock Hudson and David Soul. In Great-Britain he played Ben Kingsley’s neighbour in the drama Turtle Diary (John Irvin, 1985) based on a screenplay adapted by Harold Pinter from Russell Hoban's novel.
His first big American film was the Whoopi Goldberg comedy Jumpin' Jack Flash (Penny Marshall, 1986). However, it was his roles as villains in a string of international productions which brought him international stardom. Notable roles included Losado in No Mercy (Richard Pearce, 1986) opposite Richard Gere, and Gianni Franco in The Punisher (Mark Goldblatt, 1989) starring Dolph Lundgren.
He is probably best remembered as KGB agent General Georgi Koskov in The Living Daylights (John Glen, 1987), the fifteenth entry in the James Bond film series and the first to star Timothy Dalton.
Other interesting films were the British-Dutch production Shadow Man (Piotr Andrejew, 1988) about a Polish-Jewish refugee (Tom Hulce) during a fictional war in Amsterdam, the British drama Scandal (Michael Caton Jones, 1989), a fictionalised account of the Profumo Affair, with Ian McKellan as the conservative Minister of War.
He also played in two early films by Steven Soderbergh, the mystery thriller Kafka (Steven Soderbergh, 1991), featuring Jeremy Irons, and King of the Hill (Steven Soderbergh, 1993), which was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
Maximilian Schell . German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf.no. 2275. Photo: Real / Europa / Gabriele. Publicity still for Ein Herz kehrt heim/A Heart returns home (Eugen York, 1956).
The Discovery of Heaven
In Hollywood, Jeroen Krabbé appeared in the romantic drama The Prince of Tides (Barbra Streisand, 1991), and as Dr. Charles Nichols in the box-office smash The Fugitive (Andrew Davis, 1993) opposite Harrison Ford. In the meanwhile he kept working in the European cinema. In the Netherlands, he appeared in Voor een Verloren Soldaat/For a Lost Soldier (Roeland Kerbosch, 1992) based upon the autobiographical novel of the same title by ballet dancer and choreographer Rudi van Dantzig. He appeared as the composer Handel in Farinelli (Gérard Corbiau 1994) about the life and career of the Italian castrato singer Farinelli (Stefano Dionisi).
He was both director and producer of Left Luggage (1998), a film about Orthodox Jews during the 1970s in Antwerp, Belgium, co-starring Isabella Rossellini and Maximilian Schell . Left Luggage was entered into the 48th Berlin International Film Festival. Krabbé also directed The Discovery of Heaven (Jeroen Krabbé, 2001), based on the novel by Harry Mulisch and starring Stephen Fry.
He continued to appear in international productions, like the American biographical drama Dangerous Beauty (Marshall Herskovitz, 1998), Ever After: A Cinderella Story (Andy Tennant, 1998) starring Drew Barrymore, the big budget Hollywood crime comedy Ocean's Twelve (Steven Soderbergh, 2004) with George Clooney and Brad Pitt, and the British gothic horror film Snuff-Movie (Bernard Rose, 2005) in which he starred as a horror film maker. His television work includes playing Satan in the Biblical telefilm Jesus (Roger Young, 1999) and an uncanny psychic in series 11 of Midsomer Murders, Talking to the Dead (2008).
Apart from acting and directing he is an accomplished artist. In 2004 Jeroen Krabbé: Schilder/Jeroen Krabbé: painter by Ruud van der Neut, a comprehensive account of his career in painting, was published in Dutch and English editions. He also co-authored a Dutch cookbook. Krabbé has three sons with his wife Herma, radio and TV presenter Martijn Krabbé, artist and TV presenter Jasper Krabbé and Jacob Krabbé. His brother is master chess player, journalist and novelist Tim Krabbé.
Recently Jeroen Krabbé appeared in the successful Dutch TV series In therapie/In Treatment (Alain de Levita, 2011), the comedy Alleen maar nette mensen/Only Decent People (Lodewijk Crijns, 2012) as the father of Geza Weisz, and the historical war drama Tula: The Revolt (Jeroen Leinders, 2013), about the big slave uprising on the island of Curacao in 1795.
Trailer De vierde man/The Fourth Man (1983). Source: Malvolio80 (YouTube).
Trailer The Discovery of Heaven (2001). Source: Ximon.nl (YouTube).
Official trailer Tula: The Revolt (2013). Source: Tula PR (YouTube).
Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Poul Webb (Art & Artists), Wikipedia (English and Dutch), and .
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