Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
name	Ernst Lubitsch
birth name	Ernst Lubitsch
birth date	January 28, 1892
birth place	Berlin, Germany
death date	November 30, 1947
death place	Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States
occupation	Director, Actor, Writer, Producer
years active	1914–48
spouse	Helene Kraus (1922–1930)Vivian Gaye (1935–1944) }}

Ernst Lubitsch (January 28, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."

In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his distinguished contributions to the art of the motion picture, and he was nominated three times for Best Director.

Biography

Lubitsch was born in Berlin, the son of a Jewish tailor Simcha (Simon) Lubitch () and his wife Anna, both Russian immigrants. He turned his back on his father's tailoring business to enter the theater, and by 1911, he was a member of Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater. He made his film debut the following year as an actor, but he gradually abandoned acting to concentrate on directing.

Weimar years (1918-1922)

In 1918, he made his mark as a serious director with ''Die Augen der Mumie Ma'' (''The Eyes of the Mummy''), starring Pola Negri. Lubitsch alternated between escapist comedies and large-scale historical dramas, enjoying great international success with both. His reputation as a grand master of world cinema reached a new peak after the release of his spectacles ''Madame Du Barry'' (retitled ''Passion'', 1919) and ''Anna Boleyn'' (''Deception'', 1920). Both of these films found American distributorship by early 1921. They, along with Lubitsch's ''Carmen'' (released as ''Gypsy Blood'' in the U.S. in 1921) were selected by ''The New York Times'' on its list of the 15 most important movies of 1921.

With glowing reviews under his belt, and American money flowing his way, Lubitsch formed his own production company and set to work on the high-budget spectacular ''The Loves of Pharaoh'' (1921). Lubitsch sailed to the United States for the first time in December 1921 for what was intended as a lengthy publicity and professional factfinding tour, scheduled to culminate in the February premiere of ''Pharaoh''. However, with World War I still fresh, and with a slew of German "New Wave' releases encroaching on American movie workers' livelihoods, Lubitsch was not gladly received. He cut his trip short after little more than three weeks and returned to Germany. But he had already seen enough of the American film industry to know that its resources far outstripped the spartan German companies.

Career in Hollywood

Lubitsch finally left Germany for Hollywood in 1922, contracted as a director by Mary Pickford. He directed Pickford in the film ''Rosita''; the result was a critical and commercial success, but director and star clashed during its filming, and it ended up as the only project that they made together. A free agent after just one American film, Lubitsch was signed to a remarkable three-year, six-picture contract by Warner Brothers that guaranteed the director his choice of both cast and crew, and full editing control over the final cut.

Settling in America, Lubitsch established his reputation for sophisticated comedy with such stylish films as ''The Marriage Circle'' (1924), ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1925), and ''So This Is Paris'' (1926). But his films were only marginally profitable for Warner Brothers, and Lubitsch's contract was eventually dissolved by mutual consent, with MGM-Paramount buying out the remainder. His first film for MGM, ''The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg'' (1927), was well regarded, but lost money.

Lubitsch seized upon the advent of talkies to direct musicals. With his first sound film, ''The Love Parade'' (1929), starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, Lubitsch hit his stride as a maker of worldly musical comedies (and earned himself another Oscar nomination). ''The Love Parade'' (1929), ''Monte Carlo'' (1930), and ''The Smiling Lieutenant'' (1931) were hailed by critics as masterpieces of the newly emerging musical genre. Lubitsch served on the faculty of the University of Southern California for a time.

His next film was a romantic comedy, written with Samson Raphaelson, ''Trouble in Paradise'' (1932). Later described (approvingly) as "truly amoral" by critic David Thomson, the cynical comedy was popular both with critics and with audiences. But it was a project that could only have been made before the enforcement of the Production Code, and after 1935, ''Trouble in Paradise'' was withdrawn from circulation. It was not seen again until 1968. The film was never available on videocassette and only became available on DVD in 2003.

Writing about Lubitsch's work, critic Michael Wilmington observed: :At once elegant and ribald, sophisticated and earthy, urbane and bemused, frivolous yet profound. They were directed by a man who was amused by sex rather than frightened of it-- and who taught a whole culture to be amused by it as well.

Whether with music, as in MGM's opulent ''The Merry Widow'' (1934) and Paramount's ''One Hour with You'' (1932), or without, as in ''Design for Living'' (1933), Lubitsch continued to specialize in comedy. He made only one other dramatic film, the antiwar ''Broken Lullaby'' (also known as ''The Man I Killed'', 1932).

In 1935, he was appointed Paramount's production manager, thus becoming the only major Hollywood director to run a large studio. Lubitsch subsequently produced his own films and supervised the production of films of other directors. But Lubitsch had trouble delegating authority, which was a problem when he was overseeing sixty different films. He was fired after a year on the job, and returned to full-time moviemaking. In 1936, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

On July 27, 1935 he married British actress Vivian Gaye. They had one daughter, Nicola Lubitsch, on October 27, 1938. When war was declared in Europe, Vivian Lubitsch and her daughter were staying in London. Vivian sent her baby daughter, accompanied by her nursemaid, Consuela Strohmeier, to Montreal aboard the Donaldson Atlantic Line's ''SS Athenia'', which was sunk by a German submarine on September 3, 1939 with a loss of 118 passengers. The child and the nurse survived.

In 1939, Lubitsch moved to MGM, and directed Greta Garbo in ''Ninotchka''. Garbo and Lubitsch were friendly and had hoped to work together on a movie for years, but this would be their only project. The film, co-written by Billy Wilder, is a satirical comedy in which the famously serious actress' laughing scene was heavily promoted by studio publicists with the tagline "Garbo Laughs!"

In 1940, he directed ''The Shop Around the Corner'', an artful comedy of cross purposes. The film reunited Lubitsch with his ''Merry Widow'' screenwriter Raphaelson, and starred James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan as a pair of bickering co-workers in Budapest, each unaware that the other is their secret romantic correspondent. David Thomson wrote of it: :''The Shop Around the Corner''... is among the greatest of films... This is a love story about a couple too much in love with love to fall tidily into each other's arms. Though it all works out finally, a mystery is left, plus the fear of how easily good people can miss their chances. Beautifully written (by Lubitsch's favorite writer, Samson Raphaelson), ''Shop Around the Corner'' is a treasury of hopes and anxieties based in the desperate faces of Stewart and Sullavan. It is a comedy so good it frightens us for them. The cafe conversation may be the best meeting in American film. The shot of Sullavan's gloved hand, and then her ruined face, searching an empty mail box for a letter is one of the most fragile moments in film. For an instant, the ravishing Sullavan looks old and ill, touched by loss.

Biographer Scott Eyman attempted to characterize the famed "Lubitsch touch": :With few exceptions Lubitsch's movies take place neither in Europe nor America but in Lubitschland, a place of metaphor, benign grace, rueful wisdom... What came to preoccupy this anomalous artist was the comedy of manners and the society in which it transpired, a world of delicate sangfroid, where a breach of sexual or social propriety and the appropriate response are ritualized, but in unexpected ways, where the basest things are discussed in elegant whispers; of the rapier, never the broadsword... To the unsophisticated eye, Lubitsch's work can appear dated, simply because his characters belong to a world of formal sexual protocol. But his approach to film, to comedy, and to life was not so much ahead of its time as it was singular, and totally out of any time.

Lubitsch went independent to direct ''That Uncertain Feeling'' (1941, a remake of his 1925 film ''Kiss Me Again''), and the dark anti-Nazi farce ''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942), which was Jack Benny's only major screen success and Carole Lombard's last picture.

Later career

Lubitsch spent the balance of his career at 20th Century Fox, but a heart condition curtailed his activity, and he spent much of his time in supervisory capacities. It has been claimed that the last picture made by the director with his distinctive "touch" was ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1943), another Raphaelson collaboration. The film is about Henry Van Cleve (played by Don Ameche) who presents himself at the gates of Hell to recount his life and the women he has known from his mother onwards, concentrating on his happy but sometimes difficult 25 years of marriage to Martha (Gene Tierney).

After ''Heaven Can Wait'', Lubitsch worked with Edwin Justus Mayer on the scripting process of ''A Royal Scandal'' (1945), a remake of Ernst Lubitsch's silent film ''A Forbidden Paradise''. Mayer wrote the screenplay for ''A Royal Scandal'', and had worked with Lubitsch on ''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942). The script of ''A Royal Scandal'' (1945) was written and prepared under Ernst Lubitsch, and he was the original director of this film, and directed the rehearsals. He became ill during shooting, so Lubitsch hired Otto Preminger to do the rest of the shooting. But ''A Royal Scandal'' is considered "a Lubitsch picture." After ''A Royal Scandal'', Ernst Lubitsch regained his health, and directed ''Cluny Brown'' (1946), with Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones.

In March 1947, Lubitsch was awarded a Special Academy Award for his "25-year contribution to motion pictures". Presenter Mervyn LeRoy, calling Lubitsch "a master of innuendo", described some of his attributes as a filmmaker: "He had an adult mind and a hatred of saying things the obvious way." Lubitsch was the subject of several interviews at that time, and consistently cited ''The Shop Around the Corner'' as his favorite of his films. Considering his overall career, he mused, "I made sometimes pictures which were not up to my standard, but then it can only be said about a mediocrity that all his works live up to his standard."

He died later that year in Hollywood of a heart attack, his sixth. His last film, ''That Lady in Ermine'' with Betty Grable, was completed by Otto Preminger and released posthumously in 1948.

Leaving Lubitsch's funeral, Billy Wilder ruefully said, "No more Lubitsch." William Wyler responded, "Worse than that. No more Lubitsch pictures." Wilder had a sign over his office door, which read "How would Lubitsch do it?". He has a Star on the Walk of Fame at 7040 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California.

Filmography

References

Further reading

Bourget, J.-L. & O'Neil, E.: ''Lubitsch o la sátira romántica - Lubitsch: Satire and Romance'', Festival Internacional de cine de San Sebastián and Filmoteca Española, San Sebastián/Madrid, Spain, 2006 (bilingual edition, originally published in French, 1987.)

Eyman, Scott: ''Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise'', Simon & Schuster, New York, 1993. ISBN 0671749366

Weinberg, Herman G.: ''The Lubitsch Touch: a Critical Study'', New York, Dutton, c1968.

External links

The Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch

Photographs and bibliography

Category:1892 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Actors from Berlin Category:German Jews Category:German emigrants to the United States Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:German film directors Category:German people of Russian descent Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:University of Southern California faculty Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:German film actors Category:American film directors Category:German screenwriters Category:American screenwriters Category:American film producers

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Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
name	Pola Negri
birth date	January 03, 1897
birth place	Lipno, Vistula Land (now Poland)
death date	August 01, 1987
death place	San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
birth name	Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec
years active	1914–1964
occupation	Actress, author, singer
spouse	Count Eugeniusz Dambski (1919–1922) Prince Serge Mdivani (1927–1931) }}

Pola Negri (3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and ''femme fatale'' roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the first European film star to be invited to Hollywood, and became a great American star. She also started several important women's fashion trends. She is known for being one of the most popular stars of the silent film era, and her varied career included work as an actress in silent and talking films, theater, and vaudeville; as a singer and recording artist; as an author; and as a ballerina.

Early life

Negri was born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec according to her birth record and autobiography in Lipno, Vistula Land, Russian Empire (present-day Poland). She was the youngest of three children, but because the first two died young, she grew up as an only child. Her mother, whose maiden name was Eleonora Kiełczewska, was reportedly impoverished Polish royalty, and her father, Jerzy Chałupiec, was a Slovak immigrant tinsmith. After Chałupiec's father was arrested by the Russians for revolutionary activities and sent to Siberia, she and her mother moved to Warsaw, where they lived in extreme poverty.

Chałupiec was accepted into the Imperial Ballet of Warsaw, and began training in the ballet academy. The Academy’s patron and ballet enthusiast was Zsar Mikolaja II. The Academy produced such world famous ballerinas as ''Pawlowa'', ''Tamara Karsawina'', and ''Matilda Krzesinska''. Chałupiec's first dance performance was in the chorus of baby swans in Tchaikovsky's ''Swan Lake'', and she worked her way up to a solo role in the Saint-Léon ballet Coppélia. A bout with tuberculosis forced her to stop dancing. Chałupiec was sent to a sanatorium to recover, and during that time, she adopted the pseudonym ''Pola Negri'', after the Italian novelist and poetess Ada Negri,, with ''Pola'' being short for ''Apolonia''.

Polish theatre and film career

After Negri returned from her stay at the sanatorium, she successfully auditioned for the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts. Alongside her formal schooling at the Academy, she also took private classes outside with renowned Polish stage actress and professor Honorata Leszczynska. She made her theatrical debut before her graduation at The Small Theatre in Warszawa on October 2, 1912. Her performance received much acclaim, and she continued to perform there while finishing her studies at the Academy. She graduated in 1914. Her graduating performance was as Hedwig in Ibsen’s ''The Wild Duck'', which resulted in offers to join a number of the prominent theatres in Warsaw. By the end of World War I, Negri had established herself as a popular stage actress. She made an appearance in the Grand Theatre (in ''Sumurun''), as well as in Small Theatre (Aleksander Fredro's ''Śluby panieńskie'') and at the Summer Theatre in the Saxon Garden, a popular summer variété theatre.

Negri debuted in film in 1914 in ''Slave to her Senses'' (''Niewolnica zmysłów''). She also appeared in a variety of films made by the Warsaw film industry, including ''Room No. 13'' (''Pokój Nr. 13''), ''His Last Gesture'' (''Jego Ostatni Czyn''), ''Students'' (''Studenci''), and ''The Wife'' (''Żona''). Negri gained much popularity during her short screen career in Warsaw, acting alongside many of the most renowned Polish film artists of the time, including Józef Węgrzyn, Władysław Grabowski, Józef Galewski, and Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski.

Ernst Lubitsch and German silent film career

In 1917, Negri's popularity provided her with an opportunity to move to Berlin, Germany, to appear as the dancing girl in a German revival of Max Reinhardt's theatre production of ''Sumurun''. In this production, she met Ernst Lubitsch, who at the time was producing comedies for the German Film studio UFA. Negri was first signed with Saturn Films, making six films with them, including ''Wenn das Herz in Haß erglüht'' (If the Heart Burns With Hate, 1917). After this, she signed to UFA's roster; some of the films that she made with UFA include ''Mania'' (1918), ''Der Gelbe Schein'' (The Yellow Ticket, also 1918), and ''Komtesse Doddy'' (1919).

In 1918, Lubitsch convinced UFA to let him create a large-scale film with Negri as the main character. The result was ''Die Augen der Mumie Ma'' (The Eyes of the Mummy Ma, 1918), which was a popular success and led to a series of Lubitsch/Negri collaborations, each larger in scale than the previous film. The next was ''Carmen'' (1918, reissued in the United States in 1921 as ''Gypsy Blood''), which was followed by ''Madame Dubarry'' (1919, released in the United States as ''Passion''). ''Madame DuBarry'' became a huge international success, and managed to bring down the American embargo on German films and launch a demand for German films that briefly threatened to dislodge Hollywood's dominance in the international film market. Negri and Lubitsch made three German films together after this, ''Sumurun'' (aka ''One Arabian Night'', 1920), ''Die Bergkatze'' (aka ''The Mountain Cat'' or ''The Wildcat'', 1921), and ''Die Flamme'' (The Flame, 1922), and UFA employed Negri for films with other directors, including ''Vendetta'' (1920) and ''Sappho'' (1921), many of which were purchased by American distributors and shown in the United States.

Hollywood responded to this new threat by buying out key German talent, beginning with the procuration of the services of Lubitsch and Negri. Lubitsch was the first director to be brought to Hollywood, with Mary Pickford calling for his services in her costume film ''Rosita'' (1923). Paramount Pictures mogul Jesse Lasky saw the premiere of ''Madame DuBarry'' in Berlin in 1919, and Paramount invited Negri to come to Hollywood in 1921. She signed a contract with Paramount and arrived in New York in a flurry of publicity on September 12, 1922. This ended up making Negri the first ever Continental star to be imported into Hollywood, setting a precedent for imported European stars that would go on to include Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, and many others.

Paramount period

Negri ended up becoming one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of the era, and certainly the richest woman of the film industry at the time, living in a mansion in Los Angeles modeled after the White House. While in Hollywood, she started several ladies' fashion trends, some of which are still fashion staples today, including red painted toenails, fur boots, and turbans. Negri was a favorite photography subject of the famous Hollywood portrait photographer Eugene Robert Richee, and many of her best-known photographs were taken during this period.

Negri's first two Paramount films were ''Bella Donna'' (1923) and ''The Cheat'' (1923), both of which were directed by George Fitzmaurice and were remakes of Paramount films from 1915. Negri's first spectacle film was the Herbert Brenon-directed ''The Spanish Dancer'' (1923), which was based on the Victor Hugo Novel ''Don César de Bazan.'' The initial screenplay was intended as a vehicle for Rudolph Valentino before he left the Paramount lot, and was reworked for Negri. ''Rosita'', Lubitsch's film with Mary Pickford, was released the same year, and also happened to be based on ''Don César de Bazan''. According to the book ''Paramount Pictures and the People Who Made Them,'' "Critics had a field day comparing the two. The general opinion was that the Pickford film was more polished, but the Negri film was more entertaining."

Initially Paramount utilized Negri as a mysterious European ''femme fatale'' and as a clotheshorse as they did with their other major actress Gloria Swanson, and staged an ongoing feud between the two actresses which actor Charlie Chaplin remembered in his autobiography as "a mélange of cooked-up jealousies and quarrels." Negri was concerned that Paramount was mishandling her career and image, and arranged for her former director Ernst Lubitsch to direct her in the critically acclaimed ''Forbidden Paradise'' (1924). It would be the last time the two worked together in any film. By 1925, Negri's on-screen continental opulence was starting to wear thin with some segments of the American audience, a situation which was parodied in the Mal St. Clair-directed comedy ''A Woman of the World'' (1925), which Negri starred in.

Paramount then began to cast Negri in international peasant roles in films such as the Mauritz Stiller-directed and Erich Pommer-produced ''Hotel Imperial'' (1927) in an apparent effort to give her a more down-to-earth, relatable image. Although ''Hotel Imperial'' reportedly fared well at the box office, her next film ''Barbed Wire'' (1927) and a number of her subsequent films performed poorly in the United States due to the poor publicity surrounding her behavior at her former lover Rudolph Valentino's New York funeral and her rebound marriage to Georgian prince Serge Mdivani, although internationally her films continued to fare well.

In 1928, Negri made her last film for Paramount Pictures, ''The Woman From Moscow'', opposite actor Norman Kerry. Negri claims in her autobiography that she opted not to renew her contract with Paramount, choosing instead to retire from films and live as a wife and expectant mother in the Château de Rueil-Séraincourt in Vigny, France, which she owned at the time. That same year, she wrote a short volume featuring her reflections on art and film entitled ''La Vie et Le Rêve au Cinéma'' (Life and Dreams in the Movies).

Later career

Negri's initial 1928 retirement turned out to be short-lived. Negri miscarried her baby, and eventually learned that her husband was gambling her fortune away on speculative business ventures, straining their relationship. She went back into pictures when an independent production company offered her work in a British film production that was to be distributed by Gaumont-British. Initially the film was to be a filmed version of George Bernard Shaw's ''Caesar and Cleopatra'', and Shaw even offered to alter the play to suit the film. When the rights proved to be too expensive, the company settled on an original story and hired German ''kammerspielfilm'' director Paul Czinner to direct. The resulting film, ''The Way Of Lost Souls'' (also known as ''The Woman He Scorned''), was released in 1929; it would be Negri's final silent film.

Negri returned to Hollywood in 1931 to begin filming her first talking film, ''A Woman Commands'' (1932). The film itself was poorly received, but Negri sang the song "Paradise" in the film, and the song became a sizable hit and for many years was considered to be a standard. The song was covered by many other performers, including Russ Columbo and Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Negri went on a successful vaudeville tour to promote the song. She was employed in the leading role of the touring theatre production ''A Trip To Pressburg'', which premiered at the Shubert Theater in New York. However, she collapsed after the final curtain at the production's stop at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania due to gall bladder inflammation and was unable to complete the tour.

Negri returned to France to appear in ''Fanatisme'' (Fanaticism, 1934), an historical costume film about Napoleón III. The film was directed by the directorial team of Tony Lekain and Gaston Ravel and released by Pathé. It was her only French film. After this, actor-director Willi Forst brought Negri to Germany appear in the film ''Mazurka'' (1935). ''Mazurka'' gained much popularity in Germany and abroad, and became one of Adolf Hitler's favorite films, a fact that gave birth to a rumor in 1937 about Negri having had an affair with Hitler. There was no truth to the rumor. Pola sued a French magazine, ''Pour Vous'', that had circulated the libelous rumor and won her case. ''Mazurka'' was remade (almost shot-for-shot) in the U.S. as a Kay Francis picture, ''Confession''.

After the success of ''Mazurka'', Negri's former studio, the now-Joseph Goebbels controlled UFA, signed Negri to a new contract. Negri lived in France while working for UFA, making five films with them: ''Moskau-Shanghai'' (Moscow-Shanghai, 1936), ''Madame Bovary'' (1937), ''Tango Notturno'' (1937), ''Die Fromme Lüge'' (The Secret Lie, 1938), and ''Die Nacht der Entscheidung'' (The Night of Decision, 1939).

After the Nazis took over France, Negri found the oppression of the regime too much to bear, and fled back to America. She sailed to New York from Lisbon, Portugal, and initially lived by selling off her jewelry collection. Negri was hired in a supporting role as the temperamental opera singer Genya Smetana for the 1943 comedy ''Hi Diddle Diddle''. After the success of this film, Negri was offered numerous roles which were essentially rehashes or her role in ''Hi Diddle Diddle'', all of which she turned down. In 1944, Negri was engaged by booking agent Miles Ingalls for a nationwide vaudeville tour. According to her autobiography, she also appeared in a Boston supper club engagement in 1945 for a repertoire centered around the song "Paradise", and soon after decided to retire from the entertainment business altogether.

Personal life

Negri's first marriage was with Count Eugeniusz Dambski, and would prove to be short lived. Negri married Dambski in St Mary's Assumption Church in Sosnowiec in November 5, 1919, thus becoming Countessa Apolonia Dambska-Challupiec. After a long separation period, Negri and Dambski were divorced on 1922. During their separation period, Negri met industrialist Wolfgang George Schleber, whom she called "Petronius" after the main character in ''Quo Vadis''. Negri would be Schleber's mistress for most of the remainder of her stay in Germany.

After Negri began working in the United States, she began making headlines and gossip columns with a string of celebrity love affairs with stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Rod La Rocque, and Rudolph Valentino. Negri had met Chaplin while in Germany, and what began as a platonic relationship there became a well-publicized affair and marriage speculation which received the headline, "The Queen of Tragedy To Wed The King of Comedy". The relationship soured, and Negri became involved for a time with actor Rod La Rocque, who also appeared opposite her in ''Forbidden Paradise'' (1924).

Negri then met Rudolph Valentino at a costume party held by Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst at the San Simeon estate, and was Valentino's lover until his death in 1926. Negri caused a media sensation at this New York funeral in August 24, 1926, at which she "fainted" several times, and, according to actor Ben Lyon, arranged for a large floral arrangement, which spelled out "P-O-L-A", to be placed on Valentino's coffin. The press dismissed her actions as a publicity stunt. At the time of his death and for the remainder of her life, Negri would state that Valentino was the love of her life.

Negri followed this with her second marriage, this one to Georgian prince Serge Mdivani, which caused public opinion in the United States to sour against her because it happened so quickly after Rudolph Valentino's death. Negri and Mdivani were married on May 14, 1927 (less than nine months after Valentino's death), and were divorced on April 2, 1931.

While residing at the Ambassador Hotel in New York in April 1932, Negri was romantically involved with Russ Columbo and performed with him in the George Jessel Variety Revue at The Schubert Theatre. After the premier of Negri's film ''A Woman Commands'' in Hollywood, Russ Columbo performed Negri's signature song "Paradise" with his orchestra, and dedicated the song to Negri. Columbo also recorded and released the song as a 78 rpm single that year with slightly altered lyrics, and the single became a huge sensation with audiences across the country.

Negri was close friends with actresses Mae Murray and Marion Davies, and in fact was sister-in-law to Murray for a time, who was married to David Mdivani, brother to Negri's husband Serge Mdivani. Davies allowed Negri to live in her bungalow when Negri initially emigrated back to California in the 1940s.

Retirement and later years

After Negri retired from films, she became close friends with Margaret West, an oil heiress and vaudeville actress the she had originally met in the 1930s. The two became housemates, and moved from Los Angeles to San Antonio, Texas, in 1957. Negri would live with West until the latter's death in 1963. Negri became a naturalized citizen of the United States on January 12, 1951.

In 1948, director Billy Wilder approached Negri to appear as Norma Desmond in the film, ''Sunset Boulevard'' (1950), after Mae Murray, Mae West, and Mary Pickford declined the role. Negri also declined the role because she felt that the screenplay was not ready and that she felt that Montgomery Clift, who was chosen to play the Joe Gillis character at the time, was not a good choice for the character. The role of Joe Gillis eventually went to William Holden, and Gloria Swanson, Negri's former "rival" at Paramount, accepted the Norma Desmond role.

Negri came out of retirement once to appear in the Walt Disney film ''The Moon-Spinners'' (1964), which starred Hayley Mills and Eli Wallach. Negri's appearance in the film as eccentric jewel collector Madame Habib was shot over the course of two weeks. During the time that Negri was filming ''The Moon-Spinners'' in London, she made a sensation by appearing before the London press at her hotel in the company of a feisty cheetah on a steel chain leash.

After West's death, Negri moved out of the home she had shared with West into a townhome located at 7707 Broadway in San Antonio. She spent the remainder of her years there, largely out of the public eye. In 1964, Negri received an honorary award from the German film industry for her film work, followed by a Hemis-Film award in San Antonio in 1968. In 1970 she published her autobiography, ''Memoirs of a Star'', which was published by Doubleday.

Negri made an appearance at The Museum of Modern Art on April 30, 1970, for a screening event in her honor, which featured her film ''A Woman of the World'' (1925) and selections from her films. Negri was also guest of honor at a 1972 screening of ''Carmen'' held at the Witte Museum in San Antonio.

In 1975, director Vincente Minnelli approached Negri to appear as the Contessa Sanziani in his film ''A Matter of Time'', but Negri was unable to accept the part due to poor health. The role ended up going to Ingrid Bergman instead.

In 1978, Billy Wilder directed the film ''Fedora''; although Negri does not appear in the film, the title character is based largely on her.

Negri's final high-profile coverage in her lifetime was for a "Where Are They Now?" feature on silent film stars, which appeared in ''Life'' magazine in 1980.

Death and legacy

Pola Negri died on 1 August 1987, at the age of 90. Her death was caused by pneumonia, however she was also suffering from a brain tumor (for which she had refused treatment). At her wake at the Porter Loring Funeral Home in San Antonio, her body was placed on view wearing a yellow golden chiffon dress with a golden turban to match. Negri's death received extensive coverage in her hometown newspapers ''San Antonio Light'', and ''San Antonio Express-News'', and in publications such as ''Los Angeles Times'' ''New York Times'', and ''Variety'' magazine.

Negri was interred in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles next to her mother, Eleonora. Since she had no children, she left most of her estate to St. Mary's University in Texas, including several rare prints of her films. In addition, a generous portion of her estate was given to the Polish nuns of the Seraphic Order; a large black and white portrait hangs in the small chapel next to Poland's patron, Our Lady of Częstochowa, in San Antonio, Texas.

Pola Negri donated her collection of memorabilia to St. Mary's University in San Antonio, who also set up a scholarship in her name. The Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles remembers Negri with a Pola Negri Award given to outstanding film artists, and the Pola Negri Museum in Lipno gives a Polita award for outstanding artist achievement.

Pola Negri has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard. She was the 11th star in Hollywood history to place her hand and foot prints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. She has also received, along with Roman Polanski, a star in Poland's Walk of Fame in Łódź. The Polish post office issued a Stamp honoring Negri in 1996.

In 2006, a feature-length documentary about Negri's life, directed by Mariusz Kotowski and entitled ''Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema'', premiered at the Seventh Annual Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles. The documentary is notable for its in-depth interviews with film stars Hayley Mills and Eli Wallach, who were starring actress and supporting actor respectively in the Walt Disney film ''The Moon-Spinners'' (1964), Pola Negri's final film. ''Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema'' has played at Pola Negri retrospective screenings in The United States and Europe, most notably at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and La Cinémathèque Française in Paris. Kotowski also authored a Polish-language biography of Pola Negri entitled ''Pola Negri: Legenda Hollywood'' (English title: ''Pola Negri: Hollywood Legend''), which was released in Poland on February 24, 2011.

Filmography

Polish Period

! Year !! Film !! Director !! Company !! Notes
1914	''Niewolnica zmysłow''	Alexander Hertz	Sphinx Company	Alternate Titles: ''The Polish Dancer'' (US release title), ''Der Sklave der Sinne,'' ''Slave of Sin''Poland's first feature film
1915	''Żona''	Alexander Hertz	Sphinx Company	English title translation: ''Wife''
1915	''Czarna ksiązka''	Alexander Hertz	Sphinx Company	English title translation: ''The Yellow Pass''An early version of ''Dear Gelbe Schein'' (The Yellow Ticket)
1916	''Studenci''	Alexander Hertz	Sphinx Company	English title translation: ''Students''
1916	''Bestia''	Alexander Hertz	Sphinx Company	English title translation: ''Beast'', ''Bad Girl''
1917	''Tajemnica alei Ujazdowskich''	Alexander Hertz	Sphinx Company	English title translation: ''Mystery of Uyazdovsky Lane''Part of the ''Tajemince Warszawy'' (Mysteries of Warsaw) serial.
1917	''Pókoj Nr. 13''	Alexander Hertz	Sphinx Company	English title translation: ''Room #13''Part of the ''Tajemince Warszawy'' (Mysteries of Warsaw) serial.
1917	''Arabella''	Alexander Hertz	Sphinx Company
1917	''Jego ostatni czyn''	Alexander Hertz	Sphinx Company	English title translation: ''His Last Gesture''

German Silent Period

! Year !! Film !! Director !! Company !! Notes
1917	''Nicht lange täuschte mich das Glück''	Kurt Matull?	Saturn-Film AG	Negri plays a dual supporting role as a nun and a cabaret dancer.
1917	''Zügelloses Blut''	?	Saturn-Film AG
1917	''Küsse, die man stiehlt im Dunkeln''	?	Saturn-Film AG
1917	''Die toten Augen''	?	Saturn-Film AG
1917	''Wenn das Herz in Haß erglüht''	Kurt Matull	Saturn-Film AG	English title translation: ''When the Heart Burns With Hate''This film survives and has been shown at La Cinémathèque Francaise in Paris, France, and at the Museum of Cinematography in Łodz, Poland.
1918	''Rosen, die der Sturm entblättert''	?	Saturn-Film AG
1918	''Mania''	Eugen Illés	UFA	Set design by Paul LeniFull title: ''Mania, Die Geschichte einer Zigarettenarbeiterin'' (''Mania: The Story of a Cigarette Girl'').
1918		Ernst Lubitsch	UFA	Co-stars: Harry Leidtke, Emil JanningsAlternate Title: ''The Eyes of the Mummy'' (US rlease)First Negri/Lubitsch collaboration
1918		Victor Janson and Eugen Illés	UFA	Co-stars: Harry Liedtke, Victor JansonAlternate Title: ''The Yellow Ticket''
1918		Ernst Lubitsch	UFA	Co-star: Harry LiedtkeAlternate title: ''Gypsy Blood'' (US release)
1919	''Das Karussell des Lebens''	Georg Jacoby	UFA	Co-star: Harry LeidtkeEnglish title translation: ''The Carousel of Life''; Alternate Title: ''The Last Payment'' (US release)
1919	''Vendetta''	Georg Jacoby	UFA	Co-stars: Emil Jannings, Harry LiedtkeAlternate Title: ''Blutrache'' (Blood Revenge)
1919	''Dämmerung des Todes''	Georg Jacoby	UFA
1919	''Kreuziget sie!''	Georg Jacoby	UFA	Co-stars: Harry Liedtke, Victor Janson
1919		Ernst Lubitsch	UFA	Co-stars: Emil Jannings, Harry LiedtkeAlternate Title: ''Passion'' (US release)
1919	''Komtesse Doddy''	Georg Jacoby	UFA	Co-stars: Harry Liedtke, Victor JansonAlternate Title: ''Komtesse Dolly''
1920	''Die Marchesa d'Arminiani''	Alfred Halm	UFA	English title translation: ''The Marquise of Armiani''
1920	''Sumurun''	Ernst Lubitsch	UFA	Co-stars: Ernst Lubitsch, Paul Wegener, Harry Liedtke, Jenny HasselqvistAlternate title: ''One Arabian night'' (US release)A film remake of the Max Reinhardt theater production, which also featured Negri and Lubitsch in the same respective roles, this is the only time the two appeared on screen together and is the last time the Lubitsch would appear on-screen as an actor.
1920	''Das Martyrium''	Paul Ludwig Stein	UFA
1920	''Die geschlossene Kette''	Paul Ludwig Stein	UFA	English title translation: ''The Closed Chain''; Alternate title: ''Intrigue'' (US release)
1920	''Arme Violetta''	Paul Ludwig Stein	UFA
1921		Ernst Lubitsch	UFA	Co-stars: Victor Janson, Paul HeidemannEnglish title translation: ''The Mountain Cat''; Alternate Title: ''The Wildcat''A German Expressionist comedy and parody of the Expressionist film genre.
1921		Dimitri Buchowetski	UFA	Co-stars: Alfred Abel, Johannes RiemannAlternate Title: ''Mad Love'' (US release)
1922	''Die Flamme''	Ernst Lubitsch	Ernst Lubitsch Film GmbH

Paramount Period

! Year !! Film !! Director !! Company !! Notes
1923		George Fitzmaurice	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Co-stars: Conway Tearle, Conrad Nagel, Adolphe MenjouRemake of the 1915 film starring Pauline Frederick.
1923		George Fitzmaurice	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount
1923	''Hollywood''	James Cruze	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Negri plays a cameo role in this film, which features guest appearances from many other Hollywood stars from the period.
1923	''The Spanish Dancer''	Herbert Brenon	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Co-stars: Antonio Moreno, Wallace Beery, Adolphe Menjou
1924	''Shadows of Paris''	Herbert Brenon	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Co-stars: Charles de Roche, Adolphe Menjou, George O’Brien
1924	''Men''	Dimitri Buchowetski	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount
1924	''Lily of the Dust''	Dimitri Buchowetski	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Co-stars: Ben Lyon, Noah Beery, Raymond Griffith
1924	''Forbidden Paradise''	Ernst Lubitsch	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Co-stars: Rod La Roque, Adolphe Menjou, Pauline Starke, Clark Gable (in a bit role).Only American Lubitsch/Negri collaboration and their final film together
1925	''East of Suez''	Raoul Walsh	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Co-stars: Edmund Lowe, Noah BeeryNegri's only film directed my Raoul Walsh
1925	''The Charmer''	Sidney Olcott	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount
1925	''Flower of the Night''	Paul Bern	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Co-stars: Warner Oland, Gustav von Seyffertitz
1925	''A Woman of the World''	Malcom St. Clair	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Co-stars: Charles Emmet Mack, Holmes Herbert, Chester Conklin
1925	''The Crown of Lies''	Dimitri Buchowetski	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount
1926		Malcom St. Clair	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	co-stars: Ford Sterling, Miss Du Pont
1927		Mauritz Stiller	Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount	Co-stars: James Hall, George Siegmann, Max Davidson
1927	''Barbed Wire''	Rowland V. Lee, Mauritz Stiller	Paramount	Co-stars: Clive Brook, Einer Hanson, Gustav von SeyffertitzMauritz Stiller started the film, but was replaced with Rowland V. Lee early on in the film
1927	''The Woman On Trial''	Mauritz Stiller	Paramount
1928	''The Secret Hour''	Rowland V. Lee	Paramount
1928	''Three Sinners''	Rowland V. Lee	Paramount	Co-stars: Warner Baxter, Paul Lukas, Olga Baclanova
1928	''Loves of an Actress''	Ludwig Berger	Paramount	Co-stars: Nils Asther, Paul LukasSilent film with soundtrack
1928	''The Woman From Moscow''	Ludwig Berger	Paramount	Co-stars: Norman Kerry, Paul Lukas, Otto MatiesenAlternate title: ''Rachel''Silent film with soundtrack

International Period (Includes German Sound Period)

! Year !! Film !! Director !! Company !! Country !! Notes
1929	''The Woman He Scorned''	Paul Czinner	Charles Whittaker Productions UK (Distributed By Warners UK)	United Kingdom	Co-stars: Hans Rehmann, Warwick WardAlternate Titles: ''The Way of Lost Souls'', ''Street of Abandoned Children''Silent film with soundtrack. Pola Negri's final silent film.
1932	''A Woman Commands''	George Fitzmaurice	RKO		Co-stars: Basil Rathbone, Roland Young, H.B. WarnerAlternate title: ''Maria Draga''Negri's first sound film; features the songs “Paradise”, “I Wanna Be Kissed”, “Promise You Will Remember Me”. “Paradise” was a major hit and a went on to become a standard for many years; it was covered by Russ Colombo and Louis Prima, featured in the television show ''Adventures in Paradise'', and used as soundtrack music for other films from the time.
1934	''Fanatisme''	Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel	Pathé	France	Negri's only French film; features her singing three songs
1935		Willi Forst	Cine-Allianz/Tobis-Klangfilm	Germany	Co-stars: Ingeborg Theek, Paul Hartmann, Albrecht SchoenhalsFeatures the songs “Je sens en moi”, “Mazurka”, and “Nur Eine Stunde”. Remade in 1937 by Warner Brothers as ''Confession'' starring Kay Francis and directed by German director Joe May
1936	''Moskau-Shanghai''	Paul Wegener	UFA	Germany	Co-star: Gustav DiesslAlternate Titles: ''Von Moskau der Shanghai,'' ''Der Weg nach Shanghai,'' ''Begenung in Shanghai,'' ''Zwuischen Moskau und Shanghai''Features the song "Mein Herz hat Heimweh..."
1937		Gerhard Lamprecht	UFA	Germany	Pola Negri's only German sound film to be shown in the United States.
1937	''Tango Notturno''	Fritz Kirchoff	UFA	Germany	Co-star: Albrecht SchoenhalsFeatures the songs "Ich Hab an Dich Gedacht" and "Kommt das Glück nicht Heut? Dann kommt Es Morgen"
1937	''Die fromme Lüge''	Nunzio Malasomma	UFA	Germany	Co-star: Hermann Braun
1938	''Die Nacht der Entscheidung''	Nunzio Malasomma	UFA	Germany	Co-star: Iván PetrovichFeatures the songs "Siehst Du die Sterne am Himmel" and "Zeig' der Welt nicht Dein Herz"

Retirement Films (USA)

! Year !! Film !! Director !! Company !! Notes
1943	''Hi Diddle Diddle''	Andrew L. Stone	Andrew L. Stone Productions (Distributed by United Artists)	Co-stars: Adolphe Menjou, Martha Scott, Billie Burke, Dennis O’Keefe, June Havoc
1964	''The Moon-Spinners''	James Nielson	Walt Disney Productions	Co-stars: Hayley Mills, Eli Wallach

Discography

Pola Negri released a total of ten 78 rpm singles. In 1931, she recorded seven gypsy folk songs in London accompanied by guitars and chorus, six of which were released as the sides of three records on Victor's His Master's Voice imprint. She recorded a French-language version of "Paradise" in Paris in 1933 with "Mes Nuits sont Morts" as its flip side. (Sheet music was released for the English-language version, but the recorded version only appeared in the 1932 film ''A Woman Commands'' and was never released as a record.) The remainder of Negri's recordings, cut from 1935 to 1938, centered around songs that she sang in her German sound films.

! Matrix No. !! Single No. !! Label !! Song Title !! Time and Place of Recording !! Notes
OB-641	HMV EK-114	His Master's Voice	Ve Chantasni (The Hour of Longing)	Small Queen's Hall, London, March 12, 1931.	Accompanied by Boris Golovka and two others on guitar, with chorus.
OB-642	HMV EK-114	His Master's Voice	Sto nam gore? (Why Are You Sorry?)	same	same
OB-643	(Not Released)	His Master's Voice	Os sho tass	same	same
OB-647	HMV B-3820	His Master's Voice	Ochye Tchornia (Dark Eyes)	Small Queen's Hall, London, March 13, 1931.	same
OB-648	HMV EK-115	His Master's Voice	Why Fall in Love?	same	same
OB-649	HMV B-3820	His Master's Voice	Adieu (Farewell, My Gypsy Camp)	same	same
OB-650	HMV EK-114	His Master's Voice	Two Guitars (aka "Gyspy, Sing!")	same	same; dedicated to Pola Negri by Boris Golovka.
P 76523	AP 989	Ultraphone	Mes Nuits sont Mortes	Paris, July 1933.
P 76524	AP 989	Ultraphone	Paradis	Paris, July 1933.	French language version of "Paradise"; A-side of single AP 989
P Be 10937-3	0-4723	Odéon	Je sans en moi	Berlin, April 8, 1935.
P Be 10938-3	0-4723	Odéon	Nur eine Stunde	Berlin, April 8, 1935.
128338	R 2271	Parlophone	For That One Hour	Berlin, c. early 1936.
128397	R 2271	Parlophone	Stay Close to Me	Berlin, c. early 1936.
P Be 11241	0-4736	Odéon	Vergis deine Sehnsucht	Berlin, March 17, 1936.	Orchestra arranged by W. Schmidt-Boelcke.
P Be 11242	0-4736	Odéon	Wenn die Sonne hinter den Dachem Versinkt	Berlin, March 17, 1936.	Orchestra arranged by W. Schmidt-Boelcke.
P Be 11432-2	0-4742	Odéon	Mein Herz hat Heimweh...	Berlin, September 2, 1936.	Song from the film ''Moskau-Shanghai'' (1936). Orchestra arranged by Hans-Otto Borgmann.
P Be 11433	0-4742	Odéon	Ich Mochte Einmal nur mien ganzes Herz Verschwenden	Berlin, September 2, 1936.	Orchestra arranged by Hans-Otto Borgmann.
P Be 11891	0-4765	Odéon	Ich hab an Dich Gedacht	Berlin, December 15, 1937.	Song from the film ''Tango Notturno'' (1937). Orchestra arranged by Hans-Otto Borgmann.
P Be 11892	0-4765	Odéon	Kommt das Gluck nicht Heut? Dann kommt es Morgen	Berlin, December 15, 1937.	Song from the film ''Tango Notturno'' (1937). Orchestra arranged by Hans-Otto Borgmann.
P Be 12171	0 288233	Odéon	Zeig der Welt nicht dein Herz	Berlin, December 30, 1938.	Song from the film ''Die Nacht der Entscheidung'' (1938). Orchestra arranged by Lothar Bruhne.
P Be 12172	0 288233	Odéon	Sieht du die Stenre	Berlin, December 30, 1938.	Song from the film ''Die Nacht der Entscheidung'' (1938). Orchestra arranged by Lothar Bruhne.

References

Additional references and Bibliography

Barry, Iris. ''Let's Go to the Movies.'' Payson & Clarke, Ltd., 1926.

Basinger, Jeanine. ''Silent Stars.'' Alfred a Knoff, 2000.

Botham, Noel, and Peter Donnelly. ''Valentino: The Love God.'' Everest Books, Ltd., 1976.

Cawthorne, Nigel. ''Sex Lives of the Hollywood Idols.'' Prion Books, Ltd., 1997.

Chaplin, Charles. ''My Trip Abroad.'' Harper & Brothers, 1921.

Clarke, David. ''Location: Cornwall.'' Bossiney Books, 1990.

Guiles, Fred Lawrence. ''Marion Davies.'' McGraw-Hill, 1972.

Hake, Sabine. ''Passions And Decptions: The Early Films of Ernest Lubitsch.'' Princeton University Press, 1992.

Endres, Stacey, and Robert Cschman. ''Hollywood At Your Feet:The Story of the World-Famous Chinese Theatre.'' Pomegranate Press, 1992.

Everson, William K. ''American Silent Film.'' Da Capo Press, 1998.

Eyman, Scott. ''Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise.'' Simon & Schuster, 1993.

Keylin, Arleen, and Suri Fleischer. ''Hollywood Album.'' Arno Press, 1977.

Kreimeier, Klaus. ''The UFA Story: A Story of Germany's Greatest Film Company 1918-1945.'' University of California Press, 1999.

Lamparski, Richard. ''Whatever Became Of?'' Crown Publishers, Inc., 1967.

Lanza, Joseph and Dennis Penna. ''Russ Columbo and the Crooner Mystique.'' Feral House, 2002.

Oberfirst, Robert. ''Rudolph Valentino:The Man Behind The Myth.'' The Citadel Press, 1962.

Parish, James Robert. ''The Hollywood Scandals.'' McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Leider, Emily W. ''Dark Lover:The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino.'' Farrar Strauss and Giroux, 2003.

Swanson, Gloria. ''Swanson On Swanson.'' Random House, 1980.

Villecco, Tony. ''Silent Stars Speak.'' McFarland & Company, Inc., 2001.

Zumaya, Evelyn, ''Affairs Valentino''. The Rudolph Valentino Society and Publishing LLC, 2011. ISBN 978-0982770955

(Polish/German) ''Legenda Kina: Pola Negri: Eine Kinilegende'' Muzeum Kinematografii w Lodzi, 2007.

(Polish/English) ''Legenda Kina: Pola Negri: A Cinema Legend'' Muzeum Kinematografii w Lodzi, 2008.

(Polish)

(Polish) Jerzy Nowakowski "Boska Pola i inni" wyd. TO MY, Warszawa, 2005

(Polish) Kotowski, Mariusz. ''Pola Negri: Legenda Hollywood.'' Proszynski Media, 2011.

External links

Polanegri.com – The Pola Negri Appreciation Site

Polanegri.pl – Homepage of Pola Negri Film Festival in Poland (pl.)

Pola Negri at Bright Shining City Productions

Virtual History – Tobacco cards

Category:1897 births Category:1987 deaths Category:American actors Category:American film actors Category:American silent film actors Category:American people of Polish descent Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from Fire Island, New York Category:People from San Antonio, Texas Category:Polish film actors Category:Polish singers Category:Polish stage actors Category:Polish emigrants to the United States Category:Polish silent film actors

bg:Пола Негри da:Pola Negri de:Pola Negri es:Pola Negri eo:Pola Negri fa:پولا نگری fr:Pola Negri hr:Pola Negri io:Pola Negri it:Pola Negri he:פולה נגרי la:Pola Negri lb:Pola Negri nl:Pola Negri ja:ポーラ・ネグリ no:Pola Negri oc:Pola Negri pl:Pola Negri pt:Pola Negri ru:Пола Негри sk:Pola Negri sh:Pola Negri fi:Pola Negri sv:Pola Negri tr:Pola Negri

Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
name	Blake Edwards
birth date	July 26, 1922
birth name	William Blake Crump
birth place	Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
death date	December 15, 2010 (age 88)
death place	Santa Monica, California
death cause	Pneumonia
occupation	Film director, screen and scriptwriter, producer, actor
nationality	American
party	Democratic
years active	1942–95
spouse	Patricia Walker, 1953-67 (divorced)Julie Andrews, 1969-2010
children	3 daughters, 1 son
residence	}}

Blake Edwards (July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.

Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures. He used his writing skills to begin producing and directing, with some of his best films including: ''Experiment in Terror'', ''The Great Race'', and the hugely successful Pink Panther film series with the British comedian Peter Sellers. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he was also renowned for his dramatic work, ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' and ''Days of Wine and Roses''. His greatest successes, however, were his comedies, and most of his films were either musicals, melodramas, slapstick comedies, or thrillers.

In 2004, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.

Career

Born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His grandfather was J. Gordon Edwards, a director of silent movies, and his stepfather, Jack McEdwards, became a film production manager after moving his family to Los Angeles in 1925. In an interview with ''Village Voice'' in 1971, he said that he had "always felt alienated, estranged from my . . . father." After attending grammar and high school in Los Angeles, he began taking jobs as an actor during World War II. Edwards describes this period:

I worked with the best directors—Ford, Wyler, Preminger—and learned a lot from them. But I wasn't a very cooperative actor. I was a spunky, smart-assed kid. Maybe even then I was indicating that I wanted to give, not take, direction.

His service in the United States Coast Guard led to a severe back injury, which left Edwards in pain for years afterward.

In the 1954-1955 television season, Edwards joined with Richard Quine to create Mickey Rooney's first television series, ''The Mickey Rooney Show: Hey, Mulligan'', a sitcom about a young studio page trying to become a serious actor. Edwards' hard-boiled private detective scripts for ''Richard Diamond, Private Detective'' became NBC's answer to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, reflecting Edwards's unique humor. Edwards also created, wrote and directed the 1959 TV series ''Peter Gunn'', with music by Henry Mancini. In the same year Edwards produced, with Mancini's musical theme, ''Mr. Lucky'', an adventure series on CBS starring John Vivyan and Ross Martin. Mancini's association with Edwards continued in his film work, significantly contributing to their success.

;''Operation Petticoat'' (1959) ''Operation Petticoat'' was Edwards' first big-budget movie as a director. The film, which starred Tony Curtis and Cary Grant, became the "greatest box-office success of the decade for Universal [Studios]," and made Edwards a recognized director.

;''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (1961) ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', based on the novel by Truman Capote, is credited with establishing him as a "cult figure" with many critics. Andrew Sarris called it the "directorial surprise of 1961," and it became a "romantic touchstone" for college students in the early 1960s.

;''Days of Wine and Roses'' (1962) ''Days of Wine and Roses'', a dark psychological film about the effects of alcoholism on a previously happy marriage, starred Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. It has been described as "perhaps the most unsparing tract against drink that Hollywood has yet produced, more pessimistic than Billy Wilder's ''The Lost Weekend''." The film gave another major boost to Edwards' reputation as an important director.

Edwards' most popular films were comedies, the melodrama ''Days of Wine and Roses'' being a notable exception. His most dynamic and successful collaboration was with Peter Sellers in six of the movies in the Pink Panther series. Five of the those involved Edwards and Sellers in original material, while ''Trail of the Pink Panther'', made after Sellers died in 1980, was made up of unused material from ''The Pink Panther Strikes Again''. He also worked with Sellers on the film ''The Party''. Edwards later directed the comedy film ''10'' with Dudley Moore and Bo Derek.

;''Darling Lili'' (1969) ''Darling Lili'', starring Julie Andrews, is considered by many followers of Edwards' film as "the director's masterpiece." According to critic George Morris, "it synthesizes every major Edwards theme: the disappearance of gallantry and honor, the tension between appearances and reality . . . and the emotional, spiritual, moral, and psychological disorder" in such a world. Edwards used difficult cinematography techniques, including long-shot zooms, tracking, and focus distortion, to great effect.

However, the film failed badly at the box office. At a cost of $17 million to make, few people went to see it, and the few who did weren't impressed. It brought Paramount Pictures to "the verge of financial collapse," and became an example of "self-indulgent extravagance" in filmmaking "that was ruining Hollywood."

In 2004, Edwards received an Honorary Academy Award for cumulative achievements over the course of his film career.

Pink Panther films

Edwards is best known for directing most of the comedy film series ''The Pink Panther'', and all of the entries starring Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. It was considered a fruitful, yet complicated relationship, with many disagreements during production. At various times in their film relationship, "he more than once swore off Sellers," as too hard to direct. However, in his later years, he admitted that working with Sellers was often irresistible:

"We clicked on comedy, and we were lucky we found each other, because we both had so much respect for it. We also had an ability to come up with funny things and great situations that had to be explored. But in that exploration there would oftentimes be disagreement . . . But I couldn't resist those moments when we jelled. And if you ask me who contributed most to those things, it couldn't have happened unless both of us were involved, even though it wasn't always happy."

The films were all highly profitable. ''The Return of the Pink Panther'' (1975), for example, cost just $2.5 million to make, but grossed $100 million, while ''The Pink Panther Strikes Again'' (1976), did even better.

;Silent film style Having grown up in Hollywood, the son of a studio production manager and grandson of a silent film director, Edwards had watched the films of the great silent clowns, including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy. Both he and Sellers appreciated and understood the comedy styles in silent films and tried to recreate it in their work together. After their immense success with the first two Pink Panther films, ''The Pink Panther'' (1963) and ''A Shot in the Dark'' (1964), which adapted many silent film aspects, including slapstick, they attempted to go even further in ''The Party'' (1968). Although the film is relatively unknown, some have considered it a "masterpiece in this vein" of silent comedy, even though it included minimal dialogue.

Personal life

Edwards, the step-grandson of prolific silent-film director J. Gordon Edwards, married his first wife, actress Patricia Walker, in 1953; they divorced in 1967. She appeared in the comedy ''All Ashore'' (1953), for which Edwards was one of the screenwriters. Edwards' second marriage from 1969 until his death was to Julie Andrews. She appeared in a number of his films, including ''Darling Lili'', ''10'', ''Victor Victoria'' and the autobiographical satire ''S.O.B.'', in which Andrews played a character who was a caricature of herself. In 1995, he wrote the book for the stage musical adaptation of ''Victor/Victoria'', also starring Andrews.

Edwards described his struggle with the illness chronic fatigue syndrome for 15 years in the documentary ''I Remember Me''.

Edwards and Andrews had five children. The two eldest, Jennifer and Geoffrey, are from his previous marriage; middle child Emma is from Andrews' first marriage; and the youngest children are two adopted orphans from Vietnam, Amelia Leigh and Joanna Lynne. Edwards and Andrews adopted them in the early 1970s. All of the children, except Joanna, have appeared in his movies.

Death

On December 15, 2010, Edwards died of complications of pneumonia at the Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. His wife and children were at his side.

Legacy

Edwards was greatly admired as well as strongly criticized as a filmmaker during his career. On the negative side, general critique included this by American film author George Morris:

It has been difficult for many critics to accept Blake Edwards as anything more than a popular entertainer. . . . Edwards' detractors acknowledge his formal skill but deplore the absence of profundity in his movies. . . Edwards' movies ''are'' slick and glossy, but their shiny surfaces reflect all too accurately the disposable values of contemporary life.

But others recognized him more for his significant achievements at different periods of his career. British film critic Peter Llyod, for example, described Edwards, in 1971, as "the finest director working in the American commercial cinema at the present time." Edwards' biographers, William Luhr and Peter Lehman, in an interview in 1974, called him "the finest American director working at this time." They refer especially to the ''Pink Panther'''s Clouseau, developed with the comedic skills of Peter Sellers, as a character "perfectly consistent" with his "absurdist view of the world, . . . because he has no faith in anything and constantly adapts." Critic Stuart Byron calls his early ''Pink Panther'' films "two of the best comedies an American has ever made." Polls taken at the time showed that his name, as a director, was a rare "marketable commodity" in Hollywood.

Edwards himself described one of the secrets to success in the film industry:

For someone who wants to practice his art in this business, all you can hope to do, as ''S.O.B.'' says, is stick to your guns, make the compromises you must, and hope that somewhere along the way you acquire a few good friends who understand. And keep half a conscience."

Filmography

References

External links

Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Edwards, Blake

My Day With Blake Edwards – A Tribute by Steven Ameche

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Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
name	Peter Sellers
birth name	Richard Henry Sellers
birth date	September 08, 1925
birth place	Southsea, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom
death date	July 24, 1980
death place	London, England, United Kingdom
death cause	Heart Attack
nationality	British
occupation	Actor, comedian
ethnicity	Jewish
years active	1948–1980
spouse	Anne Hayes(m. 1951-1961; divorced)Britt Ekland(m. 1964-1968; divorced)Miranda Quarry(m. 1970-1974; divorced)Lynne Frederick (m. 1977-1980; his death)
children	Michael (deceased), Sarah, Victoria }}

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in ''The Pink Panther'' film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in ''Dr. Strangelove'', as Clare Quilty in ''Lolita'', and as the man-child and TV-addicted Chance the gardener in his penultimate film, ''Being There''. Leading actress Bette Davis once remarked of him, "He isn't an actor—he's a chameleon."

Sellers rose to fame on the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show''. His ability to speak in different accents (e.g., French, Indian, American, German, as well as British regional accents), along with his talent to portray a range of characters to comic effect, contributed to his success as a radio personality and screen actor and earned him national and international nominations and awards. Many of his characters became ingrained in public perception of his work. Sellers' private life was characterized by turmoil and crises, and included emotional problems and substance abuse. Sellers was married four times, and had three children from the first two marriages.

An enigmatic figure, he often claimed to have no identity outside the roles that he played, but he left his own portrait since, "he obsessively filmed his homes, his family, people he knew, anything that took his fancy right to the end of his life—intimate film that remained undiscovered until long after his death in 1980." The director Peter Hall has said: "Peter had the ability to identify completely with another person, and think his way physically, mentally and emotionally into their skin. Where does that come from? I have no idea. Is it a curse? Often, I think it's not enough, though, in this business to have talent. You have to have talent to handle [your] talent. And that I think Peter did ''not'' have."

Early life

Sellers was born in Southsea, Portsmouth, to a family of entertainers. Though christened Richard Henry, his parents always called him Peter, after his elder stillborn brother, and, according to Bryan Forbes, "was, during his formative years, totally smothered in maternal affection". He attended the North London Roman Catholic school St. Aloysius College, although his father, Yorkshire-born Bill Sellers, was Protestant and his mother, Agnes Doreen 'Peg' ''née'' Marks was Jewish. His great-great-grandfather was Daniel Mendoza, the 18th century British prizefighter of Jewish ancestry. As an adult, notes film critic Alexander Walker, Mendoza was the ancestor Sellers "most revered," and he usually kept an engraving of him hanging in his office. At one time he planned on having Mendoza's image for his production company's logo.

According to Sellers' biographer Roger Lewis, Sellers was intrigued by Catholicism, but soon after entering Catholic school, he "discovered he was a Jew—he was someone on the outside of the mysteries of faith." Sellers says that teachers referred to him as "The Jew", which led to his subsequent sensitivity to anti-semitic innuendos. He was a top student at the school, and recalls that the teacher once scolded the other boys for not studying: "The Jewish boy knows his catechism better than the rest of you!"

Later in his life, Sellers is quoted as saying "My father was solid Church of England but my mother was Jewish—Portuguese Jewish—and Jews take the faith of their mother." Film critic Kenneth Tynan noted after his interview with Sellers that one of the main "motive forces" for his ambition as an actor was "his hatred of anti-semitism." Tynan explained:

In scholars, lawyers, doctors and vaudeville comedians, Jewishness is tolerated. In legitimate actors, much less often. . . . Hence [Peter Seller's refusal] to be content with the secure reputation of a great mimic and his determination to go down in history as something more—a great actor, perhaps, or a great director.

Sellers was of the opinion that "becoming part of some large group never does any good. Maybe that's my problem with religion," he said during an interview. He explained:

"I wasn't baptized. I wasn't Bar Mitzvahed. I suppose my basic religion is doing unto others as they would do unto me. But I find it all very difficult. I am more inclined to believe in the Old Testament than in the New . . . .

Accompanying his family on the variety show circuit, Sellers learned stagecraft, which proved valuable later. He performed at age five at the burlesque Windmill Theatre in the drama ''Splash Me!'', which featured his mother. However, he grew up with conflicting influences from his parents and developed ambivalent feelings about show business. His father lacked confidence in Peter's abilities to ever become much in the entertainment field, even suggesting that his son's talents were only enough to become a road sweeper, while Sellers' mother encouraged him continually.

Sellers got his first job at a theatre in Ilfracombe, when he was 15, starting as a janitor. He was steadily promoted, becoming a box office clerk, usher, assistant stage manager, and lighting operator. He was also offered some small acting parts. Working backstage gave him a chance to see serious actors at work, such as Paul Scofield. He also became close friends with Derek Altman, and together they launched Sellers' first stage act under the name "Altman and Sellers," where they played ukuleles, sang, and told jokes. They also both enjoyed reading detective stories by Dashiell Hammett, and were inspired to start their own detective agency. "Their enterprise ended abruptly when a potential client ripped Sellers' fake moustache off."

At his regular job backstage at the theatre, Sellers began practising on a set of drums that belonged to the band "Joe Daniels and His Hot Shots." Joe Daniels began noticing his efforts and gave him some practical instructions. Sellers' biographer Ed Sikov writes that "drumming suited him. Banging in time Pete could envelop himself in a world of near-total abstraction, all in the context of a great deal of noise."

World War II period

As war broke out in Europe, Sellers continued to develop his drumming skills, which strongly impressed even his father and landed Sellers his first drumming job with a band in Blackpool.

He later enlisted, and during World War II Sellers was an airman in the Royal Air Force, rising to corporal, though he had been restricted to ground staff because of poor eyesight. His tour included India and Burma, although the duration of his stay in Asia is unknown and its length may have been exaggerated by Sellers himself. He also served in Germany and France after the war. As a distraction from the life of a non-commissioned officer, Sellers joined the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), which his father had earlier also signed up with, allowing him to hone his drumming and comedy. By the end of the war in 1945, more than four out of five British entertainers had worked for ENSA, whose focus was on boosting morale of soldiers and factory workers.

He occasionally impersonated his superiors, and his portrayal of RAF officer Lionel Mandrake in the film ''Dr. Strangelove'' may have been modelled on them. He bluffed his way into the Officers' Mess using mimicry and the occasional false moustache, although as he told Michael Parkinson in the 1972 interview, occasionally older officers would suspect him. The voice of ''Goon Show'' character Major Dennis Bloodnok came from this period.

Early career

The Goon Show

After his discharge and return to England in 1948, Sellers supported himself with stand-up routines in variety theatres whose impresarios needed to legitimise their business. Sellers telephoned BBC radio producer Roy Speer, pretending to be Kenneth Horne, star of the radio show ''Much Binding in the Marsh'', to get Speer to speak to him. Speer reportedly called Sellers a "cheeky young sod" for this.

As a result, Sellers was given an audition, which led to his work on ''Ray's a Laugh'' with comedian Ted Ray. His principal radio work was on ''The Goon Show'' with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and (originally) Michael Bentine. Sellers followed this with television work.

Records

In the late 1950s, Sellers released two comedy records produced by George Martin: ''The Best of Sellers'' and ''Songs for Swinging Sellers''. ''The Best of Sellers'' album cover (first released in 10" format in 1958 and his debut LP) pictured him polishing a Rolls-Royce motor car. The most popular tracks on this album were "Balham, Gateway to the South" (a parody travelogue) and "Suddenly It's Folksong" where a group of people end up smashing up a pub after a row over someone playing a bum note. The ''Songs for Swinging Sellers'' album, released in 1959, whose title parodied Frank Sinatra's album Songs for Swinging Lovers, contained material written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and featured Sellers performing "Puttin on the Style" (a parody of the skiffle movement's performer Lonnie Donegan). Sellers also appeared with guest Irene Handl on the track "Shadows on the Grass" where he played the part of a Frenchman befriending a lady in the park. Musical direction was by Ron Goodwin.

In 1963, Sellers worked with Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse and Joan Collins to produce the LP ''Fool Britannia''. This comprised a series of sketches satirizing the British political scandal the Profumo Affair, in which the Minister for War was revealed to have lied about his relationship with a prostitute who was also involved with a Russian diplomat. The album was controversial, in part perhaps because of material involving the royal family, and would-be buyers in the United Kingdom found it especially hard to obtain.

A 1965 hit was a spoof spoken version of the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night", in the style of Laurence Olivier. This followed up various pieces of Olivier-style speech in the Goons.

In 1979 he released a new gatefold album entitled ''Sellers' Market'' (the cover shows him standing next to traders reading the ''Financial Times'' and the ''Wall Street Journal'' whereas Sellers is reading the ''Finchley Press'') which included comic singing and a feature called the "All England George Formby Finals" where he parodies the late George Formby and his ukulele playing. Also featured was the ''Complete Guide to Accents of the British Isles''. The album was not as popular as his first two in 1958 and 1959 although it is still sought after by collectors. All of his albums exploited Sellers's ability to use his flexible voice to comedic effect.

Acting technique and preparation

In an October 1962 interview for ''Playboy'', Sellers described how he prepared for acting roles once he agreed to play the part:

Film career

Sellers' film success arrived with British comedies, including ''The Ladykillers'', ''I'm All Right Jack'' and ''The Mouse That Roared''. In his early film roles, he continued to exploit his ability to do accents and different voices, often in character parts and occasionally playing several distinct roles in a single film. In his second movie, he played two parts; in his third, six (see chart below).

In ''The Smallest Show on Earth'', the 27-year-old actor played a doddering, drunken elderly projectionist twice his actual age. In ''The Mouse That Roared'', set in a small European country, he played three major and distinct roles, the elderly queen, the ambitious Prime Minister, and the innocent and clumsy farm boy selected to lead an invasion of the United States. In the United States he received considerable publicity for playing three parts, a stunt he would do again in ''Dr. Strangelove''.

He began receiving international attention for his portrayal of an Indian doctor in ''The Millionairess'' with Sophia Loren. The film inspired the George Martin-produced novelty hit single ''Goodness Gracious Me'' and its follow-up ''Bangers and Mash'', both featuring Sellers and Loren.

''Lolita''

In 1962, Stanley Kubrick asked Sellers to play the role of Clare Quilty in ''Lolita'' opposite James Mason and Shelley Winters. Kubrick had seen Sellers in his earlier films and was intrigued by his range, also demonstrated during ''The Goon Show'' period when Sellers had done impressions of famous people, such as Winston Churchill, the Queen, and Lew Grade.

However, Sellers felt the part of a flamboyant American television playwright was beyond his ability, mainly because Quilty was, in Sellers' words, "a fantastic nightmare, part homosexual, part drug addict, part sadist...". He became nervous about taking on the role, and many people came up to him and told him they felt the role believable. Kubrick eventually succeeded in persuading Sellers to play the part, however. Kubrick had American jazz musician and producer Norman Granz record Sellers' portions of the script for Sellers to listen to, so he could study the voice and develop confidence.

Unlike most of his earlier well-rehearsed movie roles, Sellers was encouraged by Kubrick to improvise throughout the filming in order to exhaust all the possibilities of his character. Moreover, in order to capture Sellers at his most creative heights, Kubrick often used as many as three cameras. Sellers and Kubrick created the multiple disguises used by Sellers, such as a state trooper and a German psychologist. As filming progressed, the other actors and the crew would notice Sellers' greatly enjoying his acting and, according to Kubrick, reaching "...what can only be described as a state of comic ecstasy". The movie's cinematographer, Oswald Morris, further commented that, "the most interesting scenes were the ones with Peter Sellers, which were total improvisations."

Because of this experience, Sellers found that his relationship with Kubrick became one of the most rewarding of his career.

''Dr. Strangelove''

{{Image gallery |title= |lines=1 |width=200 |height= |Dr. Strangelove - Group Captain Lionel Mandrake.png||Group Captain Mandrake |Dr. Strangelove - President Merkin Muffley.png||President Merkin Muffley |Dr. Strangelove.png||Dr. Strangelove }} In Kubrick's next film, ''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'' he asked Sellers to be in the leading role. Sellers played three extremely different characters: U.S. President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove, a heavily German-accented nuclear scientist, and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of the RAF. Sellers was initially hesitant about taking on the task, but Kubrick convinced him that there was no better actor that could play these parts.

Muffley and Dr. Strangelove appeared in the same room throughout the film, with the help of Kubrick's special effects. Sellers was originally also cast to play a fourth role as bomber pilot Major T. J. "King" Kong but although script contributor Terry Southern (a native Texan) taped his own voice reading Kong's lines to coach the actor in the strong Texas accent required, Sellers was unable to master it. Shortly before he was to shoot the scenes as Kong, he reportedly fell and fractured his ankle, forcing Kubrick to recast the part with Slim Pickens. For his performance in all three roles, Sellers was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Kubrick again gave Sellers a free rein to improvise throughout the filming. Sellers once said, "If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am."

''Pink Panther''

thumb|left|175px|Peter Sellers as [[Inspector Clouseau|Chief Inspector Clouseau in the ''The Pink Panther'']] From 1963, Sellers was cast as the bumbling Chief Inspector Clouseau in the ''The Pink Panther'' movies. This character gave Sellers a worldwide audience, beginning with ''The Pink Panther'' and its sequel, ''A Shot in the Dark'', in which he featured more prominently. He returned to the character for three more sequels from 1975 to 1978. ''The Trail of the Pink Panther'', containing unused footage of Sellers, was released in 1982, after his death. His widow, Lynne Frederick, successfully sued the film's producers for unauthorized use. Sellers had prepared to star as Chief Inspector Clouseau in another Pink Panther film; he died before the start of this project, ''Romance of the Pink Panther''.

''Being There''

In 1979, Sellers played the role of Chance, a simple gardener addicted to watching TV, in the black comedy ''Being There'', considered by some critics to be the "crowning triumph of Peter Sellers's remarkable career," as well as a great achievement for novelist Jerzy Kosinski. During a BBC interview in 1971, Sellers said that more than anything else, he wanted to play the role of Chance.

Kosinski, the book's author, felt that the novel was never meant to be made into a film, but Sellers succeeded in changing his mind, and Kosinski allowed Sellers and director Hal Ashby to make the film, provided he could write the script. According to film critic Danny Smith, Sellers was "naturally intrigued with the idea of Chance, a character who reflected whatever was beamed at him".

Sellers's performance was praised by some critics as achieving "the pinpoint-sharp exactitude of nothingness. It is a performance of extraordinary dexterity", and "...[making] the film's fantastic premise credible".

Sellers's experience of working on the film was both humbling and powerful for him. During the filming, in order not to break his character, he refused most interview requests, and even kept his distance from other actors. He tried to remain in character even after he returned home. Sellers considered Chance's walking and voice the character's most important attributes, and in preparing for the role, Sellers worked alone with a tape recorder, or with his wife, and then with Ashby, to perfect the clear enunciation and flat delivery needed to reveal "the childlike mind behind the words."

Critic Frank Rich noted the acting skill required for this sort of role, with a "schismatic personality that Peter had to convey with strenuous vocal and gestural technique. . . . A lesser actor would have made the character's mental dysfunction flamboyant and drastic. . . . [His] intelligence was always deeper, his onscreen confidence greater, his technique much more finely honed."

''Being There'' earned Sellers his best reviews since the 1960s, a second Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe award. A few months after the film was released, ''Time'' magazine wrote a cover-story article about Sellers, entitled, "Who is This Man?" The cover showed many of the characters Sellers had portrayed, including Chance, Quilty, Strangelove, Clouseau, and the Grand Duchess Glorianna XII. Sellers was pleased by the article, written by critic Richard Schickel, and wrote an appreciative letter to the magazine's editor."

Final projects

Sellers' last movie was ''The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu'', a comedic reimagining of the classic series of adventure novels by Sax Rohmer. In this new version, Sellers played both "Fu Manchu" and his arch nemesis, police inspector Nayland Smith. Production of the film ran into problems from the start, with Sellers' poor health and mental instability causing long delays and bickering between star and director Piers Haggard. With roughly 60% of the movie shot, Sellers had Haggard sacked and took over direction himself. Haggard later complained that the reshoots Sellers ordered added nothing to the production, and had resulted in the film being incoherent and unfocused. The movie contains references to Sellers' serious heart troubles, including scenes where Fu revives his ancient body with large electric shocks.

Sellers died shortly before ''Fu Manchu'' was released, with his very last performance being that of conman "Monty Casino" in a series of adverts for Barclays Bank. In 1982, Sellers returned to the big screen as Inspector Clouseau in ''Trail of the Pink Panther'', which was composed entirely of deleted scenes from his past three ''Panther'' movies, in particular ''The Pink Panther Strikes Again'', with a new story written around them. David Niven also reprised his role of Sir Charles Lytton in this movie. Along with what many, notably his widow Lynne Frederick, saw as exploitation of Sellers, the manner in which Niven's cameo was handled has earned the movie a lasting unsavoury reputation. Edwards continued the series with a further instalment called the ''Curse of the Pink Panther'', which was shot back to back with the framing footage for ''Trail'', but Sellers was wholly absent from this film.

After ''The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu'', Sellers was scheduled to appear in another Clouseau comedy, ''The Romance Of The Pink Panther''. Its script, written by Peter Moloney and Sellers himself, had Clouseau falling for a brilliant female criminal known as 'The Frog' and aiding her in her heists with the aim to reform her character. Blake Edwards did not participate in the planning of this new Clouseau instalment, as the working relationship between him and Sellers had broken down during the filming of ''Revenge Of The Pink Panther''. The final draft of the script, including a humorous cover letter signed by "Pete Shakespeare", was delivered to United Artists' office less than six hours before Sellers died. Sellers death ended the project, along with two other planned movies for which Sellers had signed contracts in 1980. The two films—''Unfaithfully Yours'' and ''Lovesick''—were rewritten as vehicles for Dudley Moore; both performed poorly at the box office upon release. Trade papers such as ''Variety'' carried an elaborately curlicued advert for the former movie, with Sellers at the top of the cast list, in early June 1980.

Other roles

Director Billy Wilder hired Sellers to co-star with Dean Martin for the ribald 1964 comedy ''Kiss Me, Stupid'', but six weeks into filming, Sellers suffered a heart attack. Wilder replaced him with Ray Walston.

Sellers was a versatile actor, switching from broad comedy, as in ''The Party'', in which he portrayed a bumbling Indian actor Hrundi Bakshi, to more intense performances as in ''Lolita''.

Sellers appeared in an episode of the American television series ''It Takes a Thief'' in 1969. By the early 1970s he faced a downturn, however, and was dubbed "box office poison". Sellers never won an Oscar but won the BAFTA for ''I'm All Right Jack''.

Sellers appeared on ''The Muppet Show'' television series in 1977. He chose not to appear as himself, instead appearing in a variety of costumes and accents. When Kermit the Frog told Sellers he could relax and be "himself," Sellers (while wearing a Viking helmet, a girdle and one boxing glove, claiming to have attempted to dress as Queen Victoria), replied, "There is no me. I do not exist. There used to be a me, but I had it surgically removed."

Personal life

Sellers was reticent about discussing his private life. He was invited to appear on Michael Parkinson's eponymous chat show in 1974, but agreed under the condition that he could appear in character. Sellers appeared dressed as a member of the Gestapo, impersonating the Kenneth Mars character in ''The Producers''. After a few lines in keeping with his assumed character, he stepped out of the role and settled down for what is considered one of Parkinson's most memorable interviews.

Marriages

Sellers was married four times and fathered three children:

Anne Hayes (née Howe, 1951–1961). They had a son, Michael, and a daughter, Sarah.

Swedish actress Britt Ekland (1964–1968). They had a daughter, Victoria Sellers. The couple appeared in three films together: ''Carol For Another Christmas'' (1964), ''After the Fox'' (1966), and ''The Bobo'' (1967).

Australian model Miranda Quarry (now the Countess of Stockton; 1970–1974).

English actress Lynne Frederick (1977–1980), who was briefly married to Sir David Frost shortly after Sellers' death.

Spike Milligan wrote Sellers' multiple marriages into his scripts, referring in one 1972 radio show to "The Peter Sellers Discarded Wives Memorial". At the time, Sellers was married to Quarry.

Depression, substance abuse, and health problems

It has been suggested that Sellers suffered depression spurred by deep-seated anxieties of artistic and personal failure and exacerbated by substance abuse. It is believed that his drug use, especially amyl nitrites, contributed to heart attacks in 1964 (see below). Sellers' difficulties in his career and life prompted him to seek periodic consultations with astrologer Maurice Woodruff, who seemed to have held considerable sway over his later career.

Relationships

Other celebrities

Sellers had casual friendships with two Beatles, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Harrison told occasional Sellers stories in interviews, and Starr appeared with him in the anarchic movie ''The Magic Christian'', which was based on Terry Southern's novel and whose theme song was Badfinger's "Come and Get It", written by Paul McCartney. Starr's two-week hiatus from the Beatles during the ''White Album'' recordings was spent aboard Sellers's yacht, where he wrote "Octopus's Garden". Starr also gave Sellers a rough mix of songs from the Beatles' ''White Album''; the tape was auctioned and bootlegged after his death. Sellers recorded a cover version of "A Hard Day's Night", in the style of Laurence Olivier's interpretation of Richard III, as well as various versions of "She Loves You", including as Dr. Strangelove, a cockney, and an Irish dentist.

Sellers's friends included actor and director Roman Polanski, who shared his passion for fast cars. Sellers had a close relationship with Sophia Loren, but accounts differ on whether or not their relationship was consummated. Sellers was the first man on the cover of ''Playboy''—he appeared on the April 1964 cover with Karen Lynn.

Sellers was a Freemason and belonged to Chelsea Lodge No 3098, a lodge whose membership consists of celebrities and performers, through which means he socialised with a number of other actors and comedians.

Royal Family

In her autobiography ''True Britt'', Britt Ekland described Sellers' close relationship with the Royal Family. "I was completely unaware of his (Sellers) connection with the British monarchy. One afternoon before we married he had disappeared saying that he had to do something 'important'. I was to learn he had spent afternoon tea with the Queen Mother at Clarence House." He was a close friend of Princess Margaret, who appears in one of his home movies.

Obsession with automobiles

Sellers had a lifelong obsession with cars, briefly parodied in a fleeting cameo in the short film ''Simon Simon'', directed by friend Graham Stark. His love of cars was also referenced in ''The Goon Show'' episode "The Space Age," where Harry Secombe introduces Sellers by saying, "Good heavens, it's Peter Sellers, who has just broken his own record of keeping a car for more than a month." In "The Last Goon Show of All", announcer Andrew Timothy cued him with "Mr. Sellers will now sell a gross of his cars and take up a dramatic voice."

Personal conflicts

Sellers' personality was described by others as difficult and demanding and he often clashed with fellow actors and directors. He had a strained relationship with friend and director Blake Edwards, with whom he worked on the ''Pink Panther'' series and ''The Party''. The two sometimes stopped speaking to each other during filming.

His work with Orson Welles on ''Casino Royale'' deteriorated as Sellers became jealous of Welles's casual relationship with Princess Margaret. The relationship between the two actors created problems during filming, as Sellers refused to share the set with Welles, who himself was no stranger to strident behaviour.

Sellers could be cruel and disrespectful, as demonstrated by his treatment of actress Jo Van Fleet on the set of ''I Love You, Alice B. Toklas''. On one occasion, Van Fleet had declined an invitation to his house, soon followed by a misunderstanding between the two actors during filming. This prompted Sellers to launch a tirade against Van Fleet in front of actors and crew.

Sellers' difficulties to maintain civil and peaceful relationships also extended into his private life. He assaulted his then wife, Britt Ekland, prompted by jealousy. Sellers sometimes blamed himself for his failed marriages. In a 1974 ''Parkinson'' interview, he admitted that "I'm not easy to live with".

Death

In the spring of 1964, at age 38, Sellers suffered a series of heart attacks (13 in a few days) while working on the set of Billy Wilder's ''Kiss Me, Stupid'', and he was replaced by Ray Walston. At one point, Sellers was pronounced dead. Sellers reportedly saw a loving, bright white light, but then looked down at the operating table where he saw a doctor attempting to resuscitate him. He also reportedly heard a voice which told him that it wasn't his time, and he returned back to his body. Although Sellers survived, his heart was permanently damaged. Sellers chose to consult with psychic healers rather than seek Western medical treatment, and his heart condition continued to deteriorate over the next 16 years. In late 1977, he suffered a second major heart attack, resulting in his being fitted with a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat. Once again, Sellers refused to slow down, nor did he follow doctors' orders and consider open heart surgery, which could well have extended his life by several years.

A reunion dinner was scheduled in London with his ''Goon Show'' partners, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe, for 25 July 1980. But around noon on 22 July, Sellers collapsed from a massive heart attack in his Dorchester Hotel room and fell into a coma. He died in a London hospital just after midnight on 24 July 1980, aged 54. He was survived by his fourth wife, Lynne Frederick, and his three children. At the time of his death, he was scheduled to undergo heart surgery in Los Angeles on 30 July 1980.

Although Sellers was reportedly in the process of excluding Frederick from his will a week before he died, she inherited almost his entire estate worth an estimated £4.5 million while his children received £800 each. When Frederick died in 1994 (aged 39), her mother Iris inherited everything, including all of the income and royalties from Sellers' work. When Iris dies the whole estate will go to Cassie, the daughter Lynne had with her third husband, Barry Unger. Sellers' only son, Michael, died of a heart attack at 52 during surgery on 24 July 2006 (26 years to the day after his father's death). Michael was survived by his second wife, Alison, whom he married in 1986, and their two children.

In his will, Sellers requested that the Glenn Miller song "In the Mood" be played at his funeral. The request is considered his last touch of humour, as he hated the piece. His body was cremated and he was interred at Golders Green Crematorium in London. After her death in 1994, the ashes of his former widow Frederick were co-interred with his.

Legacy and influence

The stage play, “Being Sellers,” premiered in Australia in 1998, three years after release of the biography by Roger Lewis, “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.” The play premiered in New York in December 2010. In 2004, the book was turned into an HBO film, ''The Life and Death of Peter Sellers'', starring Geoffrey Rush.

The film ''Trail of the Pink Panther'', made by Blake Edwards using unused footage of Sellers from ''The Pink Panther Strikes Again'', is dedicated to Sellers's memory. The title reads "To Peter ... The one and only Inspector Clouseau."

In a 2005 poll to find "The Comedian's Comedian", Sellers was voted 14 in the list of the top 20 greatest comedians by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen frequently referred to Peter Sellers "as the most seminal force in shaping his early ideas on comedy". Cohen was considered for the role of the biopic ''The Life and Death of Peter Sellers'' (the role went to Australian actor Geoffrey Rush).

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1950	''The Black Rose''	Alfonso Bedoya	Voice (uncredited)
	''Penny Points to Paradise''	The Major/Arnold Fringe
	Groucho/Giuseppe/Cedric/Izzy/Gozzunk/Crystal Jollibottom
1952	''Down Among the Z Men''	Major Bloodnok
1953	''Our Girl Friday''	Parrot	Voice (uncredited)
1954	''Orders are Orders''	Private Griffin
	''John and Julie''	Police Constable Diamond
''The Ladykillers''	Mr. Robinson
	''The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn''	Narrator/Supt. Quilt/Asst. Commissioner Sir Jervis Fruit/Henry Crun
''The Man Who Never Was''	Winston Churchill	Voice only
	''Insomnia Is Good for You''	Hector Dimwiddle	Short film
''The Smallest Show on Earth''	Leslie Quill
	Sonny McGregor
		CPO Doherty
	Antony
	''Carlton-Browne of the F.O.''	Prime Minister Amphibulos
''The Mouse That Roared''	Grand Duchess Gloriana XII / Prime MinisterCount Rupert Mountjoy / Tully Bascombe	Three roles.
''I'm All Right Jack''	Fred Kite
	Mr. Martin
	''The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film''	Photographer
''Never Let Go''	Lionel Meadows
''The Millionairess''	Dr. Ahmed el Kabir
''Two-Way Stretch''	Dodger Lane
1961	''Mr. Topaze''	Auguste Topaze	Also Director
	''Only Two Can Play''	John Lewis
	General Leo Fitzjohn
''The Road to Hong Kong''	Indian Neurologist	Uncredited
	Clare Quilty	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
	Wilfred Morgenhall
	''The Wrong Arm of the Law''	Pearly Gates
''Heavens Above!''	The Reverend John Smallwood
	Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau
	''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb''	Group Captain Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove
''The World of Henry Orient''	Henry Orient
	Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau
	''Birds, Bees and Storks''	Narrator	Voice
''What's New Pussycat''	Doctor Fritz Fassbender
	''The Wrong Box''	Doctor Pratt
''After the Fox''	Aldo Vanucci
		Evelyn Tremble	Also (Uncredited) Writer
''Woman Times Seven''	Jean
''The Bobo''	Juan Bautista
		Hrundi V. Bakshi
''I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!''	Harold
1969		Sir Guy Grand KG, KC, CBE	Also Writer
	''A Day at the Beach''	Salesman
	Benjamin Hoffman
''Simon, Simon''	Man with two cars
''There's a Girl in My Soup''	Robert Danvers
	''Where Does It Hurt?''	Dr. Albert T. Hopfnagel
	The March Hare
	''Ghost in the Noonday Sun''	Dick Scratcher
''The Blockhouse''	Rouquet
	Sam
	''Soft Beds, Hard Battles''	Général Latour / Major Robinson / Herr Schroeder / Adolf Hitler / The President / Prince Kyoto	Played six roles.
	Queen Victoria
1975	''The Return of the Pink Panther''	Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau
	''Murder by Death''	Sidney Wang
''The Pink Panther Strikes Again''	Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau	Fourth film by Sellers in the Pink Panther seriesNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
			Episode 43 originally aired February 27, 1978 in New York, and February 24, 1978 in Los Angeles
''Kingdom of Gifts''	Larcenous Mayor	Voice only
''Revenge of the Pink Panther''	Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau	Fifth film by Sellers in the Pink Panther series
		Rudolf IV / Rudolf V / Syd Frewin	Played three roles.
''Being There''	Chance	Fotogramas de Plata for Best Foreign PerformanceGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyLondon Film Critics Circle Award
1980	''[[The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu''	Dennis Nayland Smith / Dr. Fu 'Fred' Manchu	Last film. Played two roles.Also (Uncredited) Director
1982	''Trail of the Pink Panther''	Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau	Footage of Sellers used.

Comedy singles

Sellers released several comedy singles, many of them produced by George Martin and released on the Parlophone record label. These include the following hits:

"Any Old Iron" (1957) UK # 17

"Goodness Gracious Me" (1960) with Sophia Loren UK # 4

"Bangers and Mash" (1961), a follow-up also featuring Sophia Loren UK # 22

"A Hard Day's Night" (1965) UK # 14. This consisted of him speaking the lyrics using the stereotypical voice of an actor playing Shakespeare's Richard III. He also performed the song in costume on television. The recording was re-issued in 1993 and reached Number 52 in the UK Top 75 Singles chart.

He covered several other Beatles hits, including "Help!" and "She Loves You". Sellers also recorded a parody version of "Unchained Melody", which long went unreleased.

When asked in 1960 what he thought the music business would be like in ten years' time, Sellers retorted: ''NME'', November 1960.

Albums

Sellers made several albums, mostly of comedy pieces using his talent for voices.

Discography:

''The Best of Sellers'' (1959) UK # 3

''Songs For Swinging Sellers'' (1959) UK # 3

''Peter & Sophia'' (1960) UK # 5 with Sophia Loren

''Fool Britannia'' (1963) UK # 10 with Anthony Newley and Joan Collins.

''How To Win An Election'' (1964) UK # 20 with Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan (Note: unlike ''The Last Goon Show Of All'' this release was not credited to The Goons.)

''He's Innocent of Watergate'' (1974) with Spike Milligan

''Sellers Market'' (1979) his final album

Further reading

1108 pages. Published in the U.S. via Applause Books Roger Lewis's biography of Sellers is very comprehensive, and includes a very comprehensive index. ''Mr Strangelove;A Biography of Peter Sellers'', a book by Ed Sikov ''P.S. I Love You'' by Michael Sellers 1981 ''A Hard Act to Follow'' Michael Sellers (with Gary Morecambe, 1996). '' Sellers on Sellers'' Michael Sellers (2000, co-written with Gary Morecambe)

See also

''The Life and Death of Peter Sellers'' (2004), HBO/BBC movie with Geoffrey Rush in the title role.

References

External links

John Atrobus recalls his memorable Christmas with Peter Sellers Daily Mail Dec. 27, 2009.

Video clips

"The Unknown Peter Sellers", documentary

Peter Sellers tribute

Peter Sellers on "The Goon Show," playing drums

in stage skit of "A Hard Day's Night"

in ''Lolita''

as U.S. president in ''Dr. Strangelove''

as Dr. Strangelove

as British captain Mandrake in ''Dr. Strangelove''

in ''The Party''

in ''Being There''

Category:1925 births Category:1980 deaths Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best British Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:English comedians Category:English film actors Category:English impressionists (entertainers) Category:English Jews Category:English radio actors Category:English television actors Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish comedians Category:People from Southsea Category:People from Portsmouth Category:Royal Air Force airmen

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Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
name	Dany Boon
birth date	June 26, 1966
birth place	Armentières, France
birthname	Daniel Hamidou
spouse	Judith Godrèche (divorced)Yael Harris
yearsactive	1992–present
occupation	actor, screenwriter, director, producer
homepage	http://www.danyboon.com }}

Dany Boon (; born Daniel Hamidou on 26 June 1966) is a French comedian who has acted both on the stage and the screen. He takes his stage name from the television show Daniel Boone.

Biography

Dany Boon, born to a French Kabyle father and a French mother from the north of the country first started his career dubbing cartoons and performing as a mime in the street. In 1992, he was given his first chance as a comedian by French television personality Patrick Sébastien, who invited him on his show. From then on Boon began to achieve notoriety with his sketches and his one-man shows.

He was then offered several roles in movies, notably in the film ''Joyeux Noël'' that made it on the international scene in 2005.

Boon is deeply attached to his native region, Nord-Pas-de-Calais. In 2003, he made a whole show in the local dialect of ''ch'ti'', also known as Picard. Despite the use of dialectal language, 600,000 copies of the DVD (which included French subtitles) were sold. No previous DVD featuring a one-man show had sold as well in France. In February 2008, he released a film called ''Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis'', a comedy based on prejudices held about the region, which went on to break French box-office records. Two weeks after its release the film had already been seen by five million people. After its fourth week this figure had risen to 15 million, and by 11 April, the film had surpassed the viewing audience of ''La Grande Vadrouille'', having being watched by more than 17.4 million people.

Dany Boon married and later divorced Judith Godrèche, with whom he has a son named Noé. Dany Boon had four boys born to three different unions: MEHDI is his eldest son born in 1997, NOE born on September 4, 1999 (his mother was Judith Godreche). And finally his last two son and daughter were born of his union with his wife Yael Harris since 2003; Eytan born on June 23, 2005, ELIA born on December 20, 2006 And finally SARAH born March 1, 2010. Dany is currently married to Yael Harris and converted to Judaism in 2002.

In the year 2008, Dany Boon was the best-paid actor in European film history, netting 26 million Euro (c. 33 million dollars).

One-man shows

''Je vais bien, tout va bien'' (1992)

''Chaud mais pas fatigué'' ( Café de la Gare, 1993)

''Dany Boon Fou ?'' (Théâtre Tristan-Bernard, Paris, 1994)

''Dany Boon au Palais des glaces (1995–1996)

''Les Zacros de la télé'' (1996)

''Tout entier'' (1997)

''Nouveau spétak (1998).

''Au Bataclan'' (1998)

''A french comedian lost in L.A.'' ( Melrose Theatre, Los Angeles) (2000)

''En parfait état'' (2001)

''A s'baraque et en ch'ti'' (2003)

''Waïka'' (novembre 2006)

''Trop stylé'' (novembre 2009)

Plays

''La Vie de chantier'' (2003)

''Le Dîner de Cons'' (2007, théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin)

Filmography

''Sans queue ni tête'' by Jean-Henri Meunier (1993)

''Le Déménagement'' by Olivier Doran (1997)

''Parole d'homme'' by Philippe Le Dem (1997)

''Bimboland'' by Ariel Zeitoun (1998); Boon met his ex-wife Judith Godrèche during the making of the movie

''Pédale dure'' by Gabriel Aghion (2004)

''The Magic Roundabout'' by Dave Borthwick (2005) (French version)

''La Doublure'' by Francis Veber (2005)

''Joyeux Noël'' by Christian Carion (2005), nominated for an Oscar

''La Maison du Bonheur'' by Dany Boon (2006) with Michèle Laroque; the film attracted 1.5 million people

''Mon Meilleur Ami'' (My best friend) by Patrice Leconte (2006)

''Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis'' by Dany Boon (2008)

''De l'autre côté du lit'' by Pascale Pouzadoux (2008)

''Le code a changé'' by Danièle Thompson (2008)

''Micmacs'' by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2009)

''Benvenuti al Sud'' by Luca Miniero (2010)

''Nothing to Declare'' by Dany Boon (2011)

External links

Official site

Unofficial site

References

Category:French film actors Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:Converts to Judaism Category:French Jews Category:French people of Algerian descent Category:Kabyle people Category:French stand-up comedians

ca:Dany Boon de:Dany Boon es:Dany Boon fr:Dany Boon it:Dany Boon nl:Dany Boon pl:Dany Boon ru:Данни Бун