Elena Sangro

Elena Sangro (1896-1969) was one of the main acresses of the Italian cinema of the 1920's. In spite of the general film crisis then, she made one film after another. She was also one of the first female directors and she had a famous affair with the 64-year-old poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.


Vintage Italian postcard.

Baron Kanzler
Elena Sangro was born Maria Antonietta Bartoli Avveduti in Vasto d'Aimone, Italy, in 1896 (although Wikipedia and IMDb claim that she was born in 1901). After attending acting lessons at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, she debuted on stage in La cena delle beffe by Sem Benelli and in Patria by Victorien Sardou. Baron Kanzler introduced her to director Enrico Guazzoni who gave the young actress the lead of his film Fabiola (1918). After the success of this film, more roles followed such as in the epic La Gerusalemme liberata/Jerusalem Liberated (1918, Enrico Guazzoni) based on the poem by Torquato Tasso, Primerose (1919, Mario Caserini), and a series of films in which her cousin Giorgi Fini was her partner: Il più forte amore (1920), Il fauno di marmo (1921, Mario Bonnard) and L'eredità di Caino (1921, Giuseppe Maria Viti).


Rina de Liguoro, co-star of Elena Sangro in several films. German postcard by Ross Verlag. nr. 3902/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Pinto Roma.

Restored and Presented
Elena Sangro played a singer who sacrifices herself for an unworthy man in L'onesto mondo (1921, Torello Rolli). She appeared as a proud and patriottic princess opposite Rina De Liguoro in Saracinesca (1922, Augusto Camerini, Gaston Ravel), set in papal Rome. That same year she also played in the pro-Montenegro drama Non c'è resurrezione senza morte/There Is No Resurrection Without Death (1922, Edoardo Bencivenga) based on the memories of Vladimir Popovic and personally produced by Sangro. A pro-Montenegro, headed by her friend, poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, promoted the film. A few years ago the film was found, restored, and presented at the Giornate del Cinema Muto festival in Pordenone, Italy.


Italian postcard. Photo: publicity still from Triboulet (1921).

Famous Affair
Elena Sangro starred in the historical serial Triboulet (1924, Febo Mari), as Poppea in Quo Vadis? (1924, Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio - the son of) starring Emil Jannings and in the fantastic peplum comedy Maciste all'inferno/Maciste in Hell (1925, Guido Brignone) one of three Maciste films in which she appeared opposite strongman Bartolomeo Pagano. When the film was first released it was censored because it presented Hell like a sort of brothel in which hordes of semi-naked women lived. Privately, Sangro had a famous affair with the old poet Gabriele D'Annunzio. He dedicated to her the erotic poem Alla Piacente. In the cinema she was the seductress in Addio giovinezza/Farewell to youthful romances (1927, Augusto Genina) with Walter Slezak and Carmen Boni, and played in Germany in Villa Falconieri (1928, Richard Oswald) with Maria Jacobini and Hans Stüwe. She finished her silent film career as the spicy Madonna Orietta in the heavily censored Boccaccesca (1928, Alfredo de Antoni).


Emil Jannings in Quo Vadis? (1924). Italian postcard by editor A. Traldi, Milano.

Restless Woman
In the sound era, Elena Sangro returned to the stage where she sang under the pseudonym of Lilia Flores. She had a small role in Il re Burlone/The King's Jester (1935, Enrico Guazzoni). In the early 1940's she made various art documentaries with Anton Bià. She also appeared in bit roles in films like L'abito nero da sposa/The Black Dress of the Bride (1945, Luigi Zampa) starring Fosco Giachetti, and the biography Enrico Caruso: leggenda di una voce/The Young Caruso (1951, Giacomo Gentilomo) with Gina Lollobrigida. The last job of this restless woman was president of Associazione dei Pionieri del Cinema, an initiative begun in the early 1960's in order to saveguard this important part of film history. Her last film appearance was a cameo in Federico Fellini's masterpiece 8½ (1963). Elena Sangro died in 1969 in Roma (Rome, Italy), at the age of 72.


Long scene from Maciste all'inferno/Maciste in Hell (1925).

Source: Vittorio Martinelli, Le dive del silenzio, Lino Spadaccini (Noi Vastesi), Anna Battista (Irenebrination), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Michael Rennie

English film, television, and stage actor Michael Rennie (1909-1971) was best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the science fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).


British postcard. Photo: Gainsborough.

Handsome But Hollow
Eric Alexander Rennie was born in Idle, now a Bradford suburb, in 1909 as the son of James Rennie, who operated a century-old wool mill, and Edith Dobby Rennie. His great-great grandfather, named John Rennie, designed and built New London Bridge. Eric was educated at The Leys, a private school in the city of Cambridge. He worked as car salesman and manager of his uncle's rope factory, before he turned to acting. In 1935 he adopted the professional name Michael Rennie. “Handsome but hollow”, according to Hal Erickson (All Movie Guide), Rennie gained experience in acting technique while touring the provinces in British repertory. At the age of 28, he was noticed by Gaumont British, which arranged a screen test. He first appeared onscreen as the stand-in for Robert Young in Secret Agent (1936, Alfred Hitchcock). Between 1936 and 1940 he appeared in minor unbilled roles in ten additional films. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the 1.93 m tall Rennie began to receive offers for larger film roles, starting with his first (small) billed performance in the wartime morale booster The Big Blockade (1940, Charles Frend) starring Michael Redgrave. Six films later, however, Michael Rennie also had his first film lead. The suspense drama Tower of Terror (1941, Lawrence Huntington), released shortly after Pearl Harbor, was styled in the manner of a horror film and starred Wilfrid Lawson as a mad Dutch lighthouse keeper in Nazi-occupied Netherlands, while second-billed Rennie and third-billed Movita had the romantic leads. His career was interrupted by war service. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1941, and would become a flight instructor for over two years. With the Second World War's end in May 1945, Rennie began to be seen as a potential star as a result of his roles in two vehicles for Britain's most popular star of the era, Margaret Lockwood: the musical I'll Be Your Sweetheart (1945, Val Guest) and, most prominently, the sensual costume adventure The Wicked Lady (1945, Leslie Arliss). The latter turned out to be the year's biggest box office hit, subsequently being listed ninth on a list of top ten highest-grossing British films. He also had a single prominent scene as a commander of Roman centurions in Caesar and Cleopatra (1946, Gabriel Pascal), starring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains. Second leads and then leads in seven other British films produced between 1946 and 1949 followed.


Trailer of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).

Humanity's Place in the Universe
Michael Rennie, along with Jean Simmons and James Mason, was one of a number of British actors offered Hollywood contracts in 1949–50 by 20th Century-Fox's studio head, Darryl F. Zanuck. The first film under his new contract was the British-filmed Medieval period adventure The Black Rose (1950, Henry Hathaway), starring Tyrone Power. Rennie's second Fox film, the Film-Noir The 13th Letter (1951, Otto Preminger) was a remake of the French film Le Corbeau/The Raven (1943, Henri-Georges Clouzot). His next film gave him first billing and assured him screen immortality. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, Robert Wise) was the first post war ‘A’ science-fiction film. According to Wikipedia it is “A serious, high-minded exploration of humanity's place in the universe and our responsibility to maintain peaceful coexistence, it has remained the gold standard for the genre of the era.” Convinced that it had a potential leading man under contract, the studio decided to produce a version of Les Miserables (1952, Lewis Milestone) as a vehicle for him. Rennie's performance was respectfully, but not enthusiastically, received by the critics. Ultimately, Les Misérables turned in an extremely modest profit and put an end to any further attempts to promote the 43-year-old Rennie as a future star. He was, however, launched on a thriving career as a top supporting actor. He co-starred with Jean Simmons in the 20th Century-Fox epic The Robe (1953, Henry Koster) and also appeared in its sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954, Delmer Daves). Rennie was billed fourth and third, respectively, playing the Apostle Peter, who provides affirmation in the new faith, as Jean and Richard Burton become martyrs for Christianity. The final film that cast Rennie with Simmons was Desiree (1954, Henry Koster) with Marlon Brando as Napoleon. As French marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who becomes King Charles XIV John of Sweden, Rennie marries Jean's Désirée, but her true love always remains with Napoleon. Then Rennie's career began to decline, film opportunities were less appealing and gradually he slipped away from cinema screens. Among his film roles were The Rains of Ranchipur (1955, Jean Negulesco) with Lana Turner, and The Lost World (1960, Irwin Allen), the adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tale of a jungle expedition that finds prehistoric monsters in South America. In 1959, Rennie became a familiar face on television, taking the role of soldier of fortune Harry Lime in 76 episodes of The Third Man (1959-1965), a British-American syndicated tv series very loosely based on the character previously played by Orson Welles.


Fragment from the tv series The Third Man episode The Man Who Died Twice.

Sandman
During the 1960’s, Michael Rennie continued his television career, with guest appearances on such series as The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1961), Route 66 (1961), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1962), Perry Mason (1963), Bonanza (1965), Lost in Space (1966), Batman (1966) as the villainous Sandman, I Spy (1967), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1967) and The F.B.I. (1967-1969). He made his only Broadway appearance in Mary, Mary (1961) playing Dirk Winsten, a jaded movie star. It ran for a very successful 1,572 performances, but Rennie stayed with the play less than five months. When Warner Brothers cast the film version in 1963, Rennie, along with leading man Barry Nelson and supporting actor Hiram Sherman were the only Broadway cast members to transfer to the big screen. Debbie Reynolds was given the title role and veteran Mervyn LeRoy directed the production. While the film disappeared from cinemas by the end of 1963, the Broadway version continued for another full year. Rennie moved from Los Angeles to Geneva, Switzerland in 1968. His final seven feature films were filmed in Britain, Italy, Spain, and, in the case of The Surabaya Conspiracy (1969, Wray Davis), The Philippines. His final film was the Spanish-West-German-Italian Sci-Fi horror film Los monstruos del terror/Assignment Terror (1970, Tulio Demicheli) of which IMDb-user Noel commented: “Edward D Wood Jr ... move over”. In 1971 Rennie journeyed to his mother's home in Harrogate, Yorkshire at a time of family grief following the death of his brother. It was there that he suddenly died of an emphysema-induced heart attack, two months before his 62nd birthday. Michael Rennie was married twice: first to Joan England (1938–1945), then to actress Maggie McGrath (1947–1960); their son, David Rennie, is an English circuit judge in Lewes, Sussex, England. Both marriages ended in divorce. He had a second son, John Marshall Rennie, with longtime companion Renee Gilbert Taylor. Professionally, his son went by John M. Taylor. In 1958, director Otto Preminger named Rennie as a third party to his countersuit of adultery against his wife during divorce proceedings.


French trailer of Los monstruos del terror/Assignment Terror (1970).

Sources: Lyn Hammond (IMDb), Hal Erickson (All Movie Guide), Wikipedia, BritMovie.co.uk and IMDb.

Axel von Ambesser

Axel von Ambesser (1910-1988) was one of the best known actors, directors and writers of post-war Germany.


German Postcard by Film Foto Verlag. Nr. 3688/1. Photo: Wesel for Berlin Film.

Two Men With Identical Names and a Shared Fate
Axel von Ambesser was born Axel Eugen Alexander von Oesterreich in Hamburg, Germany in 1910. He worked from 1930 on as a stage actor in Germany and Austria. From 1936 to 1941 he was a company member of the prestigious Deutsche Theater in Berlin. He made his film debut with a bit part in Der Gefangene des Königs/The King's Prisoner (1935, Carl Boese). In the next years followed successful productions like Salonwagen E 417/Lounge Car E 417 (1939, Paul Verhoeven), Das Herz der Königin/The Heart of a Queen (1940, Carl Froelich) starring Zarah Leander, and Frauen sind keine Engel/Women Are No Angels (1943, Willi Forst) with Marte Harell. Das Mädchen Juanita/The Girl Juanita (1945, Wolfgang Staudte) could not be finished because of the end of World War II. It was edited with material from the archives and released in West Germany in 1952. In 1944 Wolfgang Staudte shot another film with Von Ambesser called Der Mann, dem man den Namen stahl/The Man Whose Name Was Stolen. It was finished, but didn't pass the censorship and parts of it were lost in the war. After the war, Staudte once again undertook to film the story. As he used Von Ambesser again, it is believed that parts of the 1944 film were used, and other sequences re-shot three years later. Die seltsamen Abenteuer des Herrn Fridolin B./The Adventures of Fridolin was finally released in March 1948. It is a witty dry comedy about two men with identical names, who for some strange reason have been listed by the official bureaucracy as one. So they obviously have to share each-others fate to some extent.


Heinz Rühmann in Der Pauker/The Crammer (1958), directed by Axel von Ambesser.

Charlie Chaplin
After the war Axel von Ambesser also acted in Tanzende Sterne/Dancing Stars (1952, Géza von Cziffra) and Gustav Adolfs Page/Gustav Adolph's Page (1960, Rolf Hansen), or was a commentator in Kommen Sie am Ersten (1951, Erich Engel) and Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein/Operation Caviar (1961, Géza von Radványi) starring O.W. Fischer. His voice was also the ‘German voice’ of Charlie Chaplin in Monsieur Verdoux (1947, Charles Chaplin). Von Ambesser also wrote the German translation for this film. In the 1950’s he often worked as a writer for stage, cabaret, film and television and was even the ‘most played of the living authors of the German language’. He also became a film director of hits like Der Pauker/The Crammer (1958) and Der brave Soldat Schwejk/The Good Soldier Schweik (1960) based on the novel by Jaroslav Hašek, both starring Heinz Rühmann. Schwejk won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Other popular films were his Der Gauner und der liebe Gott/The Crook and the Cross (1960) starring Gert Fröbe, Kohlhiesels Töchter/Kohlhiesel's Daughters (1962) starring Liselotte Pulver and the Father-Brown-detective Er kanns nicht lassen/He Can't Stop (1962) again starring Heinz Rühmann. His last work for the cinema was Die fromme Helene/The Pious Helene (1965), for which he worked as a director, writer as well as an actor. In the next years he mostly worked for theater and television. In 1985 he was awarded the Filmband in Gold, for his "continued outstanding individual contributions to the German film over the years". Axel von Ambesser died in 1988. He was married with actress Inge von Oesterreich-Ambesser from 1935 till his death. His daughter Gwendolyn von Ambesser works like her father both as a director, author and actress.


The song Nimm Du sie, die Susi from Kohlhiesels Töchter/Kohlhiesel's Daughters (1962, Axel von Ambesser).

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

Louis de Bree

In the Netherlands, Louis de Bree (1884-1971) is best remembered as a radio star. Before he was the leading man in countless Dutch radio plays, he had an extensive stage career. In the 1930's, he also starred in several Dutch films.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), nr. 12. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Publicity still for Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (1934).

Highly Active
Louis de Bree was born as Louis Christiaan Davids in Amsterdam in 1884. In order to avoid confusion with the popular vaudeville actor Louis Davids (who also performed in several Dutch films in the 1930's), he changed his name. After having started as a diamond cutter, he went on stage in 1907, getting known for his comic roles in theatre but also in vaudeville and operetta. For the latter section he often collaborated with Annie Bakker, his wife as of 1922. The highly active De Bree was (co-)director for several comedy companies: De Kluchtspelers (1916-1918), Het Vrolijk Tooneel (1918-1919, 1924-1928, 1938-1939), Het Nederlandsch Vaudeville Gezelschap (1920-1923), Het Centraal Tooneel (1927-1933), De Speeldoos (1928-1929), De Zomercombinatie Ruys - De Bree (1932-1933), De Komedianten (1936-1938), and Cabaret De Carroussel (1937-1938). He also directed plays at Het Nederlandsch Tooneel, and other companies. De Bree was also a singer and composed some songs.


The other cast members of Malle gevallen/Silly Situations. Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), nr. 6. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film.

Silly Situations
In 1934, Louis de Bree's film career started with a part in the comedy Malle gevallen/Silly Situations. The production was truly international. Dutch director Jaap Speyer had had an extensive film career in Berlin. The script was written by German Hans Martin and was an adaptation of his novel. Music was by Ralph Erwin, creator of the famous song Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame. Sets were by the Viennese set designer Hans Ledersteger and cinematography was by Akos Farkas, a Hungarian Jew. While Erwin fell victim to the nazi's, Ledersteger pursued a career in Germany and Austria. Farkas married the daughter of... the producer of Malle gevallen: Loet Barnstijn. During the war, Farkas did not join his (Jewish) father-in-law in the US but went into hiding. Louis de Bree became the leading actor of the comedy De kribbebijter/The Grumbler (1935, Hermann Kosterlitz - the future Henry Koster). In this film, his regular co-actor and -director of the stage Cor Ruys plays a grumpy old baron who is only softened by his brother-in-law, played by De Bree. The film was based on the play Willis Frau by Reimann and Schwartz; De Bree wrote the dialogue himself. Then followed the role of an inspector in Het mysterie van de Mondscheinsonate/The Mystery of the Mondschein Sonata (1935, Kurt Gerron), a detective film based on a murder story by Willy Corsari. De Bree had a major part in De suikerfreule (1935, Haro van Peski), a comedy set in the Dutch East Indies, and a small part in the romance Jonge harten/Young Hearts (1936, Charles Huguenot van der Linden, Heinz Josephson). The later film was remarkable for its location shooting while most Dutch films then were studio productions.


Dutch film poster for Jonge harten/Young Hearts (1936). Design: Titus Leeser.

Multilinguals
De Bree then played in two Dutch versions of multilinguals, a much tried phenomenon in the 1930's; both films were shot at the Photo-Sonore-Studio in Paris. In Klokslag twaalf/At Twelve Sharp (1936, Léo Joannon), the Dutch version of Quand minuit sonnera. De Bree plays the leading role of an industrial whose crime ten years before is about to expire, and his old gang wants to blackmail him. Cinematography was by Boris Kaufman and André Bac. Shortly after, De Bree performed in a second film by Joannon, De man zonder hart/L'homme sans coeur/The Man Without a Heart (1937), again based on a book by Alfred Marchard, and again with cinematography by Kaufman. Here De Bree is an industrial who kills his partner when the other gives him (false) proof of his wife's infidelity. After 15 years imprisonment, he plots to kill the daughter of his wife and her second husband. For both films, De Bree wrote the dialogues, together with Sam Wagenaar. After that, he quitted film acting, perhaps because of the unfavorable reception of the Léo Joannon films. In 1949-1950, he ended his stage career after 40 years of stage tours. He became a member of the Nederlandse Radio Unie and would be the leading man in countless Dutch radio plays, until his death in 1971. Most notably, he was Sir Graham Forbes in the popular Paul Vlaanderen radio plays, adaptations of the BBC radio plays of Paul Temple by Francis Durbridge. Louis de Bree was married twice. After Annie Bakker, Louis de Bree was married to actress Myra Ward (1941-1947).


Dutch film poster for De kribbebijter/The Grumbler (1935). Design: Frans Mettes.

Sources: Kathinka Dittrich, Achter het doek. Duitse emigranten in de Nederlandse speelfilm in de jaren dertig (1987), IMDb, Hoorspelhelden in het kort and Hermanca.nl.

Marcella Albani

Petite Italian actress and author Marcella Albani (1899-1959) appeared in 50 films from 1919 on. She was especially successful as elegant Latin lady in the German silent cinema.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, nr. 3704/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Ernst Schneider, Berlin.

Ambrosio
Marcella Albani was born as Ida Maranca in the village of Albano Laziale near Rome, Italy, in 1899. Her father was the owner of a popular ‘hosteria’in Trastevere. Shortly after finishing her grammar school, she met the Roman aristocrat Guido Parish. The actor-director gave her the stage name Marcella Albani and directed her in her first film, L'amplesso della morte/The Embrace of the Dead (1919). For Ambrosio Film in Turin they made a series of melodramas and adventure films, including Salvator (1920), Il romanzo di Nina/The Romance of Nina (1920), La figlia delle onde/The Daughter of the Waves (1921), Amore in fuga/Love on the Run (1921) and Bufera/Buffalo (1922). Sadly in 1922 the legendary Ambrosio film company went bankrupt, and Parish had to sell out their films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, nr. 240/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Alex Binder/Albani Film.

Absolute Peak in Popularity
In 1923 Marcella Albani and Guido Parisch went to Berlin. In 1923 she appeared in Frauenschicksal/Woman's Destiny (1923) and Im Rausche der Leidenschaft (1923) with Alfred Abel. Marcella was an instant success in Germany. Other films were Das Spiel der Liebe/The Game of Love (1924) with Alfred Abel, Guillotine (1924) with Willy Fritsch, and Die Flucht in den Zirkus/The Circus of Life (1926) with Vladimir Gajdarov, which she made with her own company Marcella Albani Film GmbH, and which were directed by Guido Parisch under the pseudonym Guido Schamberg. During this period she portrayed mainly elegant Latin beauties. In 1926, her cooperation with Parisch ended and she went on to make films with famous directors like Joe May and Friedrich Zelnik. Albani experienced her absolute peak in popularity between 1927 and 1929 when she made twenty films within three years, including Das Geheimnis des Abbe X/Behind the Altar (1927, Julius Brandt, Wilhelm Dieterle) and Fürst oder Clown/Prince or Clown (1928, Aleksandr Razumnyj) with Iván Petrovich. Her engagements led her to France (for L’évadée/The Escapist (1928, Henri Ménessier)), Austria (Das Weib am Kreuze/The Female at the Cross (1929, Guido Brignone)), Czechoslovakia (Hricy Lasky (1930, Carl Lamac)) and Italy (Corte d'Assise/Before the Jury (1931, Guido Brignone)).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, nr. 1450/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Schneider (?), Berlin.

Coppa Volpi
After the advance of the sound film Marcella Albani turned to the writing of literature . She published novels like Glauca, l'amata l'innamorata (Glauce, the Beloved Lover) and La Citta dell' Amore (The City of Love). The latter was adapted for the screen with her by director Mario Franchini, La Citta dell' Amore/The City of Love (1934). Since 1931 Franchini was also her husband, with whom she had a child. Incidentally she made films like Stradivarius (1935, Albert Valentin, Géza von Bolváry) with Pierre Richard-Willm and Edwige Feuillère, and the German language version, Stradivari (1935, Géza von Bolváry) with Gustav Fröhlich and Sybille Schmitz. Her last film was the German western Der Kaiser von Kalifornien/The Emperor of California (1936, Luis Trenker) starring Trenker himself, with whom she had worked before at Der Kampf am Matterhorn/Fight for the Matterhorn (1926, Mario Bonnard, Nunzio Malasomma). Der Kaiser von Kalifornien was awarded the Coppa Volpi at the Film festival of Venice in 1937. After this she retired from the film business and lived at the Ligurian coast. She made one last film, after the war, the Austrian production Ein bezaubernder Schwindler/A Charming Crook (1949, Hans Wolff). Marcella Albani died of a tumor in 1959, in Bad Goedesberg, Germany.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, nr. 1931/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Le Dive del Silenzio), Stefano Cocciardi (Les légendes du cinéma), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Pierre Jourdan

Handsome French multi-talent Pierre Jourdan (19??-2007)* was the less known brother of Hollywood star Louis Jourdan. He started out as an actor in the 1940’s, but found his niche in the 1960’s as a a director, producer and sometimes editor of film and tv adaptations of operas and classic stage plays.


French postcard by Editions O.P, Paris, nr. 196. Photo: Teddy Piaz.

Handsome Jeune Premier
Pierre Jourdan was born as Pierre Gendre in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France. He made his film debut in La femme que j'ai le plus aimée/The Woman I've Loved Most (1942, Robert Vernay) starring Arletty. He had also small parts in films like Le mariage de Chiffon/The Wedding of Chiffon (1942, Claude Autant-Lara), Le Bienfaiteur/The Benefactor (1942, Henri Decoin) starring Raimu, and Untel père et fils/Immortal France (1943, Julien Duvivier) with Raimu and Michèle Morgan. The handsome jeune premier starred opposite Edwige Feuillère in Lucrèce (1943, Léo Joannon). After the war followed leading parts in films like Les maris de Léontine/Leontine's Husbands (1947, René Le Hénaff) and Le crime du Bouif/The Crime of Bouif (1952, André Cerf). In the following years he played small parts in two interesting films by Claude Autant-Lara, Le rouge et le noir/The Red and the Black (1954) and Le Joueur/The Gambler (1958), but he never became a star like his brother Louis Jourdan. His career would take another direction.


Louis Jourdan. French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, nr. 39. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Underplayed or Forgotten Operas
Pierre Jourdan first became the assistant to the director of the famous theatre festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Between 1968 and 1977 he realised a dozen film and video adaptations of operas and classic stage plays, including Phèdre (1968), Norma (1974) starring Montserrat Caballé, and Aïda (1977). In 1982 he collaborated with Peter Brook on La Tragédie de Carmen based on the opera of Bizet. In 1988 he founded the Théâtre Français de la Musique and L'association pour le Théâtre Impérial, promoting French operas that had been underplayed or forgotten. He also directed many tv films based on stage plays and operas, including Manon Lescaut (1990), Médée (1996) and Pelléas et Mélisande (1999). Pierre Jourdan died of cancer in Fleurines, France, in 2007.

Sources: Wikipedia, CITWF (Complete Index to World Film Since 1895) and IMDb. See also: www.theatre-imperial.com.

* Our sources differ about the birth date of Pierre Jourdan. IMDb and Wikipedia both state 1932, which seems too late for an actor who played grown-up roles in the early 1940's. The CITWF indicates he was born in 1907, but this seems too early for a man who was still very active at the turn of the century.
So, who can help us solve this mystery and knows Pierre Jourdan's actual birthdate?

Postcard Friendship Friday - Simone Renant

Happy Postcard Friendship Friday! Today we bring a homage to beautiful French film and stage actress Simone Renant (1911–2004), who appeared in 43 films between 1932 and 1980. The elegant blonde actress is best known for her roles in Quai des Orfèvres (1947) and the original French version of Dangerous Liasions, Les liaisons dangereuses (1959).


French postcard by Editions P.I., La Garenne-Colombes, nr. 84. Photo: Studio Carlet Ainé.

Seductive and Elegant
Simone Renant was born Georgette Simone Alexine Buigny in Amiens, France, in 1911. She studied at the Conservatoire d'Amiens, then a part of the Conservatoire de Paris. There she won the First Prize. She made her stage debut at the théâtre du Vieux Colombier. The seductive and elegant Renant made her film debut with Léon Poirier in La Folle nuit/The Crazy Night (1932, Robert Bibal), but director and later husband Christian-Jaque gave her her first bigger parts in L'Ecole des journalistes/School for Journalists (1936) and Les Pirates du rail/The Railway Pirates (1937) with Charles Vanel and Erich von Stroheim.


German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto-Verlag, nr. FK 475. Photo: Sam Levin, Paris.

Charming and Spirited Comedienne
During the Second World War Simone Renant maintained her vedette status in roles at coquettish and mannered women in Elles étaient douze femmes/They Were Twelve Women (1940, Georges Lacombe) with Gaby Morlay, and Lettres d'amour/Love Letters (1942, Claude Autant-Lara) with François Périer. She also proved to be a charming and spirited comedienne in Romance à trois/Romance for Three (1942, Roger Richebé), Domino (1943, Roger Richebé) and the romantic fantasy La Tentation de Barbizon/The Temptation of Barbizon (1945, Jean Stelli) starring Daniel Gélin.


French trailer of Les liaisons dangereuses/Dangerous Liaisons (1959). Source: kirivalse (Daily Motion).

Ambiguous and Melancholical Role
Against her image Simone Renant played an ambiguous and melancholical role in the classic thriller Quai des Orfèvres/Quay of the Goldsmiths (1947, Henri-Georges Clouzot) opposite Suzy Delair. Since this beautiful performance her film appearances became rarer. She was very active in the theatre, and also appeared, though less frequently, on television. In the cinema she appeared in Les liaisons dangereuses/Dangerous Liaisons (1959, Roger Vadim) with Gérard Philippe and Jeanne Moreau, and she did a surprising turn as the owner of a gaming den in the Brazilian jungle in L'Homme de Rio/That Man from Rio (1963, Philippe de Broca). Her last film role was that of the mother of Alain Delon in the thriller Trois hommes à abattre/Three Men to Destroy (1980, Jacques Deray). On tv she last appeared in Liberté-liberté/Freedom-Freedom (1983, Alain Dhouailly) opposite Michael Lonsdale. In 2004, Simone Renant died in Garches, France, aged 93. She was married four times. She married and divorced actor Marcel Dalio (1929-1932), Charles Gombault (1933-1937), and film director Christian-Jaque (1940-1944). In 1975 she married film producer Alexandre Mnouchkine. The pair had two children and stayed together till his death in 1993.


Scene from Quai des Orfèvres/Quay of the Goldsmiths (1947) with Louis Jouvet. Source: RioBravo (Daily Motion).

Sources: Ciné-Ressources, Wikipedia, and IMDb.