Rosanna Schiaffino

Glamorous, Italian film actress Rosanna Schiaffino (1938-2009) was a show business icon of the 1960s, famous for her eye-catching legs and her temperamental performances. She appeared frequently in sword-and-sandal films, and on covers of European and American magazines.


German postcard by Ufa, no. CK 421. Photo: Georg Michalke.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/59.


German postcard by Krüger.


German postcard by Kruger, no. 902/114. Photo: Farabola.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. N. 125.

Sacrificial Virgin and Evil Princess

Rosanna Schiaffino was born as Rosa Anna Schiaffino in Genoa, Liguria, into a well-off, non-show business family. Her sister later became actress Maria Pia Schiaffino.

When she was 14 she won the Miss Liguria beauty contest. The resulting photographs aroused the interest of film producers. Without her father's blessing but chaperoned by her mother and sister, Rosanna travelled to Rome for a screen test.

From 1956 onward, she was seen in earthy, sexy roles like in the Totò comedy Totò, lascia o raddoppia? (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1956), and the drama La Sfida/The Challenge (Francesco Rosi, 1958). The latter was well received at the 1958 Venice festival, where Schiaffino was much admired for her powerful but sensitive performance as a Neapolitan girl, inspired by a real-life character. On the day of her wedding to the young man with whom she has been having a passionate affair (José Suarez), he is killed by the Camorra, which he has been trying, ingenuously, to outwit for control of the fruit market.

She became famous for her eye-catching legs, and her temperamental performances. Her photographs graced covers of magazines in countries where her minor films were not even released. So she started with playing small parts, but by the end of the 1950s she had become a leading lady in Italian and French films, and later also in British and Hollywood productions.

In 1959 Schiaffino put her career in a higher gear with La Notte Brava/Bad Girls Don't Cry (Mauro Bolognini, 1959), an enjoyable tale of young people in an urban slum. The cast was full of attractive starlets like Elsa Martinelli, Mylène Demongeot, Antonella Lualdi, and Rosanna, showing her sexy legs on high heels. It was one of the first films co-scripted by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Though not an actress of any great depth, she managed to land the dual role of the sacrificial virgin Ariadne and the evil princess Phaedra in Teseo Contro Il Minotauro/The Minotaur (Silvio Amadio, 1961). This sword-and-sandal epic meant her international breakthrough. Till the mid 1960s she would be busy on the international scene.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 4802. Photo: Mondial Agency / Ufa.


German postcard by Kolibri / Friedrich W. Sander-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 1699.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1789. Photo: Arthur Grimm / CCC / Gloria.


German postcard by Kolibri / Friedrich W. Sander-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2563.


German postcard by Kolibri / Friedrich W. Sander-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 1622.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, no. 941.

Form-fitting Period Garb

After Franco Cristaldi focused on his didcovery Claudia Cardinale, Rosanna Schiaffino found another producer interested in her career, Alfredo Bini, whom she would marry in 1963.

In Bini's production RoGoPaG (named after its four directors, Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Pasolini and Ugo Gregoretti, 1963), Schiaffino showed her mettle in Rossellini's Illibatezza/Chastity. John Francis Lane in The Guardian: "She gave credibility and humour to the role of an air hostess who succeeds in shaking off the advances of an American PR guy looking for the perfect chaste girl for an advertising campaign, by turning herself into a vampish glamourpuss."

Rosanna Schiaffino was a pleasing appearance in contemporary costumes in English language films like Two Weeks in Another Town (Vincente Minnelli, 1962) as a very temperamental film star, and in the war drama The Victors (Carl Foreman, 1963).

Schiaffino was even more fun to watch in her form-fitting period garb as the mistress of villainous Moroccan chieftain Sidney Poitier in The Long Ships (Jack Cardiff, 1964).

She also worked in Italian films like La Corruzione/Corruption (Mauro Bolognini, 1963), the episode film Ro.Go.Pa.G./Let’s Have a Brainwash (Roberto Rossellini, 1963), Sette contro la morte/The Cavern (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1964).

Next she appeared in the amusing costume comedy La Mandragola/The Mandrake (Alberto Lattuada, 1965), La Strega in amore/The Witch in Love (Damiano Damiani, 1966), and the biopic Simón Bolívar (Alessandro Blasetti, 1969) opposite Maximilian Schell.

Despite the increase of nudity in films at the end of the 1960s, Schiaffino refused to appear in such scenes. In the 1970s she played leading parts in comedies, Spaghetti Westerns and thrillers by minor directors that have all been forgotten. Obviously her career petered out. In 1976 she decided to give up the cinema.

Rosanna Schiaffino was married twice. In 1977 she divorced producer Alfredo Bini, with whom she had a daughter, Antonella. During the summer of 1980, in Portofino, she met the playboy and steel industry heir Giorgio Falck. Their affair was big news for the gossip tabloids. In 1981 she gave birth to their son, Guido, and in 1982 she married Falck. She and Falck had a son, Guido, but they divorced in 2001.

In 1991, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Rosanna Schiaffino died in Milan, Italy in 2009. She was 69.


Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 3807. Photo: Vides. Publicity still for La Sfida/The Challenge (Francesco Rosi, 1958).


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. N 77.


Italian postcard, no. 140.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 411.


Trailer of The Man Called Noon (Peter Collinson, 1973). Source: Ady Black (YouTube).

Sources: John Francis Lane (The Guardian), AllMovie, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Johan Kaart

For decades, Johan Kaart junior (1897-1976) was a huge star in the Dutch entertainment world. Between 1934 and 1937, he starred in seven films and after the war he played in several more films. He also often worked for radio and television, but his main stage was the theatre.


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: publicity still for De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard, no. 7. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Publicity still of Johan Kaart junior in the comedy Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (1934).


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Productie. Publicity still of Johan Kaart junior in the Dutch comedy De familie van mijn vrouw/My Wife's Family (Jaap Speyer, 1935).

Theatre Dynasty

Johannes Antonius Kaart was born in a theatre dynasty in Amsterdam in 1897. He was the son of small-time actor Johannes Antonius Kaart (Senior), and soubrette and actress Isabella Willemsens.

When Johan Junior was 16, he made his debut as an extra with the in Amsterdam located stage company Het Tooneel under direction of Willem Royaards, against the wishes of his parents. A year later, his father gave in and sent him to acting classes.

With his stubby shape, gritty timbre and somewhat roughly cut facial features, he was not the appropriate figure for the role of young lover. However, he soon became a star in the Dutch entertainment world. He played many classic theatre roles, but he also developed himself more and more as a comedian.

According to IMDb, Kaart made his screen debut in the Dutch silent film  Helleveeg (Theo Frenkel, 1920) with Mien Duymaar van Twist and Lily Bouwmeester. This is a mistake, it was actually his father who appeared as a butler in the film.

Junior would have his breakthrough in one of the first Dutch sound films, De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934), based on the popular play by Herman Bouber. The film is based on a fairly well known and still popular Dutch play, set in the Jordaan, a neighbourhood where the the working class of Amsterdam used to live.

Kaart played Manus or 'De Schele' (the Cross-Eyed), one of the three roguish tars of the title. The other two were Jan van Ees and Willy Costello. The three friends return from their military service in the navy. Dolle Dries is happily united with his girlfriend Blonde Greet. Schele Manus courts Jans, but is less lucky, since she adores luxury. The third sailor, De Blauwe, is usually tipsy. The three sailors continue their comradeship, and support each other during hardships.


Dutch postcard for the stage play Don Quichot op de Bruiloft van Kamatcho/ Don Quichot on the Wedding of Kamatcho (1711) by Pieter Langendijk, starring Lau Ezerman as Don Quichotte and Johan Kaart Jr. as Sancho Panza. The play was performed by the Schouwburgtoneel of Jan Musch in the open air theatre in Valkenburg in 1920. In 1925 the play was performed again with Kaart as Sancho Panza at the Amsterdam open air theatre Frankendaal, this time by the company Vereenigd Tooneel.


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: publicity still for De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: publicity still for De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).

Marlene Dietrich Impersonation

After De Jantjes had become a surprisingly huge success, Johan Kaart went on to star in six more films between 1934 and 1937. These were all comedies.

First he reunited with director Jaap Speyer to make Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934) and De familie van mijn vrouw/My Wife's Family (Jaap Speyer, 1935) with Sylvain Poons.

Then followed De vier Mullers/The Four Mullers (Rudolf Meinert, 1935) with Johannes Heesters, the army comedy De big van het regiment/The Mascot of the Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935) with Frits van Dongen aka Philip Dorn), and 't was een april/It was April Fools' Day (Detlev Sierck aka Douglas Sirk, Jacques van Tol, 1936).

In Kermisgasten/Carnival People (Jaap Speyer, 1936) with Henriëtte Davids, he did a hilarious Marlene Dietrich impersonation.

Dutch critic Henk van Gelder writes in his biography of Kaart at Huygens.ING: "Unlike many of his colleagues, Kaart realised very well that the camera did not allow stage acting. He radiated a natural kind of joviality that made him a crowd favourite. Whether he played a popular type, a slow student or a dedicated policeman, he easily knew how to create a credible character out of every kind of role."


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film N.V. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute. For a better view of the postcard please click double on the picture.


Dutch postcard by N.V. Monopole Film. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch vintage postcard by Monopole Film NV. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Box Office Hit

After the war, Johan Kaart returned on the screen in the old fashioned comedy Een koninkrijk voor een huis/A Kingdom for a House (1949), again directed by Jaap Speyer and co-starring Henriëtte Davids.

Next he played a cab driver who wants to emigrate to Australia in the comedy Sterren Stralen Overal/Stars Twinkle Everywhere (Gerard Rutten, 1953).

A huge box office hit in the Netherlands was the drama Ciske de Rat/Ciske the Rat (Wolfgang Staudte, 1955) in which Kaart played a supporting part.

He played more supporting parts in the comedy Kleren maken de man/Clothes Make the Man (Georg Jacoby, 1957) starring Kees Brusse, and the thriller Rififi in Amsterdam (Giovanni Korporaal, 1962) with Maxim Hamel.


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 1. Photo: Publicity still for the comedy Malle gevallen (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 3. Photo: publicity still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 4. Photo: publicity still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 11. Photo: still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Potash & Perlmutter

Johan Kaart often worked for radio and later also for TV, but his main stage was the theatre. Since 1950 he performed Potasch en Perlemoer (Potash & Perlmutter) by Montague Glass for more than 3,500 times. The farce is about the ups and downs of two constantly squabbling Jewish textile merchants. His co-star in this evergreen was Johan Boskamp.

Kaart was also acclaimed for his role as the job-shy garbage collector Alfred Doolittle in the 1960 Dutch stage version of My Fair Lady, alongside Wim Sonneveld as Professor Higgins. It was another success.

On TV he was seen in the popular youth series Ja zuster, nee zuster/Yes Nurse, No Nurse (1967) and Oebele (1968-1971).

Between 1969 and 1972, he went on tour again with Johan Boskamp as opponent in Potasch & Perlemoer. Forced by the aftermath of a fractured hip, caused by a fall during a performance of this success, and Parkinson's disease, he disappeared from the scene.

In 1975 the Johan Kaart Prijs was introduced, a Dutch theatre entertainment award named after him.

In 1976, Johan Kaart died in Amsterdam at the age of 78. He was married to former actress Maria Wilhelmina Jeanne 'Willy' von Saher from 1920 till his death in 1976. They had one daughter, Freddie (1924). Johan Kaart was also the uncle of the talented film actor and opera singer Hans Kaart.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Habé Film. Publicity still of Johan Kaart and Jacques Bijlevelt in the comedy De Vier Mullers (1935), a Dutch version of the Austrian multilingual Alles für die Firma (1935). Both were shot at the Schonbrunn studios in Vienna. The film deals with three quarrelsome generations of textile business owners: granddad Philip (Adolf Bouwmeester), dad Max (Bijlevelt) and son Otto (Johannes Heesters). Kaart plays their go-between Jacob Schat.


Dutch postcard by Habé Film. Photo: publicity still for De Vier Mullers/The Four Mullers (Rudolf Meinert, 1935) with Johannes Heesters.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Godfried de Groot, Amsterdam.


Dutch postcard by Editions Altona, Amsterdam, no. T 63. Photo: publicity still for Sterren Stralen Overal/Stars Twinkle Anywhere (Gerard Rutten, 1953).

Sources: Henk van Gelder (Huygens ING - Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis - Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Viktor de Kowa

Viktor de Kowa (1904-1973) was a German actor, singer, director and comedy writer. In the 1930s he became one of the most prominent and beloved comedy actors of the German cinema.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8909/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen), no. 1221. Photo: Filma.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3382/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Tita Binz / Tobis.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8698/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3754/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Star-Foto-Atelier / Tobis.

A Darling of the Female Public

Viktor (sometimes Victor) de Kowa was born as Viktor Paul Karl Kowarzik (some sources write Kowal(l)czyk) in 1904 in the village Hochkirch (nowadays Przesieczany), Germany (now south-western Poland, close to the German border).

He was educated at the Art Academy in Dresden and started his career as a poster and fashion drawer. Soon he abandoned this job and took acting lessons by the famous actor Erich Ponto.

He debuted in 1922 at the Dresdner Staatstheater and also worked in Lübeck, Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg before he went to Berlin. There he was engaged at the Volksbühne, the Deutsches Theater and from 1935 at the Staatstheater.

He made his cinema debut with the silent film Der Herzensdieb/The Heart Thief (Nils Olaf Chrisander, 1927) starring Joseph Schildkraut and Lya de Putti. Two years later he had a supporting part in the circus film Katharina Knie (Karl Grune, 1929) featuring Carmen Boni.

After the introduction of the sound film he became a darling of the female public with his very individual romantic roles.

He took part in such films as the comedy Pension Schöller (Georg Jacoby, 1930), the war drama Die andere Seite/The Other Side (Heinz Paul, 1931) with Conrad Veidt, the comedy Der Stolz der 3. Kompanie/The Pride of the Third Company (Fred Sauer, 1932), the horror comedy Unheimliche Geschichten/Unholy Tales (Richard Oswald, 1932) with Paul Wegener, and the romantic drama Ein Lied geht um die Welt/The Joseph Schmidt Story (Richard Oswald, 1933).

He had his great breakthrough with the post-war drama Kleiner Mann - was nun?/Little Man What Now (Fritz Wendhausen, 1933), based on the novel by Hans Fallada.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8089/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Klagemann.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8822/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der junge Baron Neuhaus/The Young Baron Neuhaus (Gustav Ucicky, 1934) with Käthe von Nagy.


Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 501. Photo: publicity still for Das Schloß im Süden/The Castle in the South (Géza von Bolváry, 1933) with Liane Haid.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8883/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Lockvogel/Decoy (Hans Steinhoff, 1934) with Hilde Weissner.

Pacifist or God-gifted NSDAP actor?

In the following years, Viktor de Kowa became a star with comedies like Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (Gustaf Gründgens, 1934) opposite Hilde Weissner, Der junge Baron Neuhaus/The Young Baron Neuhaus (Gustav Ucicky, 1934) with Käthe von Nagy, Die grosse und die kleine Welt/The Big and the Small World (Johannes Riemann, 1936), and Die göttliche Jette/The Divine Jetta (Erich Waschneck, 1937) with Grethe Weiser.

During the war years, he starred in Wir machen Musik/We Make Music (Helmut Käutner, 1942) co-starring Ilse Werner, and the crime comedy Peter Voss, der Millionendieb/Peter Voss - the million thief (Karl Anton, 1943-1946).

In those years he also directed three films - Schneider Wibbel/Tailor Wibbel (1939) starring Erich Ponto, Casanova heiratet/Casanova Marries (1940) and Kopf hoch, Johannes/Head Up, Johannes (1941) starring Albrecht Schoenhals and Dorothea Wieck.

He continued his acting during the war. He was a member of the NSDAP and directed the Nazi propaganda film Kopf Hoch, Johannes/Head high, Johannes. In this Nazi youth film the independent, freedom-loving boy Johannes is converted in a Nazi-youth organization, a Napola school, to discipline and obedience. This subject made De Kowa euphoric: "The task to create an image from the life of this young generation, these future leaders of Greater Germany - this is a work about which one can be enthusiastic honestly and without reservations."

Although Joseph Goebbels called the subject of the film 'well', he was disappointed by the direction of De Kowa. Nevertheless, Goebbels placed De Kowa in August 1944 on the Gottbegnadeten-Liste (god-gifted list of the indispensable actors) which retained him from a war application, and from the Heimatfront.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2401/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Tobis / Sandau.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9260, 1935-1936. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3889/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis / Star-Foto-Atelier.


German postcard by Das Programm von Heute / Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Harlip.

Working Permit

After the war, Viktor de Kowa immediately received a working permit and he became the manager of the Berliner Tribüne till 1950. From 1956 to 1962 he was a member of the Burgtheater in Vienna. As chairman of the trade unions for art, culture and media, he was also a board director of the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB).

He was also active in the post-war film, produced some films and wrote plays. To his well-known films after the war belong Zwischen gestern und morgen/Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (Harald Braun, 1947) starring Hildegard Knef, Anonyme Briefe/Anonymous Letters (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1949) with Käthe Haack.

During the 1950s, such films followed as Des Teufels General/The Devil's General (Helmut Käutner, 1955) opposite Curd Jürgens, Ein Mädchen aus Flandern/The Girl from Flanders (Helmut Käutner, 1955) with Maximilian Schell, Scampolo (Alfred Weidenmann, 1957) starring Romy Schneider, and Der veruntreute Himmel/Embezzled Heaven (Ernst Marischka, 1958), based on a novel by Franz Werfel.

From the 1960s on, Viktor de Kowa worked for the cinema as well as for television. To his last films belong the Edgar Wallace mystery Der Fälscher von London/The Forger of London (Harald Reinl, 1961), the thriller Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein/Operation Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961) with O.W. Fischer, and the comedy Das Haus in Montevideo/The House in Montevideo (1963, Helmut Käutner) with Heinz Rühmann.

His last film part was Ravenhurst in Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand/Thunder at the Border (Alfred Vohrer, 1966) with Rod Cameron and Pierre Brice.

Viktor de Kowa was married twice. In 1926 he married the actress Ursula Grabley. After their divorce he married in 1941 the Japanese actress and singer Michiko Tanaka. Viktor de Kowa died of cancer in 1973 in Berlin. He was 66.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. 3457/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis / Tita Binz.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3582/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis.


German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, no. FK 3081. Photo: Dührkoop / Ufa.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 1108. Photo: Ufa (Universum-Film Aktien-gesellschaft, Berlin-Tempelhof). Publicity still for Scampolo (Alfred Weidenmann, 1958) with Romy Schneider.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), The Androom Archives, Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.