08 July 2025

Fernando Rey

Suave film, theatre, and television actor Fernando Rey (1917-1994) became the first international Spanish film star He achieved his greatest fame after he turned 50, and is best known for his roles in the films of surrealist director Luis Buñuel like Tristana (1970), Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie / The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), and Cet obscur objet du désir / That Obscure Object of Desire (1977). He is also known as the drug lord Alain Charnier in the Hollywood blockbusters The French Connection (1971) and French Connection II (1975). Over half a century, he appeared in more than 150 films.

Fernando Rey
Spanish collectors card by I.G. Viladot, Barcelona. Image: Cifesa.

Fernando Rey and Amparito Rivelles in Si te hubieses casado conmigo (1948)
Spanish postcard. Fernando Rey and Amparito Rivelles in Si te hubieses casado conmigo / If You Had Married Me (Viktor Tourjansky, 1948).

A brilliant performance as a demotivated and doubtful actor


Fernando Rey was born Fernando Casado D'Arambillet in A Coruña, Spain, in 1917. He was the son of Captain Casado Veiga. Fernando studied architecture, but the Spanish Civil War interrupted his university studies. In 1936, he gained employment as an extra, which was the start of his film career. As his stage name, he chose Fernando Rey. He kept his first name but took his mother's second surname, Rey, a short surname with a clear meaning ('Rey' is Spanish for 'King').

Eight years later, he had his first speaking role as the Duke of Alba in Eugenia de Montijo (José López Rubio, 1944), starring Amparo Rivelles. Four years later, he played Felipe I el Hermoso, King of Spain, in the Spanish blockbuster Locura de amor / The Mad Queen (Juan de Orduña, 1948) with Aurora Bautista and Sara Montiel. This started a prolific career in film, radio, theatre, and television. Rey was also a great dubbing actor in Spanish television. His voice was considered intense and personal, and he became the narrator of important Spanish films including Luis García Berlanga's Bienvenido Mr. Marshall / Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953) and Ladislao Vajda's Marcelino Pan y Vino / The Miracle of Marcelino (1955).

In 1992, he was the narrator of the re-dubbed version of Orson Welles' Don Quixote. In fact, Rey acted in four different film versions of Don Quixote in different roles, if one also counts the Welles version for which Rey supplied offscreen narration in the final scene. Fernando Rey's brilliant performance in the role of a demotivated and doubtful actor in Juan Antonio Bardem's Cómicos / Comedians (1954), was his first successful lead part. Paradoxically, as he saw himself as the real incarnation of the role, it plunged him into a professional depression, from which he did not emerge until he collaborated with Luis Buñuel several years later.

However, in the short term, Buñuel's disconcerting public remark on Rey's performance in another of Bardem's film, Sonatas (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1959), "I love how this actor plays a corpse", could only increase Rey's apprehensions. Nevertheless, eventually, Rey became Buñuel's preferred actor and closest friend. Rey's first international performance was in the French-Italian film Les bijoutiers du clair de lune / The Night Heaven Fell (Roger Vadim, 1958), with Stephen Boyd, Marina Vlady and Brigitte Bardot.

In 1959, Rey co-starred with Steve Reeves and Christine Kaufmann in the Italian sword and sandal film Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei / The Last Days of Pompeii (Mario Bonnard, 1959). Rey played in one of the first Euro-Westerns, Tierra brutal / The Savage Guns (Michael Carreras, 1961), starring Richard Basehart. When the popularity of this genre increased during the decade, he appeared in other Westerns, including the political Western Il prezzo del potere / The Price of Power (Tonino Valerii, 1969) with Giuliano Gemma, the bizarre cult classic Vamos a matar, compañeros / Compañeros (Sergio Corbucci, 1970) with Franco Nero and Tomas Milian, and two sequels of The Magnificent Seven, Return of the Seven (Burt Kennedy, 1966) and Guns of the Magnificent Seven (Paul Wendkos, 1969).

Fernando Rey
Spanish postcard.

A Spanish actor who had worked with Buñuel


Fernando Rey became internationally prominent with his work for Orson Welles and Luis Buñuel during the 1960s and 1970s. For Welles, Rey performed in two completed films, Campanadas a medianoche / Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles, 1965) and Histoire immortelle / The Immortal Story (Orson Welles, 1968) with Jeanne Moreau. For Bunuel, Rey starred in Viridiana (1961), Tristana (1970) starring Catherine Deneuve, Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie / The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) which received the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and Cet obscur objet du désir / That Obscure Object of Desire (1977). The latter was nominated for another Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was also nominated for a Golden Globe in the same category, though the film failed to win either.

Rey also played memorably the French villain Alain Charnier in William Friedkin's The French Connection (1971) opposite Gene Hackman. Initially, Friedkin intended to cast Francisco Rabal as Charnier, but could not remember his name after seeing him in Luis Buñuel's Belle de jour (1967). He only knew the person he had in mind was a Spanish actor who had worked with Buñuel. Rey was hired after he flew to New York to be met by a surprised Friedkin. Rey's English and French were not perfect, but Friedkin discovered that Rabal spoke neither of them and opted to keep Rey, who reprised the role in the less successful sequel, French Connection II (John Frankenheimer, 1975).

During the 1970s and 1980s, Fernando Rey played in many international co-productions, some of his appearances being cameos. These films include Lewis Gilbert's The Adventurers (1970), Mauro Bolognini's Fatti di gente perbene / Drama of the Rich (1974), Vincente Minnelli's A Matter of Time (1976), Valerio Zurlini's Il deserto dei tartari / The Desert of the Tartars (1976), Robert Altman's Quintet (1979), J. Lee Thompson's Caboblanco (1980) and Frank Perry's Monsignor (1982). In Lina Wertmüller's Academy Award-nominated film, Pasqualino Settebellezze / Seven Beauties (1975), Rey played the role of Pedro the anarchist who, as a friend of the protagonist and fellow prisoner Pasqualino Settebellezze (Giancarlo Giannini), chooses a gruesome suicide, rather than spend another day in a Nazi concentration camp.

One of Rey's greater successes in these years was the Spanish drama Elisa, vida mía / Elisa, My Life (1977), with Geraldine Chaplin and written and directed by Carlos Saura. In later years, Rey preferred to work in Spain, with successes as Padre Nuestro / Our Father (Francisco Regueiro, 1985), El bosque animado / The Enchanted Forest (José Luis Cuerda, 1987) and Al otro lado del túnel / On the Far Side of the Tunnel (Jaime de Armiñán, 1992) as well as his portrayal of Don Quixote, alongside Alfredo Landa as Sancho Panza, in the memorable Mini-Series El Quijote de Miguel de Cervantes / Don Quijote de la Mancha (Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, 1991) for the Spanish National TV. His last appearance on the screen was in a supporting role in the Spanish black comedy El cianuro ... ¿sólo o con leche? / Cyanide ... pure or with milk? (1994).

Many honours came to Fernando Rey in the twilight of his career, during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1971 Rey won the Best Actor Award in the San Sebastián International Film Festival, for his performance in Rafael Gil's La duda / Doubt, based, like Viridiana and Tristana, on a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós. Rey won the Best Actor Award at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival for his performance in Elisa, vida mía / Elisa, My Life (Carlos Saura, 1977). In 1988 he again won the Best Actor Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, this time for his performance in two films: Diario de invierno / Winter Diary (Francisco Regueiro, 1988) and El Aire de un Crimen / The Hint of a Crime (Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1988). Fernando Rey was also awarded the gold medal of the Spanish Movie Arts and Sciences Academy. In 1960, Rey married the Argentine actress Mabel Karr. They had a son, Fernando Casado Campolongo. Fernando Rey died of bladder cancer in Madrid in 1994.

Pascale Audran, Bulle Ogier, Delphine Seyrig, Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur and Jean-Pierre Cassel in Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie (1973)
Chinese Postcard. Pascale Audran, Bulle Ogier, Delphine Seyrig, Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, and Jean-Pierre Cassel in Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie / The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1973).

Carole Bouquet and Fernando Rey in Cet obscur objet du désir (1977)
German postcard by Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn. Photo: Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek Berlin. Carole Bouquet and Fernando Rey in Cet obscur objet du désir / That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Buñuel, 1977).

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

07 July 2025

Photo by Lothar Winkler

German photographer Lothar Winkler (1927-2000) made countless star portraits and film stills during the 1950s and 1960s. His photos document the Zeitgeist: the post-war period when the public longed for a perfect world and beautiful appearances. For this post, we selected 20 cards with photos by Winkler.

Caterina Valente and Bill Haley in Hier bin ich - hier bleib' ich (1959)
West German postcard by ISV, no. H 27. Photo: Constantin / Lothar Winkler. Caterina Valente and Bill Haley and the Comets in Hier bin ich - hier bleib' ich / Here I Am, Here I Stay (Werner Jacobs, 1959).

Freddy Quinn
Big German card by ISV, no. EX 26. Photo: Constantin / Rapid / Lothar Winkler. Freddy Quinn in Heimweh nach St. Pauli / Homesick for St. Pauli (Werner Jacobs, 1963).

Claudia Cardinale and John Wayne in Circus World (1964)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Photo: Lothar Winkler. Claudia Cardinale and John Wayne in Circus World (Henry Hathaway, 1964).

Clint Eastwood in Per qualche dollaro in più (1965)
Vintage postcard, no. 2175. Photo: Lothar Winkler. Image: Italian lobby card (locandina) by Izaro Films. Clint Eastwood in Per qualche dollaro in più / For A Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965).

Raquel Welch in Le plus vieux métier du monde (1967)
Vintage postcard. Photo: Raquel Welch in Le plus vieux métier du monde / The Oldest Profession in the World (Michael Pfleghar, a.o., 1967).

Photographing actors and singers the way they wanted to see themselves


Lothar Winkler was born in Neuköln, Berlin in 1947. In 1947, Winkler joined the German tabloid newspaper B.Z. as a police reporter. Decades later, journalist Martina lovingly remembered her colleague in the newspaper: "Contacts with underworld king Gerhard Hirschfeld brought him red-hot photos. Including late-night phone calls: 'You, Winkler! We're just breaking into Karstadt. Do you want to take photos?' Lothar wanted to. Sure." Winkler also told her about his first big coup in 1956: "Winkler travelled to Monaco in his VW bus, which was his photo studio. The princely wedding. And stood in the 50th row. Crap. At night, he photographed a drunk man at the casino. Threw the photo into the developer. ‘I thought I was crazy,’ he said in one of the many B.Z. interviews. The drunk was Onassis. Winkler brought the photo to Onassis' yacht. Onassis laughed his head off, collected the negative. And on the day of the wedding, he invited Winkler into his helicopter, from which he rained roses on Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier."

Around that time, Lothar Winkler became the in-house photographer for Bravo magazine. During the 1950s and 1960s, he helped the youth magazine to its first successes with his ‘star cuts’. He was a photographer whom the stars trusted. He became friends with two of the German superstars of the era, Caterina Valente and Freddy Quinn and their careers were closely linked to Winkler's career. He became friends with Valente while shooting on the set of the Schlager film Das einfache Mädchen / The Simple Girl (Werner Jacobs, 1957). The encounter with Valente was another breakthrough for Winkler. Winkler later accompanied Caterina Valente on her tours to America, Mexico, and Japan. Winkler elicited many private details from the singer and actress in his photos: wearing a bobble hat, she sleeps in the passenger seat of a car. Another picture shows her knitting, looking somewhat bemusedly at the camera through her white glasses.

Especially for the photobook 'Meine Freunde, die Stars' (2006), singer and actor Freddy Quinn wrote a letter to his deceased companion: "I like to remember our many journeys together, our worldwide adventures, which you documented with your photos!" Quinn called Winkler one of his few friends. Winkler made the stills for his Schlager films Freddy und der Millionär / Freddy and the millionaire (Paul May, 1961) and Heimweh nach St. Pauli / Homesick for St. Pauli (Werner Peters, 1963). Not only did the German superstars give Winkler access to their lives and work, but the photographer also got up close and personal with many international stars of the 1950s and 1960s. Winkler photographed Jayne Mansfield getting dressed with her children. Winkler met Claudia Cardinale unpacking her suitcase with an unaffected, girlish smile. He photographed Steve McQueen on set during the filming of The Great Escape (John Sturges, 1963). Behind the scenes, he depicted a muddied McQueen in costume, in conversation with his wife, Neile McQueen-Adams. Four years later, he photographed Raquel Welch in a lacy Viennese corset on the set of Le plus vieux métier du monde / The Oldest Profession in the World (Michael Pfleghar, a.o., 1967).

Winkler's foray into the rock business is also impressive. He photographed Jimi Hendrix on a children's carousel, Elvis Presley getting out of an aeroplane, and the Motown girl group The Supremes at one of their concerts. Winkler also photographed Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, backstage, smoking, reading, gazing dreamily into the camera. Anna Reimann in Der Spiegel: "But why did Lothar Winkler manage to gain the trust of the big stars? His pictures are a tribute to the stars and their lives: Lothar Winkler photographed actors and singers the way they wanted to see themselves. He staged their ideal world and made it accessible to a wide audience through his publications. Winkler was a photographer who saw his craft as the task of taking beautiful pictures of beautiful people. Winkler never raised questions with his photos; he did not want to criticise. Lothar Winkler's photos are therefore above all, the documentation of a zeitgeist: the post-war longing for a perfect world and beautiful appearances. Today, there are either artistic but distanced portraits of well-known actors and music stars, or the quick, garish snapshot, the main purpose of which is to reveal as many juicy details as possible. There is nothing in between."

As the great era of German cinema drew to a close at the end of the 1960s, Lothar Winkler changed track and started to photograph unknown, naked women for such magazines as Neue Revue, Playboy and Quick. Ingrid Steeger was one of his first models. He also photographed Amanda Lear 'as the Lord created her'. Winkler died in 2000 at the age of 73. In 2006, his ex-wife Marianne Winkler, who was married to him from 1959 to 1968, compiled hundreds of photos together with film expert Michael Petzel. She published them in the illustrated book, ‘Meine Freunde, die Stars' (My Friends, the Stars). The book is divided into several chapters: In addition to snapshots from the Berlin Film Festival, photos from the shooting of the Karl May films in Croatia, and a section entitled ‘Stars International’, Winkler's friends Caterina Valente and Freddy Quinn have each been given their own chapter.

Elke Sommer
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen no. 789. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

In the late 1950s, blonde Elke Sommer (1940) was a European sex symbol before conquering Hollywood in the early 1960s. With her trademark pouty lips, high cheekbones and sky-high bouffant hairdos, Sommer made 99 film and television appearances between 1959 and 2005. The gorgeous German film star was also one of the most popular pin-up girls of the sixties, and posed twice for Playboy.

Thomas Fritsch (1944-2021)
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 850. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

German actor Thomas Fritsch (1944-2021) was the son of ‘Sunny boy’ Willy Fritsch. Thomas was a teen idol of the early 1960s who made several light entertainment films and recorded popular Schlagers. He also appeared on stage and TV and as a voice actor, he dubbed many Hollywood blockbusters in German.

Sabine Sinjen
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 737. Photo: Kolibri / Lothar Winkler.

German Stage and film actress Sabine Sinjen (1942-1995) was a teenage star of the 1950s, who became a protagonist of the Neue Deutsche Film in the 1960s.

Peter Kraus
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 582. Photo: Lothar Winkler. Publicity card for Polydor Schalip, which announces the singles 'Sugar Baby / Ich denk' an dich' and 'Come on and Swing / Du passt so gut zu mir'.

German singer and actor Peter Kraus (1939) was a teen idol in the 1950s and was nicknamed ‘the German Elvis’.

Ina Bauer
German postcard by Starpostkarten-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 701. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

German competitive figure skater Ina Bauer (1941-2014) made her first appearance on the senior level at the 1956 West German Figure Skating Championships in Cologne, where she finished second. In the following years, she won three consecutive West German national titles in 1957, 1958 and 1959. She competed at a total of four European and World Championships, improving her results very quickly along the way. After retiring from competition, she toured with Ice Follies and starred in two films with Austrian alpine skier Toni Sailer: the comedy Ein Stern fällt vom Himmel / A Star Falls from Heaven (Géza von Cziffra, 1961) and Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon / Buy yourself a colourful balloon (Géza von Cziffra, 1961).

Mario Adorf in Winnetou - 1. Teil (1963)
German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, no. 3930. Photo: Rialto / Constantin / Winkler. Mario Adorf in Winnetou - 1. Teil / Apache Gold (Harald Reinl, 1963).

Swiss actor Mario Adorf (1930) is a very active star of European cinema, known for his Mediterranean looks, his dark oily frizzy hair and his imposing figure. He started as a talented newcomer in German films of the 1950s, he hammed his way through the 1960s as a villain in Euro-westerns and action pictures, but he is now best known for his roles in some classics of the Junge Deutsche Film (The Young German Cinema) such as Die Blechtrommel/The Tin Drum (1978) and Lola (1981). He appeared in over 200 films and TV films.


Klaus Kinski in Winnetou - 2. Teil (1966)
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 891. Photo: Lothar Winkler. Klaus Kinski in Winnetou - 2. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964).

Intense and eccentric Klaus Kinski (1926–1991) was one of the most colourful stars of European cinema. In a film career of over 40 years, the German actor appeared in more than 130 films, including numerous parts as a villain in Edgar Wallace thrillers and Spaghetti Westerns. The talented but tempestuous Kinski is probably best known for his riveting star turns in Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and other films directed by Werner Herzog.

Klaus Kinski and Pierre Brice in Winnetou - 2. Teil (1966)
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 901. Photo: Lothar Winkler. Klaus Kinski and Pierre Brice in Winnetou - 2. Teil/Last of the Renegades (Harald Reinl, 1964).

Handsome and well-built French actor Pierre Brice (1929-2015) was a Superstar in Germany during the 1960s. For hundreds of thousands of European kids, Brice was the Indian Winnetou, a long-haired saint with a gun. He appeared as the fictional chief of the Mescalero Apache tribe in eleven Euro-Westerns based on the novels by Karl May.

Johnny Hallyday
German postcard by Krüger. Photo: Winkler.

French rock legend and film star Johnny Hallyday (1943-2017) was the father of French Rock and Roll. He was a European teen idol in the 1960s with record-breaking crowds and mass hysteria, but he never became popular in the English-speaking market. Later, he concentrated on being an actor and appeared in more than 35 films.

Maria Perschy
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/376. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

Austrian actress Maria Perschy (1938-2004) was the sexy leading lady of many European films of the late 1950s before she made a short career in Hollywood in films by John Huston and Howard Hawks. In the 1970s, she appeared in Spanish and Italian low-budget Horror films, and she became a cult figure.

Dorthe
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/377. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

Danish-German singer Dorthe Kollo or just Dorthe (1947) was a popular Schlager singer in the 1960s. She appeared often on TV in both Denmark and Germany.

Gitte Haenning
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/379. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

Danish singer and film actress Gitte Hænning (1946) rose to fame as a child star in the 1950s. As Gitte, she became one of the most famous Schlager singers of the German and Danish languages.

Rita Pavone
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/380. Photo: Teldec / Winkler / RCA.

Rita Pavone (1945) was one of the biggest teenage stars in Europe during the 1960s, and one of the few Italian pop stars to gain a foothold in the American market. Pavone also starred in several 'Musicarellos'.

Heidelinde Weis
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/381. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

Attractive Austrian actress Heidelinde Weis (1940-2023) appeared in several European films in the 1960s. She was a respected theatre actress in the German-speaking countries, where she also regularly appears in TV films and series.

Marisa Mell
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/407. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

Curvaceous Austrian actress Marisa Mell (1939-1992) became a cult figure of 1960s Italian B-films. Her most famous role is criminal mastermind Eva Kant in Mario Bava’s Diabolik (1968).

Dunja Rajter
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/408. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

Croatian singer and actress Dunja Rajter (1946) is a dark-haired beauty who had a successful career in Germany from 1963 on. To film fans she is probably best known for her roles as a squaw in two Winnetou Westerns.

Hildegard Knef
German postcard by Rüdel Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Lothar Winkler, Berlin.

Rebellious, gravel-voiced actress, chanteuse and author Hildegard Knef (1925-2002) was one of the most important film stars of post-war Germany. She also appeared in foreign films and on Broadway, billed as Hildegard(e) Neff. Her outspokenness often caused unease in a country eager to please. Germany’s sole diva led a roller coaster life full of successes and sufferings.

Sources: Anna Reimann (Spiegel - German), Martina (B.Z. Die Stimme Berlins - German), Hipp-Foto and IMDb.

06 July 2025

Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan (1961) is an American film actress. She is best known for her roles as quirky, charismatic women in romantic comedies such as When Harry Met Sally... (1989) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993). These blockbusters made her one of Hollywood's most bankable stars during the 1990s. She has also directed a few films since 2015.

Meg Ryan
Vintage postcard.

Meg Ryan
British postcard by Heroes Publishing LTD, London, no. SPC 2834.

A faked orgasm in a roadside restaurant


Meg Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1961. She is the daughter of Harry Hyra and Susan Jordan, née Duggan and sister of Dana, Andrew and Annie Hyra. In 1974, the family moved to nearby Bethel, where her father taught maths at a high school. Her mother was a former actress and English teacher. After their mother walked out in 1976, Meg and her siblings grew up with their father.

She graduated from Bethel High School in 1979 and studied Journalism at the University of Connecticut and later communications at New York University. Her mother, who now worked as an acting teacher, got her appearances in television adverts to finance her studies.

After being accepted into the Screen Actors Guild, she decided to perform from then on under the stage name Meg Ryan, her maternal grandmother's maiden name. In 1981, she made her film debut as Candice Bergen's daughter in the drama Rich and Famous (George Cukor, 1981). Then she got the regular role of Betsy in the daytime Soap Opera As the World Turns (1982-1984). Her success as an actress led her to leave college a semester before she planned to graduate.

In 1984, she moved to Hollywood and landed a supporting role in the action film Top Gun (Tony Scott, 1986) starring Tom Cruise. It became a major box office hit, which led to the role of Dennis Quaid's girlfriend in the delicious Science Fiction film Innerspace (Joe Dante, 1987). In real life, the two also got into a relationship and married on Valentine's Day 1991.

In 1989, her big break came with her first leading role in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (Rob Reiner, 1989) opposite comic actor Billy Crystal. The scene in which she fakes an orgasm in a roadside restaurant instantly became a classic. For her role, Ryan received nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award. It also formed the basis of her subsequent film career: most of the major films Ryan would star in were romantic comedies à la When Harry Met Sally....

Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry met Sally... (1989)
British postcard by Odeon Cinemas. Photo: Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry met Sally... (Rob Reiner, 1989). Caption: Season's Greetings from Harry and Sally, and everyone at Odeon Cinemas. The hit comedy of the year, starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan. When Harry Met Sally..., a new comedy by Rob Reiner. "A clear winner", Jonathan King - The Sun. "Touching, hilarious, honest...There hasn't been a more satisfying film this year" - 20/20. At Odeon Cinemas from Jan 5th.

Meg Ryan
Vintage autograph card.

Most favourite female movie star of 1999


Meg Ryan played three roles in the comedy Joe Versus the Volcano (John Patrick Shanley, 1990), with Tom Hanks. It was the first film of a successful collaboration between the two actors. The two would go on to successfully star together in the wildly successful Sleepless in Seattle (Nora Ephron, 1993). The romantic comedy cashed over 220 million US dollars worldwide, and Meg received a second Golden Globe nomination for her part.

With her role as the wife of Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer) in The Doors (Oliver Stone, 1991), Ryan proved she could do more than just romantic comedies. In 1994, she played an alcoholic high-school guidance counsellor in When a Man Loves a Woman (Luis Mandoki, 1994) opposite Andy Garcia. The film and her performance were both well-received by critics. Two years later, Ryan starred as a helicopter pilot in the war drama Courage Under Fire (Edward Zwick, 1996) opposite Denzel Washington. In the following year, she was the voice of Anastasia in the animated film Anastasia (Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, 1997), about the Russian Tsar's Romanov family.

Although these films were successful, audiences and critics still appeared to prefer Ryan in romantic films. Big blockbusters were French Kiss (Lawrence Kasdan, 1995) with Kevin Kline, and the fantasy City of Angels (Brad Silberling, 1998) with Nicolas Cage, an American remake of Wim Wenders' Der Himmel über Berlin / Wings of Desire (1985). Her biggest hit was You've Got Mail (Nora Ephron, 1998) again with Tom Hanks. It made more than $250 million worldwide. This inspired remake of Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner (1940) earned her her third Golden Globe nomination. That year, she was voted 'most favourite female movie star' by the readers of People magazine.

In 2000, Ryan got into a relationship with Russell Crowe on the set of the film Proof of Life (Taylor Hackford, 2000). Almost simultaneously, Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid announced they were divorcing. Their divorce became official in 2001. That year, she once again appeared in a romantic comedy, the charming Kate & Leopold (James Mangold, 2001) with Hugh Jackman. At a total gross of $70 million, it would be Ryan's highest-grossing film of the decade. In 2003, Ryan seemed to break with her well-behaved image for good by starring in the erotic thriller In the Cut (Jane Campion, 2003). Ryan appeared nude in a lengthy and rather graphic love scene for the first time in her career. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival but failed with critics and grossed only $23 million in cinemas

In 2008, she played the role of Mary Haines in The Women (Diane English, 2008), a role that Norma Shearer also played in 1939. The Women received a disastrous response from critics but was a commercial success. In 2015, she made her debut as a director with Ithaca (Meg Ryan, 2015), in which she also starred. Eight years later, it was followed by the romantic comedy What Happens Later (Meg Ryan, 2023) with David Duchovny. Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid have a son together, Jack Quaid, born in 1992. In 2006, Ryan adopted a 14-month-old girl from China, Daisy True Ryan. Between 2010 and 2019, she was in a relationship with rock musician John Mellencamp.

Meg Ryan
Belgian postcard in the 'De 50 mooiste vrouwen van de eeuw' (The 50 most beautiful women of the century) series by P-Magazine, no. 39. Photo: Outline.

Meg Ryan
British postcard by Heroes Publishing LTD, London, no. SPC 2934.

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.

05 July 2025

La Collectionneuse: Gail Patrick

Elegant dark-haired beauty Gail Patrick was no conventional heroine and never hesitated to play unsympathetic, scheming, nasty, calculating or haughty characters during her career. But she never really took to a liking to acting. After she left movies, she went into the business world and was notably one of the first women to become a television producer. Raymond Burr, star of the Perry Mason series, once said of her: "Gail is the most fantastic woman I know. She is the closest thing to a dream I’ve met in this business." About her new career as a producer, Gail Patrick allegedly declared: "I’ve never felt self-conscious as a woman dealing with men. I think it’s because the men are concerned, as I am, only with the business at hand. I guess you’d say we meet on a mental level."

Gail Patrick
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9326/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Paramount.

Gail Patrick
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9590/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Paramount.

The Panther Woman contest


Gail Patrick was born as Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick on the 20th of June 1911 in Birmingham, U.S.A.

After graduating from Howard College, she entered the University of Alabama to become a lawyer. The time she spent there would serve her later in her business career.

While still at school, she entered on a lark a contest sponsored in 1932 by Paramount to find the ideal actress to play the Panther Woman in the movie Island of Lost Souls (1932). She was among the four finalists, but it was eventually Kathleen Burke who was chosen for the part.

However, Gail Patrick was awarded a Paramount contract. A determined woman, she succeeded in convincing the company not to ask her to pose for cheesecake pictures.

Gail Patrick
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1317/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Paramount.

Gail Patrick
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 840.

Cornelia Bullock and Linda Shaw: two defining characters


Gail Patrick made her film debut in a bit part in If I Had a Million (1932) and, gradually, got more important roles.

After having notably played opposite Randolph Scott in Wagon Wheels (1934) or Melvyn Douglas in The Lone Wolf Returns (1935), she got a big break as Cornelia Bullock, Carole Lombard’s frosty and condescending sister, in My Man Godfrey (1936) at Universal.

Another important role was that of cynical and bitchy would-be actress Linda Shaw in R.K.O.’s Stage Door (1937).

Her other films from the end of the 1930s include Her Husband Lies (1937), Mad About Music (1938), as Deanna Durbin’s mother, Dangerous to Know (1938), Wives Under Suspicion (1938) and Disbarred (1939). Her stay at Paramount ended with Grand Jury Secrets (1939).

Gail Patrick
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 2539. Photo: Paramount.

Gail Patrick
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2269/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Paramount.

Her career in the 1940s


Gail Patrick then freelanced and appeared in such films as Gallant Sons (1940), Quiet Please, Murder (1942), Women in Bondage (1943), Up in Mabel’s Room (1944), and Brewster’s Millions (1945).

Her most famous film from this period is probably the brilliant Screwball comedy My Favourite Wife (1940), opposite Irene Dunne and Cary Grant.

Patrick ended her movie career at Republic in run-of-the-mill pictures such as The Madonna’s Secret (1946), Rendezvous with Annie (1946), Plainsman at the Lady (1946), and Calendar Girl (1947).

The Inside Story (1948) marked her last appearance on the screen.

Gail Patrick
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2473/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Paramount.

Gail Patrick
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 2497. Photo: Paramount.

Perry Mason


Gail Patrick had never been that passionate about acting, so she decided to turn into a businesswoman. In Beverly Hills, she opened a children’s clothing shop called 'The Enchanted Cottage' and ran it for several years. For this achievement, she was named 'Woman of the Year' in 1950 by Woodbury Business College.

From 1957 to 1966, she was executive producer of the successful television series Perry Mason. It was not a facade job: she handled contract negotiation with CBS, was instrumental in the casting of the leading players, reviewed scripts and supervised other aspects of the production.

She was executive consultant on the new Perry Mason series (September 1973 - January 1974), which failed to catch on. Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale, who were strongly identified with the Perry Mason and Della Street characters, had been replaced by other actors, and audiences never took to the new casting.

Gail Patrick then retired and concentrated on charitable duties.

Gail Patrick
Italian postcard by Fotocelere, Torino, no. 74. Photo: Paramount.

Gail Patrick
Promotional card issued by Ross Verlag for Turkish chocolate brand Liomel Cikolatasi. Photo: Paramount.

Her four marriages


In 1936, Gail Patrick married Robert Cobb, the owner of the famous Brown Derby restaurant. They divorced in 1940.

Her next husband was Arnold Dean White, a U.S. Navy lieutenant. They married in 1944 but, after she had lost twins at birth in 1945, they divorced in 1946.

In 1947, she remarried to advertising executive Cornwall Jackson, with whom she would form in the 1950s the Paisano production company, alongside Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of the Perry Mason character. The couple adopted two children, Thomas and Jennifer, and divorced in 1969.

Her last marriage, to businessman John Velde Jr., occurred in 1974. They stayed married until her death from leukaemia on the 6th of July 1980.

Gail Patrick
Spanish postcard, Serie 4021, no. 126.

Gail Patrick
Latvian postcard by Upitis, Riga, no. 389. Photo: Paramount.

Several of Gail Patrick’s achievements


From 1960 to 1962, Gail Patrick was Vice-President of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and President of its Hollywood chapter. It was the first time that a woman was given such a leadership position by the Academy.

In 1970, she was named National Honorary Chairman of the American Lung Association’s Christmas Seals campaign. In 1973, she became the first National Chairman of the American Diabetes Association board of directors.

Upon her death, a $1 million bequest from the Gail Patrick Velde trust was given to her sorority, Delta Zeta, at Howard College (now Samford University).

In 2008, in her honour, the fully equipped Gail Patrick Soundstage opened at the Columbia College Hollywood (now California College of ASU), where she once had been a member of the Board of Trustees.

Deanna Durbin, Gail Patrick and Herbert Marshall in Mad About Music (1938)
Postcard from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Deanna Durbin, Gail Patrick and Herbert Marshall in Mad About Music (Norman Taurog, 1938).

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.

04 July 2025

Kenneth Spencer

American operatic singer and actor Kenneth Spencer (1911-1964) starred in a few Broadway musicals and musical films in the United States during the 1940s. Frustrated with the racial prejudice he experienced in the United States as a black man, Spencer moved to West Germany in 1950, where he had a successful singing career. He also appeared in several German films. His career was cut short when he died in the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 304 in 1964.

Kenneth Spencer
West German postcard by Agfa, no. 527.

Kenneth Spencer
West German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 410. Photo: Columbia.

Only allowed to enter hotels through the back entrance


Kenneth Lee Spencer was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1911 (according to some sources 1913). He was the son of a steelworker and initially trained as a gardener. Against his father's wishes, he took private vocal lessons while working as a gardener. Eventually, he caught the attention of the tenor Roland Hayes who helped him to get a scholarship at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester.

After completing his four-year vocal studies in 1938, Spencer tried to get a performing career going but met many obstacles due to racial prejudice in the United States. In 1938 he sang in the Federal Music Project NBC Blue radio opera 'Gettysburg', first at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, then at the Hollywood Bowl. In 1940 he was the understudy for Paul Robeson in the short-lived Broadway musical 'John Henry'. His professional recital debut in 1941 at New York City's Town Hall followed this.

During the early 1940s, Spencer made his first major successes in California as a Hollywood Bowl concert artist and radio performer. This led to his being cast in significant parts in two MGM films in 1943, the musical Cabin in the Sky (Vincente Minnelli, 1943) where he shared the screen with Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, and Louis Armstrong, and the War film Bataan (Tay Garnett, 1943) starring Robert Taylor.

Spencer also sang offscreen the commenting ballad in A Walk in the Sun (Lewis Milestone, 1945). He returned to Broadway to portray Joe in the critically acclaimed 1946 revival of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's 'Show Boat', where he sang 'Ol' Man River'. The revival was highly successful, running almost exactly a year, and this was remarkable at the time for a revival of a play or musical. This was the first American production of 'Show Boat' to receive a full-fledged Broadway cast album, rather than just a studio cast recording.

Despite his popularity, Kenneth Spencer was repeatedly discriminated against as a black man in the USA and was only allowed to enter hotels through the back entrance, for example. Through his performances, Spencer supported organisations that worked to improve the legal and social situation of the African-American population, for example in 1941 for the ‘Harlem Committee of the Community Service Society’ and in 1946, already as an established artist, at an event organised by the National Negro Congress.

Kenneth Spencer
West German promotion card by Columbia, no. DrW 2886 c.

Kenneth Spencer
West German postcard by Kolibri Verlag, no. 2226. Photo: H.D. / Europa / Czerwonski. Kenneth Spencer in Mein Bruder Josua / My Brother Joshua (Hans Deppe, 1956).

Popularity in France and Germany


In 1949 Kenneth Spencer's life changed after performing in Europe for the first time at the International Music Festival in Nice. The European public responded with enthusiasm to his performance and he was soon getting offers to perform all over Europe. It was the first time Spencer experienced a working environment and culture not hindered by racial prejudice.

In Paris, he met the white American journalist Josephine Clarke. However, the two did not marry until they were living in Europe, as marriage between a white woman and a man of colour was a criminal offence in more than half of the US states at the time. In 1953, Spencer became the father of a son. In 1950 he returned to Europe to sing in several radio broadcasts with the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française and perform in several highly lauded concerts in Berlin, including performances with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Spencer was so enamoured with the German public and frustrated with the meagre opportunities he found as a black artist in America that he moved his family to Wuppertal, West Germany in late 1950. Spencer spent the next 14 years in Germany performing in concerts, operas and plays. In 1951, he performed in the French film Les joyeux pélerins/The Merry Pilgrims (Fred Pasquali, 1951) starring Aimé Barelli and his orchestra. He also appeared in a few German films such as Tanzende Sterne/Dancing Stars (Géza von Cziffra, 1952) starring Germaine Damar, An jedem Finger zehn/Ten on Every Finger (Erik Ode, 1954) and Mein Bruder Josua/My Brother Joshua (Hans Deppe, 1956) starring Willy A. Kleinau and Ingrid Andree. His final film role was in the West German adventure film Unser Haus in Kamerun/Our House in Cameroon (Alfred Vohrer, 1961) starring Johanna von Koczian and Götz George.

His ability to perform not only Spirituals and classical music but also folk songs in their original languages (French, German, Italian, Russian, Hebrew) won him much popularity in France and post-war Germany. He made many recordings with Columbia Masterworks Records during the 1950s and 1960s which consisted of classical music, spirituals, and folk songs. In 1964, Kenneth Spencer travelled to the United States without his family to support the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with a concert tour.

On the return flight, the Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-8 crashed over Lake Pontchartrain in the Mississippi estuary after a stopover in New Orleans. It happened shortly after take-off on 25 February 1964 at 02:06 local time. All 58 occupants of the aircraft, including Spencer and the French women's rights activist Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux, were killed. The passengers were only recovered from the water weeks later. The final findings of the CAB/NTSB were issued in 1966, indicating that the aircraft encountered severe turbulence from which there was insufficient altitude to recover. Kenneth Spencer was 52.

Kenneth Spencer in An Jedem Finger Zehn (1954)
West German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1255. Photo: Melodie / Herzog-Film / Arthur Grimm. Kenneth Spencer in An Jedem Finger Zehn / Ten on Every Finger (Erik Ode, 1954).

Kenneth Spencer in An Jedem Finger Zehn (1954)
West German postcard by Kolibri Verlag G.m.b. H., Minden/Westf., no. 1333. Photo: Melodie / Herzog-Film / Arthur Grimm. Kenneth Spencer in An Jedem Finger Zehn / Ten on Every Finger (Erik Ode, 1954).

Sources: Find A Grave, Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.