Elke Sommer (1940-2026)

Gorgeous German actress and sex symbol Elke Sommer (1940-2026)) made 99 film and television appearances between 1959 and 2005. With her trademark pouty lips, high cheekbones and sky-high bouffant hairdos, Sommer conquered Hollywood in the early 1960s. She was also one of the most popular pin-up girls of the sixties, posed twice for Playboy and had a long-running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/157. Photo: UFA.


Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, offered by Korès Carboplan, no. C-157, 1964. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for The Prize (Mark Robson, 1963).


Spanish postcard by Ediciones Tarjefher, no. 5.008, 1964.


German postcard by ISV, no. T-8.


Belgian postcard by S. Best, Antwerp, for Victoria chocolates, no. 29.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/347. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Miss Viareggio Turistica

Elke Sommer was born Elke Schletz in 1940 in Berlin to a Lutheran Minister, Baron Peter von Schletz, and his wife, Renata Topp. In 1942, the family was forced to evacuate to Niederndorf, a village near Erlangen, a small university town in southern Germany.

Her father's death in 1955, when she was only 14, interrupted her education at the local Gymnasium (high school). In 1957, she graduated high school and moved to England. There she worked as an au pair in Chigwell and Hampstead, two expensive residential areas of London. She entertained plans to become a diplomatic translator for the United Nations, but instead decided to try modelling.

After winning the title 'Miss Viareggio Turistica' in 1958 while in Italy with her mother, she caught the attention of renowned film actor/director Vittorio De Sica and began performing on screen. Her debut film was in the Italian feature Uomini e nobiluomini / Men and Noblemen (Giorgio Bianchi, 1959), starring De Sica. Elke changed her surname from 'Schletz' to 'Sommer', easier for a non-German audience. A few more Italian pictures followed, including her first starring role in Femmine di lusso / Love, the Italian Way (Giorgio Bianchi, 1960) with Ugo Tognazzi and Walter Chiari.

Within two years, Elke made five films in Italy and also two in West Germany. Her German films were the adventure Das Totenschiff / Ship of the Dead (Georg Tressler, 1959) with Horst Buchholz, and the interesting Film Noir Am Tag, als der Regen kam / The Day It Rained (Gerd Oswald, 1959) starring Mario Adorf. Her status gradually upgraded to a European sex symbol in films such as the sexy De quoi tu te mêles Daniela! / Daniella by Night (Max Pécas, 1961) with Ivan Desny, Douce violence / Sweet Ecstasy (Max Pécas, 1962) opposite Pierre Brice, and the drama Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt / The Girl and the Prosecutor (Jürgen Goslar, 1962).

Her first English-language picture was Don't Bother to Knock (Cyril Frankel, 1961) with Richard Todd and Nicole Maurey. Most publicity photographs for Don't Bother to Knock showed her in a bikini. These revealed that although she was nothing like as buxom as Sophia Loren or Jayne Mansfield, Elke had a flat stomach and superb legs.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 4626. Gebr. Spanjersberg was the Dutch licensee for the Ufa/Film-Fotopostcards. Photo: Georg Michalke / Ufa.


West German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 4116. Photo: Rialto / Constantin / Reiter.


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4982. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 502.


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


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 1127 A. Photo: J.L. Castelli.


West-German postcard by Kolibri (Friedrich W. Sander-Verlag), Minden/Westf., no. 2352.

With Peter Sellers in a nudist camp

Elke Sommer moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s to try and tap into the foreign-born market. Her sexy innocence made a vivid impression in the all-star, war-themed drama The Victors (Carl Foreman, 1963) with Vince Edwards and Albert Finney.

She received considerable publicity when she filmed her scenes twice, with a sexier version made for the European market. Elke played a German girl who sexually gratifies her American boyfriend (George Hamilton) with the full knowledge of her parents because he brings chocolate to the family home.

In 1964 she won the Golden Globe as Most Promising Female Newcomer for The Prize (Mark Robson, 1963), an espionage thriller with Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson.

In the classic, bumbling comedy A Shot in the Dark (Blake Edwards, 1964), the second entry in the hilarious Pink Panther series, she proved a shady and sexy foil to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau. A scene with Sellers and Elke in a nudist camp received enormous publicity, and the film was a huge hit.

Besides becoming one of the top film stars of the mid-1960s, Sommer was also one of the most popular pin-up girls of the time. She posed for two spreads in Playboy: in the September 1964 issue and in the December 1967 issue.


German postcard by ISV, no. Sort 8/6.


German postcard by ISV, no. Sort 16/6.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 900/300. Photo: Georg Michalke.


German postcard by UFA (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 438. Photo: Herbert Fried / UFA.


German postcard by UFA (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 407. Photo: Georg Michalke / UFA.


Vintage collector card, no. 24.

Lingerie or lederhosen

Elke Sommer was the leading lady opposite hunky sixties stars like James Garner, Robert Vaughn and Dean Martin in Hollywood productions such as the crime melodrama The Art of Love (Norman Jewison, 1965), The Money Trap (Burt Kennedy, 1965), The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), The Venetian Affair (Jerry Thorpe, 1967), and the Matt Helm spy spoof The Wrecking Crew (Phil Karlson, 1969).

The blonde and beautiful Sommer proved irresistible to American audiences whether adorned in lace or leather, donning lingerie or lederhosen. She also continued to make films in Europe.

The Euro-Western Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) was based on one of the Winnetou novels by Karl May. Her co-stars were Stewart Granger as Old Surehand, Götz George and Pierre Brice as Winnetou.

In 1966 she returned to England to work on the Bulldog Drummond extravaganza Deadlier Than the Male (Ralph Thomas, 1968). The film has minor cult status, mainly because Richard Johnson gives a superb James Bond-like performance, but also because Elke and Sylva Koscina were so eye-catching as two sexually-charged assassins.

Always a diverting attraction in spy intrigue or breezy comedy, she was too often misused. Setbacks started when the quality of her films began to deteriorate. Examples were the tacky Hollywood entry, The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966) with Stephen Boyd, and the Bob Hope misfire, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (George Marshall, 1966). Her title role in the tasteless Cold War comedy The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (George Marshall, 1968) proved her undoing.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 13. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Götz George.


German postcard, no. 13. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman. Caption: The watchful Annie secretly observes the vulture Weller, who has crept as a Mormon preacher onto Baumann's farm. Allegedly, he is supposed to look after the diamond trek to Arizona. By a flippant remark from Old Wabble, he learns of Annie's treasure.


German postcard, no. 20. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: The adventurous Annie would have liked to be there. While Martin is at work, two vultures are chasing in a wild gallop. Annie still does not know what will be imminent in the next few minutes.


German postcard, no. 23. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman. Caption: Bravely, Annie defends herself against the bandits who surround her on all sides. She is locked up in a room on the first floor. In vain she tries to explain to the vultures that she does not carry the money at all.


German postcard, no. 41. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman and Götz George as Martin Bauman Jr. Caption: From a hill, Annie and Martin watch the settlers' camp. They do not know yet that several members of the vulture gang have crept unnoticed into the trek.


West German postcard, no. 63. Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Götz George and Elke Sommer in Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Martin has realised that Annie is more than just a pretty girl. They have both decided to start a new life together, because Baumann’s ranch needs a new mistress.

Vomiting live frogs and insects.

Elke Sommer spoke seven languages fluently, and her career took her to scores of countries over time. Her films during the 1970s included the British World War I action-drama Zeppelin (Étienne Périer, 1971) in which she co-starred with Michael York and Anton Diffring, and a remake of Agatha Christie's oft-filmed murder mystery 'Ten Little Indians', And Then There Were None (Peter Collinson, 1974) with Richard Attenborough and Oliver Reed.

In 1972, she starred in two low-budget Italian Horror films directed by Mario Bava, which became cult classics. Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga / Baron Blood (Mario Bava, 1972) with Joseph Cotten turned out to be an international box office success, particularly in the U.S. Producer Alfredo Leone offered Bava a contract for another film, Lisa e il diavolo / Lisa and the Devil (Mario Bava, 1973) with Telly Savalas, and granted Bava total artistic control on it.

Lisa e il diavolo was later re-edited into a very different film called Casa dell'esorcismo / House of Exorcism, a rip-off of The Exorcist. In 1975, Elke returned to Italy for additional scenes, which the producer inserted against the director's wishes. In those scenes, a demonic Elke swears obscenities at her exorcist, and in typical Linda Blair style spits out pea soup and actually vomits live frogs and insects.

In England, she good-naturedly appeared in the ‘comedy’ films Percy (Ralph Thomas, 1971) and its equally cheeky sequel Percy's Progress (Ralph Thomas, 1974), which starred Hywel Bennett (later Leigh Lawson) as the first man to have a penis transplant. She also showed up in a ‘Carry On’ farce, Carry on Behind (Gerald Thomas, 1975) as the Russian Professor Anna Vrooshka.

In Germany, Elke Sommer appeared in Edgar Reitz’s Die Reise nach Wien / The Trip to Vienna (1973) with Hannelore Elsner, and in Wolfgang Petersen’s thriller Einer von uns beiden / One or the Other (1974) opposite Klaus Schwarzkopf and Jürgen Prochnow.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. R 259.


Italian postcard. Photo: DEAR Film. Publicity still for Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (George Marshall, 1966).


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1091. Photo: Anders.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/269.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/169. Photo: Fried Agency.


Yugoslavian postcard by Cik Razglednica.

Long-running feud

From the mid-1970s, Elke Sommer worked more for TV. She appeared as a guest star in popular series such as The Six Million Dollar Man (1976), Fantasy Island (1981) and The Love Boat (1981, 1984). She played in the Mini-Series Inside the Third Reich (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1982), Jenny's War (Steve Gethers, 1985), Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1986) and Peter the Great (Marvin J. Chomsky, Lawrence Schiller, 1986).

Sommer had a long-running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars and escalated into a multi-million dollar libel suit by 1993. Gabor and her husband made disparaging remarks about Sommer to several German publications. The jury ruled in favour of Sommer, and Gabor and her husband were sentenced to pay $2 million. Sommer also appeared as a cabaret singer and released several albums. She found a creative outlet on stage too with such vehicles as 'Irma la Douce' and 'Born Yesterday', eventually becoming a director. Sadly, while performing in 'Chicago', she lost twins in her sixth month of pregnancy.

Since the 1990s, she has concentrated more on writing and painting than on acting. Her artwork shows a strong influence from Marc Chagall. She even hosted a TV series on painting. Nevertheless, she tackled an acting role occasionally. Out of the blue, she was cast in a Fangoria magazine production, the Horror picture Severed Ties (1992). In her native Germany, she played in the TV film Ewig rauschen die Gelder / Eternally Rustling Funds (Rene Heinersdorff, 2005) and the comedy Das Leben ist zu lang (Dani Levy, 2010) with Markus Hering and Meret Becker.

Divorced from writer and journalist Joe Hyams, she married hotelier Wolf Walther in 1993. In a 2014 interview, Sommer described how she met him: "I was in New York City starring in 'Tamara' and had to stay there for four months. So, I had to find an apartment, but they were excruciatingly expensive, tiny and loud. I knew the managing director of the Essex House and wanted to talk to him about renting a room, but the hotel had a new managing director, a man called Wolf Walther. So we met. For him, it was love at first sight. For me, it took a little longer, but not much longer. As you may know, 'Tamara' is a play in which the audience follows the actor of their choice, and as you may also know, my husband is 6'5" and hard to miss. I saw him every night in the audience, following me. Every night. And that was the beginning of the greatest love story of my life, still unfolding and getting better by the day."

Elke Sommer died in 2026 of heart failure at her home in Bel Air, near Los Angeles, a few months after the death of her husband, Wolf Walther. Looking back, Sommer felt she had had a wonderful career, in which “I played all sorts of roles, from a prostitute to a nun”. She was satisfied with how she had developed as an actress. “I’ve become quite good, thanks to my stage work, by taking my work seriously and simply by living long enough.”


Vintage photo. Mario Adorf and Elke Sommer in Am Tag als der Regen kam / The Day It Rained (Gerd Oswald, 1959).


American trailer De quoi tu te mêles, Daniela! / Daniella by Night (1961). Source: Deathtrap Trailers (YouTube).


Trailer The Prize (1963). Source: InnuMaccaband (YouTube).


Trailer A Shot in the Dark (1964). Source: Movieclips Classic Trailers (YouTube).


Scene from Deadlier Than The Male (1968). Source: Fan90042 (YouTube).


Trailer Casa dell'esorcismo / House of Exorcism (1975). Source: trailersdaculto (YouTube).

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), NOS (Dutch), Cult Sirens (Now defunct), Brian’s Drive-in Theatre, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

La Collectionneuse: Evelyn Nesbit

Evelyn Nesbit was involved in a famous case which made headlines at the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1906, her husband, Harry K. Thaw, shot noted architect Stanford White dead.

When you write about Evelyn Nesbit, it should be noted that the main sources of information about her early life and the years before the murder come in fact from Evelyn herself, through her testimonies at the two trials, through her 1914 and 1934 memoirs or through various interviews.

Of course, Stanford White never spoke publicly about his affair with Evelyn. As for Harry Thaw, he published a book in 1926, in which he vilified Stanford White, lauded Evelyn, criticised her mother, presented himself as a chivalrous hero, trying to protect young and innocent girls from rich perverts, and insisted he had never been insane. Unsurprisingly, the mention of his brutal assault on a 19-year-old boy in 1916 was carefully omitted from his book.

To our knowledge, Evelyn’s mother, who, at best, had been described as naive and unwitting or, at worst, as unfit and calculating, has never made any in-depth public statement. Anyway, her daughter always defended her.

The affair made Evelyn a shady character. As far as the proponents of morality were concerned, her fate was sealed, and her reputation was stained for good. In a 1920 interview, Evelyn complained about it: "Is there no forgiveness for a woman? Must I go through life with the stain of Harry Thaw and Stanford White forever on my forehead?" Unfortunately, deep within herself, she probably knew the answer …


Australian postcard by T. Shaw Fitchett, Melbourne. Caption: "Head and Hearts" Packet. Evelyn Nesbit sketched by famous illustrator Charles Dana Gibson. This artwork was called “The Eternal Question”. Evelyn’s hairstyle is curved into the shape of a question mark.

A family in financial trouble

Evelyn Nesbit was born as Florence Evelyn Nesbit or Florence Mary Nesbit on the 25th of December 1884 or 1885 in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Her parents were Winfield Scott Nesbit and Evelyn Florence McKenzie, and she had a younger brother, Howard.

Her father died when she was about ten years old, and the family was left penniless. The ensuing years were difficult times.

In 1898, her mother left for Philadelphia, where she found work as a sales clerk at Wanamaker’s department store.

She soon arranged for her children to come live with her and found them menial jobs at Wanamaker.


British postcard by Philco Publishing Co., no. 3323A. Caption: Mrs. Harry K. Thaw.

Successful model

Evelyn’s beauty didn’t go unnoticed, and she began to successfully pose for artists. Her steady income soon persuaded her mother to allow Evelyn to become a professional model.

In 1900, Mrs. Nesbit left for New York and, in December, her two children also relocated there.

Evelyn started to pose for noted painter James Carroll Beckwith, and this led to other modelling work.

She was soon much in demand by illustrators, painters and photographers. Women’s magazines steadily used her image and her likeness graced postcards, calendars and advertisements.

In mid-1901, she joined the cast of the popular Broadway show 'Florodora' as a chorus girl.


British postcard by H.V. & Co. Card A. Caption: Miss Florence Evelyn Nesbitt (Mrs. Harry Thaw).

Stanford White

During the 'Florodora' run, she was introduced to famous architect Stanford White, who was in his late 40s and married.

He took a great interest in the young girl, soon moved Evelyn and her mother to a luxury apartment at the Wellington Hotel and offered to pay for younger brother Howard’s schooling in Chester County Academy. Mrs. Nesbit got along well with White and, according to Evelyn, considered him a thoughtful benefactor.

Evelyn later told how she had lost her virginity to White. She would claim that she had been sexually abused by White while she was unconscious after having been drinking. This would have happened when her mother had been paid a trip by White to visit friends in Pittsburgh and had left her daughter under his guardianship.

In any case, underage Evelyn and White started an affair. However, he dated other young female companions. Evelyn, herself, allegedly had an affair with John Barrymore.

Later she wrote: "Stanford White was a great man. That is how I see him after all these years. That he did me wrong, that from certain moral standards he was perverse and decadent, does not blind my judgement".


British postcard by H.V. & Co., Card B. Caption: Miss Florence Evelyn Nesbitt (Mrs. Harry Thaw).

Harry K. Thaw

From May to August 1902, Evelyn Nesbit was elevated to the rank of featured player, as gypsy girl Vashti, in the Broadway musical 'The Wild Rose'.

An avid spectator of the show was Harry K. Thaw, the son of a very wealthy Pittsburgh railroad baron who had died in 1889. He was an unbalanced young man who allegedly had been once expelled from Harvard for 'immoral practices' and was spoiled by his overprotective mother.

In New York, he had applied to several elite men’s clubs but had been turned down. The paranoid Thaw was convinced he had been blackballed by certain influential members and came to blame Stanford White in particular.

Thaw became obsessed with Evelyn and managed to be introduced to her.

In the autumn of 1902, she was sent to a boarding school by her mother and Stanford White. Before she left, Thaw made his first marriage proposal, which she rejected. Other declined proposals would follow over the next two years.


British postcard by Rotary Photo E.C., no. 4411F. Caption: Mrs. Thaw.

A fateful trip to Europe

After an appendectomy in late April 1903, Harry Thaw offered Evelyn and her mother a long trip to Europe to help the young girl recover faster.

The tour wouldn't go on as smoothly as Evelyn had hoped.

Evelyn’s mother soon grew dissatisfied. After it was decided that Mrs. Nesbit would stay in London, Evelyn and Thaw went to Paris.

There, under great pressure from a persistent Thaw, Evelyn allegedly confessed to him every detail of her relationship with Stanford White, which left him in shock.

Mrs. Nesbit finally decided to return to America, leaving her daughter behind. Evelyn and Thaw continued to travel. He soon took her to a castle in Austria-Hungary, where, according to Evelyn, he sadistically assaulted her and beat her with a whip. However, the trip continued into September 1903, and Evelyn finally came back to New York in October.


British postcard by Philco Publishing Co., no. 3319E. Caption: Mrs. Harry K. Thaw.

Marriage

After much pleading on Thaw’s part, Evelyn finally agreed to see him again.

He assured her that she would never be again the victim of his violent behaviour, which he said to have been caused by her confession.

From December 1903 to January 1904, she was briefly back on Broadway in 'The Girl from Dixie'.

Throughout 1904, Thaw pursued his intensive wooing of Evelyn and succeeded in getting back into her good graces. She eventually agreed to marry him, and the ceremony took place in April 1905.

If the young girl had hoped to live a quiet life, it was not to be the case as Thaw’s hatred of Stanford White had increased over the years.


British postcard by Rotary Photo E.C., no. 4411K. Caption: Mrs. Thaw.

Murder

On the 25th of June 1906, Harry Thaw shot Stanford White dead at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden, during a performance of the show 'Mamzelle Champagne'. The press went wild, and the case made headlines.

A first trial opened on the 23rd of January 1907. Evelyn testified in February, mentioning notably the circumstances of her deflowering by White. It ended in a deadlocked jury on the 11th of April. Seven had voted guilty, and five voted not guilty on the ground of insanity. The strategy trying to make the murder appear as a justifiable crime had failed.

The defence had wrongly thought that the notions of 'Unwritten Law' and of 'Dementia Americana' would help Thaw to be acquitted. The 'Unwritten Law' was the supposed and informal principle of the right to use violence to avenge wrongs against family honour. 'Dementia Americana' was an alleged form of temporary dementedness leading to aggression that takes hold of a man who believes the honour of his family has been violated.

A second trial opened in the beginning of January 1908. This time, the defence took another approach and clearly pleaded a plain case of insanity, choosing to focus on Thaw’s troubled mental history. Reports and testimonies of Thaw’s deranged past behaviour were produced. It worked. In February, Thaw was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to an asylum.

Almost immediately, Thaw, greatly discontented with having been adjudged as a lunatic, began a campaign to have himself declared sane, but it would take him more time than expected.


British postcard by Rapid Photo Printing Co. Ltd., no. 3832A. Caption: Miss Florence Nesbit (Mrs. Harry Kendall Thaw).

Found insane a second time

In October 1910, Evelyn Nesbit gave birth to a son, Russell, in Germany. She claimed that her pregnancy was the result of a conjugal visit with Harry Thaw at the asylum, but he strongly denied it and never accepted the boy as his biological child. Neither did the Thaw family, which had never been enthusiastic about Harry’s involvement with Evelyn. Russell Thaw would later appear in several of his mother’s films.

In August 1913, Harry Thaw escaped from his asylum and sought refuge in Canada. He was sent back to the U.S. a few weeks later. On the 16th of July 1915, a jury declared him sane and set him free.

On Christmas 1916, he savagely attacked and viciously whipped 19-year-old boy Frederick Gump in a hotel room. A most curious remark was made in the Harrisburg Daily Independent newspaper: "The boy is said by those who know him to have been finely formed almost effeminate in type, and to have singularly resembled Evelyn Nesbit in features".

Thaw was arrested in January 1917 and was indicted on charges of assault in the second degree. In March, he was found insane and sent again to an asylum. In January 1924, Gump agreed to settle his suit out of court. In April, Thaw was adjudged to be a sane man and was released. He would never go on trial for the Gump affair.

Thaw's later life was much quieter, and he was not involved in any serious legal trouble again.


British postcard by Rotary Photo E.C., no. 4411G. Caption: Mr. and Mrs. Thaw. Evelyn Nesbit and Harry Thaw never posed for this portrait, which is a composite of two different photos.

Back to the stage

In 1913, faced with financial problems, Evelyn Nesbit accepted the offer to appear in the revue 'Hullo, Ragtime!' in London and was teamed with experienced dancer Jack Clifford. Later that year, she successfully performed her dancing act at $1,750 a week at the Victoria Theatre in New York. The management netted a huge profit, and it helped to establish Evelyn as a drawing card in the world of vaudeville. She then went on tour for Comstock and Gest for the pricey sum of $3,250 a week.

Show business producers reckoned that Evelyn’s name had commercial value and that there was an audience which was ready to pay to see this notorious woman in flesh or on screen.

In 1914, she notably appeared at the Théâtre Marigny in Paris. The famous French magazine Comoedia wrote: "She has found the recognition of her truly remarkable talent in front of Parisian audiences".

During the season 1915-1916, her Vaudeville act with Jack Clifford included songs, ballroom specialities and acrobatic dancing. In mid-1917, the duo was booked by the Orpheum Circuit to perform in San Francisco and Los Angeles. At the end of the year, she appeared with a new dance partner, Bobby O’Neill, in « A Roseland Fantasy », a richly staged vaudeville performance.

After several years of estrangement, she legally divorced Thaw in 1916. She declared: "All I ask from him is that he leave me in peace to continue my stage career. I do not want his name, and I do not want his money". That same year, she married her dance partner, Jack Clifford. That union didn’t last long. They separated in 1918, and their divorce was finalised in 1933.


American postcard. Caption: Evelyn Nesbit Thaw "In a reverie".

Evelyn in films

In March 1907, Lubin released the short The Unwritten Law: A Thrilling Drama Based on the White Case, which depicted White as a lecher, taking advantage of young and innocent girls. It was an openly pro-Thaw movie and ended with his acquittal because he had killed in his wife’s honour. It was rather curious as the actual trial had not yet ended.

According to some sources, Evelyn Nesbit played herself in The Unwritten Law. Others strongly disagree. Let’s note that, if Evelyn really appeared in this film, it may seem weird that such a key witness in the trial would have appeared in a movie about the murder, even before a verdict had been rendered. Therefore, it would be more plausible that an unknown and unnamed performer portrayed Evelyn in this short.

In 1914, Evelyn made her official screen debut in Threads of Destiny. According to the Moving Picture World magazine, the movie packed theatres because "people are still interested in the notorious Thaw case". She then starred in two films produced and directed by Julius Steger: Redemption (1917), whose part of the plot bears a similarity to Evelyn’s own life, and Her Mistake (1918). Redemption was advertised as "A photo-drama of life depicted with relentless truth".

She next joined the Fox Film Corporation star rostrum and was featured in The Woman Who Gave (1918), I Want to Forget (1918), Woman, Woman! (1919), Thou Shalt Not! (1919), A Fallen Idol (1919) and My Little Sister (1919).

Her screen career ended with The Hidden Woman (1922), directed and produced by Allan Dwan.


British postcard by Lilywhite Ltd. in the Cinema Stars series, no. C.M.-76.

A singer in nightclubs

In 1925, she was hired as a star attraction at the Moulin Rouge Cafe in Chicago as a singer. In the same city, she would later appear at the Club Alabam several times. In January 1928, Billboard magazine mentioned her success at the Lido Venice in Boston with an act called 'Life’s Impressions'.

In the 1920s, she briefly ran a tea room, Chez Evelyn, in Manhattan, and the Evelyn Nesbit Club in Atlantic City.

In 1930, she performed at the famous Bilgray’s Garden, a major fixture of Panamanian nightlife.

But all didn’t go smoothly for Evelyn: there were suicide attempts in 1921 and 1926 and bouts with alcoholism and drug addiction.

Her last known stage appearance took place at the Club Alabam in 1939. By that time, she had somewhat become a relic of the past.


British postcard by Cinema Chat. Photo: Fox.

The Girl in a Red Velvet Swing

When Harry Thaw died in 1947, he left Evelyn $10,000, only a very tiny fraction of his estate.

In the 1940s, she studied at the Grant Beach School of Arts and Crafts in Los Angeles and later taught classes in sculpting and ceramics.

She was hired by 20th Century Fox to be a technical consultant on The Girl in a Red Velvet Swing (Richard Fleischer, 1955), a heavily fictionalised account of the events that had taken place some 50 years before. Evelyn, Stanford White and Harry Thaw were respectively portrayed by Joan Collins, Ray Milland and Farley Granger. The film title refers to a lavish indoor swing on which Evelyn had ridden in Stanford White’s apartment.

The White-Thaw-Nesbit triangle was also portrayed later in Miloš Forman’s Ragtime (1981), with Elizabeth McGovern as Evelyn.

In 1962, she would allegedly say: "I’m still interested in that world of art and music and beauty which Stanford White first showed me, so long ago". Evelyn Nesbit passed away on the 17th of January 1967, in a Santa Monica nursing home.


British postcard by Cinema Chat. Photo: F.B.O.

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.

Before Hollywood: Kalem

The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem was sold to Vitagraph Studios in 1917.


British postcard. Photo: Kalem.

Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed the "Madonna of the Screen". From 1910 on, she quickly rose to become one of the biggest stars of Kalem Studios. Joyce played mostly well-behaved ladies of the better society in melodramas, comedies, and occasionally crime stories.


British postcard, no 11. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Anna Q. Nilsson (1888-1974) was a Swedish-American actress who peaked in the silent era. She became one of the first major stars in the US film industry and contributed to about 200 silent films.


British postcard, no. 13. Photo: Kalem.

Gene Gauntier (1885-1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was a pioneer of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid-1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).


British postcard. Photo: Kalem.

Jack J. Clark (1879–1947) was an American director and actor of the early motion picture industry. In 1907, he was persuaded to enter motion pictures by Sidney Olcott of the New York-based Kalem Studios. Clark travelled through 24 countries with Kalem, becoming one of the first American film stars to film in foreign locations. While in the Holy Land, Kalem produced the first American passion play, From the Manger to the Cross (Sidney Olcott, 1912), with Clark as John the Apostle. Clark and his co-star Gene Gauntier were married during the filming, in 1912. They divorced in 1918.


British postcard, no. 12. Photo: Kalem.

George H. Melford (1877-1961) was an American stage and film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He was an accomplished stage actor working in Cincinnati, Ohio, before joining the Kalem Company in New York City in 1909. Hired by director Sidney Olcott for character actor roles, he was sent in the fall of 1910 to work with a film crew on the West Coast. In 1911, with Robert Vignola, he co-directed Ruth Roland in his first short film, Arizona Bill, based on a script he had written. Melford directed another 30 films for Kalem until 1915. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMille's, appearing in big, bold letters above the film title.


British postcard. Photo: Kalem.

Ruth Roland (1892-1937) was an American stage and film actress and film producer. Between 1911 and 1914, she was the leading actress of Kalem.


British postcard, no. 109. Series on the actors of the American early cinema company Kalem.

Guy Coombs (Washington, DC, June 15, 1882 – Los Angeles, September 25, 1944) was an American stage and screen actor. Coombs had a prolific career during the silent era as a leading man in early historical dramas and romances, particularly during his prolific tenure with Kalem Studios from 1911 to around 1914, where he often starred opposite actresses like Alice Joyce and his second wife, Anna Q. Nilsson.


British postcard, no. 110. Series on the actors of the American early cinema company Kalem.

Hal Clements (1869-1957) was a New York-born actor and director of silent films. He starred in dozens of silent films. He married Mary Moore and afterwards writer/screenwriter Olga Printzlau.


British postcard, no. 111. Series on the actors of the American early cinema company Kalem.

Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American silent screen actress who appeared in more than 200 films during the 1910s and 1920s. Joyce spent time with Kalem (1910–1915) and Vitagraph (1916–1921) and later worked freelance for various studios. At the peak of her career, she was nicknamed 'the Madonna of the Screen'.


British postcard, no. 116. Series on the actors of the American early cinema company Kalem.

Miriam Cooper (1891-1976), aka Marion Cooper and Marian Cooper, was an American silent film actress who is best known for her roles in D. W. Griffith's silent epics The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). She also starred in The Honor System (1917) and Evangeline (1919) for her husband Raoul Walsh. She retired from acting in 1924 but was rediscovered by the film community in the 1960s and toured colleges lecturing about silent films.


British postcard, no. 120. Series on the actors of the American early cinema company Kalem.

Knute Rahm (1876-1957) was a Swedish-born American actor who debuted in 1911 at Kalem as a screen actor. Rahm stayed his whole career working for Kalem, where he acted in 44 films, first in 1912-13 in a string of shorts starring Carlyle Blackwell, Alice Joyce and Marin Sais. He was mostly a supporting actor at Kalem in one-reeler dramas. But from 1915 he also acted in a few episodes of Kalem serials such as the Ruth Roland and Cleo Ridgely serial The Girl Detective (1915), and the Marin Sais series The Girl from Frisco (1916). He stopped his film career in 1917.

Shooting in Ireland

The Kalem Company was founded in 1907 by George Kleine, Samuel Long, and Frank J. Marion. The company was named for their initials K, L, and M. Kalem immediately joined other studios in the Motion Picture Patents Company, which held a monopoly on production and distribution. Frank Marion had been the sales manager at Biograph Studios, and Samuel Long was the manager of the Biograph production facility at Hoboken, New Jersey. Needing to raise more capital, the two experienced filmmakers approached Chicago businessman George Kleine to enter as a partner.

Kleine, already a successful film distributor, was involved only a short time, but it was a profitable investment for him. Soon, his partners were successful enough to buy out his shares at a considerable premium. The company began operations from a small office in a loft building in New York City. The partners were able to lure the general manager and director Sidney Olcott away from Biograph. Olcott eventually became Kalem Company's president and was rewarded with one share of its stock. Kalem had no indoor studios, so most of its films were shot on location. In February 1907, the company made its first motion picture, titled The Sleigh Belle (Sidney Olcott, 1907). While Kalem scored successes in its first year, the production rate at the once-powerful Biograph stagnated, hampered by the loss of important personnel.

Under the direction of Sidney Olcott, Kalem made several significant films, including the first adaptation of Ben Hur (Sidney Olcott, Frank Oakes Rose, 1907) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Otis Turner, 1908) starring Hobart Bosworth. In 1910, Olcott gave actress Alice Joyce her first acting job in his production of The Deacon's Daughter (Sidney Olcott, 1910). For the one-reel version of Ben Hur (Sidney Olcott, Frank Oakes Rose, 1907), Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, was used as the location for the Holy Land. The film was made without obtaining the rights to the book, which was the usual procedure in the industry at the time. Kalem was sued by the estate of the author, Lew Wallace. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Kalem in 1911 in Kalem Co. v. Harper Bros., they reached a settlement which paid the estate $25,000 – an extremely large amount for the time. The action helped to establish the necessity for film studios to obtain motion picture rights to the properties they used for their stories.

In 1910, the company shot a film in Ireland, making Kalem the first film studio to travel outside the United States to film on location. As a director, Olcott headed a small team in Ireland: Kalem's leading lady and principal screenwriter, Gene Gauntier, and cameraman, George Hollister. There, they notably filmed A Lad from Old Ireland (Sidney Olcott, 1910) in the Cork area plus a scenic film, The Irish Honeymoon, shot in Blarney Castle, Glengarriff, Gap of Dunloe, the Lakes of Killarney, and Dublin. Afterwards, the team went to Germany to film The Little Spreewald Maiden (Sidney Olcott, 1910), a love story in the Spreewald with Gauntier and Olcott as the lead characters.

Olcott and others from the studio returned to Ireland for most of the summer in the next two years. The O'Kalems, as the American entourage was affectionately dubbed, made such Irish films as Rory O'More (Sidney Olcott, Robert G. Vignola, 1911), The Vagabonds (Sidney Olcott, 1912), You Remember Ellen (Sidney Olcott, 1912), and The Colleen Bawn (Gene Gauntier, Sidney Olcott, 1911), one of the first American three-reelers (40 minutes). 22 films in total for Kalem. Later on, the outbreak of World War I prevented Olcott, who had resigned from Kalem and shot films for himself, from following through with his plans to build a permanent studio in Beaufort, County Kerry.


Vintage postcard. Photo: Kalem.

Hazel Neason (1884-1920) was an American actress and screenwriter. From 1909 to 1916, she acted in 58 films for such pioneering studios as Vitagraph, IMP, and Kalem. Neason passed away in 1920, a victim of the Spanish flu.


Vintage postcard. Photo: Kalem.

Miriam Cooper or Marian Cooper (1891-1976) was an American silent film actress who started in 1912 at Kalem as an extra. As her roles grew, she was invited to join their stock performance company, which was heading to Florida to film. Cooper's roles grew in size, and she received favourable reviews. But when she requested a raise, Kalem fired her, and she moved to Biograph. She is best known for her roles in D. W. Griffith's silent epics The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). For her husband Raoul Walsh, she also starred in The Honor System (1917) and Evangeline (1919).


Vintage postcard. Photo: Kalem.

Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed 'the Madonna of the Screen'.


American postcard by R. & H., Chicago. Photo: Kalem.

Gene Gauntier (1885–1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid-1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).


American postcard by The Ess and Ess Photo Co., New York. Photo: Kalem.

Ruth Roland (1892–1937) was an American stage and film actress and film producer. Between 1911 and 1914 she was the leading actress of Kalem.


American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., N.Y. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

American film actress Irene Boyle (1890-1976) starred in many early silent dramas, comedies, and crime films for the Kalem Film Company from 1913 on. She appeared in more than 40 films.


American postcard by Kraus Manufacturing Company, New York, 1913. Photo: Kalem.

Robert G. Vignola (1882-1953) was an Italian-American actor, screenwriter, and film director. A former stage actor, he appeared in many silent shorts produced by Kalem Company and later moved to directing, becoming one of the silent screen's most prolific directors. He directed a handful of films in the early years of talkies, but his career essentially ended in the silent era.


American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., N.Y. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

An expedition to Egypt and Palestine

Galvanised by the success of Kalem's Irish films, Frank J. Marion decided on a more ambitious expedition: send a crew to Egypt and Palestine to shoot films, about thirty or so. The company stayed in Luxor, shot melodramas with titles such as An Arabian Tragedy (Sidney Olcott, 1912), Captured by Bedouins (Sidney Olcott, 1912), Tragedy of the Desert (Sidney Olcott, 1912), A Prisoner of the Harem (Sidney Olcott, 1912), and documentaries about the pulsing life on the Nile. But the great ambition of Kalem's expedition is the shooting of the first five-reel film. Titled From the Manger to the Cross (Sidney Olcott, 1912), it told the life story of Jesus. Robert Henderson-Bland played Jesus, Gene Gauntier played Mary, and Robert G. Vignola played Judas. In 1998, the film was selected for the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress.

Kalem was also one of the first studios to regularly film year-round by setting up facilities in Florida during the winter. The Florida company consisted of Sidney Olcott, George Hollister, cameraman; Allen Farnham, scenic artist; Arthur Clough, property man; Gene Gauntier, scenarist and leading actress; Jack J. Clark, leading male actor; Robert Vignola, the bad guy; J.P. McGowan, another leading actor; Alice Hollister and Ethel Eastcourt.

In the fall of 1910, Kalem began organising other studio locations. In November 1910, William Wright, company treasurer, was sent to the West Coast to assess the feasibility of a permanent studio for the making of Western-style films. Wright saw the potential and, after being given the go-ahead from the head office, he acquired a property in Verdugo Canyon in Glendale and a permanent crew was dispatched from New York City. Headed by director Kenean Buel, his crew consisted of star actress Alice Joyce, George Melford, Jane Wolfe, and others. With films from the Western genre much in demand, in 1911, a second California studio was opened in Santa Monica with actors Ruth Roland, Marin Sais, Ed Coxen, and Marshall Neilan taken under contract. The Santa Monica facility eventually would be used to make comedies. Kalem operated in these Southern California locations until October 1913, when they took over the Essanay Studios property in East Hollywood.

In November 1914, Kalem released the first of 119 episodes of the serial The Hazards of Helen (1914), releasing a new segment every Saturday until February 1917. Each segment had a self-contained story, so it was more of a film series than a serial. Helen Holmes played the lead character "Helen" and did most of her own stunts in the first 26 episodes until she and director J. P. McGowan left to set up their own film production company. The two began a relationship while working on the serial that led to marriage. Director J. Gunnis Davis (billed as James Davis) took over, and Elsie McLeod substituted in episodes 27–49 until a permanent "Helen" could be found for the remainder in the form of Helen Gibson.

On the heels of the immediate success of The Hazards of Helen, Kalem Studios simultaneously produced another 16-episode action/adventure series, which they released in October 1915, called The Ventures of Marguerite (Robert Ellis, John Mackin, Hamilton Smith, 1915) starring Marguerite Courtot. Allan Dwan joined Kalem for a short time, as did Mary Pickford, who also directed films in 1913. Over the years, Kalem contracted various other directors such as actor-turned-directors Robert Vignola and George Melford, as well as James W. Horne and William Beaudine. In 1915, the company lost Sidney Olcott, who left to work independently for World Film Corporation, Famous Players-Lasky, and other studios. In 1917, after having made close to 1500 silent films, the Kalem Company was sold to Vitagraph Studios.

Marin Sais (1890-1971) was an American actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s. From 1915 till 1917, she appeared in Kalem serials. Sais' acting career spanned over four decades, and she is possibly best recalled for appearing in Westerns.


British postcard. Photo: Kalem.

Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed the Madonna of the Screen.


British postcard, no. 113. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Helen Lindroth (1874- 1956) was a Swedish-born American screen and stage actress. She worked for the Kalem Company and Famous Players and had more than 90 screen credits.


British postcard, no. 29. Photo: Kalem.

Gene Gauntier (1885–1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid-1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).


British postcard. Photo: Kalem.

Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress, who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed 'the Madonna of the Screen'.


American or British postcard. Photo: Kalem.

Alice Hollister (1886-1973) was an American silent film actress who appeared in around 90 films between 1910 and 1925. She is known for her roles in films such as From the Manger to the Cross (1912) and The Vampire (1913).


Canadian postcard by General Film Co., Poster Dept., Montreal. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Jane Wolfe (1875-1958) was an American silent film character actress. From 1910 on, she worked for the Kalem Studios. She appeared in more than 90 films. After her acting career ended, she devoted the rest of her life to the study and teaching of Magick, an occult religion led by the English writer and occultist Aleister Crowley.


American Octochrome postcard published by Commercial Colortype Company, Chicago. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Helen Holmes (1892 or 1893-1950) was an American silent film actress, producer, director, screenwriter, and stuntwoman. She is most notable as the strong-willed, independent, and resourceful heroine of The Hazards of Helen (1914-1915) for the Kalem Studios and other serials of the mid-teens and early 1920s.


American Octochrome postcard by Commercial Colortype Company, Chicago. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

American silent film actress Marguerite Courtot (1897-1986) is little-known today, but in her time, she was regarded as one of the screen's great beauties. She was a serial queen for the Kalem studio.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Check out our other Before Hollywood posts: Vitagraph, Essanay, Biograph, Lubin, and Flying A.