Giulietta Masina

Italian film and stage actress Giulietta Masina (1921-1994) starred in the classics La strada (1954) and Le notti di Cabiria (1957), both directed by her husband Federico Fellini and both winners of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The only 1.57 m long Masina was often called the ‘female Chaplin’. The skilled, button-eyed comedienne could deliver intense dramatic performances of naive characters dealing with cruel circumstances.


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3381. Photo: N.V. Standaardfilms. Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La strada (1954).


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3382. Photo: N.V. Standaardfilms. Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La strada (Federico Fellini, 1954).


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3383. Photo: N.V. Standaardfilms. Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La strada (Federico Fellini, 1954).


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 446. Photo: Titanus. Giulietta Masina in Il bidone (Federico Fellini, 1955).


Italian postcard by Casa Edite. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze (Florence), no. 3180. Photo: Titanus. Publicity still for Il bidone (1955).


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3380. Photo: N.V. Standaardfilms. Giulietta Masina in Le notti di Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957).


Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano in the series 'Hobby' (made to collect autographs by famous film stars). Giulietta Masina in Fortunella (Eduardo De Filippo, 1958), scripted by Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli. The film centres on a poor girl (Masina) who is convinced she is the daughter of a prince (Aldo Salvini).


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede / News Productions, Stroud, no. 56517. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne. Caption: Giulietta Masina & Federico Fellini, 1965.

Federichino

Giulia Anna Masina was born in San Giorgio di Piano near Bologna in 1921. Her parents were Gaetano Masina, a violinist and a music teacher, and Anna Flavia Pasqualin, a schoolteacher. She had three elder siblings: Eugenia, and twins Mario and Maria.

Giulietta spent most of her teenage years in Rome at the home of a widowed aunt, where she cultivated a passion for the theatre. She attended the Hermanas Ursulinas school and graduated in Literature from the Sapienza University of Rome. At university, she turned to acting. From 1941 on, she participated in numerous plays that included singing, dancing, and acting, all in the Ateneo Theater of her university.

In 1942, she joined the Compagnia del Teatro Comico Musicale and played various roles on stage. After seeing her photographs, she was cast by Federico Fellini, who was writing the radio serial 'Terziglio' about the adventures of the newlyweds Cico and Pallina.

Masina and Fellini fell in love while working on the successful program and were married in 1943. Several months after her marriage to Fellini, in 1943, Masina suffered a miscarriage after falling down a flight of stairs. She became pregnant again. Pierfederico (nicknamed Federichino) was born on 22 March 1945 but died just a month later on 24 April owing to respiratory insufficiency. Masina and Fellini did not have another child.

Despite distancing herself from live theatre, Masina did return to the university stage for some time acting with Marcello Mastroianni. Her last stage appearance was in 1951. Working together with her husband, Masina made the transition to on-screen acting. Half of her Italian films, the most successful ones, would be either written or directed by her husband.


French postcard by DR / Le Cinémathéque Française. Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La strada (Federico Fellini, 1954).


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 687. Photo: Teddy Piaz, Paris.


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4154. Photo: Joachim G. Jung / Ufa.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. V 169. Photo: Unitalia Film / Luxardo / Alessi.


German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 236. Photo: Filmpress Zürich. Giulietta Masina in Le notti di Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957).


Belgian postcard by Lotto Photo.


Swiss postcard by Collection Cinémathéque Suisse, Lausanne / News Productions, Baulmes, no. 56518. Photo: Ponti - De Laurentis. Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La strada (Federico Fellini, 1954).


British postcard by BFI and Picturehouse. Photo: Studio Canal. Caption: Fellini with Giulietta Masina on the set of Le notti di Cabiria / Nights of Cabiria (1957).

Cabiria and Gelsomina

Giulietta Masina made her film debut in an uncredited role in the Neo-realist war drama Paisà / Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946), co-written by Fellini. She received her first screen credit in the crime drama Senza pièta / Without Pity (Alberto Lattuada, 1948) starring Carla del Poggio, which was another adaptation by Fellini. Masina’s performance earned her a Silver Ribbon, Italy's most prominent film award, as Best Supporting Actress.

She then co-starred in Fellini’s début as a director, Luci del varietà / Variety Lights (Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuado, 1950) with Peppino di Filippo and Carla del Poggio. It is a bittersweet drama about a bunch of misfits in a travelling Vaudeville troupe. A box office hit was the prostitution drama Persiane chiuse / Behind Closed Shutters (Luigi Comencini, 1951) with Massimo Girotti and Eleonora Rossi Drago. She had a supporting part in Europa '51 / The Greatest Love (Roberto Rossellini, 1952) starring Ingrid Bergman.

She also appeared in the second film of her husband, the hilarious comedy Lo sceicco bianco / The White Sheik (Federico Fellini, 1952) featuring Alberto Sordi. At AllMovie, Hal Erickson added (his review is now sadly deleted): “Featured in the cast is Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina as a prostitute named Cabiria, who'd be given a vehicle of her own, Nights of Cabiria, in 1955. Based on ‘an idea’ by Michelangelo Antonioni, The White Sheik was the main inspiration for Gene Wilder's The World's Greatest Lover (1977).”

After some lesser films by other directors, she finally had her international breakthrough in Fellini's La strada / The Road (Federico Fellini, 1954), as the young Gelsomina, who is sold to the violent travelling strongman Zampano (Anthony Quinn) by her poor mother. At IMDb, Matt Whittle writes: “Giulietta Masina is the highlight of the film. With a face like no other, it exudes a certain beauty but is also very odd, with a definite quirkiness to it.” She was also co-starring in Fellini’s next, lesser-known effort Il bidone / The Swindle (Federico Fellini, 1955) with Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, and Franco Fabrizi as a trio of con artists who victimise the Italian bourgeoisie who are shown to be no better than the crooks. Masina played Basehart’s wife.

In 1957, she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of the title role in Fellini's widely acclaimed Le notti di Cabiria / Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957). She played the innocent prostitute Cabiria who was born to lose - but still never would give up. In 1956 and 1957, Fellini and Masina were awarded the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, for La strada, and for Le notti di Cabiria. In the following years, Masina appeared in several films by other directors, including the prison drama Nella città l'inferno / ...and the Wild Wild Women (Renato Castellani, 1959) with Anna Magnani and the German-Italian production Jons und Erdme / Jons and Erdme (Victor Vicas, 1959) opposite Carl Raddatz.


German postcard by ISV, no. D 15. Photo: ISV.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. S 772. Photo: Unitalia Film / Luxardo / Alessi.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 907.


Russian postcard.


Italian postcard by La Rotografica Romana. Giulietta Masina in Nella città l'inferno / ...and the Wild Wild Women (Renato Castellani, 1959).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Ginger

In 1960, Giulietta Masina's career was damaged by the critical and box office failure of the massive international production Das kunstseidene Mädchen / The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960) with Gustav Knuth and Gert Fröbe. Subsequently, she became dedicated almost entirely to her personal life and marriage. Nonetheless, she again worked with her husband in Giulietta degli spiriti / Juliet of the Spirits (Federico Fellini, 1965), which earned both the New York Film Critics Award (1965) and the Golden Globe Award (1966) for Best Foreign Language Film.

In 1969, Masina did her first work in English in The Madwoman of Chaillot (Bryan Forbes, 1969) which starred Katharine Hepburn. From 1966 to 1969, Masina hosted a popular radio show, 'Lettere aperte a Giulietta Masina', in which she addressed correspondence from her listeners. The letters were eventually published in a book.

From the 1970s on, she appeared on television. Two performances, Eleonora (Silverio Blasi, 1973) and Camilla (Sandro Bolchi, 1976), respectively, were particularly acclaimed. After almost two decades, Masina appeared in Fellini's Ginger e Fred / Ginger and Fred (Federico Fellini, 1986).

Hal Erickson: "Fellini gently lampoons the world of small-time show business (...) Masina and Marcello Mastroianni star as Amelia Bonetti and Pippo Botticella, a onetime celebrity song-and-dance team. Having risen to fame with a dancing act where they recreated the acts of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire (hoping to become the Fred and Ginger of Italy), Amelia and Pippo parted company to pursue their separate lives. Neither one was particularly successful in other fields of endeavor, so when after many years Amelia is offered a guest-star gig on a TV variety show, she jumps at the chance. (...) The overall good cheer of the film was dampened when the real Ginger Rogers sued the distributors of Ginger and Fred for 'defamation of character'."

Masina then rejected outside offers to attend to her husband's precarious health. Her last film was Aujourd'hui peut-être / A Day to Remember (Jean-Louis Bertucelli, 1991). Giulietta Masina died from lung cancer in 1994, aged 73, less than five months after her husband's demise. They are buried together at Rimini cemetery in a tomb marked by a prow-shaped monument, the work of sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro.


Vintage card. Giulietta Masina in Das kunstseidene Mädchen / The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960).


Vintage card. Giulietta Masina in Das kunstseidene Mädchen / The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960).


Vintage card. Giulietta Masina in Das kunstseidene Mädchen / The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960).


Vintage card. Giulietta Masina in Das kunstseidene Mädchen / The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960).


Vintage card. Giulietta Masina in Das kunstseidene Mädchen / The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960).


Vintage card. Giulietta Masina in Das kunstseidene Mädchen / The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960).


Vintage card. Giulietta Masina in Das kunstseidene Mädchen / The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960).


Russian postcard by Izdanije Byuro Propogandy Sovietskogo Kinoiskusstva, no. 109/75, 1975. This postcard was printed in an edition of 200.000 cards. The price was 5 kop.


German press photo by Tobis. Giulietta Masina in Ginger e Fred / Ginger and Fred (Federico Fellini, 1986).

Sources: Matt Whittle (IMDb), Jason Ankeny (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Hal Erickson (AllMovie - Page now defunct), F.T. (Italica - now defunct), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Dorothy Tutin

Dame Dorothy Tutin (1930-2001) was one of the great actresses of the British theatre. Great promise was held for her after her film debut as Cecily Cardew in the Oscar Wilde adaptation The Importance of Being Earnest (1952). Despite acclaimed film roles opposite Laurence Olivier in The Beggar's Opera (1953) and in a remake of A Tale of Two Cities (1958) with Dirk Bogarde, Tutin abruptly left the cinema to return to the stage.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 128. Photo: Rank Film. Dorothy Tutin in The Importance of Being Earnest (Anthony Asquith, 1952).


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1069, 1959. Photo: J. Arthur Rank. Michael Denison and Dorothy Tutin in The Importance of Being Earnest (Anthony Asquith, 1952).

Ablaze like a diamond in a mine

Dorothy Tutin was born in 1930 in London. She was the daughter of John Tutin and Adie Evelyn Fryers, a Yorkshire couple who married the following year.

Lyn Gardner in her obituary in the Guardian: "A solitary, pent-up child, she was much affected by the sudden death of her beloved 10-year-old elder brother Eric when she was six. Born in London and educated at St Catherine's school in Bramley, Surrey, Tutin was determined to make a career as a musician, but abandoned that ambition at the age of 15, accepting, with a maturity beyond her years, that she did not have the talent."

"It was her theatre-loving father who, impressed by her performance as a last-minute replacement in a school production of J.M. Barrie's 'Quality Street', pushed his self-conscious daughter - who professed a horror at performing in public - towards the stage." Tutin completed her schooling at St Catherine's School near Guildford and went on to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She graduated at the age of 19 and within a year she was playing Katherine in 'Henry V' at the Old Vic.

Quickly, she became a sought-after stage actress. She made her film debut in 1952 as Cecily in the Oscar Wilde adaptation The Importance of Being Earnest (Anthony Asquith, 1952), for which she received a BAFTA nomination. In the 1950s, she played two other literary characters on the big screen. She was Polly Peachum to Laurence Olivier's Macheath in The Beggar's Opera (Peter Brook, 1953) based on the play by John Gay. Her next major film role was as Lucie Manette in the Charles Dickens film A Tale of Two Cities (Ralph Thomas, 1958) starring Dirk Bogarde.

However, she turned down other cinema roles as she did not find the main female characters in British cinema of the 1950s interesting enough. On stage, she received great critical acclaim for her performance as a sexually liberated young Catholic in Graham Greene's first play 'The Living Room' in 1953. The critic Kenneth Tynan was entranced, describing her as being "ablaze like a diamond in a mine". In 1954, she played the role of Sally Bowles in the first English production of John Van Druten's play 'I Am a Camera', on which the musical 'Cabaret' is based. After this second memorable performance, she was firmly established.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1071, 1959. Photo: J. Arthur Rank. Dorothy Tutin in The Importance of Being Earnest (Anthony Asquith, 1952).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. D 207. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation LTD.

A flop-turned-cult classic

Between 1958 and 1999, Dorothy Tutin performed regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in over two dozen of their productions.

Championed by Peter Hall, Tutin was a key figure in the early days of the RSC at Stratford and London's Aldwych theatre in the early 1960s. She played Desdemona, Varya in 'The Cherry Orchard', Polly Peachum in 'The Beggar's Opera' and, later in the decade, Rosalind.

By the end of her career, she had played almost all of Shakespeare's major female roles, including Juliet, Ophelia, Portia and Lady Macbeth. She was also seen several times in plays by Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg. She also appeared several times in the works of Harold Pinter, for example in the world premiere of 'Old Times' in 1971.

By the early 1970s, partly preoccupied with marriage and motherhood, Tutin was seen far less in the theatre and more on the big screen again. She played Queen Henrietta in the historical film Cromwell (Ken Hughes, 1970) starring Richard Harris, and in the lead role of the flop-turned-cult classic Savage Messiah (Ken Russell, 1972) in which she played a Polish noblewoman and writer Sophie Brzeska married to the much younger sculptor, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska.

In 1984 she starred with James Mason, Edward Fox and Sir John Gielgud in the critically acclaimed The Shooting Party (Alan Bridges, 1984). The film is set in 1913, less than a year before the beginning of the First World War, and shows a vanishing way of life amongst English aristocrats, focusing on a shooting party gathered for pheasant shooting. Their situation is contrasted with the life of the local rural poor, who work on the estate and during the shoot serve as beaters, driving the game.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1102, 1959. Photo: J. Arthur Rank.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1070, 1959. Photo: J. Arthur Rank. Dorothy Tutin in The Importance of Being Earnest (Anthony Asquith, 1952).

An uncomprehending, terrified middle-aged Sleeping Beauty

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Dorothy Tutin was frequently seen on British television in distinctive character roles in literary adaptations or historical material. She played Anne Boleyn in the BBC's series The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Naomi Capon, John Glenister, 1970), which starred Keith Michell in the title role.

She was nominated three times for a BAFTA Award. In 1970, she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for The Six Wives of Henry VIII, in 1973 for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Savage Messiah, and in 1975 for Best Actress for her role as the teacher Sarah Burton in the TV series South Riding (1974), based on the novel 'South Riding' by Winifred Holtby.

Another of her notable roles was as Goneril in an Emmy-winning television production of Shakespeare's King Lear (1983), opposite Laurence Olivier as King Lear. She guest starred in an episode of the 1980s TV series Robin of Sherwood as Lady Margaret of Gisbourne. Both on TV and in the West End, she gave a desperately moving performance, in Harold Pinter's 'A Kind Of Alaska' (1985).

Lyn Gardner in the Guardian: "She played Deborah, a teenager struck down by encephalitis lethargia who awakens 29 years later when given the drug L-DOPA. Tutin was mesmerising as this uncomprehending, terrified middle-aged Sleeping Beauty who still perceived herself as a tomboy teenager, and this should have given a boost to her career. Alas, it didn't. She was pained by her lack of job opportunities, telling the Guardian in 1991: 'You may as well ask, why aren't you employed more, Miss Tutin? One can get depressed'."

For her work in the theatre, Dorothy Tutin won two Olivier Awards and two Evening Standard Awards for Best Actress. She also received a Tony Award nomination for her role in the 1968 original Broadway production of 'Portrait of a Queen'. In 1967, Tutin was made a Commander in the Order of the British Empire for her artistic merits, and in 2000 she was ennobled as a Dame. From 1964 until her death, Tutin was married to the actor Derek Waring. They had a son, Nicholas, and a daughter, Amanda, both of whom were also sometime actors. In 2001, Dorothy Tutin died of leukaemia in King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, West Sussex, at the age of 71.


British postcard in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre series, no. 37. Photo: Angus McBean. Caption: Richard Johnson and Dorothy Tutin as Romeo and Juliet, Stratford-upon-Avon 1958.


English postcard by British Broadcasting Corporation, 1970, no. SBN 563 10218 7. Dorothy Tutin as Anne Boleyn in the BBC TV series The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Naomi Capon, John Glenister, 1970).

Sources: Lyn Gardner (The Guardian), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

La Glu (1913)

French actress and singer Mistinguett (1875-1956) was the most popular French entertainer of her time and captivated Paris with her risqué routines. She also appeared more than 60 times in the cinema such as in the silent S.C.A.G.L. production La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913) with Paul Cappelani and Henry Krauss.


French postcard, no. 153. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: “Les jolies jambes de Mistinguett” (Mistinguett’s pretty legs). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Spanish collector card (minicard) by Reclam Films, no. 1. Photo:  S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913), presented in Spain as La Sirena. Mistinguett's co-actors were Paul Capellani, Henri Collen, Cécile Guyon, and Henri Krauss (here next to her).


Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, no. 2. Photo:  S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913).


Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, no. 3. Photo:  S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett and Paul Capellani in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913).

A great flirt

La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913) is based on an 1881 novel and 1883 play of the same name, by the eccentric Romantic writer Jean Richepin. They also served as the model for a 1908 opera by Gabriel Dupont.Mistinguett stars as Fernande, the daughter of poor parents. On IMDb, there is a synopsis by Moving Picture World: "(Fernande) is very much dissatisfied with her lot in life and wants to get out where she can have some pleasure. She is a great flirt and has several men on the string. When the doctor (Henri Krauss) comes to the house she works her wiles on him to such an extent that he asks for her hand in marriage. Fernande accepts him but in her mind has no intention of giving up her other sweethearts. After her marriage, she continues to meet them with the result that he discovers her unfaithfulness. He looks into her private correspondence and finds proof that she has been utterly unfaithful. When he taxes her with it she does not deny it but tells him that she intends to continue the same way. He in a rage strikes her. Driven nearly insane he wanders round all night and on his return finds that she has gone away. He loses all trace of her and goes to a foreign country to try to forget her."

In the meantime, Fernande goes to Paris, where she sets up a little court of her own. Her admirers are many, among them Count Adolphe. He is so much taken with her charms that he decides to marry her. He writes to his grandfather telling him of his decision. Then he goes to Fernande with his proposal. She is rather taken aback as she had not intended to let him get that far in the toils. To avoid his attention she goes to a small town in Brittany where she finds life too slow for her temperament. Being one of that kinds of women who must have an admirer she flirts with a young fisherman. The fisherman, Marie-Pierre (Paul Capellani), is however built of different stuff than the men she has met in Paris and will not be satisfied to merely admire her from a distance. Despite his rough manners, or probably because of them and his immense size, he exerts a charm on Fernande that makes her lose her cool, calculating manner. She allows him to come to her home.

Marie-Pierre's mother has suspected for some time that all is not well with him and follows to learn what is the cause of his desertion of his own wife. Through the good offices of an old friend, she learns that Pierre is spending nearly all of his time at the home of Fernande. Going to the doctor she asks him to do what he can to get Pierre out of the clutches of the woman who is wrecking both their lives. The doctor goes to the villa and on entering finds that not only has Fernande been playing with Pierre, but that she has at the house of Count Adolphe, who has followed her from Paris. He also is astounded to find the woman in the case is Fernande, his own wife who had left his house the night he had struck her. He had no idea that he was located in the same town that she had chosen for her home.

He upbraids her but is met with a penitent air and an exhibition of those same charms that made him love her so long before. He falls victim a second time only to be laughed at and told that he is an old fool. Enraged he tells Pierre and the count who she really is. Pierre, overcome, falls in a faint striking his head and badly hurting himself. He is taken home and orders are given that he is to be kept absolutely quiet if he is to recover. Fernande decides to see him and goes to his home. She is told that it is impossible to see him, but insists. Then Pierre's mother takes a hand and the Siren meets one on whom she cannot work her charms.

Le Journal (7.11.1913), quoted by Henri Bousquet in the Catalogue Pathé 1913: "The old story of the evil femme fatale, an Eve figure causing suffering to decent, tormented men, is neither new nor very pleasant: at the end the mother kills the whore. Oh well. But this film does get under your skin. It can draw an audience – if the audience is willing – under its spell. The exterior shots and, above all, the photographic style are consistently fresh and strikingly beautiful, while the expressive physicality of the star is mesmerising. The passionate love scene with Marie-Pierre, for example, generates a physical empathy hardly ever felt in other films of the time. Mlle Mistinguett plays the role of La Glu with artistry and a profound truthfulness. Messieurs Capellani and Krauss distill from their roles a most moving passion and high dramatic pitch. The production, admirable in every way, in fact nearly turned into a real drama. For we all remember that Mlle Mistinguett, struck by the hammer which was to kill La Glu, fainted, in real life, from the shock; and then we see something that was not in the script: the horrified gesture of Krauss before the bloody figure of his friend at his feet, believing for a moment that she was really dead.”


Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, no. 4. Photo: S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913) with Henri Collen on the left.


Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, no. 6. Photo: S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913). The man lying on the floor is Paul Capellani.


French collector cards by Pathé Frères, 1911. Photo: S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett and Juliette Clarens in the comedy Léocadie veut se faire mannequin (Pathé Frères, 1911).

Sources: Il Cinema Ritrovato, Wikipedia (French) and IMDb

Percy Marmont

British actor Percy Marmont (1883-1977) was a tall matinee idol, who divided his time between the theatre and films. He had a prolific career in 1920s Hollywood and 1930s British cinema. He is best remembered as the title character in Lord Jim (1925) and as one of Clara Bow's love interests in Mantrap (1926). He also starred in three British Alfred Hitchcock thrillers. Marmont acted in more than 80 films between 1916 and 1969.


British postcard in the Cinema Chat Series. Photo: Vitagraph.


Spanish postcard, no. 21.75. Caption (in Spanish): "I dedicate my work in this film to the audience of the Kursaal". It's not entirely clear but this card could refer to The Street of Forgotten Men (Herbert Brenon, 1925). The Kursaal is the Teatro-Cinema Kursaal in Barcelona, which opened in 1910, went through several changes, closed in 1965 and was demolished, despite being the main and most cherished cinema in Barcelona during its existence. Many cards were issued by this cinema, with Spanish-written dedications supposedly written by the stars (but in reality written by the Kursaal people themselves).


Spanish postcard in the Estrellas del Cine series by Editorial Grafica, Barcelona, no. 175. Photo: Paramount Film.

The first epic in South Africa's motion-picture history

Percy Garfield Marmont was born on the suburban west side of London in 1883. His parents were Cecil Joseph Marmont and Emily Charlotte Wyatt. From 1900 on, he already had some success on London stages and also went on theatrical tours, taking him to South Africa (1913-1916) and Australia (1917).

While touring in South Africa, Marmont appeared as an extra in the film De Voortrekkers / Winning a Continent (Harold M. Shaw, 1916) of which a print was found at the Dutch Eye Filmmuseum a few decades ago. This silent film by African Film Productions was the first epic in South Africa's motion-picture history and also that nation's oldest surviving feature film. It portrays the Boers' 'Great Trek' of the 1830s, concluding with a hegemonic recreation of the Battle of Blood River that occurred on 16 December 1838, when a few hundred armed Afrikaners defeated several thousand Zulus.

In Australia, Marmont made his regular film debut in The Monk and the Woman (Franklyn Barrett, 1917). This now-lost film was controversial and received protests from church groups, being condemned by the Australian Catholic Federation and called "a most offensive travesty on the Catholic religion". However, the film passed the censor and was a major success at the box office.

In the same year, Marmont reached the United States and made his Broadway debut in the comedy 'The Three Bears'. The following year, Marmont went to Los Angeles and continued his film work. He starred opposite Elsie Ferguson in the silent, lost drama Rose of the World (Maurice Tourneur, 1918) produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Artcraft Pictures, an affiliate of Paramount Pictures.

At Vitagraph, Percy Marmont played the roles of noble heroes and romantic lovers without leaving too much impression. Examples are the comedy-drama The Climbers (Tom Terriss, 1919) opposite Corinne Griffith and the drama Slaves of Pride (George Terwilliger, 1920) starring Alice Joyce. Marmont also starred opposite such leading ladies as Ethel Barrymore and Geraldine Farrar.


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 265.


Swedish postcard by Arvid Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 535.

A hernia he suffered while picking up Clara Bow

In Hollywood, Percy Marmont had his breakthrough with his part as Mark Sabre in If Winter Comes (Harry Milliarde, 1923) for Fox. Two years after his first major success in the USA, Marmont became the title hero in Paramount's silent film version of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (Victor Fleming, 1925), also with Shirley Mason. Another year later he was the film partner of Clara Bow in the comedy Mantrap (Victor Fleming, 1926). On IMDb, I.S. Mowis wrote: "Marmont starred in more than fifty silent films, appearing with some of the top screen actresses of the period, beginning with Corinne Griffith and Alice Joyce at Vitagraph. His perpetually serious, somewhat tortured demeanour may well have been compounded by a hernia he suffered while picking up Clara Bow in Mantrap (1926)."

The often-retold legend that Marmont Lane and the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood refer to Percy Marmont is wrong. In fact, the street predates the hotel by eight years. Marmont Lane was named in 1921 on a tract owned by a dozen investors, none of whom were Percy Marmont. Marmont moved to Hollywood in late 1923, so he could not inspire this street name. 'Marmont' is possibly a portmanteau of mar and monte – Spanish for 'sea' and 'mountain' – alluding to its hilly views of the Pacific, although two of the tract’s owners were Paul and Zida Marlay, for whom nearby Marlay Drive is named, so the 'Mar' might be for them. The Chateau Marmont opened in 1929 as an apartment building.

Back in Britain in 1928, Percy Marmont continued his film career. He played officers, fathers, police inspectors, nobles, cardinals, and other respecters. On stage, he starred in adaptations of classic American plays including 'Witness for the Prosecution' and 'The Philadelphia Story'. Percy Marmont's first full talkie film was probably the mystery thriller The Squeaker (Edgar Wallace, 1930) in which he played the leading part of Captain Leslie.

Making films both in England and Hollywood, he was getting third, fourth and fifth-billing roles, often as a romantic lead. He appeared in three films by Alfred Hitchcock, the romance Rich and Strange (1931) starring Henry Kendall and Joan Barry, the Spy thriller Secret Agent (1936) starring Madeleine Carroll and Peter Lorre, and the crime thriller Young and Innocent (1937) with Nova Pilbeam. In 1936 he shot his only film as a director with the title The Captain's Table (1936). For the small part of Cardinal Wolsey in the French historical comedy Les perles de la couronne / The Pearls of the Crown (Sacha Guitry, 1937), Marmont went to Paris.

In the next decade, Marmont returned to the stage and appeared less and less in films. He rarely played leads, mostly supporting roles. In the 1950s, he appeared in a few television productions. On stage, he partnered with Vivien Leigh in her final British theatrical appearance in 'La Contessa' (1965). In 1968, after a ten-year absence from the camera, the veteran artist returned to the screen with the part of Judge Sir Matthew Gregory in the crime film Hostile Witness (Ray Milland, 1969). Marmont spent the final years of his life, almost blind, at his country estate. Percy Marmont died in London in 1977 at the age of 93. He was married twice, first to Elsie Marguerite Davison and till his death to Dorothy Phyllis Stewart-Dawson, with whom he had two daughters, the actresses Pamela and Patricia Marmont. Actress Emma Vansittart is his granddaughter.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 46.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 46b. Photo: Paramount.

Sources: I.S. Mowis (IMDb), Graham Thomas (Silent Are Golden), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Daveland, Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb. Thanks to Marlene Pilaete for her additional information and corrections.