Lou Bandy

This week EFSP has its yearly Netherlands Film Star Postcards Festival again. During the Netherlands Film Festival (26 September - 5 October 2012) we provide you daily with postcards and bios of Dutch film stars. Today we pay tribute to singer and entertainer Lou Bandy (1890 - 1959), who was one of the most popular artists in The Netherlands between the two world wars. His songs like 'Zoek de zon op' (Look for the sun) and 'Louise zit niet op je nagels te bijten' (Louise, Stop biting your nails) became Dutch evergreens. During the 1930s, Lou Bandy starred in two Dutch shorts and two feature films.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma. Publicity still for Het Meisje met de Blauwe Hoed (1934).


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma. Publicity still for Het Meisje met de Blauwe Hoed (1934).

Standup comedian avant-la-lettre

Lou Bandy was born as Lodewijk Ferdinand Dieben in Den Haag (The Hague) in 1890. He grew up in a poor, working-class family as the youngest of a family of five children. He was the son of Franciscus Albertus Jacobus Dieben, a bricklayer, later a town clerk, and Frederika Wilhelmina Ninaber. Although there was poverty in the family, there was a lot of singing. When mother was not afflicted by headache attacks and depressive moods, she used to sing self-penned lyrics behind the washtub.

At school, a lot of attention was paid to singing and recitation. In these, Lou excelled more than in learning. After primary school, Dieben was successively piccolo in a hotel in The Hague, domestic servant with the Holland-America Line and street singer in London. In 1908, he served in the navy. After his service, Dieben went sailing again. Mobilisation in 1914 brought him back into military service. He was posted to the naval dockyard in Amsterdam. Among his mates, he was popular as a song singer and joker, but he found it difficult to conform to military discipline. For this reason, he was declared unfit for service in 1915.

In 1915, he made his stage debut in a variety show.He appeared with his four years older brother Wil as The Bandy Brothers. Their stage name was a phonetic anagram of their real surname Die-ben. The brothers separated soon because of their clashing personalities. Unlike Willy, Lou was known as a difficult person. Wil would become a popular entertainer in The Netherlands, known as Willy Derby. For the first three years, the lyrics of his songs were almost all by 'Ferry', lyricist Ferry van Delden

Lou continued under the name Lou Bandy. In 1921 Lou married the pianist and dancer Eugenie Küch. The German officer's daughter had a major impact on his career. She taught him neater manners, made him realise the importance of speaking in general Dutch and got him his first lucrative contracts. She would manage him to the top of the Dutch entertainment world. In 1927, their daughter Louise was born. In 1927, it came to a new collaboration with his brother Willy Derby. With their own company, they performed the grand revue 'Vergeet je me niet?'(Don't you forget me?) at the 'Trianon-Theater' in The Hague. The lyrics were by Ferry van Delden. Bandy and Derby performed separately, not as a duo. Apart from some banter back and forth, the collaboration went reasonably well. The revue was a great success in The Hague, but a subsequent tour was not long-lived.

In the following decades, Lou Bandy became a standup comedian avant-la-lettre. In the period between the two world wars, Bandy was one of the Netherlands' most popular artists. From 1931, Bandy was the crowd-pleaser for the revue company De Nationale Revue, which he traded to Jong Nederland in 1939. His trademark was a straw hat. Bandy became known to the public as a singer of cheerful lyrics, usually by Ferry van Delden or Philip Pinkhof (aka Rido). Among persons close to him, he had a less cheerful image. The anecdotes in which Bandy scolded his colleagues with a sour comment are numerous.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma. Publicity still for Het Meisje met de Blauwe Hoed (1934).


Dutch postcard by R.E.B., no. 3. Photo: publicity still for Het Meisje met de Blauwe Hoed/The girl with the blue hat (1934).

Grand revues

As a celebrated artist, Lou Bandy was involved in the Dutch sound film early on. In 1929, he could be seen - and heard via a synchronised gramophone record - in one of the films Hofstad Film commissioned from well-known Dutch artists. Two years later, he acted in Zijn belooning/His Reward, the first short Dutch feature film with sound. In his biggest success, the army comedy Het meisje met den blauwen hoed/The Girl with the Blue Hat (Rudolf Meinert, 1934), he co-starred with the internationally known Truus van Aalten and Roland Varno. Lou played a dual role as Toontje, one of the soldiers, and as himself, Lou Bandy the variety artist. The film songs were written by Alex de Haas and Max Tak. Bandy recorded two of them, 'In de petoet'(In jail) and 'Vaste verkering is niets voor een soldaat' (No soldier should have a steady girlfriend), and they became popular hits.

In the flop Het leven is niet zoo kwaad/Life Isn't That bad (Haro van Peski, 1935), he costarred with Dutch film diva Fien de la Mar. Bandy was foremost a star of the revue and stayed so after the war. In 1940, he bought a villa in Doorn. He enjoyed spending time there and furnished the house with, among other things, a collection of paintings by Dutch masters.

In 1942, Bandy was arrested for anti-German provocation. This was because he had imitated Seyss-Inquart's limp walk during a performance. NSB members present among the audience reported the incident to the occupying forces. He spent a night in Scheveningen prison and was later transferred and interned in a hostage camp in Haaren. By simulating a heart condition, he was released. He also wrote a submissive letter to the occupying forces asking to be allowed to perform again. A short time later, he was arrested again and transferred to a hostage camp. There he attempted suicide. After being nursed, he returned home around Christmas 1942. He was put under house arrest and had to stay in Doorn. As a result, he did not perform again during the remaining war years.

In 1944, he suffered another setback. His wife Eugenie died in February and his brother Willy Derby in April. In the 1950s the grand revues became less fashionable and Bandy had to content himself with smaller gigs. He also started to work for the radio. He often performed at the very popular radio show De Bonte Dinsdagavondtrein (The Colourful Train of Tuesday Evening).

His life ended tragically. After the death of his wife in 1944, he had many escapades with young girls. Two such affairs ended in marriages: to Sinia Franke (1948-1949) and to the 43 years younger Carla van den Hurk (1952-1958). During the 1950s, Lou Bandy lost his public and after the divorce from Carla, he had to be treated in a psychiatric clinic. Alone in his flat in Zandvoort, he committed suicide in 1959. He was buried in the Old General Cemetery in Doorn (grave S-37) next to his first wife. Lou Bandy had one daughter from his first marriage, Louise (1928).


Scene from Het meisje met den blauwen hoed/The Girl with the Blue Hat (1934). Source: Johanpa3 (YouTube).


Campy clip of De zingende broeder singing Lou Bandy's evergreen 'Louise zit niet op je nagels te bijten' (Louise, Stop Biting your Nails). Source: De zingende broeder (YouTube).

Sources: Ben Leenders (Historici.nl - Dutch), Wikipedia (Dutch) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 23 May 2023.

Herbert Lom (1917 - 2012)

Czech born, British actor Herbert Lom (1917-2012) died at 27 September 2012. Lom has always been a reliable and eminently watchable villain in international films. He is best known as commissioner Dreyfus, Inspector Clouseau's long-suffering boss in the Pink Panther film series.


German postcard, no. E 77. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake (1962, Harald Reinl). In this Winnetou adventure Lom plays the bad colonel Cornel, On the postcard he has found the treasure of the film title in the cave of the Silver Lake. He and his four mates have overpowered the old and blind Indian guard.

Villainous Roles
Herbert Lom was born as Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru in Prague, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) in 1917. He was the son of a genteelly impoverished count, whose title dated from 1601. He studied medicine at university, more at his parent's insistence than any true calling, and his path to a career as a doctor was quashed the moment he set foot inside the dissecting room. His true vocation was acting. While at university, he organised a student's theatre group, both acting in and producing shows. He also worked part-time at the Prague film studios, a job which led to small roles in a few Czech productions. He made his film debut in Zena pod krízem/Woman Under the Cross (1937, Vladimir Slavinsky). According to Robert Sellers in his obituary in The Independent, it urged one critic to write, "A newcomer, Herbert Lom, is no asset to our screens." He made one more film in Czechoslovakia before a rising tide of anti-Jewish feeling following the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939 led Lom to flee to Britain. In London he auditioned - in Czech - at the Embassy School of Acting, and he was admitted. There then came an offer to join the company at the Old Vic, but the War had started, and he had another job offer: to join the BBC's Czech and German section, as an announcer. The day after the War ended, Lom became a British citizen. Throughout the 1940’s he made many appearances in British films. He usually played villainous roles, although he later appeared in comedies as well. His good looks, cultured accent and mannerisms, and intense eyes got him cast in such unusual roles as Napoleon Bonaparte in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942, Carol Reed) opposite Robert Donat, and again in War and Peace (1956, King Vidor). His breakthrough role was in the psychological drama The Seventh Veil (1945, Compton Bennett), as Dr. Larsen, the psychiatrist treating neuroses of the pianist portrayed by Ann Todd. In a rare starring role, Lom played murderous twin trapeze artists in Dual Alibi (1946, Alfred Travers). Lom often played highly motivated villains in the 1950's. In Night and the City (1950, Jules Dassin), he brought surprising humanity to the role of a brutal, vengeful gangster. He played roles opposite Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in The Ladykillers (1955, Alexander Mackendrick), Stanley Baker in the crime drama Hell Drivers (1957, Cy Endfield), and Richard Todd in the thriller Intent to Kill (1958, Jack Cardiff).


German postcard, no. E 78. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake (1962, Harald Reinl).

Commissioner Charles Dreyfus
Herbert Lom’s career really took off in the 1960’s. He landed supporting parts in El Cid (1961, Anthony Mann) and an especially showy role in Spartacus (1960, Stanley Kubrick) as a pirate chieftain contracted to transport Spartacus' army away from Italy. He also played Captain Nemo in Jules Verne's Mysterious Island (1961, Cy Endfield) featuring the special effects of maestro Ray Harryhausen, and he got the title role in The Phantom of the Opera (1962, Terence Fisher). Another popular hit was the Karl May adventure Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake (1962, Harald Reinl). This was the first film of the Winnetou series starring Pierre Brice. The 1960’s was also the decade in which Lom secured the role for which he will always be remembered: Commissioner Charles Dreyfus of the Paris surété in the Pink Panther films. He started with A Shot in the Dark (1964, Blake Edwards), where his long-suffering bureau chief Dreyfus was literally driven mad by Inspector Clouseau's (Peter Sellers) cheerful ineptitude. The world-wide success of the Pink Panther series (Lom appeared in seven out of the eight made) gave Lom a popular image with cinemagoers everywhere, a firm identity his many diverse other roles failed to provide. Lom played Prof. Abraham Van Helsing opposite Christopher Lee in Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht/Count Dracula (1970, Jesus Franco) followed by many horror movies for Hammer Films in the 1970’s. Lom played a retired Russian agent opposite Walter Matthau in the comedy Hopscotch (1980, Ronald Neame). A standout role was that of Christopher Walken's sympathetic doctor in The Dead Zone (1983, David Cronenberg). Lom has been taking it easy since then, though he returned to his familiar role of Commissioner Charles Dreyfus in Son of the Pink Panther (1993, Blake Edwards). He has written two historical novels, one on the playwright Christopher Marlowe (Enter a Spy: The Double Life of Christopher Marlowe, 1971) and another on the French Revolution (Dr. Guillotin: The Eccentric Exploits of an Early Scientist, 1992). His final screen appearance was an interview for the TV documentary Chris & Don. A Love Story (2007, Tina Mascara, Guido Santi). Herbert Lom was married three times, a.o. to Dina Schea (1948-1971). He was 95 when he passed away and had three children and seven grandchildren.


Trailer for The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976, Blake Edwards). Source: THX1968 (YouTube).

Sources: Robert Sellers (The Independent), Brian Viner (The Independent), Brude Eder (AllMovie), Brian McFarlane (Encyclopedia of British Film), Frankfob2 (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Mary Smithuysen

This week EFSP has its yearly Netherlands Film Star Postcards Festival again. During the Netherlands Film Festival (26 September - 5 October 2012) we provide you daily with postcards and bios of Dutch film stars. Actress Mary Smithuysen (1906 – 1992) had a stage career of more than five decades, but she only incidentally appeared in films.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Sent by mail in 1936. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Productie. Publicity still for De familie van mijn vrouw/My Wife's Family (1935).

Broken Foot
Mary Smithuysen (sometimes Mary Smithuizen) was born as Marie Smithuysen in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1906. From the age of 9, she started to attend ballet classes (from Lili Green a.o.) in the Netherlands and Germany. At 16, she went to America to study dance from Adolph Bolm in Chicago. She performed in the Chicago Opera Ballet with students of the Bolm Institute, but after more than 2 years she returned home because she had broken a foot. After a rest period of several months, she could continue her ballet career and opened her own school in Amsterdam. At the Schouwtooneel, where she danced in Peer Gynt, she met the actor Jan Musch. In 1928 they married, and immediately after they made a tour to the Dutch Indies. There she made her acting debut and the following decades she mainly acted on stage. With her husband, she worked for stage company Het Masker (The Mask), and after the liberation in Musch' G.G. Cabaret. She made her film debut in the comedy De familie van mijn vrouw/My Wife’s Family (1935, Jaap Speyer) starring Johan Kaart Jr., but the public had to wait for more than four decades at her second feature film appearance.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Productie. Publicity still for De familie van mijn vrouw/My Wife's Family (1935).

A Bridge Too Far
In 1948, Mary Smithuysen and Jan Musch divorced. Two years later she married actor Ben Groenier. She returned before the camera in such TV films as Jane Eyre (1958, Peter Hoen) with Marijke Bakker as Jane and Rob de Vries as Mr. Rochester. She also played in De Grasharp/The Grass Harp (1959, Kees van Iersel), a TV film based on the novel of Truman Capote. During the 1960’s, she appeared in such popular Dutch TV series as Maigret (1965) and De Glazen Stad/The Glass City (1969, Willy van Hemert). With Piet Hendriks and Monique van de Ven, she played in the TV mini-series De Wolvenman/The Wolves Man (1974). In 1977 she made a come-back to the cinema with two films. Een stille liefde/A Quiet Love (1977, René van Nie) was a Dutch drama about a 12 year-old boy who runs away with his estranged father (Cor van Rijn). The other film was the international WW II film A Bridge Too Far (1977, Richard Attenborough) about the failed attempt to capture key bridges behind German lines in a complicated parachute and armored assault. She played a small part as an old Dutch lady among a huge cast which featured international stars like Sean Connery, Gene Hackman and Dirk Bogarde. That year she retired from the stage. Her last screen appearance was in the TV film De verjaring/The limitation (1980, Kees Brusse, Andrew Wilson). Mary Smithuysen died in 1992 in Laren, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. She was 85. Actor Pieter Groenier is her son from her second marrage to Ben Groenier.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for De familie van mijn vrouw (1935).

Sources: Theaterencyclopedie.nl (Dutch), Geheugen van Nederland (Dutch) and IMDb.

Katja Schuurman

This week EFSP has its yearly Netherlands Film Star Postcards Festival again. During the Netherlands Film Festival (26 September - 5 October 2012) we provide you daily with postcards and bios of Dutch film stars. Today it's sexy and exotic Katja Schuurman (1975), one of the first soap stars of the Netherlands. She showed durability as a TV host and as an actress in countless TV series and films.


Dutch postcard in the GTST-verzamelkaarten series by RTL4, no. 10. Photo: Govert de Roos. Publicity still for the TV series Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden/GTST.


Dutch postcard by Boomerang, no. P18-06. Photo: Frans Jansen / BNN.

Miss Carnaval
Katja Schuurman was born in Utrecht, Netherlands in 1975. She grew up in Bunnik as the eldest daughter of a Dutch father and a Chinese-Surinamese mother. Her younger sister, Birgit Schuurman, is also a singer/actress. She studied political science for a while, but soon focused on a show business career, which had started with the Elizabeth Dancers. In February 1992 they travelled to Italy to compete in a Carnaval-Show festival and there she was elected Miss Carnaval. Later that year the Elizabeth Dancers won the dance competition in the Soundmix Show on Dutch television. A year later she started to act in TV series, such as Uit de school geklapt (1992, Bram van Erkel) with Nelly Frijda, and the crime series Cover Story (1994, Bram van Erkel a.o.) starring Ton Lutz. Together with her sister Birgit Schuurman, she sang in the band Jeune Turcs. She had her breakthrough in the first Dutch soap series Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden/GTST. As Jessica Harmsen, she became one of the most popular characters. With two co-stars, Babette van Veen and Guusje Nederhorst, she formed the girl group Linda, Roos & Jessica, named after their characters in the series. They had a huge chart hit with the song Ademnood (Turn Your Love Around). Several more hits, including some solo songs, followed. Schuurman appeared in 69 episodes of GTST between 1994 and 1999. One of her few disappointments in this successful period was her film debut in the comedy De Zeemeerman/The Merman (1996, Frank Herrebout) featuring Daniel Boissevain. The film failed to draw people to the cinemas and was voted the worst Dutch film ever made. She also appeared in a GTST spoof, the comedy series Pittige tijden/Hard Times (1997-1999) with Carlo Boszhard and Irene Moors. At the time, Schuurman had a relationship with Gerd Jan van Dalen, one of the producers of Goede tijden, slechte tijden, but they broke up in 1998.


Dutch postcard in the GTST-verzamelkaarten series by RTL4, no. 28. Photo: Govert de Roos. Publicity still for Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden/GTST.

Most Sexy woman of Holland
Katja Schuurman soon became a media star who not only acted and sung but also became a MTV VJ, internet babe and film star. Her second film was No Trains No Planes (1999, Jos Stelling), about an ordinary Dutch cafe, where a suicidal man (Dirk van Dijck) spends his last day saying goodbye to his friends. A huge box office hit was the romantic comedy Costa! (2001, Johan Nijenhuis), the story about a wild week at the Spanish coast, in which her co-stars were Daan Schuurmans and Georgina Verbaan, who had played her sister Hedwig in Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden. Another hit was the heartwarming Minoes/Miss Minoes (2001, Vincent Bal) starring Carice van Houten as a cat who turns into a young woman. Schuurman dubbed the voice of the Minoes’ cat sister. She continued to play in popular TV series like Westenwind/Western Wind (1999-2000, Johan Nijenhuis) with Daan Schuurmans, and All Stars (2001, Jack Wouterse) starring Peter Paul Muller and Antonie Kamerling. The latter was a spin-off of the successful comedy film All Stars (1997, Jean van de Velde), with the same cast and characters about a talentless amateur soccer team. The film and series were both remade in Belgium as Team Spirit (2000, Jan Verheyen) and Team Spirit - de serie/Team Spirit – the series (2003, Christophe Van Rompaey, Jan Verheyen). Schuurman also starred in the spin off series Costa (2001-2002). She grew into more mature roles in films like Oesters van Nam Kee/Oysters at Nam Kee's (2002, Pollo de Pimentel) in which she played Thera, a nightclub dancer who has a passionate affair with a teenage drop-out (Egbert Jan Weeber). As part of her role, she posed nude as Thera in the October 2002 edition of the Dutch edition of Playboy Magazine. That year she was voted Most Sexy woman of Holland. She posed again in the May 2004 edition of Playboy, this time as herself. Her other film appearances included the TV film Zeus (2001, Marcel Visbeen) costarring with Jeroen Spitzenberger, and a bit role in the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation The Rules of Attraction (2002, Roger Avary) starring James van der Beek and Jessica Biel.


Dutch postcard in the GTST-verzamelkaarten series by RTL4, no. 20. Photo: Govert de Roos. Publicity still for Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden/GTST.

More Than Just A Pretty Face
Katja Schuurman received good reviews for her acting in Interview (2003, Theo van Gogh) opposite famous Dutch stage actor Pierre Bokma. Rik Janssen at IMDb: “Theo van Gogh did it again, and Theodor Holman earns every bit of respect on writing one of the best dialogue-movies I've seen in years. Pierre Bokma proves once again to be a great actor, and Katja Schuurman proves she's more than just a pretty face. Her role as a spoiled actress is greatly ironic, 'cause most narrow-minded viewers have only looked at her in this respect for over a decade. By playing this role with such finesse, she maybe proves to be exactly the opposite.” She worked again with Theo van Gogh at the film Cool! (2004, Theo van Gogh) and the TV series Medea (2004, Theo van Gogh) with Thijs Römer. Römer became her lover. That same year, Theo van Gogh, a great-great-grandson of Vincent van Gogh’s brother Theo, was murdered by a Muslim extremist following a television documentary on the mistreatment of women in the Islam sector. The murder created an international shock, and Schuurman was devastated by the loss of her director and friend. On TV, she went on to host programs for BNN alongside Bridget Maasland. She married Thijs Römer in 2006 at the Château de Condé in the French town of Vallery. He had proposed to her in Wladiwostok, Russia, over the 2005 holidays. Their daughter Sammie was born in 2010. Schuurman appeared briefly in the American remake of Interview (2007, Steve Buscemi) in which Sienna Miller played her part of the Dutch version. Other films during that period included Sextet (2007, Eddy Terstall), the children’s adventure Kapitein Rob en het Geheim van Professor Lupardi/Captain Rob and the Secret of Professor Lupardi (2007, Hans Pos) and the commercial failure Het wapen van Geldrop/The weapon of Geldrop (2008, Thijs Römer). In 2007 she launched a Fair Food-line and did a lot of presenting work, including a talkshow with Sophie Hilbrand. A hit was the TV series S1ngle (2008-2010), based on a popular cartoon about three single girlfriends. Since then she appeared in the sequel All Stars 2: Old Stars (2011, Jean van de Velde), the crime comedy Black Out (2012, Arne Toonen), the TV series Van God Los/Godforsaken (2012, Pieter Kuijpers) and the family film De Club van Lelijke Kinderen/The Ugly Children Club (2012, Jonathan Elbers). On TV she scored another ratings hit as the host of the show Nick tegen Simon (Nick Against Simon) (2012). Katja Schuurman and her family live in Uitdam.


Clip with Katja Schuurman singing Wereldmeid (1997). Source: Riahamburg (YouTube).


Trailer Interview (2003). Source: Entertainmentone (YouTube).


Trailer Black Out (2012). Source: Pathenl (YouTube).

Sources: Rik Janssen (IMDb), AllMovie, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

The Choice of Asa

One of our contacts at Flickr is Asa aka asa9bobnote2 from England. He is the founder of the Alain Delon group at Flickr and of course we joined this group. We asked Asa to make his choice of 10 favorite postcards from this group. Asa: "It's difficult picking ten favorites, but restricting it to postcards has made it easier." Here's the Choice of Asa:


Postcard. Photo: Sam Lévin, 1957. Collection: Asa.
Asa: "If you would include a bio of Alain, I'd be very grateful." In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s Alain Delon (1935) was the breathtakingly good-looking James Dean of the French cinema. The 'male Brigitte Bardot' soon proved to be a magnificent actor in masterpieces by Luchino Visconti and Michelangelo Antonioni. In the late sixties Delon came to epitomise the calm, psychopathic hoodlum in the 'policiers' of Jean-Pierre Melville, staring into the camera like a cat assessing a mouse. Continue reading at our earlier Alain Delon post.


Postcard. Collection: Asa.
Asa: "'Breathtakingly beautiful' is so true because looking at him still takes my breath away."


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, licency holder for UFA Film-foto in the Netherlands. Photo: Sam Lévin / UFA. Collection: Asa.


German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2638. Photo: Safra-Gloria-Film/Vogelmann. Publicity still for Christine (1958, Pierre Gaspard-Huit).
"I had to pick a photo with Romy..."


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/95, ca. 1961. Photo Sam Levin. Publicity photo for Amours célèbres (1961, Michel Boisrond). Alain Delon and Brigitte Bardot starred in the segment Agnès Bernauer.
"...and - of course - the classic one of him with BB."


German postcard by Krüger. Photo: Ufa.
"Most women need makeup to improve their looks, but some men - especially Alain Delon - are so handsome/beautiful that it's almost illegal."


French postcard. Photo: Sam Lévin.
"Every time I see a 'new' photo of Alain Delon, my breath is snatched away again."


French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 1026. Photo: Sam Lévin.
"This photo is one of the best I've ever seen. So beautiful."


Anthony Delon. Rumanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, C.P.C.S. Cda 33132. Collection: Véronique3
"Anthony, his son, was also beautiful, but I don't think his looks last as long as his father's."


Spanish postcard by Bergas Ind. Graf., no. 572.
"This is great. Regards, Asa."

Thank you, Asa. We love your choice. Alain Delon is our most viewed European Film Star of all time here at the blog, so our readers probably agree. The Choice of... is an irregularly appearing series. Earlier guests were Egbert Barten, Véronique3 and Didier Hanson.

Fabeltjeskrant (Ger Smit)

Bor the Wolf is a character from the Dutch puppetry TV series Fabeltjeskrant/The Fables Newspaper (1968 - 1973, Cock Andreoli; 1985 - 1992). Unlike his fellow wolves, Bor is a peaceful and emotional animal. He is known for his distinctive, howling roar that precedes many of his statements. Bor also had a central role in the feature film Onkruidzaaiers in Fabeltjesland/Weedsowers in Fableland (1970, Cock Andreoli) when all the animals are off on their annual picnic, except for Bor. And just then, an army of termites invades the peaceful forest. Dutch voice actor Ger Smit (1933 - 2012) gave Bor his voice. Smit died earlier this week, at 14 September in Vorden, The Netherlands. Today he will be buried in Amsterdam.


Bor de Wolf. Dutch postcard by MUVA, Valkenburg. Photo: M.M. Chanowski Productions, 1969.

Ger Smit
In the original Dutch version, Ger Smit also dubbed other popular animals of Fabeltjeskrant such as Ed Bever (Ed the Beaver), Lowieke de Vos (Little Louis the Fox) and Zoef de Haas (Zoef the Hare). The other main voice actors of the series were Frans van Dusschoten and Elsje Scherjon. Smit acted earlier in the legendary Dutch youth series Mik-Mak (1962-1963, Guus Verstraete). Donald Jones as Mik and Smit as Mak were two tramps dressed as sailors. Later he was seen in films like Paul Verhoeven's successful feature film debut Wat zien ik/Business is Business (1971, Paul Verhoeven) and on television in the popular soap series Goede tijden, slechte tijden/Good Times Bad Times (1994-1999). As a voice actor, he also worked on Dutch versions of animation series like Sesamstraat/Sesame Street, Lucky Luke and De Smurfen/Smurfs. Ger Smit was 79.


Ed en Willem Bever. Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam. Photo: M.M. Chanowksi Productions, 1969.


Zoef de Haas. Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V. (Sparo), Rotterdam. Photo: M.M. Chanowksi Productions, 1969.

The Fables NewspaperFabeltjeskrant (or De Fabeltjeskrant, Dutch for The Fables Newspaper) is a Dutch children's television series featuring puppetry and stop motion. Created in 1968 by Leen Valkenier and produced by Thijs Chanowski (1st series) and Loek de Levita (2nd series), it ended in 1992 (some sources say 1989) and was broadcast on the Dutch channels NTS (now NOS), RTL 4 and RTL 8 and on Belgian channel VRT. Internationally, the series was also a success and was shown in more than 40 countries. From 1973 to 1975 it was broadcast in the United Kingdom, on ITV, with the title The Daily Fable. In Europe, it could also be seen in France as Le petit écho de la Forêt/The Little Echo of the Forest, in Hungary as Fabulácskahírek/The Fables Newspaper, in Italy as Il bosco dei perché/The Wood of the Questions, in Norway as Fablenes bok/The book of Fables, and in Sweden as Fablernas värld/World of Fables.


Meneer de Uil. Dutch postcard by Vita Nova, Hank (N.B.) Photo: M.M. Chanowski Productions, 1969.


Dutch postcard by MUVA, Valkenburg. Photo: M.M. Chanowski Productions, 1969.

The Show Everyone Watched And KnewFabeltjeskrant was a daily recurring short program of 4 - 5 minutes. Each episode is based upon fables of Jean de La Fontaine, Aesop, Phaedrus and also by the series' scenographer Leen Valkenier. The main character, the owl Meneer de Uil (Mr. Owl), introduces each episode reading a fable to other characters upon a tree. The scene is a forest inhabited by different antropomorphic paper. In 2005 Fabeltjeskrant was voted Best Children's Program of All Time in the Netherlands. At IMDb, Charmed Margeaux writes: "The fabeltjeskrant was like, the show everyone watched and knew. It has been showed to a few generations, and you won't find a single Belgian or Dutch person who hasn't seen at least a minute of this show. I grew up with it, but so did my brothers, and that's not so normal since they are 8 and 12 years older than me, and we all enjoyed it. Now, reruns are being shown on some stations and I think it's one of the best shows for little children, even now you have really soffisticated ones, I assure you, they'll love it!"


An episode of De Fabeltjeskrant: Bor becomes a poet (Sorry, in Dutch. But with the voice of Ger Smit.) Source: Fabeltjeskanaal (YouTube).

Sources: Charmed Margeaux (IMDb), Eindhovens Dagblad (Dutch), Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and IMDb.

Roger Tréville

French singer and actor Roger Tréville (1902-2005) was a popular star in French films of the early 1930s. Between 1908 and 1980, he appeared in more than fifty films and TV series in France, but also in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and the US.


French postcard by Editions and Publications Cinématographiques, no. 92.


French postcard, no. 1048. Photo: Pathé Natan Film.

Chéri
Roger Tréville was born as Roger Troly in Joigny, France, in 1902. His parents were actress Fanny Delisle, and actor-author-director Georges Tréville, who directed seven films between 1912 and 1930. Roger made his film debut in 1908 at the side of his mother. His father directed him in the silent British production Married Life (1921, Georges Tréville). Roger followed this appearance with more roles in British films like the comedy The Rotters (1921, A.V. Bramble) and the drama Sinister Street (1922, George Beranger). In 1922, he returned to France and because of his perfect English he was engaged by Henry Bernstein for the play Les vignes du Seigneur (Our Lord's Vineyard). Next he appeared in Chéri (Darling) at the side of the author, the legendary Colette. He also appeared in such silent films as the Alphonse Daudet adaptation Jack (1925, Robert Saidreau). With his beautiful voice he was perfect for the sound film. His breakthrough was the comedy The Parisian (1930, Jean de Limur) with Adolphe Menjou and Elissa Landi. Among his films of the early 1930’s were also Son altesse l’amour/His Highness Love (1931, Robert Péguy, Erich Schmidt) with Annabella, Enlevez-moi/Abduct Me (1932, Leonce Perret) with Arletty, Minuit, place Pigalle/Midnight, Place Pigalle (1934, Roger Richebé) with Raimu, and Parlez moi d’amour/Speak To Me of Love (1935, René Guissart). In the second half of the 1930’s he mainly worked as a singer who recorded several records.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 690. Photo: Pathé-Natan.


French postcard by Cinemagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 960. Photo: Studio G.L. Manuel Frères.

Beautiful Timbre
After the war Roger Tréville appeared with Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura in the musical Valse brillante/Brilliant Waltz (1949, Jean Boyer). His best known French films of the post-war period are the Bourvil comedy Le passe-muraille/Mr. Peek-a-Boo (1951, Jean Boyer), and La mariée était trop belle/The Bride Is Too Beautiful (1956, Pierre Gaspard-Huit) with Brigitte Bardot. He was also seen in the American productions The Green Glove (1952, Rudolph Maté) starring Glenn Ford, and The Happy Road (1957, Gene Kelly). In France, he became best known as the French dubbing voice of Robert Mitchum, James Stewart, and Vittorio de Sica. With his beautiful timbre he also dubbed Cary Grant in Monkey Business (1952, Howard Hawks), Tom Ewell in The seven year Itch (1955, Billy Wilder), and Trevor Howard in Twinky (1970, Richard Donner). He was seen in a supporting role in the Hollywood comedy How to Steal a Million (1966, William Wyler) starring Audrey Hepburn. From then on he focussed on his hobby painting and appeared only incidentally in films and on TV. At the age of 101 he founded Fonds Roger Tréville for the films and archives of Georges and Roger Tréville. A year later, in 2005, Roger Treville died in Beaumont, France, of natural causes. He was married twice; the second time with singer Rose Lorraine.


French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 17. Photo: Pathé-Natan.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 58. Photo: Studio Piaz.

Sources: Fonds Roger Treville, Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.

Jacqueline Laurent

Ravishing French actress Jacqueline Laurent (1918 – 2009) made only eleven films, but among them is Marcel Carné’s masterpiece Le jour se lève/Daybreak (1939). She was the love of poet and scriptwriter Jacques Prévert.


French postcard by O.P., Paris, no. 117. Photo: Teddy Piaz.

A Passionate Affair
Jacqueline Laurent was born as Jacqueline Suzanne Janin in Brienne-le-Chateau, France in 1918. Her father was a music teacher and amateur composer; her mother a school teacher. Her family gained a capital and they moved to Paris. There the 15-years-old met the actor Sylvain Itkine, who was ten years her senior. She fell in love and in 1935 they married. She made her debut under the pseudonym Jacqueline Sylvère in the adventure film Gaspard de Besse/Dawn Over France (1935, André Hugon) starring Raimu as a French Robin Hood in the Provence before the French revolution. Director André Hugon, who was a friend of her father, then gave her a big part in the drama Sarati, le terrible/Sarati the Terrible (1937, André Hugon) opposite Harry Baur. From then on she was credited as Jacqueline Laurent. In between these two films she had met the poet Jacques Prévert in the famous café Flore in Saint-Germain-de-Prés. The two began a passionate affair which lasted four years. Her film career developed smoothly. In Hollywood, she appeared for MGM in the third of the popular Andy Hardy films, Judge Hardy's Children (1938, Edgar B. Seitz). She played a French girl for whom Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) falls.


French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinématographiques (EPC), no. 236. Photo: Raymond Voinquel.

An Astounding Virtuosity
Back in France, Jacqueline Laurent had her greatest success with Le jour se lève/Daybreak (1939, Marcel Carné) for which Prévert wrote the script. In this classic masterpiece of the French poetic realism of the 1930’s, she co-starred as a young florist who falls in love with a factory worker (Jean Gabin) but her relation with the evil Valentin (Jules Berry) leads to murder. JB du Monteil at IMDb writes: “That was one of the last French masterpieces of the thirties just before the war. Marcel Carné was accused of pessimism and the movie was quickly forbidden by the military censorship that used to say in 1940: ‘if we've lost the war, blame it on Quai des Brumes'(Carné's precedent movie). The director answered: 'you do not blame a barometer for the storm'). Le jour se lève is, if it's possible, darker than its predecessor. From the very beginning, the hero, a good guy (Gabin) is doomed, his fate is already sealed, because the tragedy has already happened. That's why the movie is a long flashback. The memories are brought back on the screen with an astounding virtuosity by some elements of the set.”


French postcard by SERP, Paris, no. 183. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Cinécitta
Only after three years, Jacqueline Laurent appeared in her next film, the romantic drama L'homme qui joue avec le feu/The man who plays with fire (1942, Jean de Limur) with Ginette Leclerc. She starred opposite Pierre Brasseur in Les deux timides/Two shy ones (1943, Yves Allégret) and in Italy with Clara Calamai in Addio, amore!/Farewell, love! (1943, Gianni Franciolini). She played the female lead opposite Fernandel in Un chapeau de paille d'Italie/The Italian straw hat (1944, Maurice Cammage). This comedy was a remake of a classic silent film by René Clair, and although the film was shot in 1940, it could not be released until 1944 because of the war. The Italian production L'abito nero da sposa/The black wedding dress (1945, Luigi Zampa) with Fosco Giachetti was also delayed by the war. The shooting of the historical drama started in early 1943 in the Cinécitta studios, but was interrupted during most of the war. The shooting only resumed once Rome was liberated in June 1944, and the film was finally released in 1945. After that she made a third Italian film, Le vie del peccato/The ways of sin (1946, Giorgio Pastina) with Leonardo Cortese. Then she retired from the cinema, and would later marry twice. Her only other film appearance was an uncredited bit role in Le coup de grace/The coup de grace (1965, Jean Cayrol, Claude Durand) with Danielle Darrieux. Jacqueline Laurent died in 2009 in Grasse, France at the age of 91.


Scene from Le jour se lève/Daybreak (1939) with Jean Gabin and Jacqueline Laurent. Source: (YouTube).


Scene with Jacqueline Laurent and Fernandel in Un chapeau de paille d'Italie/The Italian straw hat (1944). Source: Camille885 (YouTube).

Sources: Yvan Foucart (Le coin du cinéphage) (French), Alexandre Carle (Les Gens du Cinéma) (French), La Saga Des Etoiles Filantes (French), Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

Lau Ezerman

Actor and stage director Lau Ezerman (1892-1940) played in several Dutch films, both silent and sound, from the pre-WWII era. The Jewish Ezerman committed suicide in 1940.


Dutch Postcard by m.d. This postcard was probably produced for Ezerman's jubilee as an artist in 1938.

Lost and Found

Laurens Ezerman was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 1892. Originally a bank employee, he played in dilettante societies in his spare time. In 1911, he attended the Toneelschool, Amsterdam. He joined Mertens and Kinsbergen's operetta company (Frascati), but by then had already made his stage debut. As a student of the drama school, he played the role of Viscount de Jodelet in Molière's "Ridiculous Courtly Misses" on 1 February 1912.

Two years later, he was able to get an engagement at the Hollandia Filmfabriek in Haarlem and put an end to his education. His film debut was Nederland en Oranje/Netherlands and Orange (Louis Chrispijn Sr, 1913), a short silent film that portrayed twenty highlights from Dutch history.

He became one of the actors of the ‘troupe’ of the Filmfabriek-Hollandia, the most active producer of silent films in The Netherlands. The company’s main directors were Maurits Binger, Louis Chrispijn Sr and Theo Frenkel Sr.

Chrispijn directed Lau Ezerman in such melodramas as Zijn viool/His Violin (Louis Chrispijn Sr, 1914), Gebroken levens/Broken Lives (Louis Chrispijn Sr, 1914) starring the grand Louis Bouwmeester) and Weergevonden/Lost and Found (Louis Chrispijn Sr, 1914). Most of these films are presumed missing, but Weergevonden was literally found again in 1976.

In 1920 Hollandia united with a British company and Ezerman played in their historical adventure film De zwarte tulp/The Black Tulip (Maurits Binger, Frank Richardson, 1921) and their crime film Bulldog Drummond (Oscar Apfel, 1922), based on a popular novel and play by Sapper (Herman C. McNeile).


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


Free admission ticket for a screening at the Cinema Américain in the city of Alkmaar on Thursday 10 January 1935. Photos: stills from the advertising film Wasch gemakkelijk, wach voordelig/Do your laundry easily and affordably (Johannes Guter, 1933). Collection: Roloff de Jeu@Flickr.
The Persil 'Klankfilm' (film with sound) 'WASCH GEMAKKELIJK, WASCH VOORDELIG' was a film produced by Persil director E. Ostermann & Co. and distributed throughout the Netherlands by Henkel's laundry detergent brand from 1934 to 1936. Housewives and young women exclusively were invited to see the film for free at private screenings in their local cinema. Other brands in use in the film were Henco, Ato, iMi and Sil. Apparently, this was the first Dutch feature (137 minutes!) with sound with Dutch actors. Some sources label it as a musical. It was directed by the Latvian director Johannes Guter who fled to Germany twice in the early 1900s to become a pioneer in German silent and expressionist cinema. The film was shot at the UFA studios in Berlin, Germany and recorded in several languages (using the same Dutch actors). WASCH GEMAKKELIJK, WASCH VOORDELIG premiered in Amsterdam's Tuschinski Theatre on November 29th in 1933. Newspaper reviews were quite positive.

Philiwood

In 1934 film companies competed to produce the first Dutch talkie. Lau Ezerman played in the 'winner', Willem van Oranje/William of Orange (Jan Teunissen, 1934). This historical drama was shot at the Philips Studios ('Philiwood') in Eindhoven, using the Philips-Miller Filmband, a new system for recording sound.

In the 1930s, directors like Detlev Sierck (Douglas Sirk) and Ludwig Berger and scriptwriters like Walter Schlee went into exile from Nazi Germany and gave the Dutch film industry a healthy impulse.

Ezerman played character parts in such films as the comedy Bleeke Bet/Pale Beth (Richard Oswald, Alex Benno, 1934) and Het meisje met den blauwen hoed/The Girl With the Blue Hat (Rudolf Meinert, 1934) with Truus van Aalten.

In the second half of the 1930s, Ezerman led a wandering existence both in his work and private life. He played in the films Komedie om geld/The Trouble with Money (Max Ophüls, 1936), the popular romcom Vadertje Langbeen/Daddy Long Legs (Frederic (Friedrich) Zelnik, 1938) starring Lily Bouwmeester, Morgen gaat het beter/Tomorrow It Will Be Better (Frederic Zelnik, 1939), and the thriller De spooktrein/The Ghost Train (Carl (Karel) Lamac, 1939), based on the play 'The Ghost Train' (1925) by Arnold Ridley.

In 1938-1939, he worked on stage with his own group, Het Hoofdstadtooneel and with the ABC Cabaret, where he celebrated his 25th anniversary in 1938. In 1941 the Nazis censured films such as Bleeke Bet for reissues and all the Jewish actors including Lau Ezerman were cut from the film, but he would never know that. In 1940 Lau Ezerman committed suicide in Amersfoort at the age of 47.


Dutch Postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag (The Hague). Lau Ezerman and other cast members in Bleeke Bet/Pale Beth (Richard Oswald, Alex Benno, 1934).


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma. Roland Varno, Truus van Aalten, Dries Krijn and Lou Bandy in Het meisje met den blauwen hoed/The Girl With the Blue Hat (Rudolf Meinert, 1934).

Sources: TheaterEncyclopedie (Dutch), Geoffrey Donaldson (Of Joy and Sorrow) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 26 February 2024.

Elena Sangro

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


Vintage Italian postcard.

Baron Kanzler
Elena Sangro was born Maria Antonietta Bartoli Avveduti in Vasto d'Aimone, Italy, in 1896 (although Wikipedia and IMDb claim that she was born in 1901). After attending acting lessons at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, she debuted on stage in La cena delle beffe (The Jesters' Supper) by Sem Benelli and in Patria (Homeland) by Victorien Sardou. Baron Kanzler introduced her to director Enrico Guazzoni who gave the young actress the lead of his film Fabiola (1918). After the success of this film, more roles followed such as in the epic La Gerusalemme liberata/Jerusalem Liberated (1918, Enrico Guazzoni) based on the poem by Torquato Tasso, and the comedy Primerose (1919, Mario Caserini). In a series of films, she had her cousin Giorgi Fini as her partner: Il più forte amore/The strongest love (1920), Il fauno di marmo/The Marble Faun (1921, Mario Bonnard) and L'eredità di Caino/The Legacy of Cain (1921, Giuseppe Maria Viti). In L'onesto mondo/The honest world (1921, Torello Rolli), she played a singer who sacrifices herself for an unworthy man. She appeared as a proud and patriotic princess opposite Rina De Liguoro in Saracinesca/Portcullis (1922, Augusto Camerini, Gaston Ravel), set in papal Rome. That same year she also played in the pro-Montenegro drama Non c'è resurrezione senza morte/There Is No Resurrection Without Death (1922, Edoardo Bencivenga) based on the memories of Vladimir Popovic and personally produced by Sangro. A pro-Montenegro, headed by her friend, poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, promoted the film. A few years ago the film was found, restored, and presented at the Giornate del Cinema Muto, the silent film festival in the Italian city of Pordenone.


Rina de Liguoro, co-star of Elena Sangro in several films. German postcard by Ross Verlag. no. 3902/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Pinto Roma.


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

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


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 663. Photo: Elena Sangro as the Empress Poppea in the epic film Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio/ Georg Jacoby 1924/1925), a production of UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana).


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

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

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

Dunja Rajter

Croatian singer and actress Dunja Rajter (1946) is a dark haired beauty that 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 of the Winnetou westerns.


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

Belle
Dunja Rajter was born in 1946 in Našice, Yugoslavia, now Croatia. As a schoolgirl she sang in the children's choir of her father, Rudolf Rajter, who was a music teacher in Zagreb. After school, she studied at the Theatre Academy of Zagreb. After her graduation in 1963, she was engaged by the theater company of the city. Before this she had already done some small parts in Yugoslavian films like Carevo novo ruho/The King's New Clothes (1961, Ante Babaja), based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, and Pustolov pred vratima/Adventure at the Door (1961, Sime Simatovic) with Ana Karic. In 1962, she appeared in a TV series. The music was composed by Mario Nardelli, who would be her future companion on the guitar. She played Belle in the Eurowestern Winnetou - 1. Teil/Apache Gold (1963, Harald Reinl) which was filmed at the Plitvice Lakes and other Croatian locations. This Karl May adaptation starred Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand and Pierre Brice as his friend, the apache Winnetou. German music promoter and television director Horst Lippmann had spotted her singing in a Yugoslavian TV show and invited her to come to Germany. In 1964 she moved to Germany, where she has lived ever since. During the 1960’s, she acted in several feature films and television productions. Her most successful films included the Winnetou film Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (1965, Alfred Vohrer), the Edgar Wallace thriller Der unheimliche Mönch/The Sinister Monk (1965, Harald Reinl) with Karin Dor, and the TV film Der Beginn/The beginning (1966, Peter Lilienthal), which won the Adolf Grimme Award. She also had a part in the Dutch film To Grab the Ring (1968, Nikolai van der Heijde) with Ben Carruthers and singer Liesbeth List. Among her other television productions were such series as Grosser mann wass Nun/Big man what now (1967, Eugen York) with Gustav Knuth, Salto Mortale/Somersault (1969-1972, Michael Braun), and Der Kommissar/The Commissioner (1970, Director: Helmut Käutner) featuring Erik Ode.


Lex Barker. German postcard, no. E 23. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I (1963, Harald Reinl). Caption: "Old Shatterhand has also been sentenced to die at the stake. He regrets emphatically, that he rescued Winnetou from the Kiowas. An ordeal by battle will decide."


Pierre Brice. German postcard, no. E 5. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I (1963, Harald Reinl).

A Husky Gypsy Voice
In the early 1970’s, Dunja Rajter became known as a singer with a husky gypsy voice. She came into the charts with hits like Was ist schon dabei (What's the big deal) (1970) and Salem Aleikum (1971). She was a guest on Harry Belafonte's American television show, has performed in France in various television magazines, and in Germany, she even her own personality show. Another highlight in her career was a European tour with Ivan Rebroff. Later, she entered the German Hitparade with Junges Herz (Young heart) (1977) and Ich glaub dir (I believe you) (1980). Rajters songs are a mixture of pop and chanson. In 1986, she broke new ground in music and performed in small theaters. The civil war in former Yugoslavia (1991-1995) changed her life. Since then she has supported several children's hospitals in her native Croatia. On TV she appeared in such series as Tisch und Bett/Table and Bed (1993), Löwenzahn/Dandelion (2010) and Traumschiff – Kreuzfahrt ins Glück/Love Boat – Cruisade for Happiness (2011, Wolfgang Rademann). She also appeared on stage. In 2003 and 2012 she performed at the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg. She also played the title role in the play Mirandolina (2007) by Carlo Goldoni at the Landesbühne Rheinland Pfalz, and Golde in Anatevka (Fiddler on the Roof) (2008/2009) at the Trier Theatre. Dunja Rajter married three times. Her first marriage was to the Dutch cinematographer Gerard Vandenberg (1970-1971). In 1972 she married singer and bandleader Les Humphries. They have a son, Danny Leslie Humphries (1974), who is a singer and guitarist in the band Glow. The couple divorced in the 1976. In 2009, she married her longtime friend, marketing consultant Michael Eichler. Dunja Rajter lives in Langen.


German trailer for Winnetou - 1. Teil/Apache Gold (1963). Source: Rialto Film (YouTube).


Dunja Rajter sings Nur nicht aus Liebe weinen in a 1985 TV show. The song was originally sung by Zarah Leander in 1939. Source: Fritz12345 (YouTube).

Sources: Dunja-Rajter.de, Tom B. (Westerns… All’Italiana), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.