11 January 2020

New Acquisitions: Kino-Autogrammkarten

Lately, I found this series of German autograph cards on eBay. These 'Autogrammkarten' were published by film magazine Kino in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Four cards were printed on one sheet which was glued into each magazine, and the reader had to tear them loose. Bravo magazine in Germany and other European magazines also supplied these kind of cards in this way as, an extra for their readers. A Kino-Autogrammkarte consists of a star photo, a pre-printed autograph and the Kino logo on the front side and on the other side: biographical information, a contact address and a film list, which always stops in 1988, 1989 or 1990. I like these cards because the range of stars is much more varied than on the film star postcards of that period. Here you find other faces than just the Hollywood mega stars, such as one-time Oscar nominated Sally Kirkland or B-movie Queen Sybil Danning.

Jane Birkin
German autograph card by Kino.

In the Swinging Sixties, shy, awkward-looking British actress Jane Birkin (1946) made a huge international splash as one of the nude models in Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966). In France she became the muse of singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, who wrote several of her albums, plus their explicitly erotic duet Je t'aime... moi non plus. Later she worked with such respected film directors as Jacques Rivette, Agnès Varda and Jacques Doillon, and won several acting awards.

Jacqueline Bisset
German autograph card by Kino.

English actress Jacqueline Bisset (1944) has been an international film star since the late 1960s. She received her first roles mainly because of her stunning beauty, but over time she has become a fine actress respected by fans and critics alike. Bisset has worked with directors John Huston, François Truffaut, George Cukor and Roman Polanski. She received France’s Légion d'honneur in 2010.

Sybil Danning
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1988.

Austrian actress Sybil Danning (1949) was a statuesque blonde beauty who became a dynamic and commanding B-movie queen. Never a helpless victim or mere boy-toy, the voluptuous Danning gained her widest audience with a series of sweat-drenched action pictures in the 1980s. For her work in Chained Heat (1983) and Hercules (1983), she won a Golden Razzie.

Faye Dunaway
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1988.

American film actress Faye Dunaway (1941) is a classic beauty with high cheekbones and a husky resonant voice. She had her breakthrough as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and became one of Hollywood's biggest stars of the 1970s with Chinatown (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Network (1976), for which she won the Oscar.

Lauren Hutton
German autograph card by Kino, 1988.

Over her career, Lauren Hutton (1943) has worked both as a model and an actress. Though she was initially dismissed by agents for a signature gap in her teeth, Hutton signed a modelling contract with Revlon in 1973, which at the time was the biggest contract in the history of the modelling industry. She made her film debut in the sports drama Paper Lion (1968) and played leading roles in The Gambler (1974) and American Gigolo (1980). On television, she appeared in such series as Paper Dolls (1984) and Nip/Tuck (2007).

Sally Kirkland
German Autograph card by Kino.

American actress Sally Kirkland (1941) received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for her performance in Anna (1987). She is also known for Cold Feet (1989), and The Haunted (1991).

Steve Martin
German autograph card by Kino.

American actor Steve Martin (1945) is also known as a comedian, writer, and musician. Martin came to public notice in the 1960s as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later as a frequent guest on The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live. Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. His collaboration with writer-director-actor Carl Reiner on the hit comedies The Jerk (1979), Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983), and All of Me (1984) established Martin as a film star of the first rank. Since the 1980s, Martin also became an author, playwright, pianist, and banjo player.

Philippe Noiret
German autograph card by Kino.

French film actor Philippe Noiret (1930-2006) acted in several Hollywood productions, but he is best known for his roles as Alfredo in Cinema Paradiso (1988), Pablo Neruda in Il Postino (1994), and Major Dellaplane in Bertrand Tavernier's La vie et rien d'autre/Life and Nothing But (1989).

Nick Nolte
German autograph card by Kino, 1988.

American actor Nick Nolte (1941) won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Oscar for his role in The Prince of Tides (1991). He went on to receive Academy Award nominations for Affliction (1998) and Warrior (2011). His other film appearances include The Deep (1977), 48 Hrs. (1982), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Cape Fear (1991), The Thin Red Line (1998), and Hotel Rwanda (2004).

Peter O'Toole
German autograph card by Kino.

Golden-haired, blue-eyed Peter O'Toole (1932-2013) became an international superstar with his unforgettable turn as the British expatriate T.E. Lawrence in David Lean's epic masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia (1962). After surviving cancer and alcoholism, O’Toole made a triumphant come-back with Oscar nominated appearances in The Stunt Man (1980) and My Favorite Year (1982).

Michel Piccoli
German autograph card by Kino.

French actor Michel Piccoli (1925) has appeared in many different roles, from seducer to cop to gangster to Pope in more than 200 films and TV films. Among the directors he worked with are Jean Renoir, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Luis Buñuel, and Alfred Hitchcock.

William Shatner
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1988.

Canadian-born actor William Shatner, (1931) is best known as Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk, the main character in the classic American TV series Star Trek and its subsequent films. As the commander of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise, square-jawed Kirk leads his crew as they explore "where no man has gone before".

Jon Voight
German autograph card by Kino.

American actor Jon Voight (1938) became a star playing the street hustler Joe Buck in the groundbreaking film Midnight Cowboy (1969). He had a successful career taking on challenging leading and character roles in a wide range of films and television shows. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven.

Rutger Hauer (1944-2019)
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1989.

Blonde, blue-eyed, tall and handsome Dutch actor Rutger Hauer (1944-2019) played everything - from romantic leads to action heroes to sinister villains. During the 1970s, he had his international breakthrough with the Dutch films by Paul Verhoeven and later he became a cult star with Blade Runner (1982), The Hitcher (1986) and Blind Fury (1989). Before that he was the hero of many Dutch kids in the classic TV series Floris (1969), also directed by Verhoeven.

Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989)
German autograph card by Kino. Photo: Jack Nicholson in Batman (Tim Burton, 1989).

Jack Nicholson (1937) is an American actor and filmmaker who has performed for over sixty years. His rise in Hollywood was far from meteoric, and for years, he sustained his career with guest spots in television series and Roger Corman films. He is known for his wide range of roles, including satirical comedy, romance, and dark portrayals of anti-heroes and villainous characters. In many films, he played rebels against the social structure. Nicholson's 12 Oscar nominations make him the most nominated male actor ever. He won the Oscars for Best Actor twice – for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and As Good as It Gets (1997), and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Terms of Endearment (1983).

Pierre Richard
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1989.

French actor Pierre Richard (1934) became popular as a clumsy daydreamer in comedy films of the 1970s. Richard is best known internationally as the star of the zany spy farce Le Grand Blond Avec Une Chaussure Noire/The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972) and for his hilarious comedies with Gérard Dépardieu. He also wrote and directed several films himself.

Billy Dee Williams
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1989.

American actor Billy Dee Williams (1937) is best known as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise. First he starred in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983), and nearly forty years later again in The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Williams has appeared in at least 70 films over six decades.

Ricki Lake
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1990.

American actress Ricki Lake (1968) is best known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in John Waters' cult classic Hairspray (1988). She is also known for her talk show which was broadcast internationally between 1993 and 2004.

Ralph Macchio
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1990.

American actor Ralph Macchio Jr. (1961) became a teen idol with his role as Daniel LaRusso in three Karate Kid films. He is also known for his roles in The Outsiders (1983), My Cousin Vinny (1992), and the TV series Ugly Betty (2008-2009). In 2018, he returned as Daniel la Russo in the YouTube series Cobra Kai.

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