12 January 2025: Claude Jarman
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, Barcelona, no. 4041. Photo: M.G.M. Claude Jarman Jr. in The Yearling (Clarence Brown, 1946).
At 12, Claude Jarman Jr. (1934-2025) was discovered by MGM for The Yearling (1946) with Gregory Peck. For his debut as Jody Baxter, he was awarded a miniature Oscar. He made a total of 11 films, but by the time he reached his early twenties, he left his film career behind.
15 January 2025: David Lynch
French postcard by CartCom for Télérama. Photo: Richard Dumas / Télérama.
American filmmaker David Lynch (1946-2025) was the figurehead of American surrealist cinema and won several awards for his films and television series Twin Peaks (1990-1991). Nightmares, strange worlds, metamorphoses, voyeurism, and the unconscious are recurring themes in his work. In his thrillers Blue Velvet (1986), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) and Mulholland Drive (2001), he combined sex, violence and black humour with stylistic beauty and an attempt at technical perfection. Besides directing films, Lynch was a producer, actor, screenwriter, and visual artist, and he engaged in many other avocations.
16 January 2025: Joan Plowright
British card. Joan Plowright in Uncle Vanya (Laurence Olivier, Stuart Burge, 1963), a British film adaptation of the 1899 play 'Uncle Vanya' by Anton Chekhov. It was a filmed version of the Chichester Festival Theatre production, starring Laurence Olivier as Astrov, Michael Redgrave as Vanya, Rosemary Harris as Elena, and Joan Plowright as Sonya.
British actress Joan Plowright (1929-2025) was a celebrated star of stage and screen. She helped to shape British postwar theatre. With her second husband, Laurence Olivier, Plowright appeared in the West End and on Broadway in John Osborne’s 'The Entertainer, as well as in the film version. For her role in Enchanted April (1991), she received an Oscar nomination.
25 January 2025: Horst Janson
German autograph card. Photo: Peter Raba.
30 January: Marianne Faithfull
Vintage postcard. Caption: * 29.12.1946 / London (Hampstead).
British singer and actress Marianne Faithfull (1946-2025) started her career in the 1960s with sweet, melancholy folk-pop. Her personal life was turbulent, and years of drug and alcohol abuse followed. But few stars reinvented themselves as successfully as Faithfull. In addition to her music career, Faithfull had a career as an inventive, creative actress in theatre, television and film.
Horst Janson (1935-2025) was one of Germany’s most popular film and television actors of the 1970s. He had his breakthrough when he played the first male character with long hair in German television history, in the hit show Der Bastian (1973). Janson appeared in many international films, including Spaghetti Westerns with Franco Nero and Tomas Milian.
9 February 2025: Oleg Strizhenov
East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 574, 1957. Photo: Sovexportfilm.
Prominent Russian actor Oleg Strizhenov (1929-2025) was both a People's Artist of the Soviet Union and a heartthrob, ‘a Russian Gérard Philipe’. Strizhenov played in more than 31 major films between 1951 and 2000.
14 February 2025: Geneviève Page
East German postcard by Progress-Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2426, 1965. Photo: Geneviève Page in L'honorable Stanislas, l'agent secret (Jean-Charles Dudrumet, 1963).
Long-necked, doe-eyed Geneviève Page (1927-2025) was a French actress who starred in French, Italian, British, and American films during a career spanning fifty years. She often played glamorous roles in costume pictures as a delectable heroine who meets an untimely demise.
26 February 2025: Gene Hackman
East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin, no. 73/77.
On 26 February, American actor Gene Hackman (1930-2025) and his wife, the pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their home in Santa Fe. Hackman became a Hollywood star in the 1970s with such films as The French Connection (1971), The Conversation (1974) and Bite the Bullet (1975). He won Oscars for The French Connection (1971) and for Clint Eastwood's Western Unforgiven (1992), making it the fifth time he was nominated.
29 March 2025: Richard Chamberlain
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C. 174, 1964. Richard Chamberlain in the TV series Dr. Kildare (1961-1966).
The impeccably handsome American actor Richard Chamberlain (1934-2025) was TV's leading heartthrob because of his title role in Dr. Kildare (1961-1966). He turned his back on Hollywood, devoting himself to the stage and a new European film career. He worked in such films as The Music Lovers (1970) and The Last Wave (1977). After the popular series Shōgun (1980), he became the 'King of the Miniseries'. Richard Chamberlain was 90.
1 April 2025: Val Kilmer
French postcard by Editions Mercuri, no. 1620. Photo: Warner Bros. Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (Joel Schumacher, 1995).
The American actor Val Kilmer (1959-2025) was known for such blockbusters as Top Gun (1986), Batman Forever (1995) and Heat (1995). His chameleon-like ability to plunge fully and breathlessly into his characters catapulted him to fame in the mid-1980s but his reputation to be a troublesome actor and a series of disappointing films held him back from megastardom.
21 April 2025: Johanna Matz
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 40. Photo: Niczky.
Austrian actress Johanna Matz (1932-2025) made a blitz career in the 1950s as the natural ‘Wiener Mädel’ (the Viennese Gal). She acted in more than forty films and TV films, but she considered herself primarily a theatre actress.
23 April 2025: Waltraut Haas
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 5984.
Austrian actress and singer Waltraut Haas (1927-2025) was the popular star of 70 German and Austrian film operettas and comedies during the 1950s and 1960s.
27 April 2025: Cora Sue Collins
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 934. Photo: Paramount.
American actress Cora Sue Collins (1927-2025) died in Beverly Hills of complications from a stroke. The chubby-cheeked, curly-haired child actress appeared as the young Christina in Queen Christina (1933) and appeared in 46 more films of the 1930s. She retired when she was 18 and died when she was 98.
4 June 2025: Enzo Staiola
Italian autograph card.
Enzo Staiola (1939-2025) was an Italian actor, who became widely known as the boy Bruno in the Neorealist film Ladri di biciclette / Bicycle Thieves (1948) by Vittorio De Sica.
14 June 2025: Topsy Küppers
West German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 2275. Photo: Lindner / Arca Film / Allianz Film. Topsy Küppers in Die wilde Auguste / Wild Auguste (Georg Jacoby, 1956).
Austrian-German actress, singer, author and theatrical director Topsy Küppers (1931-2025) appeared in several German entertainment films during the 1950s.
23 June 2025: Lea Massari
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. N. 154.
The Italian actress and singer Lea Massari (1933-2025) worked in both Italian and French cinema. She is best remembered for such film classics as Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura (1960) as the missing girl Anna, and Louis Malle's Le Souffle au Coeur (1971) as Clara, the mother of a sexually precocious 14-year-old boy.
16 July 2025: Connie Francis
Dutch postcard.
Around 1960, American singer and film actress Connie Francis (1937-2025) was the most internationally successful Pop singer, with hits such as 'Who's Sorry Now' (1957) and 'Everybody's Somebody's Fool' (1960). MGM developed four vehicles for her to star in.
30 August 2025: Arthur Brauss
German autograph postcard by Rüdel-Verlag. Photo: Hans Zillmann, Hamburg.
German actor and voice actor Arthur Brauss (1936-2025) was the star of Wim Wenders' film Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter / The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty (1972). He participated in over 190 film and television productions, including several international films.
3 September 2025: Jacques Charrier
German postcard by Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (UFA), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-264. Photo: UFA.
French actor and film producer Jacques Charrier (1936-2025) played a young existentialist rebel in the massive box office hit Les Tricheurs / The Cheaters (1958) and appeared in other French films of the late 1950s and 1960s. He gained notoriety when he married Brigitte Bardot. Their brief, tumultuous marriage was punctuated by his personal problems. He later worked as a film producer and as an artist in painting and ceramics.
16 September 2025: Robert Redford
German postcard by AGI, Staufenberg, no. CP 751. Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969).
With his all-American good looks, Robert Redford (1936-2025) was one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the 1970s. In classics such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1973), and All the President's Men (1976), he portrayed the intelligent, reliable, and sometimes sardonic good guy. He received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. In 2010, the actor, director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival was appointed Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in France.
23 September 2025: Claudia Cardinale
French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 459. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Italian actress Claudia Cardinale (1938-2025) was one of Europe's iconic and most versatile film stars. The combination of her beauty, dark, flashing eyes, explosive sexuality and genuine acting talent virtually guaranteed her stardom. Her most notable films include the classics 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963), Il Gattopardo / The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963), and Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968).
11 October 2025: Diane Keaton
German collector card by Kino.
American actress Diane Keaton (1946-2025) was one of the biggest female Hollywood stars of the 1970s and 1980s. Her greatest successes include The Godfather (1972), Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), and Reds (1981). Keaton and Woody Allen made eight films together: Play It Again, Sam (1972), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977), Interiors (1978), Manhattan (1979), Radio Days (1987) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). Diane Keaton won an Oscar for Annie Hall (1977).
17 August 2025: Terence Stamp
Vintage postcard.
British actor Terence Stamp (1939-2025) was a leading cultural figure of the Swinging Sixties.The strikingly handsome Stamp dated Julie Christie, Brigitte Bardot and Jean Shrimpton, and worked with such directors as John Schlesinger, Ken Loach, Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Joseph Losey. Later, he appeared in the blockbusters Superman (1978), Superman II (1980) and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) - as Chancellor Valorum. In a departure from anything he had ever done before, Stamp dragged up for Stephan Elliott’s delicious cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) as trans woman Bernadette. Another of our Stamp favourites is Stephen Soderbergh's crime film The Limey (1999).
15 October 2025: Samantha Eggar
Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor, no. 587. Samantha Eggar in The Collector (William Wyler, 1965).
Samantha Eggar (1939-2025) was a gifted English film, television and voice actress. The auburn-haired beauty played in several Hollywood movies, including the acclaimed psychological thriller The Collector (William Wyler, 1965), but somehow never managed to become a major star. She was 86.
25 October 2025: Björn Andrésen
French publicity leaflet. Silvana Mangano and Björn Andrésen in Morte a Venezia / Death in Venice / Mort à Venise (Luchino Visconti, 1971). Dress designed by Piero Tosi.
Björn Andrésen (1955-2025) was a Swedish actor, musician and singer who rose to fame for his role as the fifteen-year-old Tadzio in Luchino Visconti's film Morte a Venezia / Death in Venice (1971), based on the 1912 novella 'Der Tod in Venedig' by Thomas Mann.
23 October 2025: June Lockhart
American postcard by Space Productions, 1998. Photo: New Line Productions. June Lockhart (third from right) in Lost in Space (1965-1968) with, from left to right, Angela Cartwright, Mark Goddard, Guy Williams, Marta Kristen, and Billy Mumy. Caption: The Robinsons and Don West.
American actress June Lockhart (1925-2025) began her film career in the 1930s and 1940s in films such as A Christmas Carol (1938) and Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). She played a key role in Son of Lassie (1945). In the 1950s and 1960s, she became famous for her mother roles on two classic television series, Lassie (1958-1964) and Lost in Space (1965-1968). June Lockhart was 100. With a career spanning nearly 90 years, she was one of the last surviving actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
29 October 2025: Maria Riva
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5965/2, 1930-1931. Paramount. Marlene Dietrich and her daughter, Maria Riva, are probably at the pool of their villa in Beverly Hills.
Maria Riva (1924-2025) was a German-born American actress and memoirist, best known as the only daughter of Marlene Dietrich. In 1930, at age five, she moved with her mother to Los Angeles. Riva worked on television in the 1950s, for which she was twice Emmy-nominated. She also published a memoir about her mother in 1992.
31 October 2025: Tchéky Karyo
French postcard by Edition Beausoleil, Paris.
French actor Tchéky Karyo (1953-2025) died at the age of 72 from cancer. Karyo appeared in some eighty films, including Luc Besson's action thriller Nikita / La Femme Nikita (1990), the Hollywood blockbuster Bad Boys (1995) with Will Smith, and Pierce Brosnan's first Bond film, GoldenEye (1995).
3 November 2025: Joost Prinsen
Dutch postcard by Vara. Photo: Fotoatelier Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. Joost Prinssen as Erik Engerd (Eerie Eric), Wieteke van Dort as Deftige Dame (Posh Lady) and Aart Staartjes as Stratemaker op zee (Bricklayer at sea), in the TV series De Stratemaker op zee show / The Bricklayer at Sea Show" (Frans Boelen, Aart Staartjes, 1972).
Dutch actor Joost Prinsen (1942-2025) was also a television presenter, singer, and writer. He gained widespread fame through his television appearances in the popular and occasionally controversial De Stratemakeropzeeshow (as Erik Engerd), followed by J.J. De Bom (voorheen De Kindervriend) and Otje (1998-1999). For many years, he appeared in the educational children's programme Het Klokhuis, and from 1997 to 2015, he presented the quiz show Met het Mes op Tafel, which he co-created. He also acted in several Dutch films, including Peter en de vliegende autobus / Flying Without Wings (1976) and Giovanni (1983). As a voice actor, he worked on the Dutch versions of films such as The Aristocats (1970), The Black Cauldron (1985), and The Grinch (2000).
8 November 2025: Tatsuya Nakadai
Chinese postcard. Tatsuya Nakadai (left) and Toshiro Mifune in Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961).
Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai (1932-2025) was a star actor in films by Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi. He was top-billed in a double role in Kurosawa's epic Kagemusha (1980) and played the dying king, modelled on Lear, in Ran (Kurosawa, 1985). In his over seven-decade career, he appeared in more than 160 films and received numerous accolades.
11 November 2025: Sally Kirkland
German Autograph card by Kino.
American actress Sally Kirkland (1941-2025) received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for her performance in Anna (1987). She was also known for Cold Feet (1989) and The Haunted (1991).
17 November 2025: Alice and Ellen Kessler
Italian postcard by Edizione diesse.
German artists Alice and Ellen Kessler (1936-2025) were identical twins. The sisters were famous both at home and abroad, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. The Kessler Twins sang, danced and acted together and were particularly popular in France, the US and Italy. They died at a time of their own choosing by ‘assisted euthanasia’, according to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Humanes Sterben (DGHS). They were 89.
23 November 2025: Udo Kier
Portuguese postcard by Fantasporto 81. Udo Kier and Dominique Darel in Sangue per Dracula / Blood for Dracula (Paul Morrissey, 1974).
On 23 November 2025, Udo Kier (1944-2025) passed away at the age of 81. The German actor was a titan of European arthouse and international genre cinema. His piercing blue eyes and gaunt, aristocratic demeanour left an indelible mark on more than 200 films.
28 November 2025: Ingrid van Bergen
West German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4747. Photo: Weisse / Roxy / Ufa.
German actress, singer, and cabaret performer Ingrid van Bergen (1931-2025) was known for her distinctive cool blonde looks, smoky voice, and ability to portray strong, often provocative women. Van Bergen's life was as dramatic off-screen as the roles she often played. It was a journey marked by fame, a sensational scandal, imprisonment, and a late-career resurgence that cemented her status as a resilient figure in German pop culture. She appeared in 100 films between 1954 and 2025.
28 November 2025: Lise Bourdin
West German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 1875. Photo: Unifrance-Film.
French actress Lise Bourdin (1925-2025) passed away two days before her 100th birthday. She was known for her roles in international films during the 1950s. Among her best-known films are La donna del fiume / The River Girl (1954) and the Billy Wilder classic Love in the Afternoon (1957).
16 December 2025: Gil Gerard
Vintage photo. Gil Gerard in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (Daniel Haller, 1979).
American actor Gil Gerard (1943-2025) passed away at the age of 82 as a result of cancer. He appeared in several films, including Airport '77 (1977) and Hooch (1977), but he became best known as Captain Buck Rogers in the popular television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-1982).
17 December 2025: Rosa von Praunheim
West German postcard by Gebr. König Postkartenverlag, Köln, in the series Die Leidenschaften des Rosa von Praunheim, no. 10/1. Photo: Till Leeser. Rosa von Praunheim and Milli Molton in Monolog eines Stars / Monologue of a Star (Rosa von Praunheim, 1974).
German director, writer, producer and gay rights pioneer Rosa von Praunheim (1942-2025) remains one of the most prolific and provocative figures in European cinema. He was 83.
24 December 2025: Annette Dionne
German promotional postcard by NEA Service, Inc., for the film The Country Doctor (Henry King, 1936). Caption: Quintuplets. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Annette Dionne (1934-2025), the last surviving sister of the Dionne quintuplets, has died at the age of 91. They were the first quintuplets to survive their early childhood and became world famous. Their image was used for almost everything, from tinned tomatoes to cars. Hollywood made films about the sisters and they were the face of major brands such as Kellogg's and Palmolive.
28 December 2025: Brigitte Bardot
Vintage postcard, no. O2. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French actress Brigitte Bardot (1934) died at the age of 91. In the 1950s, she was the sex kitten of the European film industry. BB starred in 48 films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded 80 songs. After her retirement in 1973, she established herself as an animal rights activist and made vegetarianism sexy.
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