Photo by Lizzie Caswall Smith

Lizzie Caswall Smith (1870–1958) was an early 20th-century British photographer who specialised in society and celebrity studio portraits. She was associated with the Women's Suffrage movement and photographed many suffragettes. She also photographed prominent British actors including Henry Ainley, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, Basil Gill, Billie Burke, and Gertrude Elliott, which were often used for postcards. We chose 15 of these postcards for this post.


British postcard by Rapid Photo Co., London, no. 2961. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith, 1911. John Martin Harvey as Pelleas in Maurice Maeterlinck's stage play 'Pelleas and Melisande' (1893, Pelléas et Mélisande).


British postcard in the Real Photographic Series by Davidson Brothers, London, no. 2216. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Caption: Mr. Forbes Robertson as 'Shylock'. Sent by mail in 1908.


British postcard by Beagles & Co, London, no. 400A. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. Basil Gill as Ferdinand in 'The Tempest' by William Shakespeare.


British postcard by Rotary Photo, no. 1113 M. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. Henry Ainley.


British postcard in the Philco Series, no. 3044 A. Photos: Bassano (left) and Lizzie Caswall Smith (right). Left: Lily Brayton. Right: Oscar Asche as Bolingbroke in 'Richard II' by William Shakespeare.

The last photo of Florence Nightingale

Lizzie Caswall Smith was born in 1870. She first exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society in 1902 and then again in 1913.

She had a photographer brother, John Caswall Smith. Lizzie probably learned photography from him. When he died in 1902, she inherited his photo studio at 305 Oxford Street. She operated the Gainsborough Studio at 309 Oxford Street from 1907 until 1920. Then she moved to 90 Great Russell Street where she stayed until her retirement in 1930, aged 60.

Smith was a supporter of the suffrage movement and photographed many suffragettes including Christabel Pankhurst, Millicent Fawcett and Flora Drummond, images that were then made into postcards. Many Edwardian stage performers such as Lily Elsie, Billie Burke, Gertrude Elliott and the renowned 'Gibson Girl' Camille Clifford were photographed by Smith.

Her sepia-toned platinotype copies of photographs of Peter Llewelyn Davies and J. M. Barrie are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. On 19 November 2008, a rare black-and-white photograph of Florence Nightingale taken in 1910 by Lizzie Caswall Smith was auctioned by Dreweatts auction house in Newbury, Berkshire, England, for £5,500. On the back of the photograph Caswall Smith had noted in pencil "Florence Nightingale taken just before she died, House nr Park Lane (London). The only photograph I ever took out of studio – I shall never forget the experience."

Lizzie Caswall Smith died in Ealing, London, in 1958. She was 88.


British postcard by Beagles Photocards, no. 781. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Caption: Mr. Forbes Robertson as Hamlet. Sent by mail in 1913.


British postcard by Beagles' Postcards, no. 179 G. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Caption: Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Hamlet.


British postcard by Beagles Photocards, no. 179 J. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Mr. Forbes Robertson. Publicity still for a stage production of Hamlet by William Shakespeare.


British postcard by H. Dunn & Co, London, no. A. 511. Photo: Caswall Smith. Basil Gill.


British postcard in the Stageland Series by Davidson Bros.' Pictorial Post Cards, no. 6077. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. Henry Ainley.


British postcard in the My Queen & Romance Series. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Henry Ainley.


British postcard in the Real Photo series by Davidson Bros, no. 1090. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. George Alexander. Sent by mail in 1907.


British postcard b J. Beagles & Co., London, 179 V. Photo Lizzie Caswall Smith. Mr. Forbes-Robertson as Julius Caesar in G.B. Shaw's play 'Caesar and Cleopatra' (1899).


British postcard by Rotary Photo, E.C., no. 105 M. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. Johnston Forbes-Robertson and Gertrude Elliott in the title roles of G.B. Shaw's play 'Caesar and Cleopatra' (1899).


British postcard in the Rotary Photographic Series, no. 1632 A. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Publicity still for a stage production of 'The Light That Failed' (1903). Caption: Mr. Forbes Robertson as Dick Helder (sic), Gertrude Elliott as Maisie, "Maisie, my Maisie".

Sources: Truth in Photography, Wikipedia (English and French) and National Portrait Gallery.

15 postcards from GDI: Dutch postcards of the late 1940s

In our monthly post on the postcard collection of the Geoffrey Donaldson Institute (GDI), we again chose 15 postcards from a big album from the estate of film historians Tjitte de Vries and Ati Mul. It's an album which they probably started somewhere in the 1970s with interesting postcards from several periods and several countries. For this post, we selected 15 Dutch postcards from the late 1940s with Hollywood stars. After years of hardship and watching merely Nazi films, the Netherlands could watch a reservoir of American films from previous years. Filmgoers revelled in the beauty and glamour of Tinseltown.


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: Laszlo Willinger / M.G.M. / M.P.E.

Glamorous and seductive film star Hedy Lamarr (1913–2000) was born in Austria. The notorious Czechoslovak film Ekstase/Ecstasy (1933) made her an international sensation, and Louis Mayer invited her to Hollywood, where she became ‘the most beautiful woman in films’.


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: Warner / M.P.E.

American film star Bette Davis (1908-1989) was one of the greatest actors in world cinema history. She dared to play unsympathetic, sardonic characters and was reputed for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies. Her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas.


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: F.B.O. / M.P.E. Abbott and Costello in Ride 'Em Cowboy (Arthur Lubin, 1942).

William 'Bud' Abbott (1895–1974) and Lou Costello (1906–1959) were an American comedy duo that first worked together in 1935. Their work in vaudeville and on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and early 1950s.


Dutch postcard by S. & v.H., A. Photo: M.P.E.A.

American actress Paulette Goddard (1905-1990) started her career as a fashion model and as a Ziegfeld Girl in several Broadway shows. In the 1940s, she became a major star at Paramount Pictures. She was Charlie Chaplin's leading lady in Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator. Goddard was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her husbands included Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich Maria Remarque.


Dutch postcard by S. & v. H., A. Photo: M.P.E.A.

American actress Joan Fontaine (1917-2013) was the younger sister of Hollywood star Olivia de Havilland, but Joan made a name for herself with two classics by Alfred Hitchcock, Rebecca (1941) and Suspicion (1942). For the first she was nominated for the Oscar and for the second she won the award.


Dutch postcard by S. & v. H., A. Photo: M.P.E.A. Sonja Henie and Michael O'Shea in It's a Pleasure (William A. Seiter, 1945).

Petite and glamorous Sonja Henie (1912-1969) was one of the greatest figure skaters in history, the ‘Pavlova of the ice’. She won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. At the height of her acting career, the Norwegian figure skater and film star was one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. She had a shrewd business sense and was immensely successful next with a series of ice revues.


Dutch postcard by S. & v. H., A. Photo: M.P.E.A.

Donna Reed (1921-1986) was an American film and television actress and producer. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. She is well known for her role as Mary Hatch Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946). She received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lorene Burke in the war drama From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann, 1953). Reed is also known as Donna Stone, a middle-class American mother and housewife in the sitcom The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966).


Dutch postcard by S. & v. H., A. Photo: M.P.E.A.

Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.


Dutch postcard by Sparo. Photo: Fox.

British actress Madeleine Carroll (1906-1987) was a blonde beauty of ladylike demeanour. The first of Alfred Hitchcock's ‘ice-cool blondes’ was immensely popular in the 1930s and 1940s and was nicknamed 'The Queen of British Cinema'.


Dutch postcard by Sparo.

Andrea Leeds (1914–1984) was an American film actress who was a popular supporting player of the late 1930s. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Stage Door (1937). She did two films with Joel McCrea in which she had the female lead, Youth Takes a Fling (1938) and They Shall Have Music (1939). More leads followed in The Real Glory (1939) with Gary Cooper and Swanee River (1939) with Don Ameche. In 1939, she quit film acting.


Vintage postcard. Photo: MGM.

Judy Garland (1922-1969) was an American singer, actress, and vaudevillian. During a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. She was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress for A Star is Born (1954) and received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961).


Dutch postcard by HEMO.

Well-coiffed and well-dressed American actress Barbara Britton (1920-1980) co-starred opposite some of Hollywood's most durable leading men, including Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Gene Autry, Jeff Chandler and John Hodiak. Later, she became known as TV's Revlon Girl.


Dutch postcard by DRC, no. 2. Photo: Columbia / MPEA.

American singer and actress Janet Blair (1921-2007) was at Columbia, usually overlooked for the roles that might have tested her dramatic skills. Nevertheless, she pleased audiences as a pert and perky co-star to several bigger stars, ranging from George Raft and Cary Grant to Red Skelton and The Dorsey Brothers.


Dutch postcard by DRC, no. 24. Photo: R.K.O. / MPEA.

American actress Audrey Long (1922-2014) was a leading lady in Hollywood low-budget films of the 1940s and early 1950s. From 1944, she starred in B-movies at RKO, Monogram, Republic, and Columbia. She left the film industry in 1952.


Dutch postcard. Photo: United Artists / M.P.E.A.

And once more, glamorous and seductive film star Hedy Lamarr (1913–2000). In Hollywood, she was usually cast as glamorous and seductive. Her American debut was in Algiers (John Cromwell, 1938). Hedy Lamarr made 18 films between 1940 and 1949, including Boom Town (Jack Conway, 1940), White Cargo (Richard Thorpe, 1942), and Tortilla Flat (Victor Fleming, 1942), based on the novel by John Steinbeck. White Cargo, one of Lamarr's biggest hits at MGM, contains arguably her most famous film quote, "I am Tondelayo". She left MGM in 1945. For Paramount, she appeared as Delilah opposite Victor Mature's Samson in Cecil B. DeMille's epic Samson and Delilah (1949). This proved to be Paramount's most profitable movie to date, bringing in $12 million in rental from theaters. However, following her comedic turn opposite Bob Hope in My Favorite Spy (Norman Z. MacLeod, 1951), her career went into decline.

All postcards: Collection Geoffrey Donaldson Institute. Will be continued on the 15th of next month.

Robert Pattinson

Robert Pattinson (1986) is a British actor and musician. He began his career in theatre and made his film debut in 2004. The young Patterson gained attention as Carlo Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and became a teen idol as Edward Cullen in the Twilight films (2008-2012). Since then he starred in both major studio productions and independent films and has been ranked among the world's highest-paid actors.


Vintage postcard. Robert Pattinson in Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008).


Vintage postcard. Photo: Warner Bros. Robert Pattinson and Katie Leung in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell, 2005).

British star of tomorrow

Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson was born in a private hospital in Barnes, southwest London, England in 1986. His mother Clare worked as a booker at a modelling agency and his father Richard imported vintage cars from the United States. He has two older sisters, Lizzy and Victoria Pattinson. Lizzy is a singer with the band Aurora and Victoria works in an advertising department.

As a teenager, Robert joined the local amateur theatre club, the Barnes Theatre Company, after his father convinced him to attend because he was quite shy. After two years of working backstage, the 15-year-old Pattinson auditioned for the play 'Guys and Dolls' and he got his first role as a Cuban dancer with no lines. He got the lead part in the next play 'Our Town'. A talent agent in the audience spotted him and he began looking for professional roles.

Pattinson appeared in stage productions such as 'Macbeth', 'Anything Goes' and 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles'. He had supporting roles in the German television film Die Nibelungen – Der Fluch des Drachen / Ring of the Nibelungs (Uli Edel, 2004) with Benno Fürmann and Alicia Witt, and in the costume drama Vanity Fair (Mira Nair, 2004) as Reese Witherspoon's son. His scenes were cut out of the final film. Pattinson didn't know about it until he attended the premiere. The casting director felt so guilty for not telling him, that she got him an audition for the new Harry Potter film.

In 2005, he was due to appear in 'The Woman Before' at the Royal Court Theatre but was fired shortly before and replaced by Tom Riley. Later that year, he played Carlo Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell, 2005). It brought him to a wider audience at the age of 19 and soon after, he was even named 'British Star of Tomorrow' by Times Online. He continued to star in mostly smaller British TV productions. As a model, Pattinson appeared in the ad campaign for Hackett's 2007 autumn collection. Pattinson appeared in Little Ashes (Paul Morrison, 2008), in which he played Salvador Dalí, the British comedy How to Be (Oliver Irving, 2008), and the short film The Summer House (Daisy Gili, 2009).

Occasionally, he sent audition tapes for roles in America. One, for a rom-com, led to the opportunity for an in-person audition in Los Angeles. That audition did not pan out, but while in town he went in for another, with director Catherine Hardwicke, for a part in an adaptation of a low-profile book about a vampire. His role as vampire Edward Cullen opposite Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan in Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008), suddenly turned him into a worldwide star and a teen idol.


Belgian freecard by Boomerang. Photo: Belgafilms. Robert Pattinson in Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008). Caption: Fascination.


Vintage postcard. Robert Pattinson in Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008). Caption: When you can live forever, What do you live for?


Belgian freecard by Boomerang. Photo: Belgafilms. Robert Pattinson in The Twilight Saga - New Moon (2009).

Sexiest man in the world at 22

At age 22, Robert Pattinson was voted ‘sexiest man in the world’ by Glamour magazine, before Brad Pitt. Hugh Jackman and Johnny Depp. Between 2008 and 2012, the five film adaptations of the Twilight novels written by Stephenie Meyer grossed over $3.3 billion in worldwide receipts. Between the Twilight Saga films, he also starred in Remember Me (Allen Coulter, 2010), Water for Elephants (Francis Lawrence, 2011) with Reese Witherspoon, and Bel Ami (Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod, 2012) alongside Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Pattinson's Twilight era was surreal. He had been catapulted onto Hollywood's A-list as a heartthrob, but also experienced certain preconceptions about what he wanted - or was capable of doing - as an actor. That changed with an unexpected straight offer from auteur director David Cronenberg to star in Cosmopolis (2012), which he described as an eye-opening experience. It reminded him of his love for cinema, why he wanted to become an actor in the first place and solidified his foremost desire for the coming years to work with great filmmakers.

With Pattinson being a big cinephile, he then starred in mostly independent films from auteur directors, such as The Rover (David Michôd, 2014) opposite Guy Pearce, Maps to the Stars (David Cronenberg, 2014) starring Julianne Moore, Life (Anton Corbijn, 2015), Queen of the Desert (Werner Herzog, 2015) with Nicole Kidman and The Childhood of a Leader (Brady Corbet, 2015). He also became the face of Dior Homme fragrance in 2013 and the face of Dior Homme menswear in 2016. His unrecognisable role as an explorer in the Amazon jungle in Lost City of Z (James Gray, 2016) brought him critical acclaim. His transformation to a sleazy, manic conman in the gritty crime thriller Good Time (Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, 2017) earned him a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. His role was written specifically for him after sending a spontaneous email to the directors, the Safdie Brothers, without knowing them and seeing only a movie still on the internet from their previous film Heaven Knows What (2014).

Next, he starred in the Western comedy Damsel (David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, 2018) as a cowboy with sociopathic characteristics and played a convict sent to space for sexual experimentation in the psychological mystery drama High Life (2018) from acclaimed French auteur director Claire Denis. He returned to work with director David Michôd in The King (David Michôd, 2019) and starred with Willem Dafoe in the Fantasy-Horror film The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers, 2019), set on a remote New England island in the 1890s. The film earned good reviews for both its storytelling and Pattinson's performance. In Netflix's The Devil All the Time (Antonio Campos, 2020), Pattinson played a corrupt preacher preying on young girls.

Robert Pattinson returned to mainstream films with a leading role in Christopher Nolan's time-bending Spy film Tenet (2020) and starred as the superhero and his secret alter ego Bruce Wayne in The Batman (Matt Reeves, 2022). Next followed Bong Joon-ho's Science Fiction film Mickey 17 (2025), in which Pattinson played the lead role. He portrayed Mickey Barnes, a disposable crew member on a space mission who is assigned perilous tasks, as he can be regenerated upon death while retaining most of his memories. The film received mostly positive reviews, with most of the focus on Pattinson's performance as dual versions of the same character. Robert Pattinson was in a relationship with Kristen Stewart from mid-2009 until May 2013 and with British singer FKA Twigs, from 2014 to 2017. Since 2018, he has been dating British actress and singer Suki Waterhouse. In 2024, the couple became parents to a daughter.


Vintage postcard. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008). Caption: When you van live forever, What do you live for?


English postcard by Cinema. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008). Caption: Nothing will be the same.


Belgian freecard by Boomerang. Photo: Belgafilms. Robert Pattinson and Kristin Stewart in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (Bill Condon, 2011).

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.

Max Adalbert

German stage and film actor Max Adalbert (1874-1933) was one of the great names of the German theatre at the beginning of the twentieth century. He was famous for his roles in comedies. His greatest success was the title role in the comedy Der Hauptmann von Köpenick / The Captain from Köpenick (1931) which he played on stage and in the cinema.


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 131. Photo: Messtro-Film / Ross Verlag. Max Adalbert and Harald Paulsen in Mein Leopold / My Leopold (Hans Steinhoff, 1931).


German cigarette card for Hänsom cigarettes by Jasmatzi Cigarettenfabrik G.M.b.H, Dresden/Ross Verlag, Film Series 4 'Aus tönenden Filmen' (From sound films), no. 572. Photo: Ufa. Max Adalbert in Das Ekel / The Scoundrel (Eugen Schüfftan, Franz Wenzler, 1931).

Missing the possibility of using words

Max Adalbert was born Maximilian Adalbert Krampf in 1874 in Danzig in Imperial Germany, now Gdansk in Poland. He was the son of a Prussian Officer.

Using his first two names as his stage name, he debuted at 19 at the theatre of Lübeck and in 1894 at the municipal theatre of Barmen. Adalbert also appeared in St. Gallen (Switzerland), Nuremberg and Vienna (Austria). He moved to Berlin in 1899 to work at the Residenztheater.

In 1915, Adalbert joined the film business. In the following years, he took part in silent productions like Wie werde ich Amanda los? / How do I get rid of Amanda? (Danny Kaden, 1915), Die Buchhalterin / The Accountant (Paul von Woringen, 1918) with Lotte Neumann, König Nicolo / King Nicolo (Paul Legband, 1919) starring Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur, and the crime drama Die Verführten / The Seduced (Carl Froelich, 1919) in which he played the seducer.

When Adalbert came in contact with Curt Bois, he turned into a comedian. During the 1920s, Max Adalbert appeared in several silent films, including Der Dummkopf / The Blockhead (Lupu Pick, 1921), Lady Hamilton (Richard Oswald, 1921) starring Liane Haid, and Die Flamme / The Flame (Ernst Lubitsch, 1923) starring Pola Negri. The highlights are two masterpieces by Fritz Lang, Der müde Tod / Destiny (Fritz Lang, 1921) and Dr. Mabuse der Spieler / Mabuse the Gambler (Fritz Lang, 1922), the first film in the Dr. Mabuse series about the master criminal who featured in the novels of Norbert Jacques.

In 1923, Max Adalbert retired temporarily from the cinema because he missed the possibility of using words. Together with the actors Paul Morgan and Kurt Robitschek, he founded the 'Kabarett der Komiker' in 1924 which soon became established in Berlin and enjoyed great popularity.


German postcard by Kunstverlag Juno, Charlottenburg, no. 123. Photo: Alice Matzdorf.


German postcard for 'Die trustfreie Eidelsan' by Margarinewerk Eidelstedt Gebr. Fauser G.m.b.H., Holstein, Serie 1, no. 22. Photo: Marcus.

An enormous increase in his popularity

After a few years solely devoted to the stage, Max Adalbert successfully returned to the cinema when sound film was introduced in Germany. Both on stage and in films, he experienced an enormous increase in his popularity. He was very good in the film comedy Mein Leopold / My Leopold (Hans Steinhoff, 1931) opposite Harald Paulsen as Leopold.

In 1931 he also made his debut at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin as the lead character of Carl Zuckmayer's 'Der Hauptmann von Köpenick'. He took the role over from Werner Krauss and it became his greatest triumph on stage.

Because of this huge success, he was also engaged in the film adaptation, Der Hauptmann von Köpenick / The Captain from Köpenick (Richard Oswald, 1931). The story centres on the Hauptmann von Köpenick affair in 1906. With this role, he set a cinematic monument for himself.

He also appeared in the comedy Das Ekel / The Scoundrel (Eugen Schüfftan. Franz Wenzler, 1931) with Evelyn Holt, musical romance Mein Herz sehnt sich nach Liebe / My Heart Longs for Love (Eugen Thiele, 1931) starring Trude Berliner, and the comedy Lachende Erben / Laughing Heirs (Max Ophüls, 1933) starring Heinz Rühmann.

In 1933, Max Adalbert suddenly died - of pneumonia or a heart attack (the sources differ) - while in Munich for a guest performance. He was 58. The actor was buried at the Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery near Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5665/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6140/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. Max Adalbert in Die Schlacht von Bademünde / The Battle of Bademuende (Philipp Lothar Mayring, 1931).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6349/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.

Sources: Guy Bellinger (IMDb), Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.

George Peppard

During the 1960s, handsome and elegant actor George Peppard (1928-1994) displayed considerable talent in such films as Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), How the West Was Won (1962), The Carpetbaggers (1964) and The Blue Max (1966). But he is probably best known as Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith, the cigar-smoking leader of a renegade commando squad in the action series The A-Team (1983-1987).


Italian postcard by Rotalcolor / Rotalfoto, no. N 228.


Chinese postcard. George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961).


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam / Antwerpen. Photo: Stephen J. Cannell Productions, 1984. Dirk Benedict as Templeton 'Faceman' Peck, George Peppard as Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith, Dwight Schultz as 'Howling Mad' Murdock, and Mr. T as Sergeant First Class Bosco Baracus in The A-Team (1983-1987).

Good looks, elegant manner and acting skills

George Peppard Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1928. He was the son of contractor George Peppard and opera singer Vernelle Rohrer. Before his acting career began, he was a newsreader for a local radio station in Pittsburgh for a short time. After radio and television experience (with guest roles in The United States Steel Hour, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alcoa Hour), Peppard made his Broadway debut in 1956, in the play 'Girls of Summer'.

He made his feature film debut in the drama The Strange One (Jack Garfein, 1957). In 1958-1959, he played Roger Henderson in the play 'The Pleasure of His Company'. In the late 1950s, Peppard continued to make guest appearances in then-famous television shows and series, like Studio One, Hallmark Hall of Fame and Matinee Theatre. He also had a role in the war film Pork Chop Hill (Lewis Milestone, 1959), starring Gregory Peck.

Peppard began to stand out after his role as Robert Mitchum's illegitimate son in Home from the Hill (Vincente Minnelli, 1960). He began to emerge more and more as the leading man, but the Beatnik film The Subterraneans (Ranald MacDougall, 1960) flopped and he returned to television. His good looks, elegant manner and acting skills landed Peppard his most famous film role as struggling writer Paul ‘Fred’ Varjak in the romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961), alongside Audrey Hepburn.

Now considered a promising young star by the studios, Peppard was cast in the epic Western How the West Was Won (Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall, 1962), the British-American war film The Victors (Carl Foreman, 1963) and the Harold Robbins adaptation The Carpetbaggers (Edward Dmytryk, 1964) in which he portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes. His future second wife Helen Davies also had a role in the latter film. In the mid-1960s, Peppard starred in major productions such as the British Spy thriller Operation Crossbow (Michael Anderson, 1965) with Sophia Loren and the thriller The Third Day (Jack Smight, 1965) with Elizabeth Ashley, who had become his third wife.

He reached the peak of his popularity in the grim war film The Blue Max (John Guillermin, 1966) with Peppard as an obsessively competitive German pilot during World War I. In the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s, Peppard seemed to lower the bar and appeared in films of a more average level, except for the war film Tobruk (Arthur Hiller, 1967) in which he co-starred with Rock Hudson. He also appeared in the Westerns Rough Night in Jericho (Arnold Laven, 1967) with Dean Martin and One More Train To Rob (Andrew McLaglen, 1971). Peppard co-starred with Joan Collins in the British Cold War thriller The Executioner (Sam Wanamaker, 1970).


West German Kolibri postcard by Friedrich W. Sander-Verlag, Minden/Westf, no. 2329. Photo: Paramount. George Peppard in The Carpetbaggers (Edward Dmytryk, 1964).


Vintage postcard. Photo: M.G.M.


Swiss postcard by CVB Publishers / News Productions, no. 57244. Photo: Collection Cinemathèque Suisse Lausanne. Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961).

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

The number-one-rated television show of 1983

In the 1970s, the film roles George Peppard took on became increasingly uninteresting and he played almost exclusively in television films. Between 1972 and 1974, Peppard starred in the seventeen-episode television series Banacek. He played a wealthy Boston playboy who solves thefts for insurance companies for a finder's fee in 90-minute whodunits. The series briefly revived Peppard's waning popularity. In 1975-1976, he starred in the television series Doctor's Hospital, but towards the end of the season, Peppard indicated he wanted to quit his role in the series.

In 1977, Peppard appeared in the post-apocalypse film Damnation Alley (Jack Smight, 1977) with Jan-Michael Vincent and Dominique Sanda. Poorly received by critics and audiences, it has since achieved a cult following. With fewer interesting roles coming his way, he acted in, directed and produced the drama Five Days from Home (1979). The film, about a father escaping from prison to visit his sick son, did not become a success.

He plunged back into television films like Torn Between Two Lovers (Delbert Mann, 1979) with Lee Remick and Crisis in Mid-Air (Walter Grauman, 1979). The Euro War film Contro 4 Bandiere/From Hell to Victory (Umberto Lenzi, 1979) and the Space Opera Battle Beyond the Stars (Jimmy T. Murakami, 1980), produced by Roger Corman, also did not become box office hits. He landed the role of Blake Carrington in the TV soap Dynasty but was fired after a week of filming due to creative differences with the producers.

He managed to get the role of Hannibal Smith in The A-Team, alongside Mr. T, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz. In the series, the A-Team was a team of renegade commandos on the run from the military for "a crime they did not commit" while serving in the Vietnam War. The A-Team members made their collective living as soldiers of fortune, but they helped only people who came to them with justified grievances. The A-Team became the number-one-rated television show in its first season. 98 episodes of the series were made and aired between 1983 and 1987. Peppard was back in the saddle, but after the series ended, he reportedly was glad it was over.

He starred in a few more films and television movies, including two films in the Man Against the Mob series, for which a third was also planned. Due to Peppard's death, it remained only two parts. Furthermore, he played a role in the War film Night of the Fox (Charles Jarrott, 1990) with Michael York. Peppard's last television appearance was a guest role in the television series Matlock. The episode aired eight days before Peppard's death. It was intended as a pilot for a new series. In 1992, Peppard had a small, malignant lung tumour removed. Two years later, George Peppard was again under treatment for lung cancer. Complications from this left him with pneumonia, from which he eventually died in 1994. He was 65. His fifth wife Laura, a West Palm Beach banker, cared for him for the last 18 months of his life. He is buried alongside his parents in Northview Cemetery in Dearborn, Michigan.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam / Antwerpen. Photo: Stephen J. Cannell Productions, 1984. George Peppard as Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith and Mr. T as Sergeant First Class Bosco Baracus in The A-Team (1983-1987).


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam / Antwerpen. Photo: Stephen J. Cannell Productions, 1984. Dirk Benedict as Templeton 'Faceman' Peck and George Peppard as Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith in The A-Team (1983-1987).


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam / Antwerpen. Photo: Stephen J. Cannell Productions, 1984. Dwight Schulz, Mr. T and George Peppard in The A-Team (1983-1987).


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam / Antwerpen. Photo: Stephen J. Cannell Productions, 1984. Dwight Schulz, Mr. T and George Peppard in The A-Team (1983-1987).

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.