Luciana Paluzzi

Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi (1937) is best known as SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in Thunderball (1965). Before and after her brush with James Bond, the red-haired beauty appeared in many Italian films, but also in several Hollywood productions.


Spanish postcard by Postal Oscar Color S.A., Hospitalet (Barcelona), no. 618.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 47.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Luciana Paluzzi and Sean Connery in Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965).

Whirlwind courtship

Luciana Paluzzi (sometimes credited as Luciana Paoluzzi) was born in Rome, Italy, in 1937 as the daughter of an Italian army officer. She studied in Milan to become a naval engineer and modelled for Italian fashion magazines.

At the age of 16, she met a film director and began her screen career with a bit part in the comedy Sua altezza ha detto no! / Her Highness Said No! (Maria Basaglia, 1953) with Jacques Sernas, followed by an uncredited bit part in the American romance Three Coins in the Fountain (Jean Negulesco, 1954), which was filmed in Rome. Her following films included the French comedy J'avais sept filles /I Had Seven Daughters (Jean Boyer, 1954) as one of the daughters of Maurice Chevalier, and La châtelaine du Liban / The Lebanese Mission (Richard Pottier, 1956) as an attractive, mysterious woman in the Arabian desert.

She played various small roles and occasionally the female lead, such as in the British adventure Sea Fury (Cy Endfield, 1958) starring Stanley Baker and Victor McLaglen in his very last film. The gorgeous redhead showed a strong command of the English language. In England, she also costarred with Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers in the comedy Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (Roy Boulting, Jeffrey Dell, 1959).

In Germany, she appeared in Fritz Lang’s adventure epic Der Tiger von Eschnapur / The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959) as the servant of Debra Paget. In the 1959-1960 season, Paluzzi appeared on the American TV network NBC in the short-lived espionage series Five Fingers, with David Hedison. At the set, she met actor Brett Halsey. After a whirlwind courtship, the couple married in Las Vegas in January 1960. They appeared together in the potboiler Return to Peyton Place (José Ferrer, 1961), but a year later, the couple divorced, shortly after the birth of their son.

In Hollywood, Paluzzi guest-starred in popular TV series like Bonanza (1962) and Burke's Law (1964), and was also the second female lead in the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello comedy vehicle Muscle Beach Party (William Asher, 1964). That year, she also played the villainess in the Spy series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. As the seductive THRUSH agent Angela, she appeared in the first season episode The Four Steps Affair and in the movie version of the show's pilot episode, To Trap a Spy. She later also appeared in an episode of the spin-off, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966–1967).


British postcard in the Celebrity Series by Celebrity Publishers, London, no. 227. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation. Luciana Paluzzi in Sea Fury (Cy Endfield, 1958).


Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor, no. 483.

Fiery, red-haired villainess

Audiences worldwide still remember Luciana Paluzzi best as the fiery, red-haired villainess in the James Bond film Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965). Paluzzi originally auditioned for the part of the lead Bond girl, Dominetta ‘Domino’ Palazzi. In an interview with Ciaran Brown, she remembered: “Two months went by, and I didn't hear anything from anybody. Then I got a call one day from the director, Terence Young, who said, 'I have good news, and I have bad news....the bad news is that you can't play the role of Domino, but the good news is that you're going to play the role of Fiona'. The 'bad girl' part was more fun to play."

The producers had cast Claudine Auger, changing the Domino character from an Italian to a Frenchwoman and renaming her Dominique Derval. In his fourth film, James Bond (Sean Connery) aims to recover two stolen warheads. They have been taken by the evil SPECTRE organisation, headed by mastermind Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi). (SPECTRE stands for Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion).

SPECTRE hides the bombs under the ocean depths and threatens to detonate the weapons unless a ransom of 100,000,000 pounds is paid, so Bond heads to Nassau. There he is seduced by the voluptuous, bouffant-haired Fiona Volpe (Paluzzi). She is a deadly assassin working for SPECTRE, but when she plots to execute Bond, she falls foul of her own scheme.

In the Kiss Kiss Club, she is shot in the back with a bullet meant for 007. Connery then deposits her body at a nearby table and says to a couple sitting there, "Do you mind if my friend sits this one out? She's just dead."

Years later, in the documentary Bond Girls Are Forever (2002), Paluzzi said that she was amazed at the level of fame, publicity and recognition she received from Thunderball. However, when she returned to the Italian film industry, she felt she was taken less seriously as an actress.


Sean Connery. German postcard by ISV, no. H 123.


Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor, no. 462. Sean Connery, Luciana Paluzzi, Martine Beswick, Claudine Auger and Molly Peters in Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965).

Femme fatale

In the same year as Thunderball, Luciana Paluzzi played the female lead in the Italian comedy Questa volta parliamo di uomini / Let's Talk About Men (Lina Wertmüller, 1965) opposite Nino Manfredi.

In the US, she was the love interest in the Western Chuka (Gordon Douglas, 1967), and the female lead in the American/Japanese Sci-Fi film, The Green Slime (Kinji Fukasaku, 1968). In Europe, Paluzzi appeared in B-films as the thriller Femmine insaziabili /Beverly Hills (Alberto De Martino, 1969) starring Dorothy Malone, the Spaghetti Western Il pistolero dell'Ave Maria / Forgotten Pistolero (Ferdinando Baldi, 1969), and the thriller Coartada en disco rojo / Two Faces of Fear (Tulio Demicheli, 1972) with Fernando Rey.

She was generally cast as a femme fatale. She reunited with Thunderball co-star Adolfo Celi for the crime drama La mala ordina / The Italian Connection (Fernando Di Leo, 1972), with Thunderball director Terence Young for the thriller Klansman (1974) starring Lee Marvin, and acted alongside another former Bond girl, Ursula Andress, in the sex comedy L'infermiera / The Sensuous Nurse (Nello Rossati, 1975). For the latter, she even did a nude scene.

She also continued working in television on such shows as Search (1973) and Hawaii Five-O (1978). One of her last film appearances was a supporting part in The Greek Tycoon (J. Lee Thompson, 1978), starring Anthony Quinn and Jacqueline Bisset.

In 1980, she married Michael Solomon, CEO of a communication company. Luciana Paluzzi and her husband reside in Los Angeles, USA. She has one son with Brett Halsey, film producer Christian Halsey Solomon (1961).


Official Trailer of Thunderball (1965). Source: The Cult Box (YouTube).


Trailer The Green Slime (1968). Source: SideShowCarny (YouTube).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Brian J. Walker (Brian’s Drive-in Theater), Ciaran Brown (Ciaran Meets the Stars), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, James Bond Multimedia (Now defunct), Les James Bond Girls (French), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Ivy Duke

Ivy Duke (1896-1937) was a British actress. In the late 1910s, she appeared in several silent films with Guy Newall. During the 1920s, he also became her director and husband.


British postcard in the Cinema Stars Series by Lilywhite LTD, no. CM 434D. Photo: George Clark Productions.


British postcard in the Cinema Chat series. Photo: Claude Harris.

Star couple with Guy Newall

Ivy Elsie Duke was born in Kensington, London, in 1896. As a stage actress, Duke appeared regularly in the light musical confections associated with George Edwardes’ Gaiety Theatre.

She began her film career in 1919. She appeared in the films The March Hare (Frank Miller, 1919) and The Double Life of Mr Alfred Burton (Arthur Rooke, 1919), produced by George Clark for Lucky Cat Productions and distributed by Ideal Films.

Already in her third film, I Will (Kenelm Foss, 1919), she was paired with Guy Newall, who earlier on had co-written her first film, The March Hare. In late 1919, Lucky Cat Productions became George Clark Productions, and Stoll Pictures - the biggest renter in the 1920s - became the distributor. The company founded its own studio complex at Beaconsfield.

After a period of being the star couple directed by others, Guy Newall also became Ivy Duke's director. In the 1920s, Duke reached the apex of her film career, taking part in productions like Testimony (Guy Newall, 1920), The Bigamist (Guy Newall, 1921), Beauty and the Beast (Guy Newall, 1922) and Fox Farm (Guy Newall, 1922).

In 1922, Ivy Duke married Guy Newall, but seven years later, the marriage ended in divorce. Their last film together was The Starlit Garden (Guy Newall, 1923).


Vintage postcard. Photo: Yevonde / George Clark Production.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 40. Photo: Vaughan & Freeman.

Lilian Harvey's mother

In her last films, Ivy Duke worked with other directors and male leads: The Great Prince Shan (A.E. Coleby, 1924) with Sessue Hayakawa, and Decameron Nights (Herbert Wilcox, 1924) with an international cast including Lionel Barrymore and Werner Krauss.

After an interval of several years, she made her final film, the Anglo-German co-production A Knight in London (Lupu Pick, 1928) with Lilian Harvey and Ivy Duke as her mother. The cinematography was by Karl Freund, and the film was edited by Michael Powell. It's all about a woman who accidentally awakens in a man's hotel bed. With the rise of the sound film, Ivy Duke retired from the film business. A few years later, she died at the age of only 41.

As the site At the Pictures writes: "A reasonable number of their films survive in the BFI National Archive, and several have been screened at the British Silent Film Festival over the years, including Fox Farm from the novel by Warwick Deeping about the romance between a gypsy girl and a blinded farmer, Boy Woodburn from the novel by Alfred Oliphant about a lady horse trainer and her romance with a penniless banker, and Maid of the Silver Sea from the novel by John Oxenham about romance and murder in a Breton fishing community (actually filmed on Sark).

Perhaps the most widely seen is The Lure of Crooning Water [...] Ivy Duke plays a London stage actress who, suffering from nervous collapse, goes into the countryside for a ‘rest cure’ and amuses herself while there by seducing the married farmer (played by Newall) who has been acting as her host. (This reminds a bit of Murnau's Sunrise).

The Garden of Resurrection, from the novel by E. Temple Thurston, reverses this pattern – this time it is Newall who is suffering from extreme depression brought on by his sense of his own ugliness. He goes for a ‘rest cure’, visiting some friends who live in an idyllic garden in rural Ireland (although the film was shot in Cornwall). There he meets Ivy Duke….


British postcard. Photo: George Clark Production. Ivy Duke and her dog, Sammy, a sleigh courier.


British postcard in the Cinema Stars series by Lilywhite LTD, no. CM 434B. Photo: George Clark Productions, no. 9.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), At the Pictures, Wikipedia (English), and IMDb.

Photo by Gneme

Emilio Gneme was an Italian set and portrait photographer who worked at the Pisorno film studios in Tirrenia. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he portrayed many stars and character actors of the Italian cinema. His portraits were used for postcards by such publishers as ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed., Roma), B.F.F. Edit. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze) and Unione Fotoincisori in Firenze for a special series on the actors of the Pisorno film studios.


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed., Roma), no. 217. Photo: Gneme / Incine, Tirrenia.

María Mercader (1918-2011) was a Spanish actress who acted in Spanish and Italian films, largely between 1939 and 1952. She was the second wife of Vittorio De Sica and the mother of Christian and Manuel De Sica.


Italian postcard by Stab. Angeli, Terni. Esclusiva di Ditta Terzoli, Roma, no. 70. Photo: Gneme.

Paola Barbara (1912-1989) was an Italian actress who acted in over 60 films but also worked on stage and for television. She is best known for the film La peccatrice (1940) by Amleto Palermi.


Italian postcard by Stab. Angeli, Terni, Ditta Terzoli, Roma, no. 333. Photo: Gneme.

Elsa De Giorgi (1914-1997) was an Italian writer, director, art director and Italian stage and screen actress.


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 145. Photo: Gneme / Pisorno studios, Tirrenia. In 1941, Oretta Fiume was the protagonist of Ragazza che dorme / Sleeping Girl (Giovacchino Forzano, 1941), shot at the Tirrenia studios.

Oretta Fiume (1919-1994) was an Italian actress who starred in many films between the late 1930s and the late 1940s. In the early 1940s, she often worked at the Tirrenia studios in Pisorno.


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 2254. Photo: Gneme / E.N.I.C. The postcard may refer to the film Il cavaliere di Kruja / The Knight of Kruja (Carlo Campogalliani, 1941).

Leda Gloria (1912-1997) was one of Federico Fellini’s favourite film actresses, having a prolific career in the 1930s and 1940s, but she is also remembered as the wife of Peppone in the Don Camillo films.

The new city of cinema

Photographer Emilio Gneme is not a famous name, but his pictures illuminate an important chapter in the history of Italian cinema. He was the main photographer of the Pisorno film studios in the Italian coastal town of Tirrenia in Tuscany. In 1934, the studios were built at the behest of Giovacchino Forzano, a successful writer, theatre director, author of comedies, historical dramas and opera librettos, and of entrepreneurs such as Agnelli and Borletti. The modern studio complex was located in the pine forest of Mezzapiaggia, in Tirrenia, and the nickname 'Pisorno' ideally united the nearby cities of Pisa and Livorno.

Like Latina, Littoria and Pontinia, Tirrenia was a new town which had grown with the support of Italy's Fascist regime. The Tirrenia Studios were constructed between 1933-1934 and intended, along with the Fert Studios in Turin, to provide northern competition to the increasingly dominant Cines Studios in Rome. The new studio complex was a state-of-the-art facility, designed by Antonio Valente, one of the first in Italy to be adequately equipped to meet the greatest challenge of the time: the production of sound films. The Pisorno studios became known in Italy as 'the city of cinema'.

The first film shot at Pisorno was released in 1935, entitled Campo di maggio / 100 Days of Napoleon and directed by Giovacchino Forzano himself. In the following years, the sets, streets and beaches of Tirrenia were populated by actors, crew members and screen stars: from Maria Mercader to Antonio Centa, from Amedeo Nazzari to Alida Valli. In the new modern studios, 'veterans' of silent cinema alternated with young people destined to shape the future of cinema, such as Mario Monicelli, in directing and technical roles. Italian film production was booming, and the Pisorno Studios fared well, particularly after the Cines studio burned down in 1935.

However, the dream of expanding to create a real Hollywood on the Tyrrhenian Sea was shattered by financial difficulties and competition from Cinecittà, founded in Rome in 1937. Still, more than seventy films were shot in Tirrenia before the reality of war broke out on the sets. During the later stages of the Second World War, Pisa was bombed, and the studios were requisitioned for other use first by the Germans and later by the Allies. When production resumed at the end of the conflict, Forzano attempted a relaunch by calling director Joseph Losey to Tirrenia to shoot Imbarco a mezzanotte / Stranger on the Prowl (1952), but the film was not successful.

To celebrate the desire for rebirth and light-heartedness, the focus then shifted mainly to musical films, in many cases starring beloved singers such as Claudio Villa and Luciano Tajoli. Mauro Bolognini's L'assoluto naturale / He and She (1969) was the last film shot in the studios while they were still in full operation. Despite attempts to turn it into TV studios of the RAI, a tourist resort or a sports centre, nothing came of it. The structure slowly fell into ruin. Years later, the Taviani brothers remembered it and rebuilt the Hollywood of their film Good Morning Babilonia / Goor Morning Babylon (Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani, 1987) there. A beautiful homage to the history of cinema and to cinema as a storyteller. All in all, some 160 films were made at the Tirrenia studios.


Italian postcard by Unione Fotoincisori Firenze. Photo: Gneme / Prod. INCINE. Caption: The actors of the Tirrenia film studio, no. 2. Umberto Melnati in the film Brivido / Thrill (Giacomo Gentilomo, 1941).

Though he also had various parts in dramas and pre-Giallos, Umberto Melnati (1897-1979) is mostly known for his screen comedies. He often acted in the 'Telefoni Bianchi' comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, with Vittorio De Sica (Due cuori felici, Il signor Max, etc.), and Alida Valli (Mille lire al mese). Before, he had long acted on stage with De Sica and Checco Rissone. After the war, Melnati played the lead in La valigia dei sogni (Luigi Comencini, 1953).


Italian postcard by Unione Fotoincisori Firenze. Photo: Gneme / Prod. INCINE. Caption: Gli attori della Tirrenia Cinematografica (The actors of the Tirrenia film studio), no. 3. Andrea Checchi in the film Brivido / Thrill (Giacomo Gentilomo, 1941).

Andrea Checchi (1916-1974) was a prolific Italian film and television actor who peaked in the early 1940s as a leading actor, while he had important supporting parts in post-war Neorealism and beyond.


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Ballerini e Fratini, Firenze), no. 2353. Photo: Gneme / ENIC.

Between the mid-1930s and 1943, bright and gentle Antonio Centa (1907-1979) was among the most active actors of the Italian cinema. Among female audiences, he was a popular heartthrob in the White Telephone films. The critics praised his performances in Renato Castellani's Un colpo di pistola / A Pistol Shot (1942) and Zazà (1944).


Italian postcard by Stabilimento Angeli, Terni. Ed. A. Terzoli, Roma, no. 490. Photo: Gneme.

Italian actor Mario Siletti (1897-1977) devoted himself exclusively to cinema from 1932 on. He was a comical actor in great demand by the production companies of the time. Always in supporting parts, Siletti was the jealous husband of Laura Nucci in Eravamo sette vedove (Mario Mattoli, 1939), the viceroy in the Macario comedy Il pirata sono io! (Mario Mattoli, 1940), Seneca in O.K. Nerone (Mario Soldati, 1951) and the lawyer Stiletti in Don Camillo (Julien Duvivier, 1952) and Don Camillo e l'onorevole Peppone (Carmine Gallone, 1955).


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 35. Photo: Gneme.

Italian character actor Enzo Biliotti (1887-1976) specialised in masterfully designing kings, emperors, nobles and fathers of high lineage. Among his tastiest characterisations is that of the Viceroy in Un'avventura di Salvator Rosa / An Adventure by Salvator Rosa (Alessandro Blasetti, 1939) and King Philip IV in Don Cesare di Bazan (Riccardo Freda, 1942).


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Edizioni, Roma), no. 144. Photo: Gneme / Tirrenia.

Enrico Viarisio (1897-1967) was an Italian stage and screen actor and cabaretier. Famous were Viarisio's words in Prima comunione (Alessandro Blasetti, 1950). When he, the man from the trolleybus, was told: 'Aren't you ashamed to travel with that bowler hat?', he responded: 'And you, aren't you ashamed to travel with that face?'!


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed., Roma). Photo: Gneme.

Though he also had various parts in dramas and pre-Giallos, Umberto Melnati (1897-1979) is mostly known for his screen comedies. He often acted in the 'Telefoni Bianchi' comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, with Vittorio De Sica (Due cuori felici, Il signor Max, etc.), and Alida Valli (Mille lire al mese). Before, he had long acted on stage with De Sica and Checco Rissone. After the war, Melnati played the lead in La valigia dei sogni (1953) by Luigi Comencini.


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Editori, Roma), no. 181. Photo: Gneme, Rome.

Italian actor Egisto Olivieri (1880-1962) was active in theatre and cinema. On the big screen, he mostly played character roles. From 1926 to 1950, he acted in around forty films.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed., Roma), no. 315. Photo: Gneme.

Sandro Ruffini (1889–1954) had a prolific career in Italian cinema from 1913 to 1954. From the late 1930s, Ruffini mostly appeared in supporting parts like the father of leading actor Mario Ferrari in Il cavaliere di San Marco (Gennaro Righeli, 1939). He starred in Forse eri tu l'amore (Gennaro Righelli, 1939), as an engineer who is asked the bring the niece of his boss back to Italy. The 'baby' (Loretta Vinci) proves to be a strong-willed young woman. He also had a major part opposite Vivi Gioi in the comedy La canzone rubata (Max Neufeld, 1940).

Sources: Franco Baccarini (Il cinema tra Pisa e Livorno - Italian), Turismo Pisa, Wikipedia and IMDb.

George Murphy

George Murphy (1902-1992) was an American actor and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. During World War II, he organised entertainment for American troops. He was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to 1946 and received an honorary Oscar in 1951. Murphy served as a U.S. Senator for California from 1965 to 1971, the first notable American actor to be elected to statewide office in California, predating Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.


Belgian collector card by Kwatta. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Alice Faye and George Murphy in You’re a Sweetheart (David Butler, 1937). Collection: Marlène Pilaete.


Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois-d'Haine, no. C. 219. Photo: M.G.M. George Murphy in Broadway Rhythm (Roy Del Ruth, 1944).

A song-and-dance man in big-budget musicals

George Lloyd Murphy was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1902. He was the son of Catholic Irish immigrants. His father was the American track and field trainer and coach Michael Charles 'Mike' Murphy, and his mother was the former Nora Long. George graduated from Yale University and worked to support himself. He first worked as a toolmaker for Ford, later in the mines and as a real estate agent, and finally as a dancer in various discotheques.

In the mid-1920s, George Murphy moved to New York City. There he met his first wife, Juliette Henkel, whom he married in 1926. They had two children, a son, Dennis, and a daughter, Melissa.

He made his Broadway debut as a member of the chorus in 'Good News' (1927) and performed in three other Broadway shows - 'Hold Everything!', 'Of Thee I Sing', and 'Roberta'. After retiring from the stage, Murphy moved with his family to Hollywood, where talking pictures had replaced silent films.

He made his Hollywood debut in Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, Willy Pogany, 1934), starring Eddie Cantor. Murphy appeared with Shirley Temple in Little Miss Broadway (Irving Cummings, 1938) and with Judy Garland in Little Nellie Kelly (Norman Taurog, 1940). He became known as a song-and-dance man and appeared in many big-budget musicals, such as Broadway Melody of 1938 (Roy Del Ruth, 1937), Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), in which he danced with Fred Astaire, and For Me and My Gal (Busby Berkeley, 1942) with Judy Garland.

After switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 1939, George Murphy became a close political ally of Ronald Reagan, with whom he appeared in This Is the Army (Michael Curtiz, 1943).


Dutch postcard S. & v. H. A. Photo: M.P.E.A. Alice Faye and George Murphy in You're a Sweetheart (David Butler, 1937).


Belgian postcard by L.A.B. (Les Editions d'Art, Bruxelles), no. 1509. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois-d'Haine, no. C. 318. Photo: M.G.M. George Murphy in Border Incident (Antrhony Mann, 1949).

Say. . . Didn’t you use to be George Murphy?

During World War II, George Murphy primarily appeared in Propaganda films aimed at boosting the morale of US troops. Among these films were The Navy Comes Through (A. Edward Sutherland, 1942), and Bataan (Tay Garnett, 1943) with Robert Taylor.

From 1944 to 1946, Murphy served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. His final film was the Film Noir Walk East on Beacon (Alfred L. Werker, 1952). By then, Murphy had been cast in approximately 50 feature films. Although his work was mostly limited to relatively unknown films, he received an honorary Oscar in 1951 for his contributions to the film industry.

From 1958 to 1961, he served as vice president of the film production company Desilu. In the late 1950s, Murphy became increasingly involved in politics. He served three times - in 1952, 1956, and 1960 - as head of entertainment for the televised inaugurations of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. In the early 1960s, Murphy became chairman of the Republican Party of California and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1964.

He served a six-year term in the Senate before leaving office in January 1971. His autobiography, 'Say. . . Didn’t You Used to Be George Murphy?' was published in 1970. During his time in office, Murphy was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, which necessitated surgery to remove his larynx. As a result of the surgery, he had difficulty speaking for the rest of his life.

George Murphy retired from public life, which he shared with his second wife, Bette Blandi, whom he married in 1982. They left California and moved to Palm Beach, where he died of leukaemia in 1992, two months before his 90th birthday.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1011a. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


Dutch postcard by MPEA. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Sources: Britannica, Wikipedia (German, French and English) and IMDb.

Albert Paulig

Albert Paulig (1873-1933) was a popular comedian in the German silent cinema of the 1910s and 1920s.


German postcard by Verl. Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 1746.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1319. Photo: Willinger.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, Berlin, no. 122/4. Photo: Nicola Perscheid, Berlin.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 785. Photo: Greenbaum-Film / Lux Verleih.

His own comedy series

Born in Stollberg, Germany, in 1873, Albert Paulig was trained to become a teacher. He also did musical training at the Konservatorium Dresden (Conservatory of Dresden), but initially, he became a salesman.

In 1896, he had his stage debut at the Stadttheater in Zwickau. Other locations he performed were Łódź, Hannover and Dresden. In 1901, he first performed in Berlin at the Deutsch-Amerikanischen Theater, after which he did several guest performances in other Berlin stages.

In 1913, when he was already 40, Albert Paulig was discovered as a film comedian. Because of his success, he got his own series in the 1910s, the Albert-Paulig series, with titles just as simple as Paulig als Asta Nielsen / Paulig as Asta Nielsen (Albert Paulig, 1915) or Albert hat Prokura / Albert has the power of attorney (Uwe Jenss Kraft, 1919).

Starting with Alberts Hose / Albert’s Pants (1915), Paulig directed his own comedy series. But in between, he also acted in films by other directors.

Paulig, for example, played opposite Ernst Lubitsch in both the popular success Die Firma heiratet / The Firm Weds (Carl Wilhelm, 1914) and its unofficial sequel Der Stolz der Firma / The Pride of the Firm (Carl Wilhelm, 1914). He also co-starred with Hanni Weisse in Meine Braut, seine Frau / My bride, his Wife (Danny Kaden, 1916).


German postcard by G.L., no. 3172/3. Photo: Elite, Berlin. Albert Paulig, Alfred Walters and Fritzi Arco in the operetta 'Die Dollarprinzessin' (The dollar princess). This operetta by Leo Fall was first performed in Vienna in 1907; this card is for the Berlin version of 1908.


German postcard, no. 9434. Photo: Atelier Rembrandt.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 164. Photo: A. Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Verlag Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 165. Photo: A. Binder, Berlin.

Strong popularity

After he stopped his Albert-Paulig series in 1919, Paulig’s popularity remained strong among audiences. During the 1920s, he acted in over 100 films. While Albert Paulig mostly performed in supporting parts, he sometimes had major parts as the protagonist or the main antagonist.

Albert Paulig co-starred with Mia May and Georg Alexander in the comedy Die platonische Ehe / The platonic marriage (Paul Leni, 1919), and acted with Hans Albers and Ria Jende in Der Schuss aus dem Fenster / The shot out the window (director unknown, 1920).

He did several small parts in the Ossi Oswalda comedies of the late 1910s and early 1920s, such as Das Mädchen aus dem wilden Westen / The girl from the Wild West (Erich Schönfelder, 1921). The most famous example is the classic Die Austernprinzessin / The Oyster Princess (Ernst Lubisch, 1919).

Paulig was reunited with Hanni Weisse in the comedy Weil Du es bist / Because it's you (Hans Werckmeister, 1925). He had the lead as Archduke Albert Paul in G’schichten aus dem Wienerwald / Tales from the Vienna Woods (Jaap Speyer, 1928), co-starring Eric Barclay, Magnus Stifter and Fritz Schulz.

In the late 1920s, he was often seen in supporting parts in the sensational Harry Piel adventure films, such as Der Mann ohne Nerven / The Man Without Nerves (Harry Piel, 1924), Zigano, der Brigant vom Monte Diavolo / Zigano (Harry Piel, 1925), Sein grösster Bluff / His Greatest Bluff (Harry Piel, 1927), Panik / Panic (Harry Piel, 1928), and Männer ohne Beruf / Men without Profession (Harry Piel, 1929).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1328. Photo: Willinger.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1332. Photo: Willinger.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 122/2. Photo: Nicola Perscheid, Berlin.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 122/3. Photo: Nicola Perscheid, Berlin.

Army officers

When sound film set in, Albert Paulig managed to continue his career, often portraying aristocrats and industrials, but in particular army officers. An example of the latter is Schön ist die Manöverzeit / Manoeuver Time Is Fine (Erich Schönfelder, Margarete Schön, 1931) with Ida Wüst.

He acted in the musical Es war einmal ein Walzer / Once There Was a Waltz (Victor Janson, 1932), written by Billy Wilder, and Der Prinz von Arkadien / The Prince from Arcadien (Karl Hartl, 1932) with Willi Forst.

He also appeared in Das Testament des Cornelius Gulden / The Testament of Cornelius Gulden (E.W. Emo, 1932), starring Magda Schneider and Georg Alexander, and Manolescu, der Fürst der Diebe / Manolescu (George C. Klaren, Willi Wolff, 1933), starring Iván Petrovich.

The crime film K1 greift ein / K1 intervenes (Edmund Heuberger, 1933) was his last film. He couldn’t attend the premiere of the film, as he died in Berlin on 19 March 1933, because of heart failure, two days after the film had passed censorship.

According to Filmportal.de, which lists his most extensive filmography, Albert Paulig acted in 183 films.


German postcard by Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm. Photo: J. Braae, nord. Photokunst.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, no. 3036.


German postcard by Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 6053. Berlin. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3024/1, 1928-1929.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5203. Photo: Badekow.

Sources: Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.