AN ANGLO-AUSTRIAN
Until she was nineteen, Elissa Landi thought she was English. Then she realised that officially she was an Austrian citizen. It happened like this—her mother's first husband was Richard Kuhnelt, an Austrian, Elissa's father ; her second was Count Zenardi Landi, also an Austrian, who had taken out English naturalisation papers. He adopted his stepdaughter, who changed her name to Landi and assumed that she had also taken his naturalised nationality until considerable confusion resulted over a matter of passports. It was pointed out that she was legally an Austrian, but the Austrian government by this time considered that she was English. This problem Elissa Landi finally settled by marrying John Lawrence, an English barrister about whose nationality there was no question.

Although it is as an actress that Elissa Landi has won most fame, she took up the stage merely as a means to an end. She had always wanted to be a novelist and playwright, but she found the technique of the theatre a little difficult, so in order to overcome this joined a repertory company. This began her successful stage career, which she left to appear in films in France, Sweden, England and later, America, where she has made "Body and Soul," " Always Goodbye," " Wicked," and " The Yellow Passport." Elissa Landi is a trained dancer, a clever pianist, has a charming mezzo-soprano voice, speaks French, Italian and German fluently, and is an expert motorist. Born in Venice on December 6th, 1904, she is the grand-daughter of Elizabeth of Bavaria, wife of the Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. She has golden-brown hair and green eyes.


Looking at Elissa's Hollywood career, it is quite impressive when you realize she had mostly starring or second lead roles, and worked with many of the most talented actors and actresses of the time. What follows are the Hollywood films where she was the female lead; Elissa had previously appeared in ten films in Europe and Great Britain beginning in 1926.

* Body and Soul (1931) - opposite Charles Farrell
* Always Goodbye (1931) - opposite Lewis Stone
* Wicked (1931) - opposite Victor McLaglen
* The Yellow Ticket (1931) - opposite Lionel Barrymore/Laurence Olivier
* Devil's Lottery (1932) - opposite Victor McLaglen (again)
* The Woman in Room 13 (1932) - opposite Ralph Bellamy.
* A Passport to Hell (1932) - opposite Paul Lucas
* The Sign of the Cross (1932) - opposite Fredric March
* The Warrior's Husband (1933) - opposite David Manners
* I Loved You Wednesday (1933) - opposite Warner Baxter
* The Masquerader (1933) - opposite Ronald Colman
* By Candlelight (1933) - opposite Paul Lucas (again)
* Man of Two Worlds (1934) - opposite Francis Lederer
* Sisters Under the Skin (1934) - opposite Frank Morgan
* The Great Flirtation (1934) - opposite Adolphe Menjou
* The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) - opposite Robert Donat
* Enter Madame (1935) - opposite Cary Grant
* Without Regret (1935) - opposite Paul Cavanagh
* The Amateur Gentleman (1936) - opposite D. Fairbanks Jr. (Brit. prod.)
* Mad Holiday (1936) - opposite Edmund Lowe.

Twenty-three Hollywood films, twenty leads; not bad.

Following Mad Holiday, Elissa appeared in After the Thin Man (1936). There were three more films and then Elissa left Hollywood behind and concentrated on writing, producing six novels and books of poetry. Elissa succumbed to cancer on October 21, 1948. She was 43 years old.