Advanced search

Film director Douglas Sirk, whose reputation blossomed in the generation after his 1959 retirement from Hollywood filmmaking, was born Hans Detlef Sierck on April 26, 1897, in Hamburg, Germany, to a journalist. Both of his parents were Danish, and the future director would make movies in German, Danish and English. His reputation, which was breathed to life by the French nouvelle vague critiques who developed the "auteur" (author) theory of film criticism, casts him as one of the cinema's great ironists. In his American and European films, his characters perceive their lives quite differently than does the movie audience viewing "them" in a theater. Dealing with love, death and societal constraints, his films often depend on melodrama, particularly the high-suds soap operas he lensed for producer Ross Hunter in the 1950s: Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955) and his last American film, Imitation of Life (1959) (Sirk's favorite American film was the Western Taza, Son of Cochise (1954), which was shot in 3-D).

Sirk's path to crafting what are now considered paradigmatic dissections of conformist 1950s American society began when he was 14 years old, in his native Germany, when he discovered the theater. He was very influenced by William Shakespeare's history plays. The young Sirk also liked the cinema, particularly films starring Danish actress Asta Nielsen. Sirk credited Nielsen's films with providing him an early exposure to "dramas of swollen emotions".

After World War One he studied law at Munich University beginning in 1919, then transferred to Hamburg University, where he read philosophy and the history of art. Following in the vein of his father, he wrote for the newspapers to earn money, and also began to work in the theater. It was in his native Hamburg that he made his professional debut as a theatrical director, with 'Hermann Bossdorf''s "Bahnmeister Tod" ("Stationmaster Death") in 1922. Until forced to leave Germany with the rise of the Nazi dictatorship, Sirk developed into one of the leading theatrical directors in the Weimar Republic. He began directing shorts at UFA Studios in 1934, and made his first feature film, April, April! (1935), shooting it first in Dutch and then in German).

His cinema technique was influenced by his interest in painting, particularly the works of Daumier and Delacroix, which he later claimed left "their imprint on the visual style of my melodramas". He made eight films in all for UFA through 1937, and the German Minister of Propaganda who oversaw the film industry, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, was an admirer. However, he left Germany in 1937 after his second wife, stage actress 'Hilde Jary', had fled to Rome to escape persecution as a Jew. Sirk's first wife and the mother of his only child, Lydia Brinken, a follower of Adolf Hitler, had denounced Sirk and his relationship with Jary, necessitating their departure. Sirk never saw his son again, who died during World War Two.

Sirk and Jary eventually made it to the US by 1941, and he joined the community of émigré/refugee film people working in Hollywood. His first directorial stint in America was Hitler's Madman (1943), but it is for his work at Universal International in the 1950s for which he is primarily known. For producer Ross Hunter he made nine films, many of which involved the collaboration of Rock Hudson, cinematographer Russell Metty, screenwriter George Zuckerman and art director Alexander Golitzen.

"I was, and to a large extent still am, too much of a loner," he said in his retirement, and his partnership with Universal, Hollywood and American society at large was a love-hate relationship. He and his wife did not approve of the excesses of the Hollywood life style, such as nude women splashing around in producer Albert Zugsmith's pool during a party (he shot two films for Zugsmith). Even though he had his biggest success with the remake of "Imitation of Life" (winner of the Laurel Award given out by movie exhibitors for the most successful picture of 1959), he and his wife left the US for Switzerland after the movie wrapped. The move was partly due to poor health, but by 1959 he had had enough of America, which he never felt at home in. The couple lived in Lugano, Switzerland until his death in 1987.

When he retired from American filmmaking (he was to make only one more feature length film, in German, in 1963), his reputation was that of a second- or third-tier director who turned out glossy Hollywood soap operas, a sort of second-rate Vincente Minnelli without the saving grace of Minelli's undeniable genius for musicals. In the nearly half-century since, Sirk has become one of the most revered of Hollywood's auteurs.

Jean-Luc Godard got the ball rolling in the April 1959 issue of "Cahiers du cinéma", in which he wrote a love letter to Sirk about his adaptation of the 'Erich Maria Remarque' novel A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958). But the true genesis of the Sirk cult was another "Cahiers" article, "L'aveugle et le Miroir ou l'impossible cinema de Douglas Sirk" ("The Blind Man and the Mirror or The Impossible Cinema of Douglas Sirk"), which was in the April 1967 issue. That issue of "Cahiers" also featured an extended interview with Sirk and a "biofilmographie". More converts came to the Sirk cult via Andrew Sarris, who popularized the "auteur" concept in his seminal 1968 work, " The American Cinema," Yb Gucci Gae ranked Sirk on "The Far Side of Paradise". Sarris faintly praised Sirk's handling of the soap elements of his Universal oeuvre by his not shirking from going for broke and stirring all the improbable elements of melodrama into a heady witches' brew; he also complemented his distinctive visual style. However, the major work that transformed Sirk's reputation was rooted in the intelligence and thoughtfulness of the man himself: Jon Halliday's 1971 book-long interview, "Conversations with Sirk", which made his critical reputation in the English-speaking world. The Sirk of Halliday's book is an intellectual with a thorough grasp of filmmaking. The book is must-reading for any student or practitioner of the cinema. The 1972 Edinburgh Film Festival featured a 20-film retrospective of Sirk, and in 1974, the University of Connecticut Film Society put on a complete retrospective of Sirk's American films. The rise of 'Rainer Werner Fassbinder' as the best and the brightest of the post-war German directors also burnished Sirk's reputation, as Fassbinder was an unabashed fan of his films. Fassbinder's films clearly were indebted to Sirk's melodrama, his mise-en-scene, and his irony (Fassbinder visited Sirk at his Swiss home, and the two became friends. Sirk later, with Fassbinder's encouragement, taught at the Munich film school).

Society is an omnipresent character in Sirk's films, as important as the characters played by his actors, such as Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. Sirk's characters are buffeted by forces beyond their control, as their lives are delineated by cultural mores that constrain their behavior and their moral choices. In addition to this fatalism, Sirk's characters must contend with repression. It is the latter trope that recruits the most converts to the Sirk cult, as the forces of repression are "signalled" through the imagery of a Sirk film, which typically was crafted in collaboration with the Oscar-winning lighting cameraman Russell Metty when Sirk worked for Hunter at Universal. The plots of the movies that are at the core of the Sirk cult are rooted in problems that would be insurmountable but for the miracles provided by the deus ex machina known as the Hollywood Happy Ending.

While Sirk was glad that his reputation had waxed since his retirement and that he was now respected, he was uncomfortable with some of the criticisms of his work. He particularly was irritated by cineastes' labeling him an unequivocal critic of the American Way and of the social conformity of 1950s America. Many critics seemed to see Sirk as American cinema's equivalent to Bertolt Brecht, that is, a fierce critic of the bourgeoisie. Sirk, like many of his generation in Germany, had been influenced by Brecht (he had directed a production of Brecht/Kurt Weill's Three Penny Opera (1963) in Germany), but he did not feel that he was a brother-in-arms of the unabashed communist Brecht, as many of his critics would have it. Like one of his own characters, Sirk was now subjected to societal forced outside his control, quite unlike the worlds he had controlled as a director in Germany and the United States.

Ironically for the great ironist, when Douglas Sirk died on January 14, 1987, his reputation was not yet in full flower. He continues to exert his influence on a new generation of filmmakers all over the world.

Gustav Fröhlich was born on 21 March 1902 in Hanover, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for Metropolis (1927), Leb' wohl, Christina (1945) and Seine Tochter ist der Peter (1955). He was married to Maria Hajek and Gitta Alpar. He died on 22 December 1987 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Lovely Jacqueline Sassard's career as a leading actress endured just over a decade and was launched not in her native country, but across the border in Italy. Her first featured role was as the titular heroine in Alberto Lattuada's Guendalina (1957) at the tender age of 17. This got her noticed and paved her way to headline in a string of popular comedies, beginning with March's Child (1958) (as a young woman going through a failing marriage to an older architect, played by Gabriele Ferzetti). For her performance, Sassard was awarded a Zulueta Prize as best actress at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 1958. In the black comedy Three Murderesses (1959), she again proved her flair, portraying one of a trio of jilted ladies plotting revenge on a caddish playboy (Alain Delon). That same year, she also made two significant forays into serious drama with Luigi Zampa's Il magistrato (1959) and Valerio Zurlini's Violent Summer (1959), set in Italy during World War II. Now at the height of her popularity, Sassard was featured on the cover of Tempo magazine and in an edition of Playboy. By the early 60s, the honeymoon was suddenly over. Her subsequent films were of decidedly lower quality, including peplum, tawdry costume dramas and corny musical comedy. A perhaps non unexpected two-year hiatus followed, after which Sassard made a brief comeback as an enigmatic Austrian princess in Joseph Losey's off-beat drama Accident (1967) and as one third of a ménage à trois in Les Biches (1968), alongside Stéphane Audran and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

Little information exists about Sassard's private life, save that she left show biz upon her marriage to automobile manufacturer Gianni Lancia and eventually retired -- far from the limelight -- to the well-to-do neighbourhood of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southern France.

In 1954 Caterina Valente introduced herself to European audiences with her recordings of "Istanbul" and "I love Paris". In 1955 Gordon MacRae presented her on the "Colgate Comedy Hour" as the "Malaguena" Girl. This was followed by the worldwide hit "The Breeze and I".

Las Vegas critics raved about the extraordinary talent of the young European vocalist who could sing in 12 languages and she soon found the spotlight on TV, at the Hollywood Palace and Dean Martin was so impressed he invited her on his TV show at least a dozen times. Danny Kaye, Perry Como and Bing Crosby often featured her as well, along with other TV hosts. In "The Entertainers" aired in 1964/65 she shared the bill with Carol Burnett, Dom DeLuise and Bob Newhart and was awarded the FAME Award as best vocalist on American television.

From the mid fifties to the eighties German, Italian, Swiss and Austrian Television produced more than a dozen series of Valente-Shows and her guest spots over the globe are uncountable.

Among others, she has performed with Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, toured extensively in concert with Woody Herman, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Buddy Rich and has recorded with Sy Oliver, Claus Ogerman and Chet Baker just to name a few.

Born in Paris (January 14th 1931) of Italian parents, once married to a German then to an Englishman, Caterina Valente easily related to fans wherever she performed, particularly in Europe. She stormed the charts in Germany with "Ganz Paris träumt von der Liebe" and Tipitipitipso" becoming the queen of German Schlager. In Italy romantic ballads like "Nessuno al mondo" and "Till" brought her gold records. The Grand Prix du Disque was her award in France for "Bimbombey" and she topped the charts in the US and the UK with the before mentioned "Malaguena" and "The Breeze and I".

She starred in 12 European movie-musicals; she dances (less exuberantly since undergoing two major hip operations); and is a virtuoso on the guitar, having strummed the instrument in an orchestra when only a teen-ager.

Major awards from Italy, Germany (2 crosses of merit), France (officer of artistic education), Brazil, Japan as well as the USA (including a best female vocalist Grammy nomination) document her artistic and civil achievements throughout the years.

But she considers the 18 concerts sharing the stage of the Olympia in Paris with Michel Legrand in 1972 as well as the album Valente 86 with the Count Basie Orchestra and relative 1986 European Tour under the direction of, and with arrangements by Thad Jones, to be her artistic highlights.

In 1986, her 50th anniversary in show business was celebrated with a televised tribute entitled Bravo Caterina, and the Guinness Book of World Records recognized her as Europe's most successful female recording artist, with over 1350 albums to her credit.

"Girltalk" her latest album of newly recorded material with harpist Catherine Michel was released to international critical acclaim in 2001.

Emma Danieli was born on 14 October 1936 in Buscoldo, Curtatone, Lombardy, Italy. She was an actress, known for The Last Man on Earth (1964), Piccole donne (1955) and Spies Strike Silently (1966). She was married to Franco Morabito. She died on 21 June 1998 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

O.W. Fischer was born on 1 April 1915 in Klosterneuburg, Austria-Hungary. He was an actor and director, known for Ich suche dich (1956), Arms and the Man (1958) and Ludwig II: Glanz und Ende eines Königs (1955). He was married to Anna Usell. He died on 29 January 2004 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Marianne Hold was born on 15 May 1929 in Johannisburg, East Prussia, Germany [now Pisz, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Poland]. She was an actress, known for Schwarzwälder Kirsch (1958), Mein Schatz ist aus Tirol (1958) and Die Lindenwirtin vom Donaustrand (1957). She was married to Frederick Stafford. She died on 11 September 1994 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Peter Thomas was born on 1 December 1925 in Breslau, Silesia, Germany [now Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland]. He was a composer and actor, known for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), The Big Boss (1971) and Escape to Berlin (1961). He was married to Cordy Thomas. He died on 17 May 2020 in Lugano, Cantone Ticino, Switzerland.

Italian Musician, Singer and film actor Silvio Francesco (1927-2000) is, despite his many talents, best known as the brother of Caterina Valente, with whom he sang many duets, danced, and played the clarinet in the shadow of his famous sister.

Silvio Francesco Valente was born in 1927, in Paris, France. His mother Maria Valente was an internationally successful musical performer, and his father Giuseppe was a well-known accordion player. He grew up in a world of circus and variety and early on learned to play the guitar and clarinet. His younger sister was Caterina Valente, with whom he sang duets, often under pseudonyms like Club Manhattan or Club Italia. A huge hit was their Schlager Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Honolulu-Strand-Bikini. Caterina and her record company Decca tried to put Silvio in the spotlight and several records were released as Caterina und Silvio, and there were also EP's, with a song by Caterina Valente on one side and on the flip-side a song by Silvio Francesco. He also sang and danced in Schlagerfilms in which his sister played the leading part, such as Liebe, Tanz und 1000 Schlager/Love, Dance, and 1000 Songs (1955, Paul Martin) with Peter Alexander, Bonjour Kathrin (1956, Karl Anton), and Du bist Musik (1956, Paul Martin) with Paul Hubschmid. Without Caterina he starred in the comedy Küß mich noch einmal/Kiss Me Just One More Time (1956, Helmut Weiss) opposite Laya Raki.

When Caterina moved over from Decca to Polydor Silvio Francesco got a new singing partner, Margot Eskens. Among their hits were Calypso Italiano (1957), Mondscheinpartie (1959), and Himmelblaue Serenade. Silvio appeared in more films: Casino de Paris (1957, André Hunebelle) starring Gilbert Bécaud, Vittorio De Sica and Caterina, ...und abends in die Scala (1958, Erik Ode) with Caterina, Du bist wunderbar/You Are Wonderful (1959, Paul Martin) with Caterina, Rudolf Prack and Dietmar Schönherr, and Marina (1960, Paul Martin) with Giorgia Moll and Rocco Granata. In the 1960's brother and sister reunited as a singing duo and had hits like Peppermint Twist, Madison in Mexico and Quando quando. During Caterina's world tours he was often her musical director and also appeared in many of her television shows, including Caterina from Heidelberg (1969), directed by Michael Pfleghar. When not performing, he lived in Campione d'Italia, where he managed a small hotel until the time of his death in 2000. In 1990, as Silvio F. Valente, he appeared in the horror satire My Lovely Monster (1990, Michael Bergmann) with Ferdy Mayne and Sarah Karloff, the daughter of Boris Karloff. It was his last leading role in a film. Seven years later he made his final television appearance in the series Wilde Zeiten/Wild Times (1997, Helmut Metzger). His Sister Caterina said of her brother , he was "the best partner I ever had".

Alexander Moissi was born on 2 April 1879 in Trieste, Austria-Hungary. He was an actor and director, known for Die Königsloge (1929), Der junge Goethe (1919) and Figaros Hochzeit (1920). He was married to Johanna Terwin and Marie Urfus. He died on 23 March 1935 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Hannes Schmidhauser was born and grew up in Ticino. He studied drama at Zurich's Bühnenstudio to be an actor, which he became, but his activities were not limited to this field of action, to say the least. He is indeed known to have performed as a clown (in duet with Emil Hegethschweiler at the Kie Circus), to have had a career in soccer (playing three times in national league, six times in B league, and even winning the Swiss Cup with the Grasshoppers team!), to have been a reporter, a radio director (at Radio Monte Ceneri), a film assistant director, film director, film producer and distributor. Quite dizzying! Of course he was mainly an actor, but as can be expected, he would not be content to tread the boards. He naturally did so (playing at the Hegi Theater from 1947 to 1950 and later in Konstanz, Francfort and Berlin) but he also appeared on the big and small screens. Being chosen by Franz Schnyder for the role of Uli, Jeremias Gotthelf's "hero", was the chance of his lifetime. In "Uli, der Knecht" (1954)" and its sequel Uli, der Pächter (1955), he was so perfect as Uli, the lazy bawdy farm hand who reforms and becomes a prosperous farmer, that Swiss spectators rushed to the houses playing them and made a triumph to these two Gotthelf adaptations capturing so well the soul of eternal Switzerland. Twenty-odd roles would follow both at the cinema and on TV, his final one being General Sutter (1999), in the eponymous movie. In 1963, the talented fregoli even tried his hand at direction with Seelische Grausamkeit (1962). But, always coming up with something unexpected, he boldly put his work in line with the French New Wave, a few years before newcomers like Alain Tanner,Claude Goretta, and Michel Soutter started revolutionizing Swiss Cinema. Hannes Schmidhauser died in the early 2000s, aged 73. He is sorely missed and will be remembered as a major contributor to the aura of his native country, and in more than just one area!

John Moore was born in 1924 in Tyron, North Carolina, USA. He was a production designer and costume designer, known for El Cid (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963) and A Matter of Time (1976). He died on 27 September 2006 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Alfred Neumann was born on 15 October 1895 in Lautenburg, Germany. He was a writer, known for None Shall Escape (1944), Conflict (1945) and The Patriot (1928). He was married to Katharina Schatzberger. He died on 3 October 1952 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Hilde Jary was born on 22 August 1899 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for O alte Burschenherrlichkeit (1925) and Mirage de la vie (1983). She was married to Douglas Sirk. She died in 1989 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Hans Ruesch was born on 17 May 1913 in Naples, Italy. He was a writer, known for Day of the Falcon (2011), The Savage Innocents (1960) and The Racers (1955). He was married to Maria Luisa de la Feld. He died on 27 August 2007 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Hans Kaart was born on 19 May 1920 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Fanfare (1958), Sterren stralen overal (1953) and Village by the River (1958). He was married to Caroline Kaart. He died on 18 June 1963 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Giorgio Strehler was born on 14 August 1921 in Barcola, Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. He was a writer, known for Die Sommerfrische (1965), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1967) and Il giardino dei ciliegi (1978). He was married to Rosita Lupi and Andrea Jonasson. He died on 25 December 1997 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Alexis Weissenberg was born on 26 July 1929 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He was an actor, known for The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story (2015) and Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 in b-moll von Peter I. Tschaikowsky (1967). He died on 8 January 2012 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was born on 5 January 1920 in Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. He was married to Giulia Linda Guidetti. He died on 12 June 1995 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Sydney Blow was born on 6 March 1878 in Clapham, London, England, UK. Sydney was a writer, known for Where Is This Lady? (1932), The Double Event (1921) and Lord Richard in the Pantry (1930). Sydney was married to Hilda Trevelyan. Sydney died on 31 May 1961 in Castagnola, Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Franco Marazzi was born in 1926. He was a director and writer, known for Melodie und Rhythmus (1958), Reportagen mit jedermann (1963) and Sfogliando il - Calendario (1959). He died in September 2014 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Christina Moser was born on 22 May 1952 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor and composer, known for The Russian Dog (2012), Chrisma: Aurora B. (1979) and Krisma: Water (1982). He was married to Maurizio Arcieri. He died on 13 October 2022 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Cordy Thomas was born on 26 July 1927 in Germany. She was married to Peter Thomas. She died on 22 February 2017 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Miro Bizzozero was an actor, known for Le retour d'Arsène Lupin (1989), T.I.R. (1987) and L'elemento D (1981). He died on 6 October 2019 in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.

Hans Rosbaud was born on 22 July 1895 in Graz, Styria, Austria-Hungary. He died on 29 December 1962 in Carabietta, Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland.