Celia Lovsky
Celia Lovsky | |
---|---|
Kurt Kasznar and Celia Lovsky (1954) | |
Born |
Cäcilia Josefina Lvovsky February 21, 1897 Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
Died |
October 12, 1979 82) Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged
Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1930–1974 |
Spouse(s) |
Heinrich Vinzenz Nowak [1](m. 1919; div. 1929) |
Celia Lovsky (born Cäcilia Josefina Lvovsky, February 21, 1897 – October 12, 1979) was an Austrian-American actress. She was born in Vienna,[2] daughter of Břetislav Lvovsky (1857–1910), a minor Czech opera composer. She studied theater, dance, and languages at the Austrian Royal Academy of Arts and Music.[3]
Life and career
Lovsky married journalist Heinrich Vinzenz Nowak in 1919. By 1925, they were apparently estranged and she was romantically involved with playwright Arthur Schnitzler.[3] She later moved to Berlin, where she acted in the surrealist plays Dream Theater and Dream Play by Karl Kraus.[4] There, in 1929, she met Peter Lorre, who had seen her in a production of Shakespeare's Othello near Vienna.[3] The couple traveled to Paris, London, and the United States. Lovsky was instrumental in bringing Lorre to the attention of Fritz Lang, leading eventually to Lorre's appearance in the film M (1931) directed by Lang.[5] They lived together for five years before their marriage, and stayed married until 1945, remaining close friends for the rest of Lorre's life.
After the couple settled in Santa Monica, California, Lorre had not wished Lovsky to work, believing he should be the breadwinner and she should remain at home. For the rest of Lorre's life, she was his publicist, manager, secretary, financial planner, nurse and confidant.[6] However, after their divorce, she started taking roles in American movies and television. She made a name for herself playing slightly exotic roles such as the deaf-mute mother of Lon Chaney in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) with James Cagney and Apache Princess Saba in the Jane Russell film Foxfire (1955).
As she grew older, she was given dignified dowager roles, such as a Spanish matriarch in an episode of Bonanza titled "The Spanish Grant" (1960), Romany matriarchs, elderly Native American women such as in the Wagon Train episode "A Man Called Horse", expatriate Russian princesses, and a brief but memorable role as the widowed mother of Reinhard Schwimmer, one of the victims in the film The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967). Her final movie appearance was of the "Exchange Leader" in Soylent Green (1973). She delivers the final confirmation to Edward G. Robinson's character Sol about Soylent Green's true ingredient. She also appeared in the Twilight Zone episode "Queen of the Nile" (1964) as the elderly daughter of a never-aging actress (played by Ann Blyth). One of her other TV roles was as the Vulcan matriarch T'Pau in the Star Trek episode "Amok Time" (1967) who officiates the wedding of Mister Spock.
Partial filmography
- Twice Married (1930) - Frl. Koch
- Der Hampelmann (1930)
- The Foxes of Harrow (1947) - Minna Ludenbach
- Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) - Flower Vendor
- Sealed Verdict (1948) - Mrs. Emma Steigmann
- The Snake Pit (1948) - Inmate Gertrude
- Flaming Fury (1949) - Bertha Polacheck
- Chicago Deadline (1949) - Mrs. Schleffler
- Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950) - Countess Francesca de Cresci
- Bright Leaf (1950) - Dressmaker
- The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) - Mrs. Kowalski
- The Scarf (1951) - Mrs. Barrington
- Night Into Morning (1951) - Mrs. Niemoller
- The People Against O'Hara (1951) - Mrs. Korvac
- Because You're Mine (1952) - Mrs. Rossano
- The Story of Three Loves (1953) - The Governess on Ship (segment "The Jealous Lover / Mademoiselle")
- The Blue Gardenia (1953) - May - the Flower Woman
- Champ for a Day (1953) - Gladys Macrowitz
- The Big Heat (1953) - Lagana's Mother in Portrait
- Rhapsody (1954) - Frau Sigerlist
- Make Haste to Live (1954) - Mother
- Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) - Baroness
- The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) - Mama
- New York Confidential (1955) - Mama Lupo
- Foxfire (1955) - Princess Saba
- Duel on the Mississippi (1955) - Celeste Tulane
- Texas Lady (1955) - Mrs. Gantz
- While the City Sleeps (1956) - Miss Dodd
- The Opposite Sex (1956) - Lutsi
- Death of a Scoundrel (1956) - Mrs. Sabourin - Clementi's mother
- Rumble on the Docks (1956) - Anna Smigelski
- The Garment Jungle (1957) - Tulio's Mother
- Trooper Hook (1957) - Señora Sandoval
- Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) - Mrs. Chaney
- Crash Landing (1958) - Mrs. Ortega
- Twilight for the Gods (1958) - Ida Morris
- I Mobster (1959) - Mme. Arle
- The Gene Krupa Story (1959) - Mother
- Hitler (1962) - Frau Angelika Raubal
- 36 Hours (1964) - Elsa
- The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) - Woman Behind Railings
- Harlow (1965) - Marie Ouspenskaya
- The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) - Josephine Schwimmer
- The Power (1968) - Mrs. Hallson
- Airport (1970) - Mrs. Williams - Passenger
- Soylent Green (1973) - The Exchange Leader
References
- ↑ Youngkin 2005, p. 496.
- ↑ Celia Lovsky biodata on Petition for Naturalization as Cacilia Josefina Lowenstein, ancestry.com; accessed October 7, 2015.
- 1 2 3 Youngkin 2005, p. 32.
- ↑ Youngkin 2005, p. 39.
- ↑ Youngkin 2005, p. 37.
- ↑ Youngkin 2005, p. 87.
Bibliography
- Youngkin, Stephen D. (2005). The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-3700-4.
External links
- Celia Lovsky on IMDb