The Accidental Caregiver

The Accidental Caregiver
Author Gregor Collins
Country United States
Language English
Subject Memoir, intergenerational relation, art restituion
Genre Non-fiction
Publisher Bloch-Bauer Books
Publication date
 2012
Pages 362
ISBN 9780985865405
OCLC 820878705

The Accidental Caregiver: How I Met, Loved, and Lost Legendary Holocaust Refugee Maria Altmann is a 2012 memoir by Gregor Collins, recounting the three years he was a caregiver for Maria Altmann,[1] and a stageplay, which premiered at the Robert Moss Theater in New York City on January 26, 2015.[2]

Book

In late 2007 a friend of Collins's, Tom Trudeau, answered an ad on Craigslist for a caregiver to a 92-year-old woman from Austria who lived in Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles. Trudeau mentioned to Collins he had taken the job, moved into her bungalow on Danalda Drive, and urged him to visit. But Collins was in pre-production on the film Night Before the Wedding, and focused on his acting career. A few weeks later, in January 2008, another caregiver quit, leaving Trudeau as the lady's sole caregiver. The family asked Trudeau if he knew anyone who could immediately fill the vacant position, and he asked Collins, who eventually agreed to take the job, at first as a temporary fill-in. The lady was Holocaust refugee Maria Altmann.[3]

Aside from their day-to-day relationship chronicled in journal-entry-style chapters, the book depicts Maria's childhood in pre-Hitler Vienna as a member of the influential Bloch-Bauer family, and the family's relationship with the painter Gustav Klimt, who was regularly commissioned by Maria's wealthy Uncle Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer to paint portraits of his wife Adele Bloch-Bauer, a prominent Jewish patron of the arts.[4] It also depicts Altmann's several anecdotes about her meetings, connections and relationships with eclectic notables such as Joan Sutherland, Walter Slezak, Hedy Lamarr, Placido Domingo, Danny Thomas, Gary Cooper, Ezio Pinza, Paul Henreid and others, and Altmann and her husband Fritz's harrowing escape from Austria during the Anschluss, their subsequent journey through Holland, England and Massachusetts, and their eventual nesting in Los Angeles.[5]

In 2012, a year and a half after Altmann's death, Collins published his book to commemorate the 37 months they spent together, meticulously detailing their chance meeting and unusual bond, culminating in Altmann's death in early 2011. The book received favorable reviews in the US,[6][7] as well as in the Australian, German and Austrian press.[8][9]

The book was also sold at the Neue Galerie New York, where the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I remains in permanent collection.

In 2015 a translated version of the book was published in Poland.[10]

Collins has spoken at various venues around the world sharing his experience as Altmann's caregiver, including Richmond's historic Tuckahoe Woman's Club, Herndon ArtSpace[11], Austrian Cultural Forum New York[12], and in private residences in the New York and Los Angeles areas. He has also been the keynote speaker at functions in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, sponsored by the Women's International Zionist Organization. [13][14] The Australian Jewish Community has the highest number of Holocaust survivors in the Diaspora. [15]

Stageplay

The Accidental Caregiver stageplay world premiered at the Robert Moss Theater in New York City on January 26, 2015, and was directed by British theatre director Alice Kornitzer.[2][16] The play was also presented as a staged reading at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York on June 25, 2015. Directed by Collins, Actor Christian Scheider and Actor and Museum of the Moving Image founder Rochelle Slovin, read the parts of Gregor and Maria, respectively.[17][18]

See also

Editions

  • The Accidental Caregiver, Bloch-Bauer Books, ISBN 9780985865405
  • "Kobieta ze złota. Moje życie z Marią Altmann", Wydawnictwo Replika, ISBN 978-83-7674-446-9

References

  1. ↑ https://www.huffingtonpost.com/erika-nicole-finn/gregor-collins-talks-life_b_7656526.html
  2. 1 2 "THE ACCIDENTAL CAREGIVER". Venus Theater Festival. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/27/i-was-32-when-i-met-the-love-of-my-life-she-was-92
  4. ↑ "The Accidental Caregiver: Maria Altmann, Austria and Nazi Art Theft with Gregor Collins". YouTube. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Adele Bloch-Bauer". Jwa.org. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  6. ↑ http://publishersweekly.com/ASINB0092GS96K
  7. ↑ Weiss, Holly (September 2, 2012). "Book Review: The Accidental Caregiver by Gregor Collins". seattlepi.com. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
  8. ↑ https://www.jewishnews.net.au/illuminating-the-woman-in-gold/76760
  9. ↑ http://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/es-war-einfach-nur-magisch-32-jaehriger-findet-in-92-jaehriger-die-liebe-seines-lebens_id_4576146.html
  10. ↑ http://www.replika.eu/index.php?k=ksi&id=572
  11. ↑ https://patch.com/virginia/herndon/love-maria-caregiver-behind-woman-gold
  12. ↑ http://www.acfny.org/event/the-accidental-caregiver/
  13. ↑ "WIZO Event". WIZO. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  14. ↑ "Gregor Collins - AJN". Australian Jewish News. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  15. ↑ http://jewishhistoryaustralia.net/jha/holocaust_brief.htm
  16. ↑ http://www.bestofoffbroadway.com/show/the-accidental-caregiver/
  17. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-03-14. Retrieved 2017-04-27.
  18. ↑ http://www.acfny.org/event/the-accidental-caregiver/
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