Famous Biographies

France Born: Crozon, France, 24 December 1887. Died: Paris, France, 1951. Trained as a druggist, he began his working life as a pharmacy assistant but kept on trying for an acting career. Despite three rejections by the Paris Conservatoire, he persisted and, after joining a stage company as an admin Continue reading the biography

Born: Stockholm, Sweden, 15 June 1923. Character lead of the Swedish stage and screen, notable for his portraits of egotistical males in the films of Ingmar Bergman. He became associated with Bergman while still in his teens and became his lifelong friend. He replaced the director in 1966 as head of Continue reading the biography

Germany Born: Rorschach, Switzerland, 23 July 1884. Died: Strobl, Austria, 1950. A theatre actor since 1900, Jannings worked with the Max Reinhardt company in 1915-16. His first film role came in the war propaganda film Im Schützengraben (1914). From 1916 his film parts were more substantial, and a Continue reading the biography

France Born: Paris, France, 16 March 1955. Fragile, freckle-faced leading lady of French and international films. On screen from age 16, she developed in the late 70s into one of Europe’s foremost film personalities, a versatile interpreter of a wide range of roles, from delicate, innocent dem Continue reading the biography

Germany Born: Berlin, Germany, 17 March 1906. Died: 11 June 1996. Became a world-famous star after her film debut in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1926). Appeared in many other German and some British and French films, but her acting range never matched her exceptional beauty, a fact that became mo Continue reading the biography

Italy Born: Spezia, Italy, 1 August 1942. Sad-eyed, tragicomic protagonist of Lina Wertmuller’s films. Trained at the Rome Academy of Drama, following studies in electronic engineering, he began his association with Miss Wertmuller while appearing in her play Two and Two Are No Longer Four in Continue reading the biography

Italy Born: Genoa, Italy, 1 September 1922. The son of an Austrian father and Florentine mother, a basketball star at high school, he later abandoned law studies to enroll at Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Arte Dramatica. He was a seasoned veteran of some 40 plays by the time he made his film d Continue reading the biography

Born: Zurich, Switzerland, 22 March 1941. Leading man of German and international films. Following military service in Switzerland, he began performing on the Berlin stage and by the late 60s was well established as a matinée idol. On the screen from the early 60s, he rose to prominence after appea Continue reading the biography

Born: Mériel, France, 17 May 1904. Died: 1976. The son of café entertainers, he started out at age 14 as a laborer, but at 19 gave in to his father’s urging and entered show business as a dancer with the Folies-Bergère. Played supporting parts in music halls and operettas before returning t Continue reading the biography

Born: Touggourt, Algeria, 10 May 1932. She studied piano and attended the Algerian Conservatory of Dramatic Arts before going to Paris, where she attended the Conservatory and made her stage debut in the early 50s. She began appearing in films in 1955 but came into international prominence only in t Continue reading the biography