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- Laura Antonelli was born on 28 November 1941 in Pola, Istria, Italy [now Pula, Istria, Croatia]. She was an actress, known for Passion of Love (1981), Malicious (1973) and The Innocent (1976). She was married to Enrico Piacentini. She died on 22 June 2015 in Ladispoli, Rome, Lazio, Italy.
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Like many other female Italian film stars, Claudia Cardinale's entry into the business was by way of a beauty pageant. She was 17 years old and studying at the Centro Sperimentale in Rome when she entered a beauty contest, which resulted in her getting a succession of small film roles. Her earthy interpretations of Sicilian women got her noticed by Italian producers, and the combination of her beauty, dark, flashing eyes, explosive sexuality and genuine acting talent virtually guaranteed her stardom. After Careless (1962) she rose to the front ranks of Italian cinema, and became an international star in Federico Fellini's classic 8½ (1963) with Marcello Mastroianni. American audiences may best remember her from her starring role in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).- Actress
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Ingrid Bergman was one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood's lamented Golden Era. Her natural and unpretentious beauty and her immense acting talent made her one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American cinema. Bergman is also one of the most Oscar-awarded actresses, tied with Meryl Streep and Frances McDormand, all three of them second only to Katharine Hepburn.
Ingrid Bergman was born on August 29, 1915 in Stockholm, Sweden, to a German mother, Frieda Henrietta (Adler), and a Swedish father, Justus Samuel Bergman, an artist and photographer. Her mother died when she was only two and her father died when she was 12. She went to live with an elderly uncle.
The woman who would be one of the top stars in Hollywood in the 1940s had decided to become an actress after finishing her formal schooling. She had had a taste of acting at age 17 when she played an uncredited role of a girl standing in line in the Swedish film Landskamp (1932) in 1932 - not much of a beginning for a girl who would be known as "Sweden's illustrious gift to Hollywood." Her parents died when she was just a girl and the uncle she lived with didn't want to stand in the way of Ingrid's dream. The next year she enrolled at the Royal Dramatic Theatre School in Stockholm but decided that stage acting was not for her. It would be three more years before she would have another chance at a film. When she did, it was more than just a bit part. The film in question was The Count of the Old Town (1935), where she had a speaking part as Elsa Edlund. After several films that year that established her as a class actress, Ingrid appeared in Intermezzo (1936) as Anita Hoffman. Luckily for her, American producer David O. Selznick saw it and sent a representative from Selznick International Pictures to gain rights to the story and have Ingrid signed to a contract. Once signed, she came to California and starred in United Artists' 1939 remake of her 1936 film, Intermezzo (1939), reprising her original role. The film was a hit and so was Ingrid.
Her beauty was unlike anything the movie industry had seen before and her acting was superb. Hollywood was about to find out that they had the most versatile actress the industry had ever seen. Here was a woman who truly cared about the craft she represented. The public fell in love with her. Ingrid was under contract to go back to Sweden to film Only One Night (1939) in 1939 and June Night (1940) in 1940. Back in the US she appeared in three films, all well-received. She made only one film in 1942, but it was the classic Casablanca (1942) opposite Humphrey Bogart.
Ingrid was choosing her roles well. In 1943 she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), the only film she made that year. The critics and public didn't forget her when she made Gaslight (1944) the following year--her role of Paula Alquist got her the Oscar for Best Actress. In 1945 Ingrid played in Spellbound (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), for which she received her third Oscar nomination for her role of Sister Benedict. She made no films in 1947, but bounced back with a fourth nomination for Joan of Arc (1948). In 1949 she went to Italy to film Stromboli (1950), directed by Roberto Rossellini. She fell in love with him and left her husband, Dr. Peter Lindstrom, and daughter, Pia Lindström. America's "moral guardians" in the press and the pulpits were outraged. She was pregnant and decided to remain in Italy, where her son was born. In 1952 Ingrid had twins, Isotta and Isabella Rossellini, who became an outstanding actress in her own right, as did Pia.
Ingrid continued to make films in Italy and finally returned to Hollywood in 1956 in the title role in Anastasia (1956), which was filmed in England. For this she won her second Academy Award. She had scarcely missed a beat. Ingrid continued to bounce between Europe and the US making movies, and fine ones at that. A film with Ingrid Bergman was sure to be a quality production. In her final big-screen performance in 1978's Autumn Sonata (1978) she had her final Academy Award nomination. Though she didn't win, many felt it was the most sterling performance of her career. Ingrid retired, but not before she gave an outstanding performance in the mini-series A Woman Called Golda (1982), a film about Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. For this she won an Emmy Award as Best Actress, but, unfortunately, she did not live to see the fruits of her labor.
Ingrid died from cancer on August 29, 1982, her 67th birthday, in London, England.- Greta Scacchi was born in Milan, Italy, to Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and Luca Scacchi, an Italian art dealer and painter. She grew up in Milan and Sussex, England. In 1975, her mother and second husband moved to Australia, where, after she left school, Greta worked as an Italian interpreter on a ranch. At age 18, she returned to England and trained at the Bristol Old Vic, paying her way through college by working as a model for catalogues. Played small parts as a stage actress before she made her first appearance on British television, then the young film maker Dominik Graf directed her in Das zweite Gesicht (1982). She learned German for this movie. (She also speaks fluent Italian and French.) After Heat and Dust (1983), she played parts in French, Italian and English movies and Australian television, working with the Taviani Brothers, Margareta von Trotta and Diana Kurys. She turned down Hollywood for many years but after appearing in White Mischief (1987) agreed to co-star in Presumed Innocent (1990), Shattered (1991) and The Player (1992).
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John Ford came to Hollywood following one of his brothers, an actor. Asked what brought him to Hollywood, he replied "the train". He became one of the most respected directors in the business, in spite of being known for his westerns, which were not considered "serious" film. He won six Oscars, counting (he always did) the two that he won for his WWII documentary work. He had one wife; a son and daughter; and a grandson, Dan Ford who wrote a biography on his famous grandfather.- Actress
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Ornella Muti was born on 9 March 1955 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress, known for Flash Gordon (1980), Oscar (1991) and The Most Beautiful Wife (1970). She was previously married to Federico Fachinetti and Alessio Orano.- Actress
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Senta Berger was born in 1941 in Vienna, Austria to her father Josef Berger who was a musician and her mother Therese Berger, a school teacher. Senta and her father performed together when she was just four years old. She sang and her dad played the piano. At five years old, she took ballet lessons and at 14, Berger turned to acting taking private lessons. She left her private school education at 16. In 1957, Berger was discovered by famous director Willi Forst and played a small role in a film. She was accepted to the Max Reinhardt Seminar. In 1958, Berger was the youngest member at the Vienna Theater in Josefstadt. Director Bernhard Wicki and producer Artur Brauner sought after Senta producing the film The Good Soldier, by Heinz Rühmann. It succeeded and Brauner used her in several films. In 1962, Berger moved to Hollywood and starred with Charlton Heston, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Richard Harris, George Hamilton, Kirk Douglas, John Wayne and Yul Brynner. In 1969 she returned to Europe and was seen during the 1970's in Italian productions of various genres. In 1967, she returned to the silver screen with an Alain Delon film. In 1968, Berger played in the three-part thriller Babeck by Herbert Reinecker. 1970 was her debut as Producer of her own company. As director she put her husband's film before the camera. Further, international successful of films of her production company have included The White Rose, The Nasty Girl and Mother Courage. In addition, Berger expanded her European career in France and Italy. The birth of her two sons, Simon (b. 1972) and Luca (b. 1979) prompted Berger to turn back to the theater. In 1985/86, she managed her TV comeback in front of the German-speaking audience in the television series Kir Royal co-starring with Franz Xaver Kroetz , Dieter Hildebrandt and Billie Zöckler. Many TV series guest appearances followed.- With classic patrician features and an independent, non-conformist personality, Capucine began her film debut in 1949 at the age of 21 with an appearance in the film Rendezvous in July (1949). She attended school in France and received a BA degree in foreign languages. Married for six months in her early twenties, she never remarried. In 1957, she was discovered by director Charles K. Feldman while working as a high-fashion model for Givenchy in Paris and was brought to Hollywood to study acting under Gregory Ratoff. She was put under contract by Columbia studios in 1958 and had her first leading part in the movie Song Without End (1960). She made six more major movies in the early to mid 1960s, two of which (The Lion (1962) and The 7th Dawn (1964)) starred William Holden, with whom she had a two-year affair. Moving from Hollywood to a penthouse apartment in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1962, she continued making movies, mostly in Europe, until her suicide in 1990.
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Isabelle Huppert was born March 16, 1953, in Paris, France, but spent her childhood in Ville d'Avray. Encouraged by her mother Annick Huppert (who was a teacher of English), she followed the Conservatory of Versailles and won an acting prize for her work in Alfred de Musset's "Un caprice". She then studied at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique and followed an illustrious theatrical career, which includes Ivan Turgenev's "A Month in the Country", Euripides' "Medea" (title role) etc. She made her movie debut in Le Prussien (1971) and soon became one of the top actresses of her generation, giving fine performances in important films, like Claude Goretta's The Lacemaker (1977), as a simple-minded girl who falls in love with - and is betrayed by - a student, Jean-Luc Godard's Every Man for Himself (1980), as a prostitute, and Maurice Pialat's Loulou (1980), as an upper-class woman who is physically attracted by a young vagabond. She made an inconsequential US debut in Otto Preminger's Rosebud (1975) before playing a brothel madam in Michael Cimino's disastrous Heaven's Gate (1980), but she fared better in Curtis Hanson's The Bedroom Window (1987) (as an adulteress who witnesses an attack). Huppert has an extremely productive collaboration with Claude Chabrol, who cast her in several movies, including Violette (1978), in which she played a woman who murders her parents, and Story of Women (1988), in which she gave an excellent performance as a shameless abortionist, the last woman to be executed in France. More recent good films include Patricia Mazuy's Saint-Cyr (2000) and Michael Haneke's controversial The Piano Teacher (2001), as a sexually repressed piano teacher.- Actor
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Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor best known for playing Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and the title role in Doctor Zhivago (1965), was born Michel Demitri Shalhoub on April 10, 1932 in Alexandria, Egypt to Joseph Shalhoub, a lumber merchant, and his wife, Claire (Saada). Of Lebanese and Syrian extraction, the young Michel was raised Catholic. He was educated at Victoria College in Alexandria and took a degree in mathematics and physics from Cairo University with a major. Afterward graduating from university, he entered the family lumber business.
Before making his English-language film debut with "Lawrence of Arabia", for which he earned a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination and international fame, Sharif became a star in Egyptian cinema. His first movie was the Egyptian film The Blazing Sun (1954) ("The Blazing Sun") in 1953, opposite the renowned Egyptian actress Faten Hamamah whom he married in 1955. He converted to Islam to marry Hamama and took the name Omar al-Sharif. The couple had one child (Tarek Sharif, who was born in 1957 and portrayed the young Zhivago in the eponymous picture) and divorced in 1974. Sharif never remarried.
Beginning in the 1960s, Sharif earned a reputation as one of the world's best known contract bridge players. In the 1970s and 1980s, he co-wrote a syndicated newspaper bridge column for the Chicago Tribune. Sharif also wrote several books on bridge and has licensed his name to a bridge computer game, "Omar Sharif Bridge", which has been marketed since 1992. Sharif told the press in 2006 that he no longer played bridge, explaining, "I decided I didn't want to be a slave to any passion any more except for my work. I had too many passions, bridge, horses, gambling. I want to live a different kind of life, be with my family more because I didn't give them enough time.".
As an actor, Sharif had made a comeback in 2003 playing the title role of an elderly Muslim shopkeeper in the French film Monsieur Ibrahim (2003). For his performance, he won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Actor César, France's equivalent of the Oscar, from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.
Diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2012, Sharif died of a heart attack on July 10, 2015, in Cairo, Egypt.- Sylvia Bataille was an acclaimed French actress, who in 1939 won Le prix Suzanne-Bianchetti, given to France's most promising actress - other winners include the great actresses Audrey Tatou, Isabelle Adjani, Geneviève Bujold, Isabelle Huppert, Simone Signoret. Bataille acted in Renoir's Crime of Monsieur Lange, and A Day in the Country.
Her first husband was the troubled, philosophical novelist Georges Bataille (Ma mere, Story of the Eye - both filmed 2004). The Batailles' daughter Laurence (1930-1986) became a psychiatrist and acted in Renoir's movie French Cancan. Sylvia left Georges for Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) an influential and controversial French psychoanalyst. After Sylvia's early retirement from acting, she worked closely with Lacan. Both Georges and Lacan were influenced by surrealists, including Spanish painter Salvador Dali, inspiring Lacan to devise a unique synthesis of psychiatry and Surrealism. With Lacan, Sylvia also had a daughter, the philosopher Judith Miller (born 1941). Sylvia eventually married Lacan (1953). Judith married the philosopher/psychoanalyst Jacques-Alain Miller.
In the 1930's, Sylvia was a member of the great screenwriter Jacques Prevert's (Children of Paradise, Port of Shadows) agit-prop theatre company, Le groupe Octobre.
For 38 years Sylvia owned Gustave Corbet's still-controversial painting The Origin of the World. After her death, the French government received the painting to pay inheritance tax. Sylvia's sister Rose Makles married painter André Masson, who made a surrealist companion piece to The Origin of the World, which was attached to the Corbet canvas. Masson was a major influence on American abstract expressionists. Sylvia's other sister Simone Makles married the French government minister Jean Piel, who wrote and edited with Sylvia's ex-husband Georges Bataille. - Actor
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A classical actor (and founding member in 1960 of the Royal Shakespeare Company), Richardson earned international fame as the villainous Francis Urquart in the BBC television trilogy, "House of Cards." Uttered in a cut-glass accent, the Machiavellian Prime Minister's sly "You might well think that ... I couldn't possibly comment" became a catchphrase when the series was broadcast in the 1990s. Richardson's contributions to his art were honored in 1989 when he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE.) Fittingly, his family had his ashes buried beneath the auditorium of the new Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Born the son of John and Margaret (Drummond) Richardson on April 7, 1934, he was educated at Tynecastle School in Edinburgh, and studied for the stage at the College of Dramatic Art in Glasgow, where he was awarded the James Bridie Gold Medal in 1957. He joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company a year later where he played Hamlet as well as John Worthing in "The Importance of being Earnest." In 1960 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (then called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) and drew excellent notices for his work in "The Merchant of Venice," "Twelfth Night," "The Winter's Tale," "Much Ado About Nothing," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Taming of the Shrew," "The Comedy of Errors" and "King Lear", among others. In 1964 Richardson played the role of the Herald before advancing to the title role of Jean-Paul Marat in the stunning, avant-garde RSC production of "Marat-Sade". In addition, he made his Broadway debut in said role at the very end of 1965, and recreated it to critical acclaim in Peter Brooks' film adaptation with Glenda Jackson as murderess Charlotte Corday. Richardson also went on to replay Oberon in a lukewarm film version of RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968) that nevertheless bore an elite company of Britain's finest pre-Dames -- Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and Diana Rigg. One of his lower film points during that time period, however, was appearing in the huge musical movie misfire Man of La Mancha (1972) in the role of the Padre opposite Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren.
Richardson was never far from the Shakespearean stage after his induction into films with majestic portraits of Coriolanus, Pericles, Richard II, Richard III, Cassius ("Julius Caesar"), Malcolm ("Macbeth"), Angelo ("Measure for Measure"), Prospero ("The Tempest") and Mercutio ("Romeo and "Juliet") paving the way. Elsewhere on Broadway he received a Drama Desk Award and Tony nomination for his splendid Henry Higgins in a revival of "My Fair Lady" in 1976, and was part of the cast of the short-lived (12 performances) production of "Lolita" (1981), written by Edward Albee and starring Donald Sutherland as Humbert Humbert.
Customary of many talented Scots, Richardson would find his best on-camera roles in plush, intelligent TV mini-series. On the Shakespearean front he appeared in TV adaptations of As You Like It (1963), All's Well That Ends Well (1968) and Much Ado About Nothing (1978). After delivering highly capable performances as Field-Marshal Montgomery in both Churchill and the Generals (1979) and Ike: The War Years (1979), Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983), and Indian Prime Minister Nehru in Masterpiece Theatre: Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy (1986), he capped his small-screen career in the role of the immoral politician Francis Urquhart in a trio of dramatic satires: House of Cards (1990), To Play the King (1993) and The Final Cut (1995). His impeccably finely-tuned villain became one his best remembered roles.
Filmwise, Richardson's stature did not grow despite polished work in Brazil (1985), Cry Freedom (1987), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), M. Butterfly (1993), Dark City (1998), and the lightweight mainstream fare B*A*P*S (1997) and 102 Dalmatians (2000). He appeared less and less on stage in his later years. He took his final stage bows in 2006 with West End productions of "The Creeper" and "The Alchemist".
The urbane 72-year-old actor died unexpectedly in his sleep at his London abode on February 9, 2007, survived by his widow Maroussia Frank (his wife from 1961 and an RSC actress who played an asylum inmate alongside him in "Marat-Sade") and two sons, one of whom, Miles Richardson, has been a resident performer with the RSC.- Actress
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Enigmatic, dark-haired foreign import Alida Valli was dubbed "The Next Garbo" but didn't live up to postwar expectations despite her cool, patrician beauty, remote allure and significant talent. Born in Pola, Italy (now Croatia), on May 3, 1921, the daughter of a Tridentine journalist and professor and an Istrian homemaker, she studied dramatics as a teen at the Motion Picture Academy of Rome and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia before snaring bit roles in such films as Il cappello a tre punte (1935) ["The Three-Cornered Hat"] and I due sergenti (1936) ["The Two Sergeants"]. She made a name for herself in Italy during WWII playing the title role in Manon Lescaut (1940), won a Venice Film Festival award for Piccolo mondo antico (1941) ["Little Old World"] and was a critical sensation in We the Living (1942) ["We the Living"]. She briefly abandoned her career, however, in 1943, refusing to appear in what she considered fascist propaganda, and was forced into hiding. The next year she married surrealist painter/pianist/composer Oscar De Mejo. They had two children, and one of them, Carlo De Mejo, became an actor. She divorced in 1955, then she came back to Italy,
Following her potent, award-winning work in the title role of Eugenie Grandet (1946), she was discovered and contracted by David O. Selznick to play the murder suspect Maddalena Paradine in Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (1947). She was billed during her Hollywood years simply as "Valli," and Selznick also gave her top femme female billing in Carol Reed's classic film noir The Third Man (1949), but for every successful film--such as the ones previously mentioned--she experienced such failures as The Miracle of the Bells (1948), and audiences stayed away. In 1951 she bid farewell to Hollywood and returned to her beloved Italy. In Europe again, she was sought after by the best directors. Her countess in Luchino Visconti's Senso (1954) was widely heralded, and she moved easily from ingénue to vivid character roles. Later standout films encompassed costume dramas as well as shockers and had her playing everything from baronesses to grandmothers in such films as Eyes Without a Face (1960) ["Eyes Without a Face"], Le gigolo (1960), Oedipus Rex (1967) ["Oedipus Rex"], The Big Scare (1974), 1900 (1976), Suspiria (1977), Luna (1979), Inferno (1980), Aspern (1982), A Month by the Lake (1995) and, her most recent, Angel of Death (2001).- Actress
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Carmen Miranda was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha on February 9, 1909, near Porto, Portugal, in the town of Marco de Canavezes. Not long after her birth her family moved to Brazil, where her father was involved in the produce business. The family settled in the then-capital city of Rio de Janeiro. ' After leaving school, Carmen got a job at a local store, and often began singing on the job. Before long she was discovered and got a singing job on a local radio station. She ultimately got a recording contract with RCA. By 1928 she was a genuine superstar in Brazil. As with other popular singers of the era, she eventually made her way into the film world. She made her debut in the Brazilian documentary A Voz do Carnaval (1933). Two years later she appeared in her first feature film, Alô, Alô, Brasil (1935).
However. it was Estudantes (1935) that seemed to solidify Carmen in the minds of the Brazilian movie audiences. Now they realized she could act as well as sing. Although there was three years between "Alo, Alo Carnaval" and Banana-da-Terra (1939), Carmen continued to churn out musical hits in Brazil. The latter film would be the last in her home country.
In late 1939 Carmen arrived, with much fanfare in the press, in New York City. She was now ready to capture Americans' hearts with her talent. She appeared in some musical revues on Broadway and, just as everyone thought, was a huge hit. In 1940 Carmen was signed to appear in the Twentieth Century-Fox production Down Argentine Way (1940), with Betty Grable and Don Ameche. The only complaint that critics had was the fact that Carmen was not on the screen enough.
In 1941 she was, again, teamed with Ameche in addition to Alice Faye in That Night in Rio (1941). The film was extremely popular with the theater patrons. Her unique songs went a long way in making her popular. It was after Week-End in Havana (1941) that American cartoon artists began to cash in on Carmen's ever-growing popularity. In the 1930s and 1940s cartoons were sometimes shown as a prelude to whatever feature film was showing. Sure enough, the cartoon version of Carmen came wriggling across the screen, complete with her trademark fruit hat and wide, toothy grin.
In 1942 Carmen starred in Springtime in the Rockies (1942) with Betty Grable and Cesar Romero, both of whom she had worked with before. It was shortly after this that America began adopting her style of dress as the latest fad. 1944 saw her in three films: Something for the Boys (1944), Four Jills in a Jeep (1944) and Greenwich Village (1944). The first two did well at the box-office, but the last one left a lot to be desired. It was her last busy year in film. Carmen made one film each in 1945, '46, '47 and '48. After that she didn't make a film for two years, until Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), a production for MGM. Once again didn't make a film for several years, returning with Scared Stiff (1953).
She did stay busy, singing on the nightclub circuit and appearing on the relatively new medium of television. However, "Scared Stiff" was her final performance on the silver screen. On August 4, 1955, she suffered a heart attack, although she didn't realize it at the time, during a video taping of The Jimmy Durante Show (1954). She went home after attending a party.
Early the next morning, on August 5, Carmen suffered a fatal heart attack. She was just 46 years old. Her body was flown to her adopted country of Brazil, where her death was declared a period of national mourning.- Renato Salvatori was born on 20 March 1933 in Seravezza, Tuscany, Italy. He was an actor, known for Z (1969), Rocco and His Brothers (1960) and The Organizer (1963). He was married to Annie Girardot. He died on 27 March 1988 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
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Her artistic dreams came early in life and were further supported by her older sister Gerd Andersson who became a ballet dancer at the Royal Opera and made her acting debut in 1951. Bibi, on the other side, had to make do with bit parts and commercials. She debuted in Dum-Bom (1953), playing against Nils Poppe. Eventually, she was able to start at the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school in 1954. A brief relationship with Ingmar Bergman made her quit school and follow him to the Malmö city theatre, where he was a director, performing in plays by August Strindberg and Hjalmar Bergman. Bergman also gave her a small part in his comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), and larger roles in his Wild Strawberries (1957) and The Seventh Seal (1957). From the the 1960s she got offers from abroad, with best result in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977). During the civil war in Yugoslavia she has worked with several initiatives to give the people of Sarajevo theatre and other forms of culture.- Actor
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Toshiro Mifune achieved more worldwide fame than any other Japanese actor of his century. He was born in Tsingtao, China, to Japanese parents and grew up in Dalian. He did not set foot in Japan until he was 21. His father was an importer and a commercial photographer, and young Toshiro worked in his father's studio for a time after graduating from Dalian Middle School. He was automatically drafted into the Japanese army when he turned 20, and enlisted in the Air Force where he was attached to the Aerial Photography Unit for the duration of the World War II. In 1947 he took a test for Kajirô Yamamoto, who recommended him to director Senkichi Taniguchi, thus leading to Mifune's first film role in These Foolish Times II (1947). Mifune then met and bonded with director Akira Kurosawa, and the two joined to become the most prominent actor-director pairing in all Japanese cinema. Beginning with Drunken Angel (1948), Mifune appeared in 16 of Kurosawa's films, most of which have become world-renowned classics. In Kurosawa's pictures, especially Rashomon (1950), Mifune would become the most famous Japanese actor in the world. A dynamic and ferocious actor, he excelled in action roles, but also had the depth to plumb intricate and subtle dramatic parts. A personal rift during the filming of Red Beard (1965) ended the Mifune-Kurosawa collaboration, but Mifune continued to perform leading roles in major films both in Japan and in foreign countries. He was twice named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival (for Yojimbo (1961) and Red Beard (1965)). In 1963 he formed his own production company, directing one film and producing several others. In his later years he gained new fame in the title role of the American TV miniseries Shogun (1980), and appeared infrequently in cameo roles after that. His last years were plagued with Alzheimer's Syndrome and he died of organ failure in 1997, a few months before the death of the director with whose name he will forever be linked, Akira Kurosawa.- Actress
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This provocative sex kitten had the obvious makings of a superstar blonde bombshell and could have ended up in film history annals as merely a second-rate Brigitte Bardot, but Marina Vlady rose above her sex symbol status and proved she was capable of so much more. In her prime she was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a "Best Actress" award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival for her stunning performance in The Conjugal Bed (1963) with Italy's Ugo Tognazzi.
She was born Marina De Poliakoff-Baïdaroff, in Clichy, France on May 10, 1938, the youngest of four acting sisters. Her Russian-born father was a well-established painter in France. While young Marina trained in dance and initially seemed to entertain thoughts of becoming a prima ballerina, she discovered, as did her sisters, a closer kinship to acting. The most outgoing of her siblings, Monica caught the eye of talent agents via more uninhibited roles. Older sister Odile Versois, who possessed a similar feline beauty, was the first of her family to enter pictures. Marina (playing a youthful roller-skater) and another sister Olga Baïdar-Poliakoff made their minor film debuts in Orage d'été (1949) [Summer Storm], which featured Odile. The remaining sister Hélène Vallier was featured in Marina's highly-praised film Penne nere (1952) (Black Feathers).
In 1955, at the ripe young age of 17, Marina met and married director/writer/actor Robert Hossein, who featured her prominently and seductively in a number of his films including The Wicked Go to Hell (1955), as a femme fatale bent on revenge, Pardonnez nos offenses (1956), Double Agents (1959) and, notably, Toi... le venin (1958) [aka Nude in a White Car], which co-starred sister Odile. She had two sons by Hossein but the marriage lasted only a few years.
Gracing both French and Italian productions throughout most of her career, Marina was not shy at playing unsympathetic, even caustic characters, and proved adept at both saucy comedy and edgy drama, appearing for such notable directors as Jean-Luc Godard and Christian-Jaque. Playing opposite some of Europe's finest leading men, she was a vision in loveliness alongside Marcello Mastroianni in Penne nere (1952), a touching WWII drama, she also co-starred with Italy's top character actor Aldo Fabrizi in Too Young for Love (1953). One of her rare English-speaking appearances came with the Orson Welles historical drama Chimes at Midnight (1965).
Marina became a strong social and political activist, notably for women's reproductive rights, into the 1970s. She continued strongly in films with Sapho ou La fureur d'aimer (1971), Tout le monde il est beau, tout le monde il est gentil (1972), Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975), the Hungarian film The Two of Them (1977), The Bermuda Triangle (1978) and L'oeil du maître (1980). As she moved Into the 1980's, the actress turned more and more towards TV work.
Married three times, Vlady was the widow of heralded Russian poet/songwriter/actor Vladimir Vysotskiy, her last husband, who allegedly died of heart failure in 1980 at the age 42 after years of alcohol and drug abuse.
Later films would include Bordello (1985), in which she played a French madam; a smaller role as the wife of hotel manager Philippe Noiret in the comedy Twist again à Moscou (1986); leads in both the Greek drama Anemos stin poli (1996) and the gay-themed French film A Few Days of Respite (2010). She also had a recurring role in the French TV dramedy series Sam (2016).
In her later years, Marina and longtime companion, Léon Schwartzenberg, a leading French-Jewish cancer specialist widely known as a radical political activist, became involved in a number of social injustices. He passed away in 2003. As a writer, she published a book on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and continued performing on stage, including a political one-woman show on one of her books about husband Vysotsky. Marina outlived all her her elder sisters. Odile died in 1980, Helene in 1988 and Olga in 2009.- Dominique Sanda was born in 1951, in Paris, France. When she was 16, she left her upper-class family and married, but divorced two years later. She found a temporary job as a Vogue model, when Robert Bresson gave her the starring part in his absorbing drama A Gentle Woman (1969); she was quite impressive as a young woman who commits suicide when she finds out that her husband is unable to love her for what she really is. She was then offered the female lead in Vittorio De Sica's The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970), as the provocative daughter of a rich Jewish family. Afterwards, she worked with Bernardo Bertolucci on the much-discussed The Conformist (1970), as the sensual wife of an anti-fascist professor, and co-starred with Paul Newman in John Huston's spy thriller, The MacKintosh Man (1973). She worked again with Bertolucci in the epic, 1900 (1976), and won the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Prize for her performance in Mauro Bolognini's The Inheritance (1976), as an Italian patriarch's daughter-in-law. She gave one more unforgettable performance in Jacques Demy's original musical, A Room in Town (1982), as a femme fatale. Today, in her seventies, she is still busy, appearing in international films and TV series.
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This suave, elegant character star was a ubiquitous presence in French cinema for nearly seven decades. His distinguished career extended to both stage and screen and his versatility was such that he could take on just about any persona (in his own words: "I do not put on an act... I slip away behind my characters"), from police inspectors to gangsters, from priests and academics to King Louis XVI and the Marquis de Sade. More than a few of his portrayals were of ordinary bourgeois caught up in difficult circumstances or undergoing mid-life crisis. However, Piccoli truly excelled in sardonic, cynical or morally ambiguous roles - playing smooth, quietly-spoken types harbouring dark passions or sinister secrets. His directors have included a veritable who's who of European film makers: Luis Buñuel (six times), Claude Sautet (five times), Alfred Hitchcock (who cast him as Jacques Granville, the principal antagonist in Topaz (1969)), Jean-Pierre Melville, Louis Malle, Alain Resnais, and Jean-Luc Godard.
Piccoli was born in Paris on December 27 1925. His parents were both musicians: his father a Swiss-born violinist, his mother a French pianist. He made his screen debut at 19, for a number of years confined to small supporting roles. Becoming actively involved in left-wing politics, Piccoli joined the Saint-Germain-des-Prés social set, headquartered at the Tabou club and comprising intellectuals and artists whose adherents included the philosophers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, as well as the chanson and cabaret singer Juliette Gréco (to whom Piccoli was married from 1966 to 1976). His career took off in the early 60s and he enjoyed his first major success as Brigitte Bardot's husband in Godard's Contempt (1963). Luis Bunuel also recognized Piccoli's potential and employed his trademark cerebral eloquence on pivotal parts in important films like Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), Belle de Jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). In 1973, Piccoli formed his own production company, Films 66, which allowed him even greater freedom in selecting his roles. He continued to work steadily, retaining his huge popularity with French audiences throughout the 80s and 90s. Though nominated four times, he never won the coveted Cesar Award. However, his many other accolades included a win as best actor at Cannes in 1980 and two German Film Awards (in 1988 and 1992). He also directed three feature films, one of which, Alors voilà, (1997), won the Bastone Bianco critical award at the Venice Film Festival.- Actress
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Emmanuelle Béart was born August 14, 1963, in Gassin, France. She lived with her mother, brothers, and sister on a farm not far from Saint-Tropez in Provence (southern France), because her father, singer and poet Guy Béart, did not want his children to be affected by the glamour world of Paris. When Emmanuelle was thirteen, she saw Romy Schneider in the movie Mado (1976). From that time on, she wanted to be an actress. In Emmanuelle's teens, her parents sent her to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for four years, so she could learn English. There, she was engaged for a Robert Altman movie that was never made. After returning to France, she took drama classes and got her first TV role, in Raison perdue (1984). David Hamilton, the photographer/director, was impressed by her beauty and gave her a role in First Desires (1983). She met her spouse-to-be, Daniel Auteuil, while making Love on the Quiet (1985). The film that made her famous in France was Manon of the Spring (1986), in which she played the role of a blonde shepherd dancing nude in the fields. Director Tom McLoughlin chose her out of 5,000 candidates for her first Hollywood picture, Date with an Angel (1987). Emmanuelle is a very sensitive and a perfectionist. For the part of Camille in the film A Heart in Winter (1992), she took violin lessons for a whole year. Her biggest success was as a nude model in the art film La Belle Noiseuse (1991), which starred Michel Piccoli and was directed by Jacques Rivette.- Actress
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During the 1950s and 1960s bosomy, scintillating, dark-haired Tunisian leading lady Sandra Milo played bored patricians, manipulative mistresses and other enticing ladies of questionable morals with typical sensuous flare in scores of Italian and French productions.
Born Elena Liliana Greco in Tunis on March 11, 1933, Sandra made her film debut at age 20 co-starring tauntingly alongside Alberto Sordi in Lo scapolo (1955) and renamed herself. For the next full decade, she unleashed her fiery figure on a number of tempted male players in scores of saucy comedies, feisty costumers and steamy melodramas. Such films included Nero's Mistress (1956), The Adventures of Arsène Lupin (1957), The Mirror Has Two Faces (1958) [The Mirror Has Two Faces], Toto in the Moon (1958) [Toto in the Moon], General Della Rovere (1959) [General della Rovere], and the period comedy romp The Green Mare (1959) starring the great French actor Bourvil, which served as the inspiration to the bawdy classic "Tom Jones."
Ms. Milo appeared to fine advantage in two of Fellini's greatest masterpieces - 8½ (1963) and Juliet of the Spirits (1965). She personified the aloof Italian temptress opposite Europe's most virile, passionate leading men -- Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Sorel, etc.
Leaving films in 1968, Sandra was little seen on camera and did not return to the big screen until over a decade later, now sporadically appearing as severe-looking blondes. Primarily filming in Italy well into her octogenarian years, such movies have included the comedy Riavanti... Marsch! (1979), the dramedy Grog (1982), the musical fantasy Cindy - Cinderella '80 (1984), the comedy Camerieri (1995), the romantic dramedy Incantato (2003), the comedies Sleepless (2009), Happy Family (2010), Una notte agli studios (2013), There's No Place Like Home (2018) and Free - Liberi (2020).- Actor
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Marcello Mastroianni was born in Fontana Liri, Italy in 1924, but soon his family moved to Turin and then Rome. During WW2 he was sent to a German prison camp, but he managed to escape and hide in Venice. He debuted in films as an extra in Marionette (1939), then started working for the Italian department of "Eagle Lion Films" in Rome and joined a drama club, where he was discovered by director Luchino Visconti. In 1957 Visconti gave him the starring part in his Fyodor Dostoevsky adaptation White Nights (1957) and in 1958 he was fine as a little thief in Mario Monicelli's comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). But his real breakthrough came in 1960, when Federico Fellini cast him as an attractive, weary-eyed journalist of the Rome jet-set in La Dolce Vita (1960); that film was the genesis of his "Latin lover" persona, which Mastroianni himself often denied by accepting parts of passive and sensitive men. He would again work with Fellini in several major films, like the exquisite 8½ (1963) (as a movie director who finds himself at a point of crisis) and the touching Ginger & Fred (1986) (as an old entertainer who appears in a TV show). He also appeared as a tired novelist with marital problems in Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte (1961), as an impotent young man in Mauro Bolognini's Bell' Antonio (1960) , as an exiled prince in John Boorman's Leo the Last (1970), as a traitor in Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Allonsanfan (1974) and as a sensitive homosexual in love with a housewife in Ettore Scola's A Special Day (1977). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, for Divorce Italian Style (1961), A Special Day (1977), and Oci ciornie (1987). During the last decade of his life he worked with directors, like Theodoros Angelopoulos, Bertrand Blier and Raúl Ruiz, who gave him three excellent parts in Three Lives and Only One Death (1996). He died of pancreatic cancer in 1996.- Annemarie Düringer was born on 26 November 1925 in Basel, Switzerland. She was an actress, known for Veronika Voss (1982), The Devil Strikes at Night (1957) and Vor Sonnenuntergang (1956). She died on 26 November 2014 in Baden, Lower Austria, Austria.
- Lidiya Velezheva was born on 2 October 1966 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. She is an actress, known for The Idiot (2003), August 8 (2012) and Beryozka (2018). She is married to Aleksey Guskov. They have two children.
- Olga Budina was born on 22 February 1975 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia]. She is an actress, known for Romanovy: Ventsenosnaya semya (2000), The Idiot (2003) and Bayazet (2003). She was previously married to Aleksandr Naumov.
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An accomplished stage actor who, fresh from the theater academy, joined the chosen few of Oleg Tabakov's respected studio theater in 1990, Yevgeny Mironov first appeared on the silver screen in Alexander Kaidanovsky's 1988 film "The Kerosene Salesman's Wife." He went on to pay Prince Myshkin in the popular television series based on Dostoyevksy's "The Idiot." One of the leading Russian stars, Yevgeny Mironov received a Kinotavr award for best parts and a NIKA for best actor in 1994. He was honored with the Kumir prize in 1997. In addition to receiving the Russian State Prize, Mironov has been named both a Distinguished Artist of Russia and a People's Artist of Russia. A graduate of MKhAT, Mironov has been performing with Oleg Tabakov's theater since 1990.- Actress
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Silvana Mangano was born on April 21, 1930 in Rome, Italy and was raised in poverty during World War II. She trained as a dancer for seven years and supported herself as a model. In 1946, at age 16, she won the Miss Rome beauty pageant and through this, she obtained role in a Maria Della Costa film. One year later, she was one of the girls in the Miss Italia contest. Lucia Bose became "The Queen", and nearby, on the stage of Stresa, were some other future stars of Italian cinema: Gina Lollobrigida, Eleonora Rossi Drago and Gianna Maria Canale.
Mangano's earlier connection with filmmaking occurred with her romantic relationship with actor Marcello Mastroianni. This led her to a film contract, though this would take some time for Mangano to ascend to international stardom with her role in Bitter Rice (1949). Thereatfer, she signed a contract with Lux Film, and later married Dino De Laurentiis, who was on the verge of becoming a known producer. Though she never scaled the heights of her contemporaries Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, Mangano remained a favorite star of the 1950s and 1970s, appearing in Anna (1951), The Gold of Naples (1954), Mambo (1954), Teorema (1968), Death in Venice (1971) and The Scopone Game (1972).
Married to film producer Dino De Laurentiis from 1949, the couple had four children: Veronica, Raffaella, Francesca and Federico. Veronica's daughter Giada is the host of "Everyday Italian" and "Giada at Home" on the Food Network. Raffaella co-produced with her father on Mangano's penultimate film, the science fiction epic Dune (1984). In 1983, she separated from De Laurentiis and abandoned her career to live in Paris and Madrid, where she made tapestries. Following surgery on December 4, 1989 that left her in a coma, Silvana Mangano died at age 59 of lung cancer in Madrid, Spain during the early morning hours of December 16, 1989.- Actor
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Jean-Pierre Léaud is not everybody's cup of tea for sure, but will remain an important name in film history. As an actor he can be adored or hated for exactly the same reasons: he is one of those rare players that directors let improvise his dialogue, which gets on certain viewers' nerves while it fascinates others. The same is true for his very personal staccato diction and elocution and his many mannerisms, the most obvious one being his way to run his hand through his long hair. But there is no denying Léaud is not just another actor, whether you love him or are allergic to him. The son of actress Jacqueline Pierreux and scriptwriter/assistant director Pierre Léaud, Jean-Pierre started acting very early. Indeed, he was only thirteen when he first appeared on a screen, playing a small role in a swashbuckling film directed by veteran Georges Lampin "la Tour, prends garde!" (1957). And he was still only fourteen when he answered an ad placed in a newspaper by François Truffaut, who was seeking a young actor able to play Antoine Doinel, a troubled adolescent, in his first feature film "The 400 blows". Jean-Pierre was tested among a hundred other candidates and proved so amazingly spontaneous and so gifted for improvisation that not only was he hired but he would go on to play the role in four subsequent Truffaut semi-autobiographies concluding with "Love on the run" (1978), a unique experience indeed. Thanks to Truffaut he was introduced to the other stars of the French New Wave, mainly Jean-Luc Godard for whom he would appear in eight films and one TV film, and gradually became their icon. Not too sure about his acting talents, he planned to become a director (which he actually did only once) and worked as an assistant to Truffaut and Godard. But his success both as Truffaut's alter ego and as the leftist movie makers' spokesman encouraged him to go on playing rather than directing. "Masculin Féminin" (1966) by Godard even earned him an Award for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival. An ardent leftist militant himself, he worked with equally committed directors, including abroad. He was in Italian Pasolini's "Porcile" (1968), in Polish Skolimovski's "Dialog 20-40-60" (also '68) Brazilian Carlos Diegues' Os herdeiros (1970) and Glauber Rocha's Der Leone have sept cabeças (1971). Bertolucci also hired him for "Last tango in Paris" starring Marlon Brando (who so petrified Léaud that he could not play his scenes alongside him), but this one was filmed in Paris. This busy period ended after an excellent role in a classic art movie in the French style: Jean Eustache's "La maman et la putain". In the late seventies and throughout the eighties Léaud worked irregularly, mainly on television, occasionally giving a crazy performance in a mainstream film, as was the case in Josiane's Balasko crime comedy "Les keufs", for which he got a César nomination. But he made an exciting comeback in the nineties when several "new New Wave" directors hired Léaud to pay homage to their elders. Among them French movie makers such as Olivier Assayas, Danièle Dubroux , Serge Le Péron or Bertrand Bonello and foreigners like Finnish Aki Käurismäki and Taiwanese Tsai Ming-Liang. A second youth for eternally young, rebellious, ill-at-ease, annoyingly romantic,touchingly annoying Jean-Pierre Léaud, whose round face staring at the camera in the last shot of "The 400 blows" will never be forgotten.- Actor
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Armin Mueller-Stahl is a German actor with a relatively long film career. He was once nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as an abusive father in the biographical drama "Shine" (1996).
In 1930, Mueller-Stahl was born in Tilsit, East Prussia. The town developed around the castle of Schalauer Haus, which had been founded by the Teutonic Knights. Tilsit was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945, and renamed to Sovetsk. It is currently part of the Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave of Russia located in Central Europe. The town is located close to the Oblast's borders with Lithuania, and has long had an ethnic Lithuanian minority.
Mueller-Stahl's father was bank teller Alfred Müller (who later changed the family name to Mueller-Stahl) ,and his mother was university professor Editha Maaß. Editha was born to a Baltic German family from Estonia. During World War I, the Maaß lived in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg). They moved to Tilsit in 1918.
Mueller-Stahl was born in Germany's Weimar Republic period, and spend his childhood and early adolescence in Nazi Germany. In 1938, he moved with his family to the town of Prenzlau in Brandenburg. During World War II, Mueller-Stahl parted with his father. Alfred was drafted into military service, and later fought on the Eastern Front of World War II. In 1945, Alfred died in a military hospital in Schönberg , Mecklenburg.
In 1945, Editha briefly moved her family to Goorstorf, located near Rostock, the largest city of Mecklenburg. They returned to Prenzlau following the end of World War II. Armin continued his school education there. He graduated from school in 1948, at the age of 18.
Mueller-Stahl initially aspired to become a professional violinist. In 1948, he moved to Berlin. There he attended the city conservatory in West Berlin, where he studied violin playing and musicology. He graduated in 1949, and acquired qualifications to work as a music teacher. At this point, he decided to become an actor instead.
After a few years of studies, Mueller-Stahl made his professional debut at the "Theater am Schiffbauerdamm" of Berlin in 1952. In 1954, he started performing in the Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") , a prestigious theater in East Berlin. For the next 20 years, he was primarily a theatrical actor. During the 1960s, he started a side career as a character actor in East German films. By the 1970s, he repeatedly appeared in polls as East Germany's most popular actor.
From 1973 to 1976, Mueller-Stahl played the Stasi agent Werner Bredebusch in the spy thriller television series "The Invisible Visor" (1973-1979). Bredebusch was initially the series' main character, a Stasi agent who impersonates deceased fighter pilot Achim Detjen and infiltrates West Germany. The series achieved high ratings, and Mueller-Stahll received acclaim. He left the series in 1976, and its ratings soon declined.
In 1976, Mueller-Stahl signed an open letter, protesting against East Germany's decision to exile singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann (1936-). Consequenly, Mueller-Stahl found himself blacklisted in East Germany. After a few years of being unable to find roles in his country, Mueller-Stahl migrated to West Germany.
In 1981, Mueller-Stahl played Von Bohm, the male lead in the romantic drama "Lola" (1981). The film depicted Von Bohm as a building commissioner who struggles against widespread corruption in the town of Coburg, while falling in love with brothel-employed singer Lola (played by Barbara Sukowa). Following the film's relative success, Mueller-Stahl found steady work in West German cinema throughout the 1980s.
Although he barely spoke English at this point of his life, Mueller-Stahl was cast as General Petya Samanov in the American television miniseries Amerika. The dystopian series depicted a version of the United States which was under Soviet military occupation, and in which Soviet general Samanov is the de facto ruler of the occupied country. "Amerika" was the second-highest rated miniseries of the 1986-87 U.S. television season.
Mueller-Stahl decided to to seek more acting roles in the United States, and made his American film debut in the crime drama "Music Box" (1989). He was cast in the role of Mike Laszlo, a Hungarian-American family man, who is exposed as a wanted war criminal who killed numerous civilians during the Siege of Budapest (1944-1945). The film won the "Golden Bear" at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.
Mueller-Stahl next received the primary role of Polish-Jewish immigrant Sam Krichinsky in the family drama "Avalon" (1990). The film concerned the gradual assimilation of Krichinsky's family into modern American culture. The film was critically praised, and its screenwriter won the "Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay".
In 1991, Mueller-Stahl played the role of Inspector Grubach in the mystery thriller "Kafka". The film depicted a conspiracy in 1910s Prague, and was loosely inspired by the works of Franz Kafka (1883-1924). The film under-performed at the box office, but gained a cult following.
During the same year, Mueller-Stahl played New York City-based taxi driver Helmut Grokenberger in the anthology film "Night on Earth". In the film, Helmut is an East German immigrant in the United States. He is a former professional clown, whose ineptness as a driver and ignorance of New York geography make him ill-suited for his new profession. The film was critically well-received.
In 1992, Mueller-Stahl played Meissen porcelain collector Baron Kaspar Joachim von Utz in the eponymous film "Utz". The film was an adaptation of a 1988 novel by Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989), concerning a passionate collector and his unwillingness to part with his collection, even at the offer of a better life abroad. For this role, Mueller-Stahl won the "Silver Bear for Best Actor" at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.
In 1996, Mueller-Stahl played Peter, the abusive father of concert pianist David Helfgott (1947-). The film concerns the negative effects of long-term physical and mental abuse of David by his father. Mueller-Stahl's role was critically praised, and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The award was instead won by rival actor Cuba Gooding Jr. (1968-).
In 1998, Mueller-Stahl played German scientist Conrad Strughold in the science fiction film "The X-Files", a spin-off of the then-popular television series "The X-Files" (1993-2002, 2016-2018). In the film, Strughold is a member of the Syndicate, a shadow government which collaborates with extraterrestrial would-be colonists. The film was a box-office hit, earning 189 million dollars at the worldwide box office.
In 2007, Mueller-Stahl played Semyon, a high-ranking member of the Russian mafia, in the gangster film "Eastern Promises". The film was critically praised, and appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.Mueller-Stahl won the "Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role".
In 2009, Mueller-Stah played former Stasi colonel Wilhelm Wexler in the action thriller "The International". In the film, Wexler works with a merchant bank that has secret ties to drug cartels, powerful corporations, corrupt governments, and terrorist organizations,. The film earned about 60 million dollars at the worldwide box office, and was considered notable for drawing inspiration from real-world banking scandals of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Also in 2009, Mueller-Stahl portrayed Cardinal Strauss, Dean of the College of Cardinals and the Papal Conclave, in the mystery thriller "Angels & Demons". The film was an adaptation of a 2000 novel by Dan Brown (1964-). It concerns the assassination of fictional Pope Pius XVI, and a conspiracy trying to influence the election of his successor. The film earned about 486 million dollars at the worldwide box office, the highest-grossing film in Mueller-Stah's career.
In 2011, Mueller-Stahl received the "Honorary Golden Bear" at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival. His only film role in the 2010s was playing Fr. Zeitlinger in the experimental film "Knight of Cups ". The film uses images from tarot cards as a main theme, while elements of the plot were inspired by the "Hymn of the Pearl" (2nd century) and the "The Pilgrim's Progress" (1678) by John Bunyan.
By 2021, Mueller-Stahl was 90-years-old. He lives in semi-retirement in California, where he enjoys its pleasant climate. He has written a number of novels and short stories, and has taken painting as a hobby.- Actress
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Juliette Lewis has been recognized as one of Hollywood's most talented and versatile actors of her generation since she first stunned audiences and critics alike with her Oscar-nominated performance as "Danielle Bowden" in Cape Fear (1991). To date, she has worked with some of the most revered directors in the industry, including Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Lasse Hallström, Oliver Stone, and Garry Marshall. Whether lending dramatic authenticity or a natural comedic flair to her roles, Lewis graces the screen with remarkable range and an original and captivating style.
Lewis was born in Los Angeles, Californa, to Glenis (Duggan) Batley, a graphic designer, and Geoffrey Lewis, an actor. By the age of six, she knew she wanted to be a performer. At twelve, Lewis landed her first leading role in the Showtime miniseries Home Fires (1987). After appearing in several TV sitcoms including The Wonder Years (1988), she made her move to film, starring with Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) and with Jennifer Jason Leigh in the drama Crooked Hearts (1991). At 16, Lewis starred opposite Brad Pitt in the critically acclaimed television movie Too Young to Die? (1990), catching the attention of Martin Scorsese, who cast her in his thriller Cape Fear (1991). Her powerful scenes with Robert De Niro captured the quiet complexities of adolescence and earned her an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe nomination for "Best Supporting Actress". Her auditorium scene with De Niro went down in movie history as one of cinema's classic scenes.
Lewis next worked with Woody Allen in Husbands and Wives (1992), playing a self-assured college coed with a penchant for older men and, particularly, her married professor. She quickly followed suit with a succession of starring roles in a variety of blockbusters and critically acclaimed projects including Kalifornia (1993), Romeo Is Bleeding (1993), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and Natural Born Killers (1994), Oliver Stone's controversial media satire about two mass murderers who become legendary folk heroes. Lewis's other credits include the Nora Ephron comedy Mixed Nuts (1994), with Steve Martin and Adam Sandler; the sci-fi action film Strange Days (1995) with Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett; Quentin Tarantino's vampire tale From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) with George Clooney; The Evening Star (1996) with Shirley MacLaine; the Garry Marshall-directed The Other Sister (1999), and Todd Phillips' Old School (2003), co-starring opposite Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell as well as Starsky & Hutch (2004). In addition to her film career, Lewis has continued to add roles to her growing list of television credits with a performance in Showtime's My Louisiana Sky (2001), for which she secured an EMMY nomination, and a starring role in the Mira Nair-directed HBO's film Hysterical Blindness (2002), alongside Uma Thurman and Gena Rowlands.
After a six-year hiatus from film to pursue her burgeoning music career exclusively, Lewis announced her return to acting with a handful of upcoming movies. Juliette starred alongside Elliot Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig and Jimmy Fallon in the comedy Whip It (2009). The film was released by Fox Searchlight on October 2nd, 2009. Directed by Drew Barrymore, the film tells the story of an ex-beauty pageant contestant that leaves her crowns behind after joining a roller derby team. Lewis plays "Iron Maven", the star of a top derby team. Next, she joined the cast of the acclaimed European animated thriller Metropia (2009), as the voice of "Nina". She also appeared in the romantic comedy The Switch (2010), opposite Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, and Patrick Wilson. The film tells the story of a single mother (Aniston) who decides to have a child using a sperm donor. Juliette plays "Debbie Epstein", the best friend of Aniston's character. Lewis also appears in Sympathy for Delicious (2010), Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut. The film follows a paralyzed DJ, struggling to survive on the streets of LA who turns to faith healing and mysteriously develops the ability to cure the sick. Juliette plays "Ariel", costarring alongside Orlando Bloom, Mark Ruffalo, and Laura Linney. The film took home the US Dramatic Special Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Most recently, Juliette Lewis appears in the indie-drama Conviction (2010), which stars Hilary Swank, Melissa Leo, Minnie Driver, and Sam Rockwell. She plays "Roseanna Perry" in the true story of an unemployed single mother (Swank) who saw her brother begin serving a life sentence in 1983 for murder and robbery. The role has won Lewis praise from audiences and critics, alike, for her performance, with USA Today saying, "Juliette Lewis has an indelible role" and the San Francisco Chronicle saying "Her character work should be studied in schools. Just remarkable". In addition to Conviction (2010), Lewis also makes a cameo in Todd Phillips's comedy, Due Date (2010), starring Robert Downey Jr., Michelle Monaghan, and Zach Galifianakis.
Beginning in 2004, Juliette took a hiatus from acting to embark on a musical journey. After six years, two full length albums and countless high profile tours and festival gigs with her band, 'Juliette & the Licks', Juliette set out on a solo career. Releasing "Terra Incognita" last fall, the album has taken her all across the world from Europe to Japan to Turkey, Australia, North America and Canada. For more information on Juliette Lewis' music, please visit her MySpace page. Juliette Lewis resides in Los Angeles.- Jeanne Valérie was born on 19 August 1941 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for The Loves of Salammbo (1960), Dangerous Liaisons (1959) and Adorable Julia (1962). She died on 25 September 2020.
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Lea Massari was born on 30 June 1933 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for L'Avventura (1960), Murmur of the Heart (1971) and Indian Summer (1972). She has been married to Carlo Bianchini since 13 November 1963.- Actor
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Alberto Lionello was born on 12 July 1930 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1983), The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966) and Orfeo in Paradiso (1971). He was married to Gabriella Vanotti and Margaret Axon. He died on 14 July 1994 in Fiumicino, Lazio, Italy.- Actress
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Nina Hoss was born on 7 July 1975 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She is an actress, known for Phoenix (2014), Tár (2022) and A Most Wanted Man (2014). She has been married to Alex Silva since 2015.