German postcard by Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (Ufa), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 190. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Klaus Collignon / Ufa. German film actress Karin Baal (1940) has appeared in over 90 films since 1956. She started as a teenage rebel in the cult film Die Halbstarken (1956) and became one of the brightest stars of the Wirtschaftswunder cinema. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

Vera Kholodnaya (1893-1919) was the first star of the Russian silent cinema. Only 26, the ‘Queen of Screen’ died of the Spanish flu during the pandemic of 1919. Although she worked only three years for the cinema, she must have made between fifty and a hundred short films. The Soviet authorities ordered to destroy the Kholodnaya features in 1924, and only five of her films still exist. Russian postcard, no. 111. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard. Russian postcard, no. 134. A woman of outstanding beauty Vera Kholodnaya (Russian: Вера Холодная, and also romanised as Vera Kholodnaia and Vira Kholodna) was originally named Vera Vasilyevna Levchenko. She was born into a respectable well-to-do family in Poltava, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) in 1893. Her whole family enjoyed acting in plays. At the age of ten, she was sent to Moscow to live with her widowed grandmother. There she attended the elite Perepelkina Grammar school. The girl dreamed of a career in classical ballet and even enrolled at the Bolshoi Theatre ballet school. That changed in 1908, when Vera attended a performance of the film Francesca da Rimini, with ballerina Vera Komissarzhevskaya in the title role. She was deeply impressed with Komissarzhevskaya's artistry and now was set on becoming an actress. In 1910, the 17-years old Vera married student Vladimir Kholodny, one of the first Russian car racers. Later he became the editor of the magazine AVTO. Vera would often accompany him in races which resulted in road accidents. She also adopted his surname, which translates as ‘the cold one’. Their daughter Eugenia Kholodnaya was born in 1912, and they adopted another daughter, Nonna Kholodnaya, a year later. After her husband was drafted to fight in World War I, she decided to venture into film acting. She first approached Vladimir Gardin, a leading Russian film director, who cast her in a minor role in his grand production of Anna Karenina (Vladimir Gardin, 1914) with Mariya Germanova in the title role. Then director Yevgeni Bauer was looking for a woman of outstanding beauty for a new film. When Kholodnaya was introduced to him, Bauer reportedly was spellbound by the small, intense woman with her commanding grey eyes and mop of black hair. Bauer at once approved her for the part, the lead role in the Ivan Turgenev adaptation Pesn torzhestvuyushchey lyubvi/The Song of the Triumphant Love (1915, Yevgeni Bauer). This mystical love drama was a major box-office hit, and Kholodnaya signed a three-year contract with the Khanzhonkov studio. The impatient Bauer immediately made another film with his new discovery, Plamya Neba/Flame of the Sky (Yevgeni Bauer, 1915). It was a typical melodrama about the guilty love of a young woman married off to an old widower and his son. In the end, the lovers perish from a thunderbolt. Her next picture was Deti veka/The Children of the Age (Yevgeni Bauer, 1915), a drama with pretensions to reveal social problems. Bauer’s death in 1917 robbed the Russian cinema of one of its great talents, and Kholodnaya of her discoverer. Soon followed more films for her which were made by other directors. At first, Kholodnaya imitated the acting of Asta Nielsen, but gradually she developed her own style. Another tremendous success was the tragic melodrama Mirazhi/The Mirages (Pyotr Chardynin, 1915). Her extravagant costumes and large grey eyes made her an enigmatic screen presence which fascinated audiences all over Russia. Russian postcard, no. 108. Collection: Didier Hanson. A Who is Who of the Russian silent cinema. In a circle from left: actor Vladimir Maksimov (with bear), actress Vera Kholodnaya, actor Vitold Polonsky, actor Ivan Khudoleyev, actor Ivan Mozzhukhin, director Petr Cardynin and actor Ossip Runitsch. Russian postcard, no. 75. Collection: Didier Hanson. Publicity still for Posledneiye tango/Last Tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918) with Ossip Runitsch. Russian postcard, no. 120. Photo: Ossip Runitsch and Vera Kholodnaya in Na altar krasoty/To the Altar of Beauty (Pyotr Chardynin, 1917). Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 132. Collection: Didier Hanson. Publicity still for Posledneiye tango/Last Tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918) with Ossip Runitsch. Only about 10 minutes of this film are known to exist. The rest of the film is believed to be lost. Russian postcard, no. 143. Collection: Didier Hanson. Publicity still for Сказка любви дорогой/Tale of dear love (?, ?) with Vladimir Maksimov. Russian postcard, no. 145. Photo: Ivan Khudoleyev, Ossip Runitsch and Vera Kholodnaya in Posledneiye tango/Last Tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918). Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 146. Collection: Didier Hanson. Publicity still for Posledneiye tango/Last Tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918) with Ossip Runitsch. The Queen of Screen The melodrama Zhizn za zhizn/A Life for a Life (Yevgeni Bauer, 1916) became one of the most popular films in Vera Kholodnaya’s career. After this film, she was called ‘the Queen of Screen’. The author of this title was the famous singer Alexander Vertinsky who venerated the actress and frequented her house. In 1916 Khanzhonkov’s company started making the film Pierrot with Vertinsky and Kholodnaya playing the leads. Unfortunately, the film was never completed. By the time of the Russian Revolution, a new Kholodnaya film was released every third week. U kamina/By the Fireplace (1917), based on a popular romance, was another resounding commercial success. The film ran in cinemas until 1924 when the Soviet authorities ordered to destroy the Kholodnaya features. During the Russian Civil War, the Bolshevik authorities requested film companies to produce less melodrama and more adaptations of classics. Accordingly, Kholodnaya was cast in a screen version of Tolstoy's Zhivoy trup/The Living Corpse (Cheslav Sabinsky, 1917). Her acting abilities in this film were applauded by Stanislavsky, who welcomed Vera to join the troupe of the Moscow Art Theatre. Her last box-office sensation was Molchi, grust... molchi/Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent (Pyotr Chardynin, Cheslav Sabinsky, 1918). Like many of her films, it was based on a Russian traditional love song. By that time, Kholodnaya turned from just a popular and admired actress into a legend of the Russian cinema. She decided to move with her film company to Odessa. There she died at the age of 25 in the 1918 flu pandemic. A director with whom she had worked for several years filmed her grand funeral. Ironically, this seems to be her best-known film today. The other five extant films with Vera Kholodnaya are Deti veka/The Children of the Age (1915), Mirazhi/The Mirages (1915), Zhizn za zhizn/A Life for a Life (1916), Zhivoy trup/The Living Corpse (1918), and Molchi, grust... molchi/Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent (1918). Official Russian records state that Vera Kholodnaya died of the Spanish flu. While that seems quite likely, there is much speculation about her death. Оther stories claim she was poisoned by the French ambassador with whom she reportedly had an affair and who believed that she was a spy for the Bolsheviks. Her husband, Vladimir Kholodny, died 2 months after her. Her mother, Yekaterina Sleptsova, also died shortly after her. Her life was dramatised in Nikita Mikhalkov's film Raba lyubvi/A Slave of Love (1975), and director Oleg Kovalov made a documentary on her life, Ostrov Myortvykh/Island of the Dead (1992). A year later, her image was depicted on a postage stamp and in 2003 a life-size bronze statue of her was erected in Odessa, Ukraine, created by the artist Alexander P. Tokarev. Russian postcard distributed in France by BPA, Rueil, no. 140. Vera Kholodnaya in Posledneiye tango/The last tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918). Russian postcard, no. 47. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 93. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 118. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 143. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson. Sources: Jessica Keaton (Silence is platinum), KinoTV.com (German), Russia-IC, Wikipedia and IMDb. And a special thanks to Didier Hanson for sending us the scans of his postcards!

Vera Kholodnaya (1893-1919) was the first star of the Russian silent cinema. Only 26, the ‘Queen of Screen’ died of the Spanish flu during the pandemic of 1919. Although she worked only three years for the cinema, she must have made between fifty and a hundred short films. The Soviet authorities ordered to destroy the Kholodnaya features in 1924, and only five of her films still exist. Russian postcard, no. 111. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard. Russian postcard, no. 134. A woman of outstanding beauty Vera Kholodnaya (Russian: Вера Холодная, and also romanised as Vera Kholodnaia and Vira Kholodna) was originally named Vera Vasilyevna Levchenko. She was born into a respectable well-to-do family in Poltava, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) in 1893. Her whole family enjoyed acting in plays. At the age of ten, she was sent to Moscow to live with her widowed grandmother. There she attended the elite Perepelkina Grammar school. The girl dreamed of a career in classical ballet and even enrolled at the Bolshoi Theatre ballet school. That changed in 1908, when Vera attended a performance of the film Francesca da Rimini, with ballerina Vera Komissarzhevskaya in the title role. She was deeply impressed with Komissarzhevskaya's artistry and now was set on becoming an actress. In 1910, the 17-years old Vera married student Vladimir Kholodny, one of the first Russian car racers. Later he became the editor of the magazine AVTO. Vera would often accompany him in races which resulted in road accidents. She also adopted his surname, which translates as ‘the cold one’. Their daughter Eugenia Kholodnaya was born in 1912, and they adopted another daughter, Nonna Kholodnaya, a year later. After her husband was drafted to fight in World War I, she decided to venture into film acting. She first approached Vladimir Gardin, a leading Russian film director, who cast her in a minor role in his grand production of Anna Karenina (Vladimir Gardin, 1914) with Mariya Germanova in the title role. Then director Yevgeni Bauer was looking for a woman of outstanding beauty for a new film. When Kholodnaya was introduced to him, Bauer reportedly was spellbound by the small, intense woman with her commanding grey eyes and mop of black hair. Bauer at once approved her for the part, the lead role in the Ivan Turgenev adaptation Pesn torzhestvuyushchey lyubvi/The Song of the Triumphant Love (1915, Yevgeni Bauer). This mystical love drama was a major box-office hit, and Kholodnaya signed a three-year contract with the Khanzhonkov studio. The impatient Bauer immediately made another film with his new discovery, Plamya Neba/Flame of the Sky (Yevgeni Bauer, 1915). It was a typical melodrama about the guilty love of a young woman married off to an old widower and his son. In the end, the lovers perish from a thunderbolt. Her next picture was Deti veka/The Children of the Age (Yevgeni Bauer, 1915), a drama with pretensions to reveal social problems. Bauer’s death in 1917 robbed the Russian cinema of one of its great talents, and Kholodnaya of her discoverer. Soon followed more films for her which were made by other directors. At first, Kholodnaya imitated the acting of Asta Nielsen, but gradually she developed her own style. Another tremendous success was the tragic melodrama Mirazhi/The Mirages (Pyotr Chardynin, 1915). Her extravagant costumes and large grey eyes made her an enigmatic screen presence which fascinated audiences all over Russia. Russian postcard, no. 108. Collection: Didier Hanson. A Who is Who of the Russian silent cinema. In a circle from left: actor Vladimir Maksimov (with bear), actress Vera Kholodnaya, actor Vitold Polonsky, actor Ivan Khudoleyev, actor Ivan Mozzhukhin, director Petr Cardynin and actor Ossip Runitsch. Russian postcard, no. 75. Collection: Didier Hanson. Publicity still for Posledneiye tango/Last Tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918) with Ossip Runitsch. Russian postcard, no. 120. Photo: Ossip Runitsch and Vera Kholodnaya in Na altar krasoty/To the Altar of Beauty (Pyotr Chardynin, 1917). Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 132. Collection: Didier Hanson. Publicity still for Posledneiye tango/Last Tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918) with Ossip Runitsch. Only about 10 minutes of this film are known to exist. The rest of the film is believed to be lost. Russian postcard, no. 143. Collection: Didier Hanson. Publicity still for Сказка любви дорогой/Tale of dear love (?, ?) with Vladimir Maksimov. Russian postcard, no. 145. Photo: Ivan Khudoleyev, Ossip Runitsch and Vera Kholodnaya in Posledneiye tango/Last Tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918). Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 146. Collection: Didier Hanson. Publicity still for Posledneiye tango/Last Tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918) with Ossip Runitsch. The Queen of Screen The melodrama Zhizn za zhizn/A Life for a Life (Yevgeni Bauer, 1916) became one of the most popular films in Vera Kholodnaya’s career. After this film, she was called ‘the Queen of Screen’. The author of this title was the famous singer Alexander Vertinsky who venerated the actress and frequented her house. In 1916 Khanzhonkov’s company started making the film Pierrot with Vertinsky and Kholodnaya playing the leads. Unfortunately, the film was never completed. By the time of the Russian Revolution, a new Kholodnaya film was released every third week. U kamina/By the Fireplace (1917), based on a popular romance, was another resounding commercial success. The film ran in cinemas until 1924 when the Soviet authorities ordered to destroy the Kholodnaya features. During the Russian Civil War, the Bolshevik authorities requested film companies to produce less melodrama and more adaptations of classics. Accordingly, Kholodnaya was cast in a screen version of Tolstoy's Zhivoy trup/The Living Corpse (Cheslav Sabinsky, 1917). Her acting abilities in this film were applauded by Stanislavsky, who welcomed Vera to join the troupe of the Moscow Art Theatre. Her last box-office sensation was Molchi, grust... molchi/Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent (Pyotr Chardynin, Cheslav Sabinsky, 1918). Like many of her films, it was based on a Russian traditional love song. By that time, Kholodnaya turned from just a popular and admired actress into a legend of the Russian cinema. She decided to move with her film company to Odessa. There she died at the age of 25 in the 1918 flu pandemic. A director with whom she had worked for several years filmed her grand funeral. Ironically, this seems to be her best-known film today. The other five extant films with Vera Kholodnaya are Deti veka/The Children of the Age (1915), Mirazhi/The Mirages (1915), Zhizn za zhizn/A Life for a Life (1916), Zhivoy trup/The Living Corpse (1918), and Molchi, grust... molchi/Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent (1918). Official Russian records state that Vera Kholodnaya died of the Spanish flu. While that seems quite likely, there is much speculation about her death. Оther stories claim she was poisoned by the French ambassador with whom she reportedly had an affair and who believed that she was a spy for the Bolsheviks. Her husband, Vladimir Kholodny, died 2 months after her. Her mother, Yekaterina Sleptsova, also died shortly after her. Her life was dramatised in Nikita Mikhalkov's film Raba lyubvi/A Slave of Love (1975), and director Oleg Kovalov made a documentary on her life, Ostrov Myortvykh/Island of the Dead (1992). A year later, her image was depicted on a postage stamp and in 2003 a life-size bronze statue of her was erected in Odessa, Ukraine, created by the artist Alexander P. Tokarev. Russian postcard distributed in France by BPA, Rueil, no. 140. Vera Kholodnaya in Posledneiye tango/The last tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918). Russian postcard, no. 47. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 93. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 118. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard, no. 143. Collection: Didier Hanson. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson. Sources: Jessica Keaton (Silence is platinum), KinoTV.com (German), Russia-IC, Wikipedia and IMDb. And a special thanks to Didier Hanson for sending us the scans of his postcards!

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6747/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Binder / Ufa. Willy Fritsch (1901-1973) was the immensely popular ‘Sunny Boy’ of the Ufa operettas of the 1930s and 1940s. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3705/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Ernst Schneider, Berlin. Hungarian film actress Agnes Esterhazy (1891-1956) worked mainly in the silent cinema of Austria and Germany. The Gräfin (countess) appeared in more than 30 films between 1920 and 1943. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

British postcard in the Celebrity Autograph Series by Celebrity Publishers LTD., London, no. 266. Photo: Rank Organisation. Publicity still for Robbery Under Arms (Jack Lee, 1957). Scottish actress Maureen Swanson (1932) was a pretty, elegant, brunette leading lady in British films of the 1950s. After her marriage to the count of Dudley she retired. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 4 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

A blog about cinema, film stars and vintage postcards.

Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4892. Photo: Centrafilm. Publicity still for Mariandl (Werner Jacobs, 1961). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Schlager singer and film star Cornelia Froboess (1943) was as 'Conny' a European teen idol. She would later become a respected stage actress. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3747/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Terrra Film. Karina Bell in Revolutionshochzeit/Revolutionsbryllup/The Last Night (A.W. Sandberg, 1928). Danish actress Karina Bell (1898-1979) was one of the most popular stars of the Nordisk Films Kompagni in the 1920s. She also appeared in German and Swedish films. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

British postcard in the Our Postcard Series, 1948. Photo: Margaret Lockwood in Jassy (Bernard Knowles, 1947). Beautiful stage and film actress Margaret Lockwood (1916-1990) was the female lead of the early Hitchcock classic The Lady Vanishes (1938). In the 1940s she became Britain's leading box-office star specialising in beautiful but diabolical adventuresses. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 711. Film diva Leda Gys (1892-1957) starred in ca. 60 dramas, comedies, action thrillers and even westerns of the Italian and Spanish silent cinema. Her claim to fame came with the film Christus (1916), shot in Egypt and Palestine, where Gys performed the Madonna. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

British postcard in the Ducal Series, no. 101. Photo: Bassano. English actress Eva Moore (1870–1955) had a career on stage and in film which spanned six decades. She was active in the women's suffrage movement, and from 1920 on she appeared in over two dozen films. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 125, Photo: Bavaria Filmkunst. Heli Finkenzeller in Alarmstufe V/Alarm level V (Alois Johannes Lippl, 1941). German stage and film actress Heli Finkenzeller (1914-1991) had her greatest successes in popular Ufa comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. After the war, she often played mother roles. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7280/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Hungarian actress Käthe von Nagy (1904-1973) started as the ‘Backfish’ of German films of the late 1920s. In the early 1930s she became a fashionable and charming star of the German and French cinema. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson. Vera Karalli (1889-1972) was a Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and actress in the early 20th century. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

A blog about cinema, film stars and vintage postcards.

A blog about cinema, film stars and vintage postcards.

German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F-80. Photo: Klaus Collignon / UFA. British-Austrian actress Mara Lane (1930) was considered one of the most beautiful models in Great Britain during the early 1950s. She appeared in more than 30 English and German language films of the 1950s and early 1960s, but seems completely forgotten now. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 4 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 3248. Entertainer Tommy Steele (1936) was Britain's first teen idol and rock 'n roll star. His cheeky Cockney image and boy-next-door looks won him success as a musician, singer and actor. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard by Publistar. Photo: Henri Rzepski. Om 9 October, French singer and actor Leny Escudero has died. The popular Escudéro did not want to be a star, but performed his songs to help others. He also appeared in committed roles in films and on TV. Check out the In memoriam at our blog European Film Star Postcards.

German postcard by Ross-Verlag, no. A 2369/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Terra. Paula Wessely (1907-2000) reigned as Austria’s most distinguished and beloved stage and screen actress almost from her debut at the Vienna Volkstheater in 1924 until her retirement in 1987; although she was criticized for her appearance in the Nazi-propaganda film Heimkehr (1941). For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6309/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Eli Marcus. Stage and screen actress Dolly Haas (1910-1994) was popular in the 1930s as a vivacious, red-haired gamine often wearing trousers in German and British films. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 442. Italian model and actress Maria Frau (1930) was a very photogenic starlet of the European cinema of the 1950s. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

Spanish postcard, no. 4. Photo: British Pathe. Publicity still for The Young Ones (Sidney J. Furie, 1961). In the late 1950s British singer, actor and Sir Cliff Richard (1940) was known as Britain's answer to Elvis Presley. The ‘Cliff Richard musical’ became the number one cinema box office attraction in Britain for both 1962 and 1963. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1076/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin. Mary Kid (1901-1988) was a popular actress of the Austrian and German silent cinema. She also played in two early sound films in Italy. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, nr. 8321/2,1933-1934. Photo: Fox. British born, German actress and singer Lilian Harvey (1906-1968) was Ufa's biggest star of the 1930's. With Willy Fritsch she formed the 'Dream Team of the European Cinema'. Their best film was the immensely popular film operetta Der Kongress tanzt/The Congress Dances (1931, Erik Charell). For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Horst ‘Hotte’ Buchholz (1933-2003) was the James Dean of the German Cinema. He was often typecast as a rebellious teenager in the late 1950s. Horst appeared in over sixty films between 1952 and 2002 and is now best remembered as the Mexican gunfighter Chico in The Magnificent Seven (1960). German postcard by Franz-Josef Rüdel, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1858. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2204. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2171. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2329. Photo: Interwest / Union / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). Austrian postcard by Lichtbild-Vertrieb Paula Weizmann, Wien, no. F 7. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). Biker-gang leader Horst Werner Buchholz was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1933. His father was a German shoemaker, while his mother was born to Danish parents. He never knew his biological father. Shortly after his birth, his mother placed him in the care of a foster family. He was given the name Buchholz when, in 1938, his mother married the cobbler Hugo Buchholz and took her son back into her home. They lived in the working-class Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. In 1941, her half-sister Heidi was born. She gave her older half-brother the nickname "Hotte", which he kept until his death. During World War II, he was evacuated to Silesia, and at the end of the war, he found himself in a foster home in Czechoslovakia. Buchholz barely finished his schooling before seeking theatre work, first appearing on stage in 1949. He soon left his childhood home in East Berlin to work in West Berlin. He landed his first stage role at 15 in a theatre version of the German children's classic 'Emil und die Detective' (Emil and the Detectives). In the next years, he established himself in the theatre and on the radio. After some dubbing work, he expanded into a film in 1952 and had a small part in the West German thriller Die Spur führt nach Berlin/All Clues Lead to Berlin (František Čáp, 1952) about a gang of counterfeiters with links to the former Nazi regime. He had a c0-starring part in Marianne, meine Jugendliebe/Marianne My Teenage Love (Julien Duvivier, 1955) starring Marianne Hold, based on a 1932 novel 'Schmerzliches Arkadien' by Peter von Mendelssohn. The film was released in separate French language and German language versions and Horst appeared only in the German version. Then he won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his lead in Himmel ohne Sterne/Sky Without Stars (Helmut Käutner, 1955) with Erik Schumann and Eva Kotthaus. His star-making role was the biker-gang leader Freddy in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) with Karin Baal. An English-dubbed version was released in the US as Teenage Wolfpack, with Buchholz billed as Henry Bookholt and promoted as a new James Dean. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "With the exception of Buchholz, most of the young toughs in the film are nonprofessionals, exuding a raw energy that many 'pros' could not emulate. Most of Die Halbstarken was lensed on location in genuine gang-ridden urban neighbourhoods." Another major film was Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957) based on the novel by Thomas Mann. It tells the fantastic story of charming rogue Felix Krull. After he dodges the military draft thanks to his acting abilities, he starts his con man career in a hotel in Paris. Soon he travels the world pretending to be the noble Marquis de Venosta, and his luck with the ladies, namely the eccentric Madame Houpflé and Zouzou, the daughter of his acquaintance Professor Kuckuck, comes in handy. Felix Krull always knows how to impress people, so even when he comes under suspicion of murder, he does not become desperate. The film, and its young star, received international acclaim. French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/92. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/93. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-147. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Klaus Collignon / Ufa. With Myriam Bru. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/94. Photo: Sam Lévin. Gandhi's assassin Horst Buchholz began appearing in foreign films in 1959. He was a villain in the British thriller Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). That same year he made his Broadway debut with 'Cherie', which starred Kim Stanley, in 1959. In Hollywood, he followed that with the Western The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960), a remake in an Old West–style of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954). The ensemble cast includes Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, and Horst Buchholz as a group of seven gunfighters and Eli Wallach as their main antagonist. Horst played the role originally portrayed by Toshiro Mifune in the Japanese version. The film was both a critical and commercial success and has been appraised as one of the greatest films of the Western genre. Then followed the role of Marius in the dramatic romance Fanny (Joshua Logan, 1961) with Leslie Caron, Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier. It was based on Marcel Pagnol's play 'Fanny' set in Marseille in the early 1920s. Buchholz also appeared in the Berlin-set madcap comedy One, Two, Three (Billy Wilder, 1961) opposite James Cagney, but then his star started to fade. As an international star, he played Gandhi's assassin in the British-American neo-noir crime film Nine Hours to Rama (Mark Robson, 1963) and starred opposite Catherine Spaak, Isa Miranda and Bette Davis in the Italian drama La noia/The Empty Canvas (Damiano Damiani, 1963), based on the best-selling novel 'La noia' by Alberto Moravia. He played Marco Polo in La fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo/Marco the Magnificent (Denys de la Patelliere, 1965) in a cast with Orson Welles, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif, but Raoul Levy committed suicide after losing most of his fortune financing this film. Another dud was the Franco-Spanish-Italian international co-production Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967), a highly fictionalised 1967 film biography of the early life of Miguel de Cervantes. Horst Buchholz's particular moment was over. He took the parts as they came, in films and on television, both in the US and in Europe. He returned to Hollywood lead roles briefly with The Great Waltz (Andrew L. Stone, 1971) playing Johann Strauss which was sadly another failure. More often, he appeared in supporting parts in forgettable comedies, war dramas and such Horror films as The Savage Bees (Bruce Geller, 1976) which follows a swarm of killer bees threatening people during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He guest starred on episodes of Logan's Run, Fantasy Island, Charlie's Angels, and How the West Was Won. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1941. Photo: NDF / Herzog-Film/ Ringpress / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Robinson soll nicht sterben/The Legend of Robinson Crusoe (Josef von Báky, 1957). East-German postcard by Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1203. Photo: Ingrid Andree and Horst Buchholz in Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957). German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2268. Photo: NDF / Herzog / Vogelmann // NDF / Herzog / Brünjes. Publicity stills for Monpti (Helmut Käutner, 1957) with Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. M 2482. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / Bavaria. Publicity stills for Auferstehung/Resurrection (Rolf Hansen, 1958). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 784. Photo: Rank. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7468. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Fanny (1962). Puzzles In the 1980s, Horst Buchholz mostly appeared in European films. He was the main star of the French-Swiss softcore pornographic film Aphrodite (Robert Fuest, 1982) with Valérie Kaprisky. The film is inspired by the novel 'Aphrodite: mœurs antiques' by Pierre Louÿs and follows a group of visitors who come to an island where they are involved in different sexual liaisons. He guest starred on the Krimi series Derrick and had a supporting part in the British-American adventure drama Sahara (Andrew V. MacLaglen, 1983) starring Brooke Shields. More interesting was his lead in the Polish-American historical drama I skrzypce przestaly grac/And the Violins Stopped Playing (Alexander Ramati, 1988) and based upon his biographical novel about an actual group of Romani people who were forced to flee from persecution by the Nazi regime at the height of the Porajmos (Romani holocaust), during World War II. Buchholz also played theatre again in Berlin, for example, the role of the Conférencier in the musical 'Cabaret' at the Theater des Westens in 1979. He then appeared in the judicial drama 'Die zwölf Geschorenen' (Twelve Angry Men) at the Renaissance Theatre in 1984 and in 'Die Geschäfte des Baron Laborde' by Hermann Broch at the Schillertheater in Berlin in 1986. Also interesting was the fantasy film In Weiter Ferne, so nah!/Faraway, So Close! (Wim Wenders, 1993). It is a sequel to Wenders' film Wings of Desire (1987), set in Berlin after the fall of the wall. Actors Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk reprise their roles as angels who have become human. The film also stars Buchholz, Nastassja Kinski, Willem Dafoe and Heinz Rühmann, in his last film role. Faraway, So Close! won the Grand Prix du Jury at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, but enjoyed less critical and commercial success than its predecessor. Buchholz's last important role was in the Oscar-winning La vita è bella/Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Begnini, 1997). He played the doctor whose obsession with puzzles blinds him to his ability to help Roberto Benigni in the concentration camp. Thanks to his gift for languages, Buchholz was able to dub himself in the foreign releases of the film. The film was an overwhelming critical and commercial success. It received widespread acclaim, with critics praising its story, performances and direction, and the union of drama and comedy, despite some criticisms of using the subject matter for comedic purposes. The film grossed over $230 million worldwide and won the Grand Prix at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and three Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 85. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. Vintage card. German postcard by W.S.-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F4. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 20. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 21. Retail price: 25 Pf. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 22. Retail price: 25 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-31. Sent by mail in 1963. Photo: Bavaria Film. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-112. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. Out of the closet In 2000, Horst Buchholz came out of the closet in the German magazine Bunte as having 'bisexual tendencies', which he had always lived out - albeit in secret: "Yes, I also love men. Ultimately, I'm bisexual. ... I have always lived my life the way I wanted." In the 1950s, the film producer Wenzel Lüdecke was his partner in life. Buchholz continued making films and television appearances until 2002. His final feature film was the fantasy Detective Lovelorn und die Rache des Pharao/Detective Lovelorn and the revenge of the pharaoh (Thomas Frick, 2002). In 2003, Horst Buchholz died unexpectedly in intensive care in Berlin of pneumonia while recovering from a broken thighbone. He was 69. Buchholz is buried in the Heerstraße Cemetery, Berlin. Berlin had been the city of his heart and was buried there in honour of that fact. He was married to French actress Myriam Bru, with whom he had two children, Christoph and Beatrice, who now lives as a Sikh in California under the name Simran Kaur Khalsa. Together with their mother, Buchholz's children realised his wish for a biography in the autumn of 2003, for which he had not found the time. Under the title 'Horst Buchholz - Sein Leben in Bildern' (Horst Buchholz - His Life in Pictures), they brought out an illustrated book with biographical notes that paid tribute to his life's work. His son Christopher Buchholz directed the documentary Horst Buchholz... mein Papa/Horst Buchholz... My Dad (Christoph Buchholz, Sandra Hacker, 2005). The son and daughter of the once-famous film star return to the empty apartment after their father's death and reminisce about his life, with interviews and clips. IMDb calls the film "an intimate and moving portrait of a man who was at once engagingly open to the world and also somewhat reclusive and evasive." German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2912. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Film. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Estambul 65/That Man in Istanbul (Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1965). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 4766. Photo: Vogelmann / Constantin. Publicity still for Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967). Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 295. Collection: Alina Deaconu. Marlène Jobert and Horst Buchholz in L'Astragale/Ankle Bone (Guy Casaril, 1969). Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie). Bob Stage (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia, Filmreference.com, AllMovie and IMDb. This post was last updated on 21 August 2023.

Johnny Hallyday (1943-2017) was the father of French Rock and Roll. The flamboyant singer and actor was a European teen idol in the early 1960s with record-breaking crowds and mass hysteria, but he never became popular in the English-speaking market. In later years he successfully focused on film acting and appeared in more than 35 films. French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 171. Photo: Sam Lévin. French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 186. Photo: Sam Lévin. French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 163. Photo: Sam Lévin. French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Edition du Globe), no. 162. Photo: Sam Lévin. Big card. Photo: Sam Lévin. French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Edition du Globe), no. 158. Photo: André Nisak/Vogue. Borrowed Pseudonym Johnny Hallyday was born as Jean-Philippe Smet in Paris in 1943. His French mother Huguette Clerc and Belgian father Léon Smet separated not long after his birth, and he was raised by his paternal aunt, Hélène Mar. Iamkaym at Everything2 writes that aunt Hélène was "a dancer and frequenter of the Parisian world of performing artists. In 1944 she took him on tour with her two young daughters, also dancers. During the following decade the little troupe led an itinerant existence, shuttling between theatres and cheap hotels in London and in various continental cities of Europe. His first stage performance, in Copenhagen, was as a 9-year-old singer, presenting a between-the-acts rendition of 'la Ballade de Davy Crockett' while his cousin Desta and her dancer boyfriend, Lee Halliday, changed costumes." Jean-Philippe made his film debut at age 12 with a bit role in the classic noir thriller Les Diaboliques/Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955) with Simone Signoret. In 1957 he saw the film Lovin' You (Hal Kanter, 1957), starring Elvis Presley, and decided to become a rock and roll singer. By the end of the 1950s, Jean-Phillippe was a regular at the Golf Drouot, a Parisian club frequented by young rock and roll fans. He sang Presley songs for his friends, began going to auditions and got some singing engagements. According to Everything2, he had no style of his own, but borrowed heavily from Presley, the French singer/poet Georges Brassens, and American country music. In 1959 he appeared on a TV program and was spotted by the artistic director of Vogue records, which signed him immediately. In March 1960, his debut single was released with the songs Laisse les filles (Let the Girls) and T'aimer follement (I love you like crazy), a take-off on an album by popular singer Dalida. His pseudonym was borrowed from his cousin's friend, the American artist Lee Halliday; the surname turned into Hallyday when it was misprinted on the record label. Johnny Hallyday was still only 16 at the time. German postcard by Krüger. Photo: Winkler. Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 5643. Photo: Meteor Film. Publicity still for Johnny waar kom je vandaan?/D'où viens-tu, Johnny?/Where Are You From, Johnny? (1964). Dutch postcard. Dutch postcard by Syba, no. 364-7. Dutch postcard by Syba, no. 564-20. French postcard by Publistar, no. 2002, presented by Corvisart, Epinal. Photo: Philippe D'Argence. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/307. Photo: Pierre Spitzer. Rock and Roll Heartthrob Johnny Hallyday's first album, Hello Johnny, was released in 1960. He rolled on stage, something that had never been done in France. In 1961, he introduced the Twist with his cover of Let's Twist Again. One side of the single was English, the flip side was French: Viens danser le Twist (Come dance the Twist). It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It topped almost every European chart. He became a teenager idol with record-breaking crowds and mass hysteria. Huge European hits followed like Tes tendres années (1963) and Pour moi la vie va commencer (1963). The YéYé generation was born and lasted almost five years. Hallyday's fame as a rock and roll heartthrob landed him parts in films like Les Parisiennes/Beds and Broads (Marc Allégret, Michel Boisrond, a.o., 1962) with Catherine Deneuve, and D'où viens-tu, Johnny?/Where Are You From, Johnny? (Noel Howard, 1964). In these films he mostly played singers. Iamkayme describes his style: "His stage style is a blend of hip-swivelling Elvis and supreme French arrogance. There are those who say he also adds a bit of James Dean rebelliousness and more than a soupçon of melodramatic Liberace vulgarity. While Hallyday never had the golden tenor tones of Elvis Presley, his voice has always been deep and powerful. Unkind critics claim he simply 'bellows' his songs. Unlike Presley, he often appeared in a costume that shows his biceps to best advantage." Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, no. 5871. Sent by mail in the Netherlands in 1962. Dutch postcard by De Muinck en Co., Amsterdam, no. 662. Big French card. Photo: Sam Lévin. French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Edition du Globe), no. 241. Photo: Sam Lévin. Dutch Postcard, no. 151. German postcard by ISV, no. H 85. French promotion card by Philips. Suicide Attempt After the British invasion and the rise of politically motivated folk music Johnny Hallyday’s rock and roll career began to flounder. He attemped suicide and after his recovery, he issued the despairing single Noir, C'est Noir (Black is Black) as a commentary on his near-tragedy. In 1965 he married French singer Sylvie Vartan, the first of five wives. His son David Michael Benjamin Smet was born the following year. David would also become a well known singer as David Hallyday. Johnny and Sylvie formed a popular singing duo and they recorded a smash duet, J'ai un Problème, that became one of France's biggest hits in the early 1970s. The 'golden couple' of the French music scene divorced in 1980. After his teen films in the 1960s, Johnny Hallyday stopped for several years as an actor and then started to work again in films by directors like Jean-Luc Godard in Détective (1985) with Nathalie Baye, and Costa Gravas in Conseil de famille/Family Business (1986). With Nathalie Baye, he had a relationship and in 1983 they had a daughter, the actress Laura Smet. His later films include the gay comedy Pourquoi pas moi?/Why Not Me? (Stéphane Giusti, 1999), and Crime Spree (Brian Mirman), 2003, a bi-lingual farce with Gérard Depardieu and Harvey Keitel about inadept French criminals on assignment in Chicago. His best film was the well received thriller L’Homme du train/The Man on the Train (Patrice Leconte, 2002). In his review at AllMovie, Todd Kristel writes: "This appealing film could be considered a conversational chamber piece that's based on the accumulation of small, revealing character moments. Not much happens in terms of plot or action, but there's little wasted time here; the filmmaking is remarkably efficient for a talky, low key movie. Director Patrice Leconte does manage to find time to slip some relatively unobtrusive humor into his movie, such as spoofing Once Upon a Time in the West at the beginning. But the movie's main appeal lies in the performances of the two leads. Jean Rochefort and Johnny Hallyday are both iconic figures in France, so seeing them together onscreen might not seem as significant to audiences outside their native country. Nonetheless, they have a great rapport, and Rochefort in particular is a delight to watch as he reveals the impish side to his character." In December 2005, Johnny Hallyday had his third number-one single in France, Mon Plus Beau Noël (My most beautiful Christmas) - after Tous ensemble (All Together) the official French song for the 2002 World Cup, and Marie. The song was dedicated to daughter Jade, a young girl from Vietnam, who he and his wife, Laeticia Boudou, whom he had married in 1996. Marlène Pilaete comments: "Mon plus beau Noël was indeed his third number one since the Top50 was established in 1984. But there were other hit parades before the Top 50 and I assume that Hallyday, in view of his popularity and his long career, had other number ones before 1984." Johnny starred alongside Fabrice Luchini in the comedy Jean-Philippe (Laurent Tuel, 2006) in which he played himself. According to the IMDb it’s one of his greatest films. French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 354, presented by Corvisart, Epinal. Photo: R. Kasparian. French postcard by Ed. Lyna, Paris, no. 2002, presented by Corvisart, Epinal. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/228. Photo: Gérard Decaux. German postcard by Kruger, no. 902/227. French postcard by MC Reportages, Villeurbanne, no. 219. Presented by the Fan Club Johnny Halliday, Paris. Photo: Marc Castagnet, 1986. French postcard by Fan Avenue, 2006. Photo: Patrick Carpentier, Bercy, 1990. The Biggest Rock Star You've Never Heard Of In December 2007 Johnny Hallyday anounced his retirement from performing, but 2009 brought a new tour called Route 66, and two new films: The Pink Panther 2 (Harald Zwart, 2009) with Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, and the thriller Fuk sau/Vengeance (Johnnie To, 2009) in which Johnny as a French assassin-turned-chef travels to Hong Kong in order to avenge a murder. Sam van der Meer at IMDb: "Johnny Hallyday is Costello, an ex-hit-man who is now a chef in France whose daughter's family has just been killed by unknown gunman. The plot moves from there with Costello swearing revenge for his daughter. He then meets a trio of Triad hit men in the middle of a job-in-progress. Hallyday coolly walks away as if nothing has happened. And I have to say, I was impressed with his acting. I'm a To fan, but I wasn't so sure when I heard Hallyday was taking the lead. But he fits the character well, even physically. Because, no offense to the man, but he looks dark. His eyes are bored into his skull, and he walks like a man on a mission. " Then, in July 2009, Hallyday was diagnosed with colon cancer, for which he was operated on. In November 2009 Hallyday underwent surgery in Paris to repair a herniated disc, but he suffered complications and was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. It was announced that Hallyday had been put into a medically induced coma in order to repair lesions that had formed as a result of the surgery and to relieve his pain. In December, it was announced that Hallyday would recover and that he and his wife Laetitia had started legal proceedings against Dr. Stephane Delajoux, who had performed the original surgery. Laetitia is the young daughter of Hallyday's best friend and business partner, Andre Boudou. Hallyday and his father-in-law owned nightclubs in Paris and Nice, France and in Miami, Florida. Johnny Hallyday remained largely unknown in English-speaking countries, thus earning him the nickname 'the biggest rock star you've never heard of', but he could cry all the way to the bank. His music career has spanned a half-century: he completed 100 tours, had 18 platinum albums, and sold more than 100 million records. In October 2012 Johnny Hallyday returned to the US for his first performance in New York in 50 years and later that month made his British stage debut when he performed in the Royal Albert Hall in London. In The Guardian, Jessica Reed wrote: "So it comes down to this: even for those French people who, like me, aren't crazy about his oeuvre, Hallyday will never die. He just can't. Having been a fixture of French pop culture for so long – his multiple marriages, political tantrums and health scares are a national saga not unlike the most gripping of South American telenovelas – his death would be devastating, marking the end of an era." Johnny Hallyday died at 5 December 2017 in Marne-la-Coquette, France. [This page was updated at that day]. 17-years-old Johnny's first TV appearance in 1960 in a television show with Line Renaud. Source: INA Stars (YouTube). Johnny sings Retiens la nuit in Les Parisiennes/Beds and Broads (1962) with Catherine Deneuve. Source: Beliza75 (YouTube). Early clip of Noir, C'est Noir. Source: JohnnyHallydayVEVO (YouTube). Clip for the song Quelque chose de Tennessee. Source: JohnnyHallydayVEVO (YouTube). Sources: Todd Kristel (AllMovie), Brigitte Dusseau (The Daily Star), Jessica Reed (The Guardian), Sam van der Meer (IMDb), Marlène Pilaete, Les gens du Cinema (French) Everything2, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake (Harald Reinl, 1963) was the most successful German film of the 1962/1963 season. Surprisingly, it even beat the first James Bond film, Dr. No (Terence Young, 1962), at the German box offices. Der Schatz im Silbersee starred Lex Barker, for the first time in the role of Old Shatterhand, and French actor Pierre Brice as his friend, the Apache-chief Winnetou. For many people born in the 1950s or 1960s, Winnetou became one of our favourite heroes. Lex Barker and Pierre Brice. German postcard, no. E 51. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou and Old Shatterhand discover a crime. Brinkley, known as Cornel, and his gang of criminals attacked the stagecoach and murdered Erik Engel, who had a secret plan with him on his way to the legendary "Treasure in Silver Lake". Götz George. German postcard, no. E 52. Photo: Constantin. Caption: When Angel's son Fred, who works on Butler's farm, learns of his father's murder, he immediately sets off to find the perpetrator. Lex Barker. German postcard, no. E 53. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Fred meets Old Shatterhand, who promises to help him find the Cornel. Winnetou, however, wants to keep an eye on the gang of criminals. Pierre Brice. German postcard, no. E 54. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou discovers the bandits' hiding place, overhears their advice and learns that the sketch is incomplete. The other half of the plan is in the hands of Patterson, who is on Butler's farm with his daughter Ellen. German postcard, no. E 55. Photo: Constantin. Caption: As soon as Old Shatterhand and Fred arrive at Butler's farm, the gang rushes to besiege the farm. Old Shatterhand Although it was a Western, Der Schatz im Silbersee was a truly European film, a co-production of Germany, Yugoslavia, and France. The film starred Hollywood star Lex Barker in the role of Old Shatterhand. Barker was best known as a former Tarzan, who played the King of the Jungle in films like Tarzan's Magic Fountain (Lee Sholem, 1949) and Tarzan's Peril (Byron Haskin, 1951). He had also appeared in Westerns like the film adaptation of James Fennimore Cooper's The Deerslayer (Kurt Neumann, 1957), which had been very successful in Germany. When his Hollywood career dried up, Lex Barker moved to Italy. There he appeared as a Hollywood movie star in La Dolce Vita/The Sweet Life (Federico Fellini, 1960) starring Marcello Mastroianni. German producer Artur Brauner invited him to work in Germany, where he starred in such crime films as Das Stahlnetz des dr. Mabuse/The Return of Dr. Mabuse (Harald Reinl, 1961) opposite Gert Fröbe. Then the role of Old Shatterhand made him a cult star. At his side, Pierre Brice played Apache-chief Winnetou. It made the till then unknown French actor an icon of the 1960s. The supporting cast was also an international mix. British Herbert Lom was cast as the bad Colonel Brinkley. From Germany, there were the young lovers Karin Dor and Götz George. Grand Old lady Marianne Hoppe had her first international film role and for the laughs, Eddi Arent (Lord Castlepool) and Ralf Wolter (Trapper Sam Hawkins) can be seen. There were also many Yugoslavian actors in the cast, including Mirko Boman (Gunstick Uncle), Sima Janicijevic a.k.a. Jan Sid (Patterson) and Jozo Kovacevic (Grosser Wolf). Karin Dor and Jan Sid. German postcard, no. E 56. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Patterson and his daughter Ellen, who had ridden out, fall into the hands of the bandits. The Cornel demands the second half of the plan as a ransom. Lex Barker. German postcard, no. E 57. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand and Fred manage to free Patterson and his daughter Ellen and to get them to the farm through a secret passage. Götz George. German postcard, no. E 58. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The Cornel now runs furiously against the walls of the farm with his gang, and there is a hot fight for life and death. German postcard, no. E 59. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou arrives at the last minute. Together with the friend of the Osage tribe, he hurries to help the afflicted on Butler's farm. Marianne Hoppe and Karin Dor. German postcard, no. E 60. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Mrs. Butler and Ellen watch the beaten criminal gang pulling away with joy and satisfaction. Non-stop action Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake (Harald Reinl, 1962) was the first film adaptation of a novel by Karl May set in the American West. Karl May (1842-1912) was one of the best-read authors of Germany, and many kids played Cowboys and Indians, inspired by May's stories. Earlier films after his exotic adventure novels were all set in the Near East. The first was Die Teufelsanbeter/The Devil Worshippers (Marie Luise Droop, 1920) starring 'the Indiana Jones of the 1910s and 1920s' Carl de Vogt and Béla Lugosi. A later example was Die Sklavenkarawane/The Slave Caravan (Georg Marischka, Ramón Torrado, 1958) with Viktor Staal as Kara Ben Nemsi. However, the principal shooting took place in national park Paklenica karst river canyon, Yugoslavia (now Croatia). The result was surprising. John Seal at IMDb: "Treasure of Silver Lake is one of the most entertaining films I've ever seen. Establishing the template for every euro-western that followed, it features non-stop action, beautiful scenery (unfortunately compromised by the pan and scan version recently aired on Encore Westerns), and an amusing and watchable cast. Like most euro-westerns, the film is more sympathetic to Native Americans than a typical Hollywood movie, but the Indians aren't really the focal point of the story". Götz George. German postcard, no. E 61. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Fred pursues the Cornel and he manages to take the first half of the plan from him. However, the killer himself escapes. German postcard, no. E 62. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Happy with the liberation, the residents of Butler's Farm say goodbye to their friends, the Osage. At the same time, the search for the "treasure in the silver lake" is decided. German postcard, no. E 63. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The Cornel, however, wants to prevent the others from advancing. He sets fire to a village of the Utah Indians and, with this diabolical plan, makes the Utahs take revenge on all white people. Karin Dor, Pierre Brice, and Lex Barker. German postcard, no. E 64. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou, Old Shatterhand, and their friends are stunned in front of the burned village. Ellen, moving away from the group, is kidnapped by gang observers. Now the Cornel triumphs. Götz George and Karin Dor. German postcard, no. E 65. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Hurrying to help Ellen, Fred volunteers to join the gang. He promises to lead the bandits to the silver lake in order to sell his and Ellen's freedom. Successful track The Old Shatterhand-Melodie, the title melody played on the harmonica by René Giessen and composed by Martin Böttcher was the most successful track in the German hit parade in the 1960s. It stayed there for several months and over 100,000 copies were sold. At the time that was very unusual, especially for a soundtrack without any singers. The music was played by members of the symphony-orchestra of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk. The theme was later also recorded as a vocal track by several singers, including a version by Pierre Brice. Composer Böttcher wrote in 1955 the music for his first film, Der Hauptmann und sein Held/The Captain and His Hero (Max Nosseck, 1955). Already his next film Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) starring Horst Buchholz, was a great artistic success for himself. He became one of the busiest composers for Cinema and TV in Germany. German postcard, no. E 66. Photo: Constantin. Caption: In the opinion that Old Shatterhand and his friends set fire to the village, the Utahs, led by their chief "Big Wolf", capture the small expedition. German postcard, no. E 67. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand and his friends arrive in the Utah village. Nobody knows yet what will happen to the whites. Jan Sid and Lex Barker. German postcard, no. E 68. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand and Patterson are worried about Ellen and Fred because they wanted to be in front of the gang at Silver Lake. German postcard, no. E 69. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The Utah Council decides the judgment of God: Old Shatterhand is supposed to fight with the Utah chief. German postcard, no. E 70. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The winner should live, the loser should die. Bambi German director Harald Reinl and producer Horst Wendlandt came up with a series of Eurowesterns which didn´t copy the American Western. The American trade magazine Variety wrote in 1963 that 'See' was obviously better than the average Hollywood Western: "Although there are the inevitable fistfights and shoot-outs, the film does not copy the Hollywood format, but has a more philosophical (European!) Touch. The Western (filmed in Cinemascope) also benefits from the wonderful landscapes." The European audiences loved it and Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake became a huge success. It was the very first German film to receive the Goldene Leinwand (Golden Screen) for having over 3 million visitors within 12 months. The film also won the Bambi-award 1963 as best 'box-office-production' and also received a sum of 200,000 DM from the government in 1963 as a film-prize. Der Schatz im Silbersee was sold to 60 countries - an incredible success for the European film industry. German postcard, no. E 71. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The powerful chief is an equal opponent for Old Shatterhand. German postcard, no. E 72. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand falls. He defeats his opponent with his last strength but spares his life. German postcard, no. E 73. Photo: Constantin. Caption: In the general turmoil, the whites manage to pull off unhindered. They have lost a lot of time and hurry to Silver Lake as quickly as possible. German postcard, no. E 74. Photo: Constantin. Caption: There is a delay again. A Utah headman swears private vengeance and pursues the whites. Winnetou uses a trick. German postcard, no. E 75. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou lures the Utahs into a canyon. The rushing chief "Big Wolf" can restore peace and joins Old Shatterhand and Winnetou. Götz George and Karin Dor. German postcard, no. E 76. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Fred delay tactic fails. The gang reaches the silver lake in front of Old Shatterhand. Tied up, Fred and Ellen have to watch the gang build a raft to reach the cave with the treasure. Herbert Lom. German postcard, no. E 77. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The Cornel and four of his cronies reach the cave and overwhelm the guardian of the treasure, an ancient blind Indian. A popular sub-genre Although Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake introduced Old-Shatterhand (Lex Barker) and Apache-chief Winnetou (Pierre Brice), Der Schatz im Silbersee is set in the time after the sequel Winnetou - 1. Teil/Apache Gold (Harald Reinl, 1963). This would not be the only sequel. Between 1962 and 1968, 11 Eurowesterns were produced based on the novels by Karl May. The early films preceded also another popular European film sub-genre, the Spaghetti Western. And Eastern-Germany had its own Indian films, produced by the DEFA studio. Between 1966 and 1979 there were 12 East-German Westerns, often starring Serbian actor Gojko Mitic, who became an equally popular Icon in Eastern Europe as Pierre Brice was in West Europe. Herbert Lom. German postcard, no. E 78. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Possessed by the gold rush, the criminals kill each other. The Cornel also has his deserved fate. The dying Indian triggers a mechanism and the bandit sinks with the treasure. German postcard, no. E 79. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Since the Cornel has not returned, the gang wants to hang Fred. Old Shatterhand who hurried in time shoots the rope and thus saves Fred's life. Karin Dor and Jan Sid. German postcard, no. E 80. Photo: Constantin. Caption: At the same time, Patterson and the "Big Wolf" can free Ellen, and the Utah Indians help destroy the rest of the gang. German postcard, no. E 81. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand and Winnetou enter the cave. They see that the treasure of Silver Lake has sunk forever. German postcard, no. E 82. Photo: Constantin. Caption: After a friendly farewell to the Utahs and white friends, Winnetou and Old Shatterhand ride towards new adventures. German envelope for postcards of Der Schatz in Silbersee (Harald Reinl, 1962). Sources: Bernd Desinger & Matthias Knop (Der Schatz im Silbersee), IMDb and Wikipedia (German). This post was last updated on 6 August 2020.

Dutch postcard. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Walzerkrieg/The Battle of the Waltzes (Ludwig Berger, 1933). Hungarian actress, dancer and singer Rose Barsony (1909 - 1977) appeared in 16 films from 1929 to 1938, and in one more in 1957. The soubrette was a popular star of the operettas by Paul Abraham. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 531/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Alex Binder. Polish actress Diana Karenne (1888-1940) was one of the divas of Italian silent cinema. Between 1916 and 1920, Karenne fascinated audiences with her eccentric dresses and make-up, and with her primadonna behaviour. Afterwards she had a career in German and French slent cinema. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3089/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Kiesel, Berlin. Ruth Weyher (1901-1983) was a German actress of the silent cinema, famous for films like Schatten//Shadows (1923), Die keusche Susanne/The Girl in the Taxi (1926) and Geheimnisse einer Seele/Secrets of a Soul (1926). For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3494/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Hämmerer / Wien Film. Paula Wessely (1907-2000) reigned as Austria’s most distinguished and beloved stage and screen actress almost from her debut at the Vienna Volkstheater in 1924 until her retirement in 1987; although she was criticized for her appearance in the Nazi-propaganda film Heimkehr (1941). For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3584/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Ufa. Pretty Austrian actress Jenny Jugo (1904-2001) starred between 1931 and 1942 in eleven smart and charming comedies directed by Erich Engel. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

French postcard by Editions Viny, no. 112. Photo: R.A.C. Ginette Leclerc (1912-1992) was a French actress who starred in the 1930s and 1940s. With her smouldering eyes, her carnal smile and her vulgar voice, Ginette Leclerc was the representation of the vamp from the gutter for years. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

Horst ‘Hotte’ Buchholz (1933-2003) was the James Dean of the German Cinema. He was often typecast as a rebellious teenager in the late 1950s. Horst appeared in over sixty films between 1952 and 2002 and is now best remembered as the Mexican gunfighter Chico in The Magnificent Seven (1960). German postcard by Franz-Josef Rüdel, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1858. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2204. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2171. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2329. Photo: Interwest / Union / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). Austrian postcard by Lichtbild-Vertrieb Paula Weizmann, Wien, no. F 7. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). Biker-gang leader Horst Werner Buchholz was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1933. His father was a German shoemaker, while his mother was born to Danish parents. He never knew his biological father. Shortly after his birth, his mother placed him in the care of a foster family. He was given the name Buchholz when, in 1938, his mother married the cobbler Hugo Buchholz and took her son back into her home. They lived in the working-class Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. In 1941, her half-sister Heidi was born. She gave her older half-brother the nickname "Hotte", which he kept until his death. During World War II, he was evacuated to Silesia, and at the end of the war, he found himself in a foster home in Czechoslovakia. Buchholz barely finished his schooling before seeking theatre work, first appearing on stage in 1949. He soon left his childhood home in East Berlin to work in West Berlin. He landed his first stage role at 15 in a theatre version of the German children's classic 'Emil und die Detective' (Emil and the Detectives). In the next years, he established himself in the theatre and on the radio. After some dubbing work, he expanded into a film in 1952 and had a small part in the West German thriller Die Spur führt nach Berlin/All Clues Lead to Berlin (František Čáp, 1952) about a gang of counterfeiters with links to the former Nazi regime. He had a c0-starring part in Marianne, meine Jugendliebe/Marianne My Teenage Love (Julien Duvivier, 1955) starring Marianne Hold, based on a 1932 novel 'Schmerzliches Arkadien' by Peter von Mendelssohn. The film was released in separate French language and German language versions and Horst appeared only in the German version. Then he won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his lead in Himmel ohne Sterne/Sky Without Stars (Helmut Käutner, 1955) with Erik Schumann and Eva Kotthaus. His star-making role was the biker-gang leader Freddy in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) with Karin Baal. An English-dubbed version was released in the US as Teenage Wolfpack, with Buchholz billed as Henry Bookholt and promoted as a new James Dean. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "With the exception of Buchholz, most of the young toughs in the film are nonprofessionals, exuding a raw energy that many 'pros' could not emulate. Most of Die Halbstarken was lensed on location in genuine gang-ridden urban neighbourhoods." Another major film was Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957) based on the novel by Thomas Mann. It tells the fantastic story of charming rogue Felix Krull. After he dodges the military draft thanks to his acting abilities, he starts his con man career in a hotel in Paris. Soon he travels the world pretending to be the noble Marquis de Venosta, and his luck with the ladies, namely the eccentric Madame Houpflé and Zouzou, the daughter of his acquaintance Professor Kuckuck, comes in handy. Felix Krull always knows how to impress people, so even when he comes under suspicion of murder, he does not become desperate. The film, and its young star, received international acclaim. French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/92. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/93. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-147. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Klaus Collignon / Ufa. With Myriam Bru. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/94. Photo: Sam Lévin. Gandhi's assassin Horst Buchholz began appearing in foreign films in 1959. He was a villain in the British thriller Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). That same year he made his Broadway debut with 'Cherie', which starred Kim Stanley, in 1959. In Hollywood, he followed that with the Western The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960), a remake in an Old West–style of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954). The ensemble cast includes Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, and Horst Buchholz as a group of seven gunfighters and Eli Wallach as their main antagonist. Horst played the role originally portrayed by Toshiro Mifune in the Japanese version. The film was both a critical and commercial success and has been appraised as one of the greatest films of the Western genre. Then followed the role of Marius in the dramatic romance Fanny (Joshua Logan, 1961) with Leslie Caron, Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier. It was based on Marcel Pagnol's play 'Fanny' set in Marseille in the early 1920s. Buchholz also appeared in the Berlin-set madcap comedy One, Two, Three (Billy Wilder, 1961) opposite James Cagney, but then his star started to fade. As an international star, he played Gandhi's assassin in the British-American neo-noir crime film Nine Hours to Rama (Mark Robson, 1963) and starred opposite Catherine Spaak, Isa Miranda and Bette Davis in the Italian drama La noia/The Empty Canvas (Damiano Damiani, 1963), based on the best-selling novel 'La noia' by Alberto Moravia. He played Marco Polo in La fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo/Marco the Magnificent (Denys de la Patelliere, 1965) in a cast with Orson Welles, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif, but Raoul Levy committed suicide after losing most of his fortune financing this film. Another dud was the Franco-Spanish-Italian international co-production Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967), a highly fictionalised 1967 film biography of the early life of Miguel de Cervantes. Horst Buchholz's particular moment was over. He took the parts as they came, in films and on television, both in the US and in Europe. He returned to Hollywood lead roles briefly with The Great Waltz (Andrew L. Stone, 1971) playing Johann Strauss which was sadly another failure. More often, he appeared in supporting parts in forgettable comedies, war dramas and such Horror films as The Savage Bees (Bruce Geller, 1976) which follows a swarm of killer bees threatening people during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He guest starred on episodes of Logan's Run, Fantasy Island, Charlie's Angels, and How the West Was Won. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1941. Photo: NDF / Herzog-Film/ Ringpress / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Robinson soll nicht sterben/The Legend of Robinson Crusoe (Josef von Báky, 1957). East-German postcard by Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1203. Photo: Ingrid Andree and Horst Buchholz in Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957). German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2268. Photo: NDF / Herzog / Vogelmann // NDF / Herzog / Brünjes. Publicity stills for Monpti (Helmut Käutner, 1957) with Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. M 2482. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / Bavaria. Publicity stills for Auferstehung/Resurrection (Rolf Hansen, 1958). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 784. Photo: Rank. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7468. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Fanny (1962). Puzzles In the 1980s, Horst Buchholz mostly appeared in European films. He was the main star of the French-Swiss softcore pornographic film Aphrodite (Robert Fuest, 1982) with Valérie Kaprisky. The film is inspired by the novel 'Aphrodite: mœurs antiques' by Pierre Louÿs and follows a group of visitors who come to an island where they are involved in different sexual liaisons. He guest starred on the Krimi series Derrick and had a supporting part in the British-American adventure drama Sahara (Andrew V. MacLaglen, 1983) starring Brooke Shields. More interesting was his lead in the Polish-American historical drama I skrzypce przestaly grac/And the Violins Stopped Playing (Alexander Ramati, 1988) and based upon his biographical novel about an actual group of Romani people who were forced to flee from persecution by the Nazi regime at the height of the Porajmos (Romani holocaust), during World War II. Buchholz also played theatre again in Berlin, for example, the role of the Conférencier in the musical 'Cabaret' at the Theater des Westens in 1979. He then appeared in the judicial drama 'Die zwölf Geschorenen' (Twelve Angry Men) at the Renaissance Theatre in 1984 and in 'Die Geschäfte des Baron Laborde' by Hermann Broch at the Schillertheater in Berlin in 1986. Also interesting was the fantasy film In Weiter Ferne, so nah!/Faraway, So Close! (Wim Wenders, 1993). It is a sequel to Wenders' film Wings of Desire (1987), set in Berlin after the fall of the wall. Actors Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk reprise their roles as angels who have become human. The film also stars Buchholz, Nastassja Kinski, Willem Dafoe and Heinz Rühmann, in his last film role. Faraway, So Close! won the Grand Prix du Jury at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, but enjoyed less critical and commercial success than its predecessor. Buchholz's last important role was in the Oscar-winning La vita è bella/Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Begnini, 1997). He played the doctor whose obsession with puzzles blinds him to his ability to help Roberto Benigni in the concentration camp. Thanks to his gift for languages, Buchholz was able to dub himself in the foreign releases of the film. The film was an overwhelming critical and commercial success. It received widespread acclaim, with critics praising its story, performances and direction, and the union of drama and comedy, despite some criticisms of using the subject matter for comedic purposes. The film grossed over $230 million worldwide and won the Grand Prix at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and three Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 85. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. Vintage card. German postcard by W.S.-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F4. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 20. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 21. Retail price: 25 Pf. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 22. Retail price: 25 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-31. Sent by mail in 1963. Photo: Bavaria Film. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-112. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. Out of the closet In 2000, Horst Buchholz came out of the closet in the German magazine Bunte as having 'bisexual tendencies', which he had always lived out - albeit in secret: "Yes, I also love men. Ultimately, I'm bisexual. ... I have always lived my life the way I wanted." In the 1950s, the film producer Wenzel Lüdecke was his partner in life. Buchholz continued making films and television appearances until 2002. His final feature film was the fantasy Detective Lovelorn und die Rache des Pharao/Detective Lovelorn and the revenge of the pharaoh (Thomas Frick, 2002). In 2003, Horst Buchholz died unexpectedly in intensive care in Berlin of pneumonia while recovering from a broken thighbone. He was 69. Buchholz is buried in the Heerstraße Cemetery, Berlin. Berlin had been the city of his heart and was buried there in honour of that fact. He was married to French actress Myriam Bru, with whom he had two children, Christoph and Beatrice, who now lives as a Sikh in California under the name Simran Kaur Khalsa. Together with their mother, Buchholz's children realised his wish for a biography in the autumn of 2003, for which he had not found the time. Under the title 'Horst Buchholz - Sein Leben in Bildern' (Horst Buchholz - His Life in Pictures), they brought out an illustrated book with biographical notes that paid tribute to his life's work. His son Christopher Buchholz directed the documentary Horst Buchholz... mein Papa/Horst Buchholz... My Dad (Christoph Buchholz, Sandra Hacker, 2005). The son and daughter of the once-famous film star return to the empty apartment after their father's death and reminisce about his life, with interviews and clips. IMDb calls the film "an intimate and moving portrait of a man who was at once engagingly open to the world and also somewhat reclusive and evasive." German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2912. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Film. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Estambul 65/That Man in Istanbul (Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1965). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 4766. Photo: Vogelmann / Constantin. Publicity still for Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967). Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 295. Collection: Alina Deaconu. Marlène Jobert and Horst Buchholz in L'Astragale/Ankle Bone (Guy Casaril, 1969). Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie). Bob Stage (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia, Filmreference.com, AllMovie and IMDb. This post was last updated on 21 August 2023.

Encore! See also our other card of Pola in our European Film Star Postcard group: www.flickr.com/groups/650489@N21/. Italian postcard, nr. 462. Photo: Paramount.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 892/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder / Albani Film. Petite Italian actress and author Marcella Albani (1899-1959) appeared in 50 films from 1919 on. She was especially successful as elegant Latin lady in the German silent cinema. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 106/1, 1919-1924. Photo: May-Film / Becker & Maass, Berlin. Mia May (1884-1980) was one of the first divas of the German cinema. She starred in many films of her husband, producer, writer and director Joe May. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, nr. 105/5, 1916-1919. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin/May Film. Mia May (1884-1980) was one of the first divas of the German cinema. She starred in many films of her husband, producer, writer and director Joe May. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Horst ‘Hotte’ Buchholz (1933-2003) was the James Dean of the German Cinema. He was often typecast as a rebellious teenager in the late 1950s. Horst appeared in over sixty films between 1952 and 2002 and is now best remembered as the Mexican gunfighter Chico in The Magnificent Seven (1960). German postcard by Franz-Josef Rüdel, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1858. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2204. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2171. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2329. Photo: Interwest / Union / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). Austrian postcard by Lichtbild-Vertrieb Paula Weizmann, Wien, no. F 7. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). Biker-gang leader Horst Werner Buchholz was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1933. His father was a German shoemaker, while his mother was born to Danish parents. He never knew his biological father. Shortly after his birth, his mother placed him in the care of a foster family. He was given the name Buchholz when, in 1938, his mother married the cobbler Hugo Buchholz and took her son back into her home. They lived in the working-class Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. In 1941, her half-sister Heidi was born. She gave her older half-brother the nickname "Hotte", which he kept until his death. During World War II, he was evacuated to Silesia, and at the end of the war, he found himself in a foster home in Czechoslovakia. Buchholz barely finished his schooling before seeking theatre work, first appearing on stage in 1949. He soon left his childhood home in East Berlin to work in West Berlin. He landed his first stage role at 15 in a theatre version of the German children's classic 'Emil und die Detective' (Emil and the Detectives). In the next years, he established himself in the theatre and on the radio. After some dubbing work, he expanded into a film in 1952 and had a small part in the West German thriller Die Spur führt nach Berlin/All Clues Lead to Berlin (František Čáp, 1952) about a gang of counterfeiters with links to the former Nazi regime. He had a c0-starring part in Marianne, meine Jugendliebe/Marianne My Teenage Love (Julien Duvivier, 1955) starring Marianne Hold, based on a 1932 novel 'Schmerzliches Arkadien' by Peter von Mendelssohn. The film was released in separate French language and German language versions and Horst appeared only in the German version. Then he won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his lead in Himmel ohne Sterne/Sky Without Stars (Helmut Käutner, 1955) with Erik Schumann and Eva Kotthaus. His star-making role was the biker-gang leader Freddy in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) with Karin Baal. An English-dubbed version was released in the US as Teenage Wolfpack, with Buchholz billed as Henry Bookholt and promoted as a new James Dean. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "With the exception of Buchholz, most of the young toughs in the film are nonprofessionals, exuding a raw energy that many 'pros' could not emulate. Most of Die Halbstarken was lensed on location in genuine gang-ridden urban neighbourhoods." Another major film was Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957) based on the novel by Thomas Mann. It tells the fantastic story of charming rogue Felix Krull. After he dodges the military draft thanks to his acting abilities, he starts his con man career in a hotel in Paris. Soon he travels the world pretending to be the noble Marquis de Venosta, and his luck with the ladies, namely the eccentric Madame Houpflé and Zouzou, the daughter of his acquaintance Professor Kuckuck, comes in handy. Felix Krull always knows how to impress people, so even when he comes under suspicion of murder, he does not become desperate. The film, and its young star, received international acclaim. French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/92. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/93. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-147. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Klaus Collignon / Ufa. With Myriam Bru. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/94. Photo: Sam Lévin. Gandhi's assassin Horst Buchholz began appearing in foreign films in 1959. He was a villain in the British thriller Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). That same year he made his Broadway debut with 'Cherie', which starred Kim Stanley, in 1959. In Hollywood, he followed that with the Western The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960), a remake in an Old West–style of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954). The ensemble cast includes Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, and Horst Buchholz as a group of seven gunfighters and Eli Wallach as their main antagonist. Horst played the role originally portrayed by Toshiro Mifune in the Japanese version. The film was both a critical and commercial success and has been appraised as one of the greatest films of the Western genre. Then followed the role of Marius in the dramatic romance Fanny (Joshua Logan, 1961) with Leslie Caron, Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier. It was based on Marcel Pagnol's play 'Fanny' set in Marseille in the early 1920s. Buchholz also appeared in the Berlin-set madcap comedy One, Two, Three (Billy Wilder, 1961) opposite James Cagney, but then his star started to fade. As an international star, he played Gandhi's assassin in the British-American neo-noir crime film Nine Hours to Rama (Mark Robson, 1963) and starred opposite Catherine Spaak, Isa Miranda and Bette Davis in the Italian drama La noia/The Empty Canvas (Damiano Damiani, 1963), based on the best-selling novel 'La noia' by Alberto Moravia. He played Marco Polo in La fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo/Marco the Magnificent (Denys de la Patelliere, 1965) in a cast with Orson Welles, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif, but Raoul Levy committed suicide after losing most of his fortune financing this film. Another dud was the Franco-Spanish-Italian international co-production Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967), a highly fictionalised 1967 film biography of the early life of Miguel de Cervantes. Horst Buchholz's particular moment was over. He took the parts as they came, in films and on television, both in the US and in Europe. He returned to Hollywood lead roles briefly with The Great Waltz (Andrew L. Stone, 1971) playing Johann Strauss which was sadly another failure. More often, he appeared in supporting parts in forgettable comedies, war dramas and such Horror films as The Savage Bees (Bruce Geller, 1976) which follows a swarm of killer bees threatening people during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He guest starred on episodes of Logan's Run, Fantasy Island, Charlie's Angels, and How the West Was Won. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1941. Photo: NDF / Herzog-Film/ Ringpress / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Robinson soll nicht sterben/The Legend of Robinson Crusoe (Josef von Báky, 1957). East-German postcard by Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1203. Photo: Ingrid Andree and Horst Buchholz in Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957). German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2268. Photo: NDF / Herzog / Vogelmann // NDF / Herzog / Brünjes. Publicity stills for Monpti (Helmut Käutner, 1957) with Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. M 2482. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / Bavaria. Publicity stills for Auferstehung/Resurrection (Rolf Hansen, 1958). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 784. Photo: Rank. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7468. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Fanny (1962). Puzzles In the 1980s, Horst Buchholz mostly appeared in European films. He was the main star of the French-Swiss softcore pornographic film Aphrodite (Robert Fuest, 1982) with Valérie Kaprisky. The film is inspired by the novel 'Aphrodite: mœurs antiques' by Pierre Louÿs and follows a group of visitors who come to an island where they are involved in different sexual liaisons. He guest starred on the Krimi series Derrick and had a supporting part in the British-American adventure drama Sahara (Andrew V. MacLaglen, 1983) starring Brooke Shields. More interesting was his lead in the Polish-American historical drama I skrzypce przestaly grac/And the Violins Stopped Playing (Alexander Ramati, 1988) and based upon his biographical novel about an actual group of Romani people who were forced to flee from persecution by the Nazi regime at the height of the Porajmos (Romani holocaust), during World War II. Buchholz also played theatre again in Berlin, for example, the role of the Conférencier in the musical 'Cabaret' at the Theater des Westens in 1979. He then appeared in the judicial drama 'Die zwölf Geschorenen' (Twelve Angry Men) at the Renaissance Theatre in 1984 and in 'Die Geschäfte des Baron Laborde' by Hermann Broch at the Schillertheater in Berlin in 1986. Also interesting was the fantasy film In Weiter Ferne, so nah!/Faraway, So Close! (Wim Wenders, 1993). It is a sequel to Wenders' film Wings of Desire (1987), set in Berlin after the fall of the wall. Actors Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk reprise their roles as angels who have become human. The film also stars Buchholz, Nastassja Kinski, Willem Dafoe and Heinz Rühmann, in his last film role. Faraway, So Close! won the Grand Prix du Jury at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, but enjoyed less critical and commercial success than its predecessor. Buchholz's last important role was in the Oscar-winning La vita è bella/Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Begnini, 1997). He played the doctor whose obsession with puzzles blinds him to his ability to help Roberto Benigni in the concentration camp. Thanks to his gift for languages, Buchholz was able to dub himself in the foreign releases of the film. The film was an overwhelming critical and commercial success. It received widespread acclaim, with critics praising its story, performances and direction, and the union of drama and comedy, despite some criticisms of using the subject matter for comedic purposes. The film grossed over $230 million worldwide and won the Grand Prix at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and three Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 85. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. Vintage card. German postcard by W.S.-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F4. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 20. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 21. Retail price: 25 Pf. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 22. Retail price: 25 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-31. Sent by mail in 1963. Photo: Bavaria Film. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-112. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. Out of the closet In 2000, Horst Buchholz came out of the closet in the German magazine Bunte as having 'bisexual tendencies', which he had always lived out - albeit in secret: "Yes, I also love men. Ultimately, I'm bisexual. ... I have always lived my life the way I wanted." In the 1950s, the film producer Wenzel Lüdecke was his partner in life. Buchholz continued making films and television appearances until 2002. His final feature film was the fantasy Detective Lovelorn und die Rache des Pharao/Detective Lovelorn and the revenge of the pharaoh (Thomas Frick, 2002). In 2003, Horst Buchholz died unexpectedly in intensive care in Berlin of pneumonia while recovering from a broken thighbone. He was 69. Buchholz is buried in the Heerstraße Cemetery, Berlin. Berlin had been the city of his heart and was buried there in honour of that fact. He was married to French actress Myriam Bru, with whom he had two children, Christoph and Beatrice, who now lives as a Sikh in California under the name Simran Kaur Khalsa. Together with their mother, Buchholz's children realised his wish for a biography in the autumn of 2003, for which he had not found the time. Under the title 'Horst Buchholz - Sein Leben in Bildern' (Horst Buchholz - His Life in Pictures), they brought out an illustrated book with biographical notes that paid tribute to his life's work. His son Christopher Buchholz directed the documentary Horst Buchholz... mein Papa/Horst Buchholz... My Dad (Christoph Buchholz, Sandra Hacker, 2005). The son and daughter of the once-famous film star return to the empty apartment after their father's death and reminisce about his life, with interviews and clips. IMDb calls the film "an intimate and moving portrait of a man who was at once engagingly open to the world and also somewhat reclusive and evasive." German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2912. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Film. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Estambul 65/That Man in Istanbul (Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1965). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 4766. Photo: Vogelmann / Constantin. Publicity still for Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967). Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 295. Collection: Alina Deaconu. Marlène Jobert and Horst Buchholz in L'Astragale/Ankle Bone (Guy Casaril, 1969). Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie). Bob Stage (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia, Filmreference.com, AllMovie and IMDb. This post was last updated on 21 August 2023.

Horst ‘Hotte’ Buchholz (1933-2003) was the James Dean of the German Cinema. He was often typecast as a rebellious teenager in the late 1950s. Horst appeared in over sixty films between 1952 and 2002 and is now best remembered as the Mexican gunfighter Chico in The Magnificent Seven (1960). German postcard by Franz-Josef Rüdel, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1858. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2204. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2171. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2329. Photo: Interwest / Union / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). Austrian postcard by Lichtbild-Vertrieb Paula Weizmann, Wien, no. F 7. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). Biker-gang leader Horst Werner Buchholz was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1933. His father was a German shoemaker, while his mother was born to Danish parents. He never knew his biological father. Shortly after his birth, his mother placed him in the care of a foster family. He was given the name Buchholz when, in 1938, his mother married the cobbler Hugo Buchholz and took her son back into her home. They lived in the working-class Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. In 1941, her half-sister Heidi was born. She gave her older half-brother the nickname "Hotte", which he kept until his death. During World War II, he was evacuated to Silesia, and at the end of the war, he found himself in a foster home in Czechoslovakia. Buchholz barely finished his schooling before seeking theatre work, first appearing on stage in 1949. He soon left his childhood home in East Berlin to work in West Berlin. He landed his first stage role at 15 in a theatre version of the German children's classic 'Emil und die Detective' (Emil and the Detectives). In the next years, he established himself in the theatre and on the radio. After some dubbing work, he expanded into a film in 1952 and had a small part in the West German thriller Die Spur führt nach Berlin/All Clues Lead to Berlin (František Čáp, 1952) about a gang of counterfeiters with links to the former Nazi regime. He had a c0-starring part in Marianne, meine Jugendliebe/Marianne My Teenage Love (Julien Duvivier, 1955) starring Marianne Hold, based on a 1932 novel 'Schmerzliches Arkadien' by Peter von Mendelssohn. The film was released in separate French language and German language versions and Horst appeared only in the German version. Then he won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his lead in Himmel ohne Sterne/Sky Without Stars (Helmut Käutner, 1955) with Erik Schumann and Eva Kotthaus. His star-making role was the biker-gang leader Freddy in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) with Karin Baal. An English-dubbed version was released in the US as Teenage Wolfpack, with Buchholz billed as Henry Bookholt and promoted as a new James Dean. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "With the exception of Buchholz, most of the young toughs in the film are nonprofessionals, exuding a raw energy that many 'pros' could not emulate. Most of Die Halbstarken was lensed on location in genuine gang-ridden urban neighbourhoods." Another major film was Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957) based on the novel by Thomas Mann. It tells the fantastic story of charming rogue Felix Krull. After he dodges the military draft thanks to his acting abilities, he starts his con man career in a hotel in Paris. Soon he travels the world pretending to be the noble Marquis de Venosta, and his luck with the ladies, namely the eccentric Madame Houpflé and Zouzou, the daughter of his acquaintance Professor Kuckuck, comes in handy. Felix Krull always knows how to impress people, so even when he comes under suspicion of murder, he does not become desperate. The film, and its young star, received international acclaim. French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/92. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/93. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-147. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Klaus Collignon / Ufa. With Myriam Bru. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/94. Photo: Sam Lévin. Gandhi's assassin Horst Buchholz began appearing in foreign films in 1959. He was a villain in the British thriller Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). That same year he made his Broadway debut with 'Cherie', which starred Kim Stanley, in 1959. In Hollywood, he followed that with the Western The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960), a remake in an Old West–style of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954). The ensemble cast includes Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, and Horst Buchholz as a group of seven gunfighters and Eli Wallach as their main antagonist. Horst played the role originally portrayed by Toshiro Mifune in the Japanese version. The film was both a critical and commercial success and has been appraised as one of the greatest films of the Western genre. Then followed the role of Marius in the dramatic romance Fanny (Joshua Logan, 1961) with Leslie Caron, Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier. It was based on Marcel Pagnol's play 'Fanny' set in Marseille in the early 1920s. Buchholz also appeared in the Berlin-set madcap comedy One, Two, Three (Billy Wilder, 1961) opposite James Cagney, but then his star started to fade. As an international star, he played Gandhi's assassin in the British-American neo-noir crime film Nine Hours to Rama (Mark Robson, 1963) and starred opposite Catherine Spaak, Isa Miranda and Bette Davis in the Italian drama La noia/The Empty Canvas (Damiano Damiani, 1963), based on the best-selling novel 'La noia' by Alberto Moravia. He played Marco Polo in La fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo/Marco the Magnificent (Denys de la Patelliere, 1965) in a cast with Orson Welles, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif, but Raoul Levy committed suicide after losing most of his fortune financing this film. Another dud was the Franco-Spanish-Italian international co-production Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967), a highly fictionalised 1967 film biography of the early life of Miguel de Cervantes. Horst Buchholz's particular moment was over. He took the parts as they came, in films and on television, both in the US and in Europe. He returned to Hollywood lead roles briefly with The Great Waltz (Andrew L. Stone, 1971) playing Johann Strauss which was sadly another failure. More often, he appeared in supporting parts in forgettable comedies, war dramas and such Horror films as The Savage Bees (Bruce Geller, 1976) which follows a swarm of killer bees threatening people during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He guest starred on episodes of Logan's Run, Fantasy Island, Charlie's Angels, and How the West Was Won. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1941. Photo: NDF / Herzog-Film/ Ringpress / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Robinson soll nicht sterben/The Legend of Robinson Crusoe (Josef von Báky, 1957). East-German postcard by Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1203. Photo: Ingrid Andree and Horst Buchholz in Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957). German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2268. Photo: NDF / Herzog / Vogelmann // NDF / Herzog / Brünjes. Publicity stills for Monpti (Helmut Käutner, 1957) with Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. M 2482. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / Bavaria. Publicity stills for Auferstehung/Resurrection (Rolf Hansen, 1958). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 784. Photo: Rank. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7468. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Fanny (1962). Puzzles In the 1980s, Horst Buchholz mostly appeared in European films. He was the main star of the French-Swiss softcore pornographic film Aphrodite (Robert Fuest, 1982) with Valérie Kaprisky. The film is inspired by the novel 'Aphrodite: mœurs antiques' by Pierre Louÿs and follows a group of visitors who come to an island where they are involved in different sexual liaisons. He guest starred on the Krimi series Derrick and had a supporting part in the British-American adventure drama Sahara (Andrew V. MacLaglen, 1983) starring Brooke Shields. More interesting was his lead in the Polish-American historical drama I skrzypce przestaly grac/And the Violins Stopped Playing (Alexander Ramati, 1988) and based upon his biographical novel about an actual group of Romani people who were forced to flee from persecution by the Nazi regime at the height of the Porajmos (Romani holocaust), during World War II. Buchholz also played theatre again in Berlin, for example, the role of the Conférencier in the musical 'Cabaret' at the Theater des Westens in 1979. He then appeared in the judicial drama 'Die zwölf Geschorenen' (Twelve Angry Men) at the Renaissance Theatre in 1984 and in 'Die Geschäfte des Baron Laborde' by Hermann Broch at the Schillertheater in Berlin in 1986. Also interesting was the fantasy film In Weiter Ferne, so nah!/Faraway, So Close! (Wim Wenders, 1993). It is a sequel to Wenders' film Wings of Desire (1987), set in Berlin after the fall of the wall. Actors Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk reprise their roles as angels who have become human. The film also stars Buchholz, Nastassja Kinski, Willem Dafoe and Heinz Rühmann, in his last film role. Faraway, So Close! won the Grand Prix du Jury at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, but enjoyed less critical and commercial success than its predecessor. Buchholz's last important role was in the Oscar-winning La vita è bella/Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Begnini, 1997). He played the doctor whose obsession with puzzles blinds him to his ability to help Roberto Benigni in the concentration camp. Thanks to his gift for languages, Buchholz was able to dub himself in the foreign releases of the film. The film was an overwhelming critical and commercial success. It received widespread acclaim, with critics praising its story, performances and direction, and the union of drama and comedy, despite some criticisms of using the subject matter for comedic purposes. The film grossed over $230 million worldwide and won the Grand Prix at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and three Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 85. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. Vintage card. German postcard by W.S.-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F4. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 20. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 21. Retail price: 25 Pf. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 22. Retail price: 25 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-31. Sent by mail in 1963. Photo: Bavaria Film. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-112. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. Out of the closet In 2000, Horst Buchholz came out of the closet in the German magazine Bunte as having 'bisexual tendencies', which he had always lived out - albeit in secret: "Yes, I also love men. Ultimately, I'm bisexual. ... I have always lived my life the way I wanted." In the 1950s, the film producer Wenzel Lüdecke was his partner in life. Buchholz continued making films and television appearances until 2002. His final feature film was the fantasy Detective Lovelorn und die Rache des Pharao/Detective Lovelorn and the revenge of the pharaoh (Thomas Frick, 2002). In 2003, Horst Buchholz died unexpectedly in intensive care in Berlin of pneumonia while recovering from a broken thighbone. He was 69. Buchholz is buried in the Heerstraße Cemetery, Berlin. Berlin had been the city of his heart and was buried there in honour of that fact. He was married to French actress Myriam Bru, with whom he had two children, Christoph and Beatrice, who now lives as a Sikh in California under the name Simran Kaur Khalsa. Together with their mother, Buchholz's children realised his wish for a biography in the autumn of 2003, for which he had not found the time. Under the title 'Horst Buchholz - Sein Leben in Bildern' (Horst Buchholz - His Life in Pictures), they brought out an illustrated book with biographical notes that paid tribute to his life's work. His son Christopher Buchholz directed the documentary Horst Buchholz... mein Papa/Horst Buchholz... My Dad (Christoph Buchholz, Sandra Hacker, 2005). The son and daughter of the once-famous film star return to the empty apartment after their father's death and reminisce about his life, with interviews and clips. IMDb calls the film "an intimate and moving portrait of a man who was at once engagingly open to the world and also somewhat reclusive and evasive." German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2912. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Film. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Estambul 65/That Man in Istanbul (Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1965). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 4766. Photo: Vogelmann / Constantin. Publicity still for Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967). Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 295. Collection: Alina Deaconu. Marlène Jobert and Horst Buchholz in L'Astragale/Ankle Bone (Guy Casaril, 1969). Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie). Bob Stage (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia, Filmreference.com, AllMovie and IMDb. This post was last updated on 21 August 2023.

German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-55. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Ufa. Italian singer, dancer and actress Caterina Valente (1931) was the queen of the German Schlager music, but her popularity was global. She also played, sang and danced in fifteen films. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

Polish postcard by Edition Victoria PW, no. 209. Handsome Victor Varconi (1891–1976) was a highly successful matinee idol of the Hungarian-Austrian and German silent cinema in the 1910s and early 1920s. Later he was the first Hungarian actor to become a Hollywood star until the sound film completely altered the course of his career. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, nr. 554. Smart and sexy Julie Christie (1941) is an icon of the new British cinema. During the Swinging Sixties she became a superstar with such roles as Lara in the worldwide smash hit Doctor Zhivago (1965). Since then she has won the Academy, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 1677. Albert Bassermann (1867–1952) was one of the first great German stage actors who worked for the cinema. In 1933 he fled the Nazi regime and became an Oscar-nominated stage and film actor in the US. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 4 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake (Harald Reinl, 1963) was the most successful German film of the 1962/1963 season. Surprisingly, it even beat the first James Bond film, Dr. No (Terence Young, 1962), at the German box offices. Der Schatz im Silbersee starred Lex Barker, for the first time in the role of Old Shatterhand, and French actor Pierre Brice as his friend, the Apache-chief Winnetou. For many people born in the 1950s or 1960s, Winnetou became one of our favourite heroes. Lex Barker and Pierre Brice. German postcard, no. E 51. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou and Old Shatterhand discover a crime. Brinkley, known as Cornel, and his gang of criminals attacked the stagecoach and murdered Erik Engel, who had a secret plan with him on his way to the legendary "Treasure in Silver Lake". Götz George. German postcard, no. E 52. Photo: Constantin. Caption: When Angel's son Fred, who works on Butler's farm, learns of his father's murder, he immediately sets off to find the perpetrator. Lex Barker. German postcard, no. E 53. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Fred meets Old Shatterhand, who promises to help him find the Cornel. Winnetou, however, wants to keep an eye on the gang of criminals. Pierre Brice. German postcard, no. E 54. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou discovers the bandits' hiding place, overhears their advice and learns that the sketch is incomplete. The other half of the plan is in the hands of Patterson, who is on Butler's farm with his daughter Ellen. German postcard, no. E 55. Photo: Constantin. Caption: As soon as Old Shatterhand and Fred arrive at Butler's farm, the gang rushes to besiege the farm. Old Shatterhand Although it was a Western, Der Schatz im Silbersee was a truly European film, a co-production of Germany, Yugoslavia, and France. The film starred Hollywood star Lex Barker in the role of Old Shatterhand. Barker was best known as a former Tarzan, who played the King of the Jungle in films like Tarzan's Magic Fountain (Lee Sholem, 1949) and Tarzan's Peril (Byron Haskin, 1951). He had also appeared in Westerns like the film adaptation of James Fennimore Cooper's The Deerslayer (Kurt Neumann, 1957), which had been very successful in Germany. When his Hollywood career dried up, Lex Barker moved to Italy. There he appeared as a Hollywood movie star in La Dolce Vita/The Sweet Life (Federico Fellini, 1960) starring Marcello Mastroianni. German producer Artur Brauner invited him to work in Germany, where he starred in such crime films as Das Stahlnetz des dr. Mabuse/The Return of Dr. Mabuse (Harald Reinl, 1961) opposite Gert Fröbe. Then the role of Old Shatterhand made him a cult star. At his side, Pierre Brice played Apache-chief Winnetou. It made the till then unknown French actor an icon of the 1960s. The supporting cast was also an international mix. British Herbert Lom was cast as the bad Colonel Brinkley. From Germany, there were the young lovers Karin Dor and Götz George. Grand Old lady Marianne Hoppe had her first international film role and for the laughs, Eddi Arent (Lord Castlepool) and Ralf Wolter (Trapper Sam Hawkins) can be seen. There were also many Yugoslavian actors in the cast, including Mirko Boman (Gunstick Uncle), Sima Janicijevic a.k.a. Jan Sid (Patterson) and Jozo Kovacevic (Grosser Wolf). Karin Dor and Jan Sid. German postcard, no. E 56. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Patterson and his daughter Ellen, who had ridden out, fall into the hands of the bandits. The Cornel demands the second half of the plan as a ransom. Lex Barker. German postcard, no. E 57. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand and Fred manage to free Patterson and his daughter Ellen and to get them to the farm through a secret passage. Götz George. German postcard, no. E 58. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The Cornel now runs furiously against the walls of the farm with his gang, and there is a hot fight for life and death. German postcard, no. E 59. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou arrives at the last minute. Together with the friend of the Osage tribe, he hurries to help the afflicted on Butler's farm. Marianne Hoppe and Karin Dor. German postcard, no. E 60. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Mrs. Butler and Ellen watch the beaten criminal gang pulling away with joy and satisfaction. Non-stop action Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake (Harald Reinl, 1962) was the first film adaptation of a novel by Karl May set in the American West. Karl May (1842-1912) was one of the best-read authors of Germany, and many kids played Cowboys and Indians, inspired by May's stories. Earlier films after his exotic adventure novels were all set in the Near East. The first was Die Teufelsanbeter/The Devil Worshippers (Marie Luise Droop, 1920) starring 'the Indiana Jones of the 1910s and 1920s' Carl de Vogt and Béla Lugosi. A later example was Die Sklavenkarawane/The Slave Caravan (Georg Marischka, Ramón Torrado, 1958) with Viktor Staal as Kara Ben Nemsi. However, the principal shooting took place in national park Paklenica karst river canyon, Yugoslavia (now Croatia). The result was surprising. John Seal at IMDb: "Treasure of Silver Lake is one of the most entertaining films I've ever seen. Establishing the template for every euro-western that followed, it features non-stop action, beautiful scenery (unfortunately compromised by the pan and scan version recently aired on Encore Westerns), and an amusing and watchable cast. Like most euro-westerns, the film is more sympathetic to Native Americans than a typical Hollywood movie, but the Indians aren't really the focal point of the story". Götz George. German postcard, no. E 61. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Fred pursues the Cornel and he manages to take the first half of the plan from him. However, the killer himself escapes. German postcard, no. E 62. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Happy with the liberation, the residents of Butler's Farm say goodbye to their friends, the Osage. At the same time, the search for the "treasure in the silver lake" is decided. German postcard, no. E 63. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The Cornel, however, wants to prevent the others from advancing. He sets fire to a village of the Utah Indians and, with this diabolical plan, makes the Utahs take revenge on all white people. Karin Dor, Pierre Brice, and Lex Barker. German postcard, no. E 64. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou, Old Shatterhand, and their friends are stunned in front of the burned village. Ellen, moving away from the group, is kidnapped by gang observers. Now the Cornel triumphs. Götz George and Karin Dor. German postcard, no. E 65. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Hurrying to help Ellen, Fred volunteers to join the gang. He promises to lead the bandits to the silver lake in order to sell his and Ellen's freedom. Successful track The Old Shatterhand-Melodie, the title melody played on the harmonica by René Giessen and composed by Martin Böttcher was the most successful track in the German hit parade in the 1960s. It stayed there for several months and over 100,000 copies were sold. At the time that was very unusual, especially for a soundtrack without any singers. The music was played by members of the symphony-orchestra of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk. The theme was later also recorded as a vocal track by several singers, including a version by Pierre Brice. Composer Böttcher wrote in 1955 the music for his first film, Der Hauptmann und sein Held/The Captain and His Hero (Max Nosseck, 1955). Already his next film Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) starring Horst Buchholz, was a great artistic success for himself. He became one of the busiest composers for Cinema and TV in Germany. German postcard, no. E 66. Photo: Constantin. Caption: In the opinion that Old Shatterhand and his friends set fire to the village, the Utahs, led by their chief "Big Wolf", capture the small expedition. German postcard, no. E 67. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand and his friends arrive in the Utah village. Nobody knows yet what will happen to the whites. Jan Sid and Lex Barker. German postcard, no. E 68. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand and Patterson are worried about Ellen and Fred because they wanted to be in front of the gang at Silver Lake. German postcard, no. E 69. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The Utah Council decides the judgment of God: Old Shatterhand is supposed to fight with the Utah chief. German postcard, no. E 70. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The winner should live, the loser should die. Bambi German director Harald Reinl and producer Horst Wendlandt came up with a series of Eurowesterns which didn´t copy the American Western. The American trade magazine Variety wrote in 1963 that 'See' was obviously better than the average Hollywood Western: "Although there are the inevitable fistfights and shoot-outs, the film does not copy the Hollywood format, but has a more philosophical (European!) Touch. The Western (filmed in Cinemascope) also benefits from the wonderful landscapes." The European audiences loved it and Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake became a huge success. It was the very first German film to receive the Goldene Leinwand (Golden Screen) for having over 3 million visitors within 12 months. The film also won the Bambi-award 1963 as best 'box-office-production' and also received a sum of 200,000 DM from the government in 1963 as a film-prize. Der Schatz im Silbersee was sold to 60 countries - an incredible success for the European film industry. German postcard, no. E 71. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The powerful chief is an equal opponent for Old Shatterhand. German postcard, no. E 72. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand falls. He defeats his opponent with his last strength but spares his life. German postcard, no. E 73. Photo: Constantin. Caption: In the general turmoil, the whites manage to pull off unhindered. They have lost a lot of time and hurry to Silver Lake as quickly as possible. German postcard, no. E 74. Photo: Constantin. Caption: There is a delay again. A Utah headman swears private vengeance and pursues the whites. Winnetou uses a trick. German postcard, no. E 75. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Winnetou lures the Utahs into a canyon. The rushing chief "Big Wolf" can restore peace and joins Old Shatterhand and Winnetou. Götz George and Karin Dor. German postcard, no. E 76. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Fred delay tactic fails. The gang reaches the silver lake in front of Old Shatterhand. Tied up, Fred and Ellen have to watch the gang build a raft to reach the cave with the treasure. Herbert Lom. German postcard, no. E 77. Photo: Constantin. Caption: The Cornel and four of his cronies reach the cave and overwhelm the guardian of the treasure, an ancient blind Indian. A popular sub-genre Although Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake introduced Old-Shatterhand (Lex Barker) and Apache-chief Winnetou (Pierre Brice), Der Schatz im Silbersee is set in the time after the sequel Winnetou - 1. Teil/Apache Gold (Harald Reinl, 1963). This would not be the only sequel. Between 1962 and 1968, 11 Eurowesterns were produced based on the novels by Karl May. The early films preceded also another popular European film sub-genre, the Spaghetti Western. And Eastern-Germany had its own Indian films, produced by the DEFA studio. Between 1966 and 1979 there were 12 East-German Westerns, often starring Serbian actor Gojko Mitic, who became an equally popular Icon in Eastern Europe as Pierre Brice was in West Europe. Herbert Lom. German postcard, no. E 78. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Possessed by the gold rush, the criminals kill each other. The Cornel also has his deserved fate. The dying Indian triggers a mechanism and the bandit sinks with the treasure. German postcard, no. E 79. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Since the Cornel has not returned, the gang wants to hang Fred. Old Shatterhand who hurried in time shoots the rope and thus saves Fred's life. Karin Dor and Jan Sid. German postcard, no. E 80. Photo: Constantin. Caption: At the same time, Patterson and the "Big Wolf" can free Ellen, and the Utah Indians help destroy the rest of the gang. German postcard, no. E 81. Photo: Constantin. Caption: Old Shatterhand and Winnetou enter the cave. They see that the treasure of Silver Lake has sunk forever. German postcard, no. E 82. Photo: Constantin. Caption: After a friendly farewell to the Utahs and white friends, Winnetou and Old Shatterhand ride towards new adventures. German envelope for postcards of Der Schatz in Silbersee (Harald Reinl, 1962). Sources: Bernd Desinger & Matthias Knop (Der Schatz im Silbersee), IMDb and Wikipedia (German). This post was last updated on 6 August 2020.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. FK 4138. Photo: Contact Oranisation, Paris / Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof. French sex kitten Agnès Laurent (1938-2010) featured in a dozen European sex comedies in the late 1950s and early 1960s. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

The trademark of French actor, singer and entertainer Maurice Chevalier (1988-1972) was his casual straw hat, which he always wore on stage, plus a cane and a tuxedo. His signature songs included 'Louise', 'Mimi' and 'Thank Heaven for Little Girls'. For the cinema, he worked with such directors as Max Linder, Ernst Lubitsch, Ludwig Berger, René Clair, and Vincente Minelli. His heavy French accent, melodic voice and Gallic charm made him the prototype of the gallant French monsieur in the Hollywood cinema of the 1930s. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 201. Photo: Comoedia. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leurs expressions, no. 1051. Photo: Comoedia. Dutch postcard, no 112. Photo: Paramount. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 531. Photo: Paramount. Dutch postcard, ca. 1932. Photo: Paramount. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6709/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Paramount. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6732/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for One Hour with You (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932). Folies-Bergère Maurice Auguste Chevalier was born in Paris, France, in 1888, the youngest of nine children. His father was a house painter and his mother, Josephine van den Bosch, was French of Belgian descent. His father did not work steadily. To help out, the 11-year-old Chevalier quit school and worked a number of jobs: a carpenter's apprentice, electrician, printer, and even a doll painter. According to IMDb, he was even a sparring partner to heavyweight boxing champion Georges Carpentier. After he was injured, he began singing in Paris cafes. In 1901, he was singing, unpaid, at a cafe when a member of the theatre saw him and suggested he would try for a local musical. In the following years, 'Mo' appeared in cafes and music halls as a singer and dancer. In 1908 he debuted as a comical actor in short films like Trop crédules/Susceptible Youth (Jean Durand, 1908) and he even worked a few times with the celebrated comedian Max Linder in Par habitude/By Habit (Max Linder, 1911) and Une mariée qui se fait attendre/A bride who is waiting (Louis J. Gasnier, 1911). In 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France, Fréhel. She secured him his first major engagement, as a mimic and a singer in l'Alcazar in Marseille. His act in l'Alcazar was so successful, that he made a triumphant re-arrival in Paris. However, due to her alcoholism and drug addiction, the liaison with Fréhel ended in 1911. 23-year-old Chevalier then started a relationship with 36-year-old Mistinguett at the Folies Bergère, where he was her dance partner. Soon she became his lover as well. He also appeared with her in the short comedies Une bougie récalcitrante/A recalcitrant candle (Georges Monca, 1912) and La valse renversante/The stunning waltz (Georges Monca, 1914). French postcard. Photo Aldo. French postcard. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: "L'appetit vient en buvant, quand on boit du Campari." French postcard. Photo Studio Manuel Frères. "L'appetit vient en buvant quand on boit du Campari." Vintage postcard. Photo: Paramount. French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, Paris, no. 794. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch, 1929) with Jeanette MacDonald. French postcard. Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert In Paramount's romantic comedy La grande mare (Hobart Henley, 1930), the French language version of The Big Pond (Hobart Henley, 1930). German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5749/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Paramount on Parade (Dorothy Arzner a.o., 1930) with Jack Oakie and Clara Bow. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5976/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch, 1931) with Miriam Hopkins. French postcard. Photo: Apers, Paris. Son text of Mama Inez. German prisoner camp During World War I, Maurice Chevalier fought in the French army. He was wounded by shrapnel in the back in the first weeks of combat and was taken as a prisoner of war. During his two years in a German POW camp, he learned English from an English prisoner. According to Wikipedia, he was released in 1916 through the secret intervention of Mistinguett's admirer, King Alfonso XIII of Spain, the only king of a neutral country who related to both the British and German royal families. Later Chevalier was awarded a Croix de Guerre. In 1917, Chevalier became a star in Le Casino de Paris and played before British soldiers and Americans. After the war, he rose to world fame as a star of music halls. He discovered jazz and ragtime. He went to London, where he found new success at the Palace Theatre, even though he still sang in French. Maurce Chevalier started thinking about touring the United States. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4676/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount. French postcard by Edition Ross, no. 5545/2. Photo: Paramount. With Trude Berliner. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5748/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Paramount. It is unknown for which film this still was made. Probably it was an alternative language version of a Paramount production, produced at the Paramount Studios near Paris. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6200/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Paramount. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6200/2. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch, 1931). German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7790/1. Photo: Paramount. Real-life lovers Marlene Dietrich and Maurice Chevalier at a Paramount set. Dietrich is dressed as the peasant girl from the beginning of The Song of Songs (Rouben Mamoulian, 1933). Chevalier wears what looks like a bathrobe, so he might just have been busy on another Paramount set at the same time. In the film A Bedtime Story (Norman Taurog, 1933) he wears the same shoes. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6200/3, 1931-1932. Photo: Paramount. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8034/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Paramount. Bad boy After his London success, Maurice Chevalier toured the United States, where he met the American composers George Gershwin and Irving Berlin. Chevalier returned to Paris and developed an interest in acting. He made a huge impression in the operetta 'Dédé' by Henri Christiné and a libretto by Albert Willemetz. In addition to his work on the stage, Chevalier began appearing in films like Le Mauvais garçon/Bad Boy (Henri Diamant Berger, 1922) and Jim Bougne, boxeur (Henri Diamant Berger, 1923). In Gonzague (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922), he co-starred with Marguerite Moreno and Georges Milton. With the help of George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, he brought Dédé to Broadway in 1922. Douglas Fairbanks offered him star billing in a Hollywood film with Mary Pickford, but Chevalier doubted his own talent for silent films. The films he had made in Paris had largely failed. In 1922, Chevalier also met Yvonne Vallée, a young dancer, who became his wife in 1927. In these years, he created several songs still known today, such as 'Valentine' (1924). Dutch Postcard, no. 74. Photo: publicity still for Le petit café (1931), a Paramount production directed by the great director Ludwig Berger. Dutch postcard. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Le petit café (Ludwig Berger, 1931). French or Dutch postcard, no. 1876-33. Probably for Le petit café (Ludwig Berger, 1931). The card was mailed in the Netherlands. The mark top right refers to the Dutch Central Board of Censorship. Dutch postcard, no. 93, Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Playboy of Paris (Ludwig Berger, 1930). Collection: Egbert Barten. Dutch postcard. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Playboy of Paris (Ludwig Berger, 1930) with Frances Dee. With Jeanette MacDonald. Dutch postcard, no. 402. Photo: Paramount. British postcard in the Colourgraph series, London, no. C 64. Belgian postcard by Delacre, Charleroi. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Love Parade. Postcard for the Trianon Cinema, Passage de la Bourse, Charleroi, Belgium, where the film was shown from Friday 19 September 1930 on. French postcard. Photo: Paramount. The epitome of French charm and sophistication When the sound film arrived in 1928, Maurice Chevalier tried his luck in Hollywood. In 1929 he starred for Paramount Pictures in his first American film musical, Innocents of Paris (Richard Wallace, 1929). In this film, he introduced his theme song, Louise (music by Richard A. Whiting, lyrics by Leo Robin). He was nominated for Academy Awards for The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch, 1929) and The Big Pond (Hobart Henley, 1930). The Big Pond gave Chevalier his first big American hit songs, Livin' In the Sunlight - Lovin' In the Moonlight, plus A New Kind of Love. Besides The Love Parade, Chevalier and director Ernst Lubitsch made four more hilarious pictures together, the all-star revue film Paramount on Parade (1930), The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) with Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins, the Oscar-nominated One Hour With You (1932) - again with Jeanette MacDonald, and The Merry Widow (1934), the first sound film version of the famous Franz Lehár operetta. Between 1928 and 1935, Chevalier became recognised as 'the epitome of French charm and sophistication'. His films were instrumental in making film musicals popular again around 1932 and he became the highest-paid star in Hollywood. As the star of radio's long-running Chase and Sanborn Hour, he earned $5000 weekly, a record for radio performers up to that time. French postcard. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Le petit café/Playboy of Paris (Ludwig Berger, 1931). Collection: Egbert Barten. Belgian postcard. Card for the Cine-Palace, Brussels, where the film ran 2-8 October 1931. Le petit café (Ludwig Berger, 1931) was the French language version of Playboy of Paris (Ludwig Berger, 1930). Dutch postcard, no. 302. Photo: Paramount. Maurice Chevalier in the musical comedy The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch, 1931). French postcard by Europe, no. 73. Photo: Paramount. With Lily Damita in Une heure près de toi (George Cukor, Ernst Lubitsch, 1932), the French language version of One Hour With You. British card. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Way to Love (Norman Taurog, 1933) with Edward Everett Horton. British card. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Way to Love (Norman Taurog, 1933) with Mutt. British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for A Bedtime Story (Norman Taurog, 1933) with Baby Leroy. Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: United Artists. Publicity still for Folies Bergère de Paris (Roy Del Ruth, 1935) with Merle Oberon. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 816. Photo: Paramount. Serial killer In 1935 Maurice returned to Europe, where he also made several films, like Le vagabond bien-aimé/The Beloved Vagabond (Kurt Bernhardt aka Curtis Bernhardt, 1936), Avec le sourire/With a Smile (Maurice Tourneur, 1936), L'homme du jour/The Man of the Hour (Julien Duvivier, 1937) and Pièges/Snares (Robert Siodmak, 1939) in which he played a serial killer opposite Marie Déa and Pierre Renoir. In 1937, he married the dancer Nita Raya. He had several stage successes, such as his revue Paris en Joie in the Casino de Paris. A year later, he performed in Amours de Paris. His songs continued to become big hits, such as Prosper (1935), Ma Pomme (1936) and Ça fait d'excellents français (1939). In 1938 he was decorated a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. During World War II, Chevalier kept performing for audiences. In 1941, he performed a new revue in the Casino de Paris: Bonjour Paris, which was another success. From 1941 to 1945, he sang the songs composed by Henri Betti with the lyrics of Maurice Vandair as Notre Espoir (1941), La Chanson du Maçon (1941) and La Fête à Neu-Neu (1943). The Nazis asked Chevalier to perform in Berlin and to sing for the collaborating radio station Radio-Paris. He refused, but he did perform in front of war prisoners in Germany at the camp where he was interned in World War I and succeeded in liberating ten people in exchange. In 1942 he returned to Bocca, near Cannes, but returned to Paris in September. In 1944 when Allied forces freed France, Chevalier was accused of collaborationism. Even though he was acquitted by a French-convened court, the English-speaking press remained hostile and he was refused a visa for several years. For this, Wikipedia gives another explanation: "In 1944, he had already participated in a Communist demonstration in Paris. He was therefore even less popular in the U.S. during the McCarthyism period; in 1951, he was refused re-entry into the U.S. because he had signed the Stockholm Appeal." This was a petition against nuclear weapons and the U.S. State Department had declared Chevalier "potentially dangerous" to the security of the United States. Dutch postcard, no. 196. Photo: Paramount. Dutch postcard by JosPe, no. 30, mailed in 1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 290. In 1932 Maurice Chevalier visited the Dutch cities of Amsterdam, The Hague and Volendam. Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 392 Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem. Photo: Maurice Chevalier in the fisher town of Volendam, The Netherlands. This picture was taken in 1932 when he visited Holland. Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem. 'Den Haag 21 September 1932' is written on the backside of the postcard. That night Chevalier performed at the Gebouw voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen (Arts & Sciences building) in Den Haag/The Hague, The Netherlands. The day before Chevalier had visited Volendam and Amsterdam and had performed at the still-existing - Amsterdam movie palace Tuschinski Theater. Gigi After World War II, Maurice Chevalier was still popular in France. In 1946, he split from Nita Raya and started writing his memoirs, which took many years to complete. He toured the world with his one-man show and acted in films like Le Silence est d'Or/Silence Is Golden (René Clair, 1946). In 1952, he bought a large property in Marnes-la-Coquette, near Paris, and named it La Louque, as a homage to his mother's nickname. He started a relationship in 1952 with Janie Michels, a young divorcee with three children. In the late 1950s, after the McCarthy era abated, he returned to Hollywood. The Billy Wilder film Love in the Afternoon (1957) with Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper was his first Hollywood film in more than 20 years. Chevalier then appeared in the hit musical Gigi (Vincente Minnelli, 1958) with Leslie Caron. Older and grey-headed he sang his signature songs, Thank Heaven for Little Girls, and I Remember it Well, the latter with Hermione Gingold. The success of Gigi prompted Hollywood to give him an Honorary Academy Award in 1959 for his achievements in entertainment. In the 1960s, he continued to make a few more films, including the drama Fanny (Joshua Logan, 1961), in which he starred with Leslie Caron and Charles Boyer. This film was an updated version of Marcel Pagnol's Marseilles Trilogy. In 1965, at 77, Chevalier made another world tour. In 1967 he toured in Latin America, again, the US, Europe, and Canada. The following year, he announced his farewell tour. In 1970, a few years after his retirement, he sang the title song for Walt Disney's, The AristoCats (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1970). This marked his last contribution to the film industry. Maurice Chevalier died in Paris, in 1972, aged 83. German postcard. Photo: IFA. Publicity still for Pièges/Personal Column (Robert Siodmak, 1939) with Marie Déa. French postcard by Europe, no. 1064. Photo: Paramount. French postcard by Viny, no 88. Photo: Paramount. French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 143. Photo: Erpe, Nice. Preview clip of The Merry Widow (Ernst Lubitsch, 1934). Source: Warner archive (YouTube). Trailer for Love in the Afternoon (Billy Wilder, 1957). Source: Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers (YouTube). Trailer for Gigi (Vincente Minnelli, 1958). Source: Warner Bros. (YouTube). Sources: Volker Boehm (IMDb), AllMovie, Wikipedia and IMDb. This post was last updated on 22 September 2023.

Horst ‘Hotte’ Buchholz (1933-2003) was the James Dean of the German Cinema. He was often typecast as a rebellious teenager in the late 1950s. Horst appeared in over sixty films between 1952 and 2002 and is now best remembered as the Mexican gunfighter Chico in The Magnificent Seven (1960). German postcard by Franz-Josef Rüdel, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1858. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2204. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2171. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2329. Photo: Interwest / Union / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956). Austrian postcard by Lichtbild-Vertrieb Paula Weizmann, Wien, no. F 7. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). Biker-gang leader Horst Werner Buchholz was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1933. His father was a German shoemaker, while his mother was born to Danish parents. He never knew his biological father. Shortly after his birth, his mother placed him in the care of a foster family. He was given the name Buchholz when, in 1938, his mother married the cobbler Hugo Buchholz and took her son back into her home. They lived in the working-class Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. In 1941, her half-sister Heidi was born. She gave her older half-brother the nickname "Hotte", which he kept until his death. During World War II, he was evacuated to Silesia, and at the end of the war, he found himself in a foster home in Czechoslovakia. Buchholz barely finished his schooling before seeking theatre work, first appearing on stage in 1949. He soon left his childhood home in East Berlin to work in West Berlin. He landed his first stage role at 15 in a theatre version of the German children's classic 'Emil und die Detective' (Emil and the Detectives). In the next years, he established himself in the theatre and on the radio. After some dubbing work, he expanded into a film in 1952 and had a small part in the West German thriller Die Spur führt nach Berlin/All Clues Lead to Berlin (František Čáp, 1952) about a gang of counterfeiters with links to the former Nazi regime. He had a c0-starring part in Marianne, meine Jugendliebe/Marianne My Teenage Love (Julien Duvivier, 1955) starring Marianne Hold, based on a 1932 novel 'Schmerzliches Arkadien' by Peter von Mendelssohn. The film was released in separate French language and German language versions and Horst appeared only in the German version. Then he won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his lead in Himmel ohne Sterne/Sky Without Stars (Helmut Käutner, 1955) with Erik Schumann and Eva Kotthaus. His star-making role was the biker-gang leader Freddy in Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) with Karin Baal. An English-dubbed version was released in the US as Teenage Wolfpack, with Buchholz billed as Henry Bookholt and promoted as a new James Dean. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "With the exception of Buchholz, most of the young toughs in the film are nonprofessionals, exuding a raw energy that many 'pros' could not emulate. Most of Die Halbstarken was lensed on location in genuine gang-ridden urban neighbourhoods." Another major film was Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957) based on the novel by Thomas Mann. It tells the fantastic story of charming rogue Felix Krull. After he dodges the military draft thanks to his acting abilities, he starts his con man career in a hotel in Paris. Soon he travels the world pretending to be the noble Marquis de Venosta, and his luck with the ladies, namely the eccentric Madame Houpflé and Zouzou, the daughter of his acquaintance Professor Kuckuck, comes in handy. Felix Krull always knows how to impress people, so even when he comes under suspicion of murder, he does not become desperate. The film, and its young star, received international acclaim. French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/92. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/93. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-147. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Klaus Collignon / Ufa. With Myriam Bru. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/94. Photo: Sam Lévin. Gandhi's assassin Horst Buchholz began appearing in foreign films in 1959. He was a villain in the British thriller Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). That same year he made his Broadway debut with 'Cherie', which starred Kim Stanley, in 1959. In Hollywood, he followed that with the Western The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960), a remake in an Old West–style of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954). The ensemble cast includes Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, and Horst Buchholz as a group of seven gunfighters and Eli Wallach as their main antagonist. Horst played the role originally portrayed by Toshiro Mifune in the Japanese version. The film was both a critical and commercial success and has been appraised as one of the greatest films of the Western genre. Then followed the role of Marius in the dramatic romance Fanny (Joshua Logan, 1961) with Leslie Caron, Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier. It was based on Marcel Pagnol's play 'Fanny' set in Marseille in the early 1920s. Buchholz also appeared in the Berlin-set madcap comedy One, Two, Three (Billy Wilder, 1961) opposite James Cagney, but then his star started to fade. As an international star, he played Gandhi's assassin in the British-American neo-noir crime film Nine Hours to Rama (Mark Robson, 1963) and starred opposite Catherine Spaak, Isa Miranda and Bette Davis in the Italian drama La noia/The Empty Canvas (Damiano Damiani, 1963), based on the best-selling novel 'La noia' by Alberto Moravia. He played Marco Polo in La fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo/Marco the Magnificent (Denys de la Patelliere, 1965) in a cast with Orson Welles, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif, but Raoul Levy committed suicide after losing most of his fortune financing this film. Another dud was the Franco-Spanish-Italian international co-production Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967), a highly fictionalised 1967 film biography of the early life of Miguel de Cervantes. Horst Buchholz's particular moment was over. He took the parts as they came, in films and on television, both in the US and in Europe. He returned to Hollywood lead roles briefly with The Great Waltz (Andrew L. Stone, 1971) playing Johann Strauss which was sadly another failure. More often, he appeared in supporting parts in forgettable comedies, war dramas and such Horror films as The Savage Bees (Bruce Geller, 1976) which follows a swarm of killer bees threatening people during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He guest starred on episodes of Logan's Run, Fantasy Island, Charlie's Angels, and How the West Was Won. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1941. Photo: NDF / Herzog-Film/ Ringpress / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Robinson soll nicht sterben/The Legend of Robinson Crusoe (Josef von Báky, 1957). East-German postcard by Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1203. Photo: Ingrid Andree and Horst Buchholz in Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (Kurt Hoffmann, 1957). German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2268. Photo: NDF / Herzog / Vogelmann // NDF / Herzog / Brünjes. Publicity stills for Monpti (Helmut Käutner, 1957) with Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. M 2482. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / Bavaria. Publicity stills for Auferstehung/Resurrection (Rolf Hansen, 1958). German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 784. Photo: Rank. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7468. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Fanny (1962). Puzzles In the 1980s, Horst Buchholz mostly appeared in European films. He was the main star of the French-Swiss softcore pornographic film Aphrodite (Robert Fuest, 1982) with Valérie Kaprisky. The film is inspired by the novel 'Aphrodite: mœurs antiques' by Pierre Louÿs and follows a group of visitors who come to an island where they are involved in different sexual liaisons. He guest starred on the Krimi series Derrick and had a supporting part in the British-American adventure drama Sahara (Andrew V. MacLaglen, 1983) starring Brooke Shields. More interesting was his lead in the Polish-American historical drama I skrzypce przestaly grac/And the Violins Stopped Playing (Alexander Ramati, 1988) and based upon his biographical novel about an actual group of Romani people who were forced to flee from persecution by the Nazi regime at the height of the Porajmos (Romani holocaust), during World War II. Buchholz also played theatre again in Berlin, for example, the role of the Conférencier in the musical 'Cabaret' at the Theater des Westens in 1979. He then appeared in the judicial drama 'Die zwölf Geschorenen' (Twelve Angry Men) at the Renaissance Theatre in 1984 and in 'Die Geschäfte des Baron Laborde' by Hermann Broch at the Schillertheater in Berlin in 1986. Also interesting was the fantasy film In Weiter Ferne, so nah!/Faraway, So Close! (Wim Wenders, 1993). It is a sequel to Wenders' film Wings of Desire (1987), set in Berlin after the fall of the wall. Actors Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk reprise their roles as angels who have become human. The film also stars Buchholz, Nastassja Kinski, Willem Dafoe and Heinz Rühmann, in his last film role. Faraway, So Close! won the Grand Prix du Jury at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, but enjoyed less critical and commercial success than its predecessor. Buchholz's last important role was in the Oscar-winning La vita è bella/Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Begnini, 1997). He played the doctor whose obsession with puzzles blinds him to his ability to help Roberto Benigni in the concentration camp. Thanks to his gift for languages, Buchholz was able to dub himself in the foreign releases of the film. The film was an overwhelming critical and commercial success. It received widespread acclaim, with critics praising its story, performances and direction, and the union of drama and comedy, despite some criticisms of using the subject matter for comedic purposes. The film grossed over $230 million worldwide and won the Grand Prix at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and three Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 85. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. Vintage card. German postcard by W.S.-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F4. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. With Romy Schneider. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 20. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann / NDF. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 21. Retail price: 25 Pf. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden (Westf.), no. F 22. Retail price: 25 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-31. Sent by mail in 1963. Photo: Bavaria Film. German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-112. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. Out of the closet In 2000, Horst Buchholz came out of the closet in the German magazine Bunte as having 'bisexual tendencies', which he had always lived out - albeit in secret: "Yes, I also love men. Ultimately, I'm bisexual. ... I have always lived my life the way I wanted." In the 1950s, the film producer Wenzel Lüdecke was his partner in life. Buchholz continued making films and television appearances until 2002. His final feature film was the fantasy Detective Lovelorn und die Rache des Pharao/Detective Lovelorn and the revenge of the pharaoh (Thomas Frick, 2002). In 2003, Horst Buchholz died unexpectedly in intensive care in Berlin of pneumonia while recovering from a broken thighbone. He was 69. Buchholz is buried in the Heerstraße Cemetery, Berlin. Berlin had been the city of his heart and was buried there in honour of that fact. He was married to French actress Myriam Bru, with whom he had two children, Christoph and Beatrice, who now lives as a Sikh in California under the name Simran Kaur Khalsa. Together with their mother, Buchholz's children realised his wish for a biography in the autumn of 2003, for which he had not found the time. Under the title 'Horst Buchholz - Sein Leben in Bildern' (Horst Buchholz - His Life in Pictures), they brought out an illustrated book with biographical notes that paid tribute to his life's work. His son Christopher Buchholz directed the documentary Horst Buchholz... mein Papa/Horst Buchholz... My Dad (Christoph Buchholz, Sandra Hacker, 2005). The son and daughter of the once-famous film star return to the empty apartment after their father's death and reminisce about his life, with interviews and clips. IMDb calls the film "an intimate and moving portrait of a man who was at once engagingly open to the world and also somewhat reclusive and evasive." German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2912. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Film. Publicity still for Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Sam Lévin. German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Estambul 65/That Man in Istanbul (Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1965). German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 4766. Photo: Vogelmann / Constantin. Publicity still for Cervantes (Vincent Sherman, 1967). Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 295. Collection: Alina Deaconu. Marlène Jobert and Horst Buchholz in L'Astragale/Ankle Bone (Guy Casaril, 1969). Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie). Bob Stage (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia, Filmreference.com, AllMovie and IMDb. This post was last updated on 21 August 2023.