Hanns Kraly

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Hanns Kraly ; in the USA Hans Kraly (born June 16, 1884 as Jean Kräly in Hamburg , † November 10, 1950 in Los Angeles ) was a German actor and screenwriter. From 1915 to 1929 he worked on 30 films together with the director Ernst Lubitsch .

The early years as an actor

Born in Jean Kräly, he began his stage career as an actor in 1903 in Stendal . In September 1904 he went to Elbing in East Prussia and in 1905 to Magdeburg . Working as Hanns Kräly since 1906, he played in Guben (1906/07 season), Kaiserslautern (1907/08 season) and as a singer and actor at the Berlin Studienhaus (1909/10 season).

In the capital he began his career as a film actor (in Der fesche Tiroler ) with the end of his stage activities in 1910 . Initially, however, he primarily worked as a dramaturge for the film producer Paul Davidson and the production company PAGU, which he directed . One of his most important tasks between 1912 and 1914 was the revision of the scripts of the director Urban Gad , which served as templates for the films produced by PAGU with Asta Nielsen : The General's Children, The Film Primadonna, Engelein , The Fire and White Roses. He also played the head of house in Gad's comedy Engelein .

Breakthrough as a screenwriter

In 1913, Kräly met Ernst Lubitsch while filming ; Both were with Carl Wilhelms in the same year. The company is getting married in front of the camera. For Lubitsch's directorial debut Aufs Eis Ledger Kräly provided his own script for the first time in 1915. As an employed author and actor at PAGU, he worked permanently with Ernst Lubitsch from Schuhpalast Pinkus (1916). One of the comedic highlights of her work is the satire about American nouveau riche Die Ausernprinzessin (1919). Kräly also processed exotic and historical material and wrote the lascivious seductress roles for the Polish actress Pola Negri , who achieved international attention with The Eyes of Mummy Ma , Carmen (both 1918), Madame Dubarry (1919) and Sumurun (1920).

At the invitation of Mary Pickford , Ernst Lubitsch came to the USA at the end of 1922. In July 1923 he was followed by Hanns Kräly. With Rosita (1923) they should help Pickford to get rid of her child-woman image. Pickford was disappointed with the result, but Lubitsch and Kräly (from now on mostly as Hans Kraly ) continued their work for the newly founded MGM . After Forbidden Paradise (1924) and Old Heidelberg (1927), her style was considered the Lubitsch Touch - Kräly's contribution was barely mentioned, although his scripts for non-Lubitsch films such as The Eagle (1925) with Rudolph Valentino in the leading role or the works for director Sidney Franklin are steeped in the same humor. Lubitsch's last silent film Eternal Love (1929) also marked the end of the collaboration. In the same year, Kräly wrote the scripts for two films with Greta Garbo . In 1931 he left MGM.

Around 1930 he fell out with Lubitsch, the reason being his marital problems. “Kräly tried to mediate, to comfort or even more. When Lubitsch found out about this, he terminated the collaboration. But the offended Lubitsch didn't stop there. As meticulously and perfectly as he used to direct his films, he ruined the future career of his former friend. Kräly never wrote a bigger screenplay again ... He worked as a wage clerk for smaller studios. "

From 1933 to 1942 Hanns Kräly worked for various film companies. 100 Men and a Girl (1937) was still a hit movie, but his career ended on a cheap horror movie story. In the last years of his life, Kräly earned his living as a janitor in Los Angeles.

He was buried in the Bergstrasse cemetery in Berlin-Steglitz.

Awards

Hanns Kräly in 1930 an Oscar for The Patriot (dt .: The Patriot ). For The Last of Mrs. Cheyney he was also nominated at the Academy Awards in 1930 (April) , One Hundred Men and a Girl (Eng .: 100 men and a girl ) brought him another Oscar nomination in 1938.

Filmography

script

actor

Assistant director

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 4: H - L. Botho Höfer - Richard Lester. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 472 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to the film's large personal dictionary ; the birth month of June - not in January - is of Krälys passport documents and the California Death Index confirmed
  2. ↑ according to birth entry Hamburg and US citizenship application 1933
  3. ↑ according to the California Death Index
  4. ↑ according to the film archive Kay Less, based on entry documents
  5. ^ Herbert Spaich: Ernst Lubitsch and his films. Munich: Heyne 1992, p. 220
personal data
SURNAME Kräly, Hanns
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kraly, Hans; Kräly, Jean (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1950
Place of death los Angeles