Lou Tellegen

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Lou Tellegen (1916)

Lou Tellegen , actually Isidor Louis Bernard Edmon van Dommelen (born November 26, 1883 in Sint-Oedenrode , Noord-Brabant , Netherlands ; † October 29, 1934 in Hollywood , California , United States ), was a Dutch theater and silent film actor and director . Between 1910 and 1920 he was one of the greatest theater actors in the United States.

Life

Lou Tellegen was born the illegitimate son of Isidore Louis Bernard Edmon Tellegen (West Indian Army officer, married separately but not divorced) and Anna Maria van Dommelen (widow of Eduard Jan Hendrik Storm van 's Gravezande). He made his stage debut at the age of five and ran away from home at the age of 15. He then toured Russia, Poland and Germany. He was imprisoned in Moscow for a month for selling fake birth certificates. He worked in a wide variety of jobs: was a baker, prize boxer and trapeze artist in Berlin . He returned around 1900. His wealthy father had died in 1902 and disinherited him. In Brussels he worked as a tram driver. Finally he went to Paris and there was a model for the famous artist Auguste Rodin for the sculpture Eternal Spring . There he met his first wife, the sculptor Jeanne de Brouckère, with whom he was married from 1903 to 1905. She also introduced him to the legendary Sarah Bernhardt and became part of her ensemble. He went to the United States with the ensemble in 1910 and received acting lessons from Bernhardt himself. He also made his film debut in France. He played in the film The Lady of the Camellias , 1911, at the side of Sarah Bernhardt. The actor Edouard de Marx was one of his important friends in Paris .

He had his first ever appearance in theaters in the United States in Chicago in the play Madame X . This was followed by other appearances in the plays Sister Beatrice , Sapho , Camille . Both performed in New York City . And in the United States he became a star: his name was mentioned next to Bernhardt's on all posters and neon signs. At the end of the tour, he decided to stay in the United States; In 1918 he was also granted US citizenship. Then his meteoric rise began between 1910 and 1920, when he starred in the most important plays in the United States and in major theaters and made many films. At the height of his career he married the then very famous opera diva and actress Geraldine Farrar , with whom he was married from 1916 to 1923. This was followed by two more marriages and one child. As a director he made four films, including No other woman and The things we love .

At the end of the 1920s, however, his career began to run into turmoil, and he hardly received any film offers or theater roles and had to stay afloat. In 1929 he had a serious accident when he fell asleep in a hotel room with a cigarette in his mouth, suffered burns and had to be hospitalized for 3 months. Engagements had to be canceled, which dragged him further into the depression. To make matters worse, he was also found to be terminally ill with cancer . His last film was Together we live in 1935 . He had acted in a good 41 films, most of them during the silent film era.

On 29 October 1934 he committed in the house of an acquaintance with two scissors, which he located in various parts of the body, including the heart, pushing, suicide . As requested, he was burned and his ashes were thrown into the sea.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lou-Tellegen Now a Citizen , The New York Times . March 13, 1918, p. 9. 
  2. ↑ Brian Dauth (Ed.): Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Interviews. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson MS 2008, ISBN 1-934110-24-8 , p. 61.
  3. ^ Metropolitan Announcer , Time . November 12, 1934. Retrieved March 30, 2008. 
personal data
SURNAME Tellegen, Lou
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dommelen, Isidor Louis Bernard Edmon van (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch theater, silent film actor and director
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Sint-Oedenrode , Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1934
Place of death Hollywood , California, United States