Lucy Doraine

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Lucy Doraine, photograph (around 1928) by Alexander Binder

Lucy Doraine (born May 22, 1898 in Budapest as Ilonka Kovács , † October 14, 1989 in Los Angeles , California ) was a Hungarian silent film star .

Live and act

After studying ballet in her childhood, she switched to the Bötys Theater School in Budapest in the early stages of the First World War . First engagements at the theater followed and a little later an offer as a film actress. In the political turmoil of the Hungarian Soviet Republic , she fled to Vienna together with her husband, the director Michael Curtiz , in 1919 , as did many other Hungarian filmmakers. For his sake, she had given up acting after their wedding. After three years, however, she was able to get back into the film business and was henceforth owned by her husband and his employer, Sascha-Film, built up to a movie star. Until she divorced her husband in 1923, Lucy Doraine starred in most of her husband's films. She played the leading role in the lavish monumental film “Sodom and Gomorrah” , produced from 1920 to 1922 .

With wide open eyes and sweeping gestures, she was considered a prime example of a screen tragedy in heartbreaking dramas and melodramas. She produced these qualities in Munich, where she moved in 1922. In 1923 she founded the Lucy-Doraine-Film and played in some self-productions. In 1928 she received an offer from Hollywood, but where she met the fate of many silent film stars, especially those who were not native English speakers: after a few hardly successful roles, she went out of business and was quickly forgotten.

Lucy Doraine had a legitimate child with director Michael Curtiz , Kitty Curtiz-Eberson (born November 25, 1915, † December 31, 2006).

Filmography (selection)

Silent films

  • 1916: A Farkas
  • 1918: A Napraforgós Hölgy
  • 1919: Jön az öcsém
  • 1919: The lady with the black glove
  • 1920: The Lady with the Sunflowers
  • 1920: The Star of Damascus
  • 1920: The Scourge of God
  • 1920: Mrs. Tutti Frutti
  • 1921: Cherchez la femme
  • 1921: Dorothy's confession
  • 1921: Paths of Terror (Labyrinth of Horror)
  • 1922: Sodom and Gomorrah
  • 1922: sacrifice of love
  • 1923: Fifth Street
  • 1923: To honor a woman
  • 1923: The seeking soul
  • 1924: Haunted people
  • 1924: fate
  • 1925: Finale of love
  • 1925: the man his wife
  • 1926: The Prince and the Dancer
  • 1927: Alpine tragedy
  • 1927: Marriage scandal at Fromont jr. and Risler sen.
  • 1928: Princess Orloff (Adoration)

Sound films

Web links

Commons : Lucy Doraine  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Doraine, Lucy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kovács, Ilonka (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian silent film actress
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest , Hungary
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1989
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States