May Britt
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May Britt (* March 22, 1933 as Maybritt Wilkens in Lidingö ) is a former Swedish actress .
life and career
May Britt is considered the discovery of the Italian film producer Carlo Ponti . Together with the director Mario Soldati , he traveled to Sweden in 1951 to find a leading actress for the film Lucrezia, the red corsair . For this purpose, they sifted through the pictures of several models in a Stockholm photo studio and met the employee Maybritt Wilkens, to whom they finally offered the role. Under the stage name May Britt , she was primarily used in Italy as a cool blonde seductress in rather second-rate melodramas and costume films such as The She-Wolf of Calabria and Sicilian Passion .
Through her role as Sonja Rostova in the Tolstoy film War and Peace (1956) shot by King Vidor in Italy , Britt also became known in the USA and shortly afterwards brought her to Hollywood . Here she was seen alongside Marlon Brando in The Young Lions and alongside Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner in Kampfflieger . Then an attempt was made to highlight the native Swedish in a remake of the Sternberg classic The Blue Angel . But the film, directed by Edward Dmytryk , not only turned out to be an artistic and commercial flop, it also revealed Britt's limited acting skills.
In 1960 she retired from the film business. That year Britt married the singer Sammy Davis, Jr. , for whom she had recently converted to Judaism . The wedding was accompanied by racist undertones in public and in the media. At that time, “ mixed marriages ” were expressly prohibited in 31 states in the USA by the anti-miscegenation law . It was not until 1967 that this practice came about through the judgment in the Loving v. Virginia an end.
The couple had a daughter and adopted two sons.
After divorcing Davis in 1968, Britt resumed acting and appeared in several television series , most recently in 1988 in the short-lived series Rehearsal . For the horror film Haunts (1977) she stepped in front of a film camera one last time.
Filmography
- 1952: Lucrezia, the red corsair (Jolanda, la figlia del corsaro nero) - Italy
- 1953: Sicilian Passion (Santuzza - also known as Cavalleria rusticana) - Italy
- 1953: Il più comico spettacolo del mondo - Italy
- 1953: Infidelity (Le infedeli) - France / Italy
- 1953: The she-wolf of Calabria (La lupa) - Italy
- 1954: The Ship of the Lost Women (La nave delle donne maledette) - Italy
- 1954: Vergine moderna - Italy
- 1955: L'ultimo amante - Italy
- 1955: Hard fists, hot blood (Ça va barder) - France
- 1955: Prigionieri del male - France / Spain / Italy
- 1956: War and Peace (War and Peace) - USA / Italy
- 1958: The Young Lions (The Young Lions) - USA
- 1958: Fighter Aviators (The Hunters) - USA
- 1959: The Blue Angel (The Blue Angel) - USA
- 1960: Underworld (Murder, Inc.) - USA
- 1968: The Danny Thomas Hour (TV series; episode: Fear Is the Chain) - USA
- 1969: Cobra, Take Over (Mission: Impossible, TV series; episode: The Numbers Game) - USA
- 1971: The Most Deadly Game (TV series; episode: The Lady from Praha) - USA
- 1971: Die Zwei von der Dienststelle (The Partners, TV series; episode: Have I Got an Apartment for You!) - USA
- 1977: Haunts - USA
- 1988: Rehearsal (TV series; episode: Plan 10 from Outer Space) - USA
Web links
- May Britt in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Scene from "The Blue Angel"
- May Britt in the German dubbing file
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Britt, May |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Maybritt Wilkens (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 22, 1933 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lidingö , Sweden |