Mel Ferrer
Melchor "Mel" Gastón Ferrer (born August 25, 1917 in Elberon , New Jersey , † June 2, 2008 in Santa Barbara , California ) was an American actor , director , writer , film producer and show manager .
Life
The son of a Cuban doctor and a New Yorker, first studied medicine at Princeton , but then turned to acting and made his debut as a dancer on Broadway . However, he had to end this career in the early 1940s because he fell ill with polio . He began working for the radio as a speaker and director, which eventually brought him to Hollywood as a feature film director and assistant director (including John Ford ) .
In 1949 Ferrer made his feature film debut as an actor in the production When Parents Are Silent . In the 1950s he advanced through leading roles in several Hollywood productions (including as an opponent of Stewart Granger in Scaramouche, the gallant Marquis , alongside Marlene Dietrich in Angel of the Hunted , as King Arthur alongside Robert Taylor in The Knights of the Round table and next to Leslie Caron in the musical adaptation Lili ) to a popular movie star. Ferrer remained a fixture in Hollywood cinema until the 1960s and played in lavish productions such as The Fall of the Roman Empire (as one of the murderers of Marcus Aurelius ) and the title role of the painter El Greco . After that, Ferrer mainly worked in Europe, including under the direction of Rainer Werner Fassbinder in Lili Marleen . He also appeared as a guest in numerous television series and played the confidante and later husband of Jane Wyman in the family winemaker saga Falcon Crest for three years .
Ferrer also worked as a newspaper editor and children's book author .
The father of five was married a total of five times, his wives were:
- Frances Gunby Pilchard, an actress who later worked as a sculptor; Daughter of Sewell Norris Pilchard Jr, a physicist, and his wife, née Louise Collier Gunby. They married in 1937 and divorced in 1939.
- Barbara C. Tripp. They married in 1940 and later divorced. They had two children: a daughter, Mela Ferrer (born 1943) and a son, Christopher Ferrer (born 1944).
- Frances Ferrer (née Pilchard), who was also his first wife. This marriage, which took place in 1944, also ended in divorce. They had two children: Pepa Philippa Ferrer (born 1941) and Mark Young Ferrer (born 1944).
- Audrey Hepburn , the actress: In 1954, Mel Ferrer's fourth marriage was to his colleague Audrey Hepburn, with whom he stood in front of the camera several times (including as Andrej Bolkonski in the Tolstoy filming War and Peace and Together in Paris ) and whose films he did also as a director ( Tropenglut ) and producer ( wait until it's dark ). The marriage resulted in the son Sean Hepburn Ferrer (born 1960). The marriage ended in divorce in 1968.
- Elizabeth Soukhotine, whom he married in 1971.
Prior to his marriage to Elizabeth Soukhotine in 1971, Ferrer also had a love affair with 29-year-old interior designer Tessa Kennedy.
Mel Ferrer died on June 2, 2008, at the age of 90, on his farm near Santa Barbara, California, of complications from bowel disease and pneumonia.
Mel Ferrer has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6268 Hollywood Blvd.).
Filmography (selection)
presentation
- 1947: Command of Conscience (The Fugitive)
- 1949: When Parents Are Silent (Lost Boundaries)
- 1952: Angel of the Hunted (Rancho Notorious)
- 1952: Scaramouche, the gallant marquis (Scaramouche)
- 1953: The Knights of the Round Table (Knights of the Round Table)
- 1953: Lili
- 1954: Forbidden (Proibito)
- 1955: Bat 1955 (Oh ... Rosalinda!)
- 1956: War and Peace (War and Peace)
- 1956: White daisies (Elena et les Hommes)
- 1957: Between Madrid and Paris (The Sun Also Rises)
- 1958: Miss (Fraulein)
- 1960: ... and dying of lust (Et mourir de plaisir)
- 1960: The sinister hands of Dr. Orlak (The Hands of Orlac)
- 1961: love, freedom and betrayal (Legge di guerra)
- 1962: The Longest Day (The Longest Day)
- 1962: The Devil and the Ten Commandments (Le Diable et les Dix Commandements)
- 1964: The Fall of the Roman Empire (The Fall of the Roman Empire)
- 1964: ... and single girls (Sex and the Single Girl)
- 1966: El Greco
- 1972: Columbo (TV episode gossip can kill )
- 1974: The Antichrist (L'anticristo)
- 1975: Brannigan - A Man of Steel (Brannigan)
- 1975: The network
- 1975: The killer mafia ( La polizia accusa: Il servizio segreto uccide )
- 1976: The black corsair (Il corsaro nero)
- 1977: Gangbuster (L'avvocato della mala)
- 1977: A man against the Mafia (La ragazza dal pigiama giallo)
- 1977: Bloodlust (Eaten Alive)
- 1978: intermediate track
- 1979: Simon Templar - A Gentleman with a Halo ( Return of the Saint , TV series, 1 episode)
- 1979: The sacred beast of the Kumas (Il fiume del grande caimano)
- 1980: Eaten alive (Mangiati vivi!)
- 1980: Major attack by zombies (Incubo sulla città contaminata)
- 1981–1984: Falcon Crest (TV series)
- 1981: Lili Marleen
- 1982: one thousand billion dollars (Mille Millards de dollars)
- 1995: Catherine the Great (Catherine the Great) (TV miniseries)
Director
- 1950: The Secret Fury
- 1959: Tropenglut (Green Mansions)
production
- 1967: Wait Until Dark (Wait until dark)
Web links
- Mel Ferrer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mel Ferrer in the nndb (English)
- Mel Ferrer at TNT Film (English)
- Mel Ferrer in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
- Mel Ferrer in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ MEL FERRER, TV actor, producer and film director . In: thecubanhistory.com ; accessed on July 21, 2020.
- ↑ Biography of Mel Ferrer (1917-2008) . In: TheBiography ; accessed on July 21, 2020.
- ^ "Catharsis", Time, February 10, 1941.
- ^ Helen Colton, "Reluctant Star," The New York Times, Sep. 4, 1949.
- ↑ Barry Paris: Audrey Hepburn . ISBN 0-425-18212-6 , pp. 247-248 .
- ↑ Nigel Cawthorne: Sex Lives of the Hollywood Goddesses Part 2 . ISBN 1-85375-514-1 , pp. 271 .
- ↑ USA Today : Actor Mel Ferrer dies at 90 dated June 3, 2008.
- ↑ Death notice from June 4, 2008 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , on videoportal.sf.tv, accessed October 30, 2012.
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Ferrer, Mel |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ferrer, Melchior Gaston (maiden name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American actor, film director and producer |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 25, 1917 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Elberon , New Jersey |
DATE OF DEATH | June 2, 2008 |
Place of death | near Santa Barbara (California) |