Mel Ferrer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mel Ferrer and Audrey Hepburn (1954)

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:

Mel Ferrer with Hepburn (1960)
  1. 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.
  2. 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).
  3. 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).
  4. 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.
  5. 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

Director

  • 1950: The Secret Fury
  • 1959: Tropenglut (Green Mansions)

production

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MEL FERRER, TV actor, producer and film director . In: thecubanhistory.com ; accessed on July 21, 2020.
  2. ↑ Biography of Mel Ferrer (1917-2008) . In: TheBiography ; accessed on July 21, 2020.
  3. ^ "Catharsis", Time, February 10, 1941.
  4. ^ Helen Colton, "Reluctant Star," The New York Times, Sep. 4, 1949.
  5. ↑ Barry Paris: Audrey Hepburn . ISBN 0-425-18212-6 , pp. 247-248 .
  6. ↑ Nigel Cawthorne: Sex Lives of the Hollywood Goddesses Part 2 . ISBN 1-85375-514-1 , pp. 271 .
  7. ↑ USA Today : Actor Mel Ferrer dies at 90 dated June 3, 2008.
  8. ↑ 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.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.srf.ch  
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)