Militsa Korjus

Miliza Elizabeth Korjus (born August 18, 1909 in Warsaw , Generalgouvernement Warsaw , Russian Empire ; † August 26, 1980 in Culver City , California , USA ) was an American film and stage actress and opera singer ( soprano ) of Estonian-Polish origin.

Life

family

Miliza Korjus was born in Warsaw, the fifth of six children of Arthur Korjus and his wife Anna Gintowt. Her father was of Estonian origin and a lieutenant colonel in the Russian army , later he served as chief of staff on the staff of the Estonian Minister of War . Her mother was of noble Lithuanian - Polish origin. Her parents divorced at an early age, so that Korjus and her five sisters grew up with their mother in Kiev . Her older brother grew up with his father.

Career

In her youth Korjus was a member of the Dumka Choir in Kiev and toured the Soviet Union with them. In 1927 - during a visit to her father and brother in the now independent Estonia - this helped her to a certain degree of popularity, so that she soon gave concerts in the Baltic states.

In 1929 she married the doctor Kuno Fölsch, with whom she moved to Germany , where she performed in the State Opera Unter den Linden in 1933 . In 1932 their only child, daughter Melissa, was born in Estonia. In 1935 she lent her voice to Dorothea Wieck in the film " Der Student von Prag ". She was considered to be almost the most famous singer in Europe. Producer Irving Thalberg became aware of Korjus and guaranteed her a 10-year film contract. Shortly after their arrival in Hollywood , in March 1936, Thalberg died, so that the contract was canceled.

It wasn't until 1938 that she achieved her breakthrough in the film business with The Great Waltz ; for the role of Carla Donner she was nominated for an Oscar in 1939 for Best Supporting Actress.

MGM signed Korjus and planned a film with her called Guns and Fiddles , the framework of which was about a spy between Budapest and Vienna . Just two weeks before filming began, Korjus suffered a car accident on May 28, 1940, in which the actress sustained such massive injuries that the doctors considered amputating her left leg for a long time. After numerous operations and months of rehabilitation, Korjus was able to leave the hospital with both legs.

In the summer of 1941 Korjus planned her next tour to South America . Shortly after it began in Mexico , the United States entered World War II . Korjus, who had had enough of the war personally, stayed in Mexico and did not return to the USA until October 1944. In Mexico itself she shot her second feature film in 1942, Caballería del imperio .

Late life

Korjus settled in Los Angeles and gave concerts of all kinds throughout her life. After her long-distance relationship with her husband Kuno Fölsch had failed, she also married a doctor, Dr. Walter E. Shector. This marriage remained childless. Korjus remained known in the California Society; her friends included Joan Sutherland and Beverly Sills .

Miliza Korjus died of heart failure in August 1980 at the age of 71. Her daughter, Melissa F. Wells, became a diplomat and was US Ambassador to Estonia from 1998 to 2001.

Web links

• Miliza Korjus in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Miliza Korjus in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Miliza Korjus at Operissimo  on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon