Selma Vaz Dias

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Selma Vaz Dias (born November 23, 1911 in Amsterdam , † August 30, 1977 in London ) was a British actress of Dutch origin with character roles in theater, film and television. She played various roles in British cinema productions from the 1930s to the 1960s. Including in films like A Lady Disappears , Devil in Blond , Ten Women Disappeared in Paris , The House of a Thousand Screams or Summer of the Cursed .

life and career

Selma Vaz Dias, born in Amsterdam in 1911 as the daughter of Jacob Vaz Dias and his wife Hannah (Hamburger), was drawn to the stage as a character actress at an early age. She studied at the traditional London drama school, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and made her stage debut at the Little Theater on February 28, 1929 as Nina Verganskaia in the play Red Rust . Due to her excellent language skills, she spoke English, French and German and Dutch fluently, she soon took up other entertainment offers.

Selma Vaz Dias began her film career in the mid-1930s. In 1938 she was cast by the director Alfred Hitchcock in his famous crime comedy A Lady Disappears in the supporting role of Signora Doppo. Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave played the leading roles . In 1942 she starred on the big screen in the war drama One of Our Aircraft Is Missing , directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger . In the early 1950s she was seen in films such as the romantic comedy With Kitchen Use by director Henry Cass and the film drama Devil in Blonde by Reginald Le Borg . In 1958 she starred in the war drama The Silent War by director Anthony Asquith . At the beginning of the 1960s she was seen next to George Sanders , Corinne Calvet and Jean Kent in the cinema in W. Lee Wilder's thriller Ten Women Disappeared in Paris . In the horror film The House of a Thousand Screams by Ernest Morris from 1961 with Laurence Payne in the lead role, she played the role of Mrs. Vine. That same year she cast Roy Ward Baker in his drama Summer of the Cursed .

Selma Vaz Dias turned to television as early as 1938. She was also seen in episodes of successful series since the early 1950s. Her appearances in the new medium have included the BBC Sunday-Night Theater (1952), Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents (1955), ITV Television Playhouse (1959), Zero One (1962), The Troubleshooters (1967) and From a Bird's Eye View (1971). Her last television appearance was in the 1973 TV movie Cheri, directed by Claude Whatham .

Selma Vaz Dias was married to the journalist Hans Werner Egli (1899–2000) with whom she had a son and a daughter. She died on August 30, 1977 at the age of 65 in her adopted home, London.

Filmography (selection)

movie theater

  • 1934: Jew Süss
  • 1938: A Lady Vanishes (The Lady Vanishes)
  • 1942: One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
  • 1951: With use of the kitchen (Young Wives' Tale)
  • 1953: Devil in Blond (The Flanagan Boy)
  • 1956: No one passed her (Wicked as They Come)
  • 1957: The Nights of the Strangler (Cat Girl)
  • 1957: Strangers' Meeting
  • 1958: The Silent War (Orders to Kill)
  • 1960: Ten women disappeared in Paris (Bluebeards Ten Honeymoons)
  • 1960: The Tell-Tale Heart
  • 1961: Summer of the Cursed (The Singer Not the Song)

watch TV

  • 1938: Glorious Morning (TV movie)
  • 1939: Fiat Justitia (TV movie)
  • 1939: Prison Without Bars (TV movie)
  • 1951: The Golden Door (TV movie)
  • 1951: A Tomb with a View (TV movie)
  • 1952: BBC Sunday-Night Theater (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1955: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1955: London Playhouse (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1957: The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1957: Overseas Press Club - Exclusive! (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1957–1968: Dixon of Dock Green (TV series, 3 episodes)
  • 1958: The Vise (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1959: ITV Television Playhouse (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1961: Triton (TV movie)
  • 1961: You Can't Win (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1962: De schaduw van Mart (TV movie)
  • 1962: Zero One (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1965: Buddenbrooks (television miniseries)
  • 1967: The Troubleshooters (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1971: From a Bird's Eye View (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1971: Eyeless in Gaza (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1971: Trial (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1973: Cheri (TV movie)

Short film

  • 1944: Two Fathers
  • 1955: Night Plane to Amsterdam

literature

  • Selma Vaz Dias. In: Michael J. Tykus: Contemporary theater, film, and television, Volume 29. , Gale Research Company, 2000, p. 504.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Selma Vaz Dias. In: Michael Billington: Hans Werner Egli - Witness to Hitler's civilian bombing of Britain. , The Guardian, 2000
personal data
SURNAME Vaz Dias, Selma
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch-British actress in theater, film and television
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 1977
Place of death London , England