Lou Tellegen

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Lou Tellegen

Lou Tellegen in 1916
Born Isidore Louis Bernard Edmon van Dommelen
November 26, 1883(1883-11-26)
Sint-Oedenrode, The Netherlands
Died October 29, 1934 (aged 50)
Hollywood, California, United States
Other name(s) Lou-Tellegen
Years active 1967-1983
Spouse(s) Countess Jeanne de Brockere (1903 - 1905)
Geraldine Farrar (1916 - 1920)
Nina Romano (1923 - 1928)
Eve Casanova (1930 - 1932)

Lou Tellegen (November 26, 1883[1] – October 29, 1934) was a Dutch-born silent film and stage actor.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born Isidore Louis Bernard Edmon van Dommelen, he was the illegitimate child of the army lieutenant Isidore Louis Bernard Edmon Tellegen (1836 - 1902) and Anna Maria van Dommelen.

He made his stage debut in Amsterdam in 1903, and over the next few years built a reputation to the point where he was invited to perform in Paris, France, eventually co-starring in several roles with Sarah Bernhardt, with whom he was involved romantically. In 1910, he made his motion picture debut alongside Bernhardt in La dame aux camélias, a silent film made in France based on the play by Alexandre Dumas, fils.

[edit] Move to the United States

In 1910, he and Bernhardt travelled to the United States, where The New York Times first published, and then retracted, the announcement of their impending marriage. (She was thirty-seven years older than he.) Back in France, in 1912 they made their second film together, Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth (Queen Elizabeth), and the following year, Adrienne Lecouvreur. The latter is considered a lost film.

In the summer of 1913, Tellegen went to London where he produced and starred in the Oscar Wilde play, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Invited back to the United States, Tellegen worked in theatre and made his first American film in 1915, titled The Explorer, followed by The Unknown, both with Dorothy Davenport as his co-star. Considered one of the best-looking actors on screen, he followed up with three straight films starring opposite Geraldine Farrar. In 1916, he married Farrar, a well-known opera diva turned film actress, who was herself known to be the lover of Germany's Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.

Tellegen's marriage to Farrar did not last (they divorced in 1923), and he would go on to marry a total of four times, the first being a countess, the second was Miss Farrar. He became an American citizen in 1918.[2]

[edit] Later Career and Suicide

He had appeared in numerous films when his face was damaged in a fire. Fame faded, employment was not forthcoming, and he went bankrupt. He was diagnosed with cancer, though this information was kept from him, and he became despondent.

In 1934, Tellegen committed suicide by stabbing himself in the chest with a pair of scissors seven times (supposedly while surrounded by newspaper clippings of his career[3]), resulting in lurid press coverage.[4]

[edit] Memoirs

His 1930 memoirs, Women Have Been Kind (to which title reviewer Dorothy Parker suggested appending "of Dumb"), is, at best, unreliable. It contains many false claims, one of which is that he posed for Auguste Rodin's sculpture, Eternal Spring.

[edit] Reference

  1. ^ Biografie van Dommelen, Isidore Louis Bernard Edmon van
  2. ^ "Lou-Tellegen Now a Citizen", The New York Times, 1918-03-13, p. 9. 
  3. ^ Mankiewicz, Joseph L. (2008). Joseph L. Mankiewicz: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi, 61. ISBN 1-934-11024-8. 
  4. ^ "Metropolitan Announcer", Time, 1934-11-12. Retrieved on 2008-03-30. 
  • The Divine Sarah, by Arthur Gold & Robert Fizdale, Vintage Books, 1991. ISBN 0-679-74185-2

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Tellegen, Lou
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dommelen, Isidore Louis Bernard Edmon van
SHORT DESCRIPTION Silent film and stage actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Sint-Oedenrode, The Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1934
PLACE OF DEATH Hollywood, California, United States
Languages