Celia Lovsky

Celia Lovsky
Born February 21, 1897(1897-02-21)
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died October 12, 1979(1979-10-12) (aged 82)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active 1930–1974
Spouse Peter Lorre (1934–1945) (divorced)

Celia Lovsky (February 21, 1897 [1]– October 12, 1979) was an Austrian American actress. She was born Cäcilie Lvovsky in Vienna, daughter of Bretislav Lvovsky (1857–1910), a minor Czech opera composer. She studied theater, dance, and languages at the Austrian Royal Academy of Arts and Music.[2]

She later moved to Berlin, where she acted in the surrealist plays Dream Theater and Dream Play by Karl Kraus.[3] There she met Peter Lorre, who had seen her in a production of Shakespeare's Othello near Vienna, and would later become her husband.[2] The couple traveled to Paris, London, and the United States. Celia was instrumental in bringing Lorre to the attention of Fritz Lang, leading eventually to Lorre's debut film M in 1931.[4] They lived together for five years before their marriage, and stayed married until 1945, remaining close friends for the rest of Lorre's lifetime.

After the couple settled in Santa Monica, California, Lorre had not wished Lovsky to work, believing he should be the breadwinner and she should remain at home. For the rest of Lorre's life, she was his publicist, manager, secretary, financial planner, nurse and confidant.[5] However, after their divorce, she started taking roles in American movies and television. She made a name for herself playing slightly exotic roles such as the deaf-mute mother of Lon Chaney in Man of a Thousand Faces with James Cagney and Apache Princess Saba in the Jane Russell film Foxfire.

As she grew older, she was given a number of dignified dowager roles, such as Romany matriarchs and expatriate Russian princesses, and a brief but memorable role as the widowed mother of Reinhard Schwimmer, one of the victims of the St. Valentines Day Massacre in the 1967 film of the same name. Her final movie appearance was of the "Exchange Leader" in 1973's Soylent Green. She delivers the final confirmation to Edward G. Robinson's character Sol about Soylent Green's true ingredient. It was also Robinson's final movie. She also appeared in the 1964 Twilight Zone episode "Queen of the Nile" as the elderly daughter of a never-aging actress (played by Ann Blyth). One of her best-known roles may be that of T'Pau in an episode of the original Star Trek, entitled "Amok Time."

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Her birthday is given, variously, as February 12 and February 21.
  2. ^ a b Youngkin, Stephen R., The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, p. 32
  3. ^ Youngkin, p. 39
  4. ^ Youngkin, p. 37
  5. ^ Youngkin, p. 87.

External links