Lilian Harvey

Lilian Harvey
Lilian Harvey c. 1926, by Alexander Binder
Born	Helene Lilian Muriel Pape 19 January 1906(1906-01-19) London, United Kingdom
Died	27 July 1968(1968-07-27) (aged 62) Juan-les-Pins, France
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1924–1940
Spouse	Hartvig Valeur-Larsen (1953–1957)

Lilian Harvey (19 January 1906^{[citation needed]} – 27 July 1968) was a British-born actress and singer, long-based in Germany, where she is best known for her role as Christel Weinzinger in Erik Charell's 1931 film Der Kongress tanzt.

Life

Helene Lilian Muriel Pape was born in 1906 in Hornsey, North London. Her mother, Ethel Marion Laughton, was English and her father, Walter Bruno Pape, was a German businessman. At the beginning of World War I the family found itself in Magdeburg, and as they were unwilling and unable to return to England, Harvey was sent to live with an aunt at Solothurn in Switzerland. After the war, the Papes lived in Berlin, where Lilian took her high-school diploma (Abitur) in 1923. She began her career by attending the dance and voice school of the Berlin State Opera and assumed her grandmother's maiden name (Harvey) as her professional surname.

Career

After an engagement as a revue dancer in Vienna in 1924, Harvey received her first movie role as the young Jewish girl "Ruth" in the film Der Fluch directed by Robert Land. Subsequently, she starred in many silent films. In 1925, she was cast in her first leading role in the film Leidenschaft by Richard Eichberg, side by side with Otto Gebühr.

Because of her training as a singer, Harvey was able to pursue a successful acting career during the initial talkie era of the early 1930s. Her first movie with Willy Fritsch was the operetta film Die keusche Susanne in 1926. Harvey and Fritsch became the "dream couple" of German movies in the early 1930s with the romantic love story Liebeswalzer; she was called the "sweetest girl in the world" by the press, after a song featured in the film. She and Fritsch starred in a total of 11 movies together, among them the criminal comedy Hokuspokus (1930) after a play by Curt Goetz, directed by Gustav Ucicky, which became a box office success. An English version (The Temporary Widow) was filmed simultaneously, starring Lilian Harvey and Laurence Olivier, who thereby made his film debut. She also appeared in the musical film Die Drei von der Tankstelle of the same year, which also became a major success and gave the young actor Heinz Rühmann his break.

In 1931, Harvey played the leading part in the film Der Kongreß tanzt (The Congress Dances); her song Das gibt's nur einmal written by Werner R. Heymann became a most popular melody. Her subsequent movies were filmed in English and French versions, so Harvey became known outside of Germany. She was invited to Hollywood and made four movies for the Fox Film Corporation, but these were not as successful as her German films. She eventually abandoned George White's 1935 Scandals, leading executives to cast Alice Faye in the part, and Faye became an overnight sensation. In 1935, Lilian Harvey returned to Germany.

Emigration from Nazi Germany

Memorial plaque (Berliner Gedenktafel) in Berlin-Wilmersdorf

As she was still in touch with her Jewish colleagues, Harvey was placed under close observation by the Gestapo. Nevertheless she pushed the career of her protégé, director Paul Martin, performing in his screwball comedy Glückskinder (1936) and further successful movies for the UFA until 1939, such as Sieben Ohrfeigen, the biographical film Fanny Elßler (1937) together with Willy Birgel and Capriccio; as well as Frau am Steuer in 1939.

In June 1937 Harvey had helped the choreographer Jens Keith prosecuted under Paragraph 175 by posting a bail for him. Released from custody, Keith escaped to Paris; this led to a stern interrogation by the Nazi authorities. In 1939, Harvey was forced to leave Germany herself, leaving her real-estate fortune, which was confiscated. She eventually landed in the United States and spent most of World War II in Los Angeles, working as a volunteer nurse. Because she had performed for French troops, the Nazi regime deprived Harvey of her German citizenship in 1943.^{[citation needed]}

After retiring from acting, she retired to her residence in Juan-les-Pins in Vichy France. There, she made two movies in 1940 – Sérénade and Miquette (her last), both directed by Jean Boyer. After the occupation of southern France by Germany, she emigrated to Hollywood again and toured the United States performing in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit.^{[citation needed]}

After World War II

After the war, Harvey returned to Paris. In the following years, she travelled as a singer through Scandinavia and Egypt. In 1949, she returned to West Germany giving several concerts. From 1953 to 1957, she was married to Danish theatre agent Hartvig Valeur-Larsen.

Harvey retired to the resort town of Antibes on the French Riviera, where she operated a souvenir shop and raised edible snails. She died of liver failure on 27 July 1968 in Juan-les-Pins, aged 62. She was buried at the Robiac Cemetery in Antibes.

Filmography

• 1924 – Der Fluch –
• 1924 – Die Motorbraut – Lee Perry's Double in Switzerland
• 1925 – Leidenschaft – Die Liebschaften der Hella von Gilsa
• 1925 – Der Fluch – Ruth
• 1925 – Liebe und Trompetenblasen – Komtesse Maria Charlotte
• 1925 – Die Kleine vom Bummel – Die 'Kleine'
• 1926 – Prinzessin Trulala – Prinzessin Trulala
• 1926 – Die keusche Susanne – Jacqueline
• 1926 – Vater werden ist nicht schwer – Harriet
• 1927 – Die tolle Lola – Tänzerin Tilly Schneider aka Lola Cornero
• 1927 – Eheferien – Hella
• 1927 – Du sollst nicht stehlen –
• 1928 – Eine Nacht in London – Aline Morland
• 1928 – Ihr dunkler Punkt – Lilian von Trucks/Yvette
• 1929 – Rund um die Liebe –
• 1929 – Adieu Mascotte – Mascotte
• 1929 – Wenn Du einmal Dein Herz verschenkst –
• 1930 – Liebeswalzer [MLV] – Princess Eva
• 1930 – The Love Waltz [MLV] – Princess Eva
• 1930 – Hokuspokus [MLV] – Kitty Kellermann
• 1930 – The Temporary Widow [MLV] – Princess Eva
• 1930 – Die Drei von der Tankstelle [MLV] – Lilian Cossmann
• 1930 – Le chemin du paradis [MLV] – Liliane Bourcart
• 1930 – Einbrecher [MLV] – Reneé
• 1931 – Princesse! à vos ordres! [MLV] – La princesse Marie-Christine
• 1931 – Nie wieder Liebe [MLV] – Gladys O'Halloran
• 1931 – Calais-Douvres [MLV] – Gladys O'Halloran
• 1931 – Der Kongreß tanzt [MLV] – Christel Weinzinger, Gloves-seller
• 1931 – Le Congrès s'amuse [MLV] – Christine "Christel" Weizinger
• 1932 – Zwei Herzen und ein Schlag [MLV] – Jenny
• 1931 – La fille et le garçon [MLV] – Jenny Berger/Ria bella
• 1932 – Quick – German [MLV] – Eva
• 1932 – Quick – French [MLV] – Christine Dawson
• 1932 – Ein blonder Traum [MLV] – Jou-Jou
• 1932 – Un rêve blond [MLV] – Joujou
• 1932 – Happy Ever After [MLV] – Jou-Jou
• 1933 – Ich und die Kaiserin [MLV] – Juliette
• 1933 – Moi et l'Impératrice [MLV] – Juliette
• 1933 – My Lips Betray – Lili Wieler
• 1933 – My Weakness – Looloo Blake
• 1933 – I Am Suzanne – Suzanne
• 1934 – The Only Girl [MLV] – Juliette
• 1935 – Let's Live Tonight – Kay Routledge aka Carlotta
• 1935 – Invitation to the Waltz – Jenny Peachey
• 1935 – Schwarze Rosen [MLV] – Tania Fedorovna
• 1935 – Roses noires [MLV] – Tatiana
• 1935 – Black Roses – Tania Fedorovna
• 1936 – Glückskinder [MLV] – Ann Garden & Jackson's Niece
• 1936 – Les gais lurons [MLV] – Ann Garden
• 1937 – Sieben Ohrfeigen – Daisy Terbanks – Astor's Daughter
• 1937 – Fanny Elßler – Fanny Elßler
• 1938 – Capriccio – Madelone aka Don Juan
• 1939 – Castelli in aria [MLV] – Annie Wagner detta 'Mimì'
• 1939 – Frau am Steuer – Maria Kelemen
• 1940 – Sérénade – Margaret Brenton
• 1940 – Miquette – Miquette Grandier

In popular media

In Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, Lillian Harvey's duet with Willy Fritsch from the 1936 film Glückskinder, Ich wollt' ich wär ein Huhn ("I wish I was a chicken") can be heard playing on a phonograph in the basement scene "La Louisiane" as well as in the extended scene "Lunch With Goebbels", as Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) happily sings a portion of the song after deciding to hold a private screening of the film. After the screening, cinema owner, Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), under the alias "Emmanuelle Mimieux", comments on liking Lilian Harvey in the film — to which an irritated Goebbels angrily insists her name never be mentioned again in his presence. The song as performed by the Comedian Harmonists remains popular in Germany to date.

External links

• Lilian Harvey at the Internet Movie Database
• Lilian Harvey – Bibliography, Photographs, Postcards and Tobacco cards
• Lilian Harvey at Find a Grave