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Oscar Homolka

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Oskar Homolka
Homolka in Ebb Tide (1937)
Born(1898-08-12)August 12, 1898
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
DiedJanuary 27, 1978(1978-01-27) (aged 79)
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England
OccupationActor
Years active1926–1976
Spouses
(m. 1928; div. 1937)
Baroness Vally Hatvany
(m. 1937; died 1938)
(m. 1939; div. 1948)
(m. 1949; died 1977)
Children2

Oskar Homolka (August 12, 1898 – January 27, 1978) was an Austrian film and theatre actor, who went on to work in Germany, Britain, and America. Both his voice and his appearance fitted him for roles as communist spies or Soviet officials, for which he was in regular demand. By the age of 30, he had appeared in more than 400 plays; his film career covered at least 100 films and TV shows.[1]

He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in I Remember Mama (1948).

Career

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After serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War, Homolka attended the Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna, the city of his birth, and began his career on the Austrian stage. In 1924 he played Mortimer in the premiere of Brecht's play The Life of Edward II of England at the Munich Kammerspiele, and from 1925 in Berlin where he worked under Max Reinhardt.

Oskar Homolka in 1932

Other stage plays in which Homolka performed during this period include: The first German performance of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, 1924, Anna Christie, 1924, Boubouroche [fr], 1925, Juarez and Maximilian, 1925–1926, Her Young Boyfriend, 1925, The Jewish Widow, 1925, Stir, 1925, Mérimée and Courteline, 1926, Periphery, 1926, Neidhardt von Gneisenau, 1926, Dorothea Angermann, 1926–1927, Der Revisor, 1926, Androcles and the Lion, 1926, Bonaparte, 1927, The Ringer and The Squeaker by Edgar Wallace, both 1927, Underworld, 1930, Today's Sensation, 1931, The Last Equipage, 1931, The Waterloo Bridge, 1931, Faust, 1932, Karl and Anna, Doctor's Dilemma, Pygmalion, Juno and the Paycock, and many Shakespearean plays including: A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1925, Troilus and Cressida, 1927, Richard III, King Lear, and Macbeth. After his arrival in London, he continued to star on stage, including with Flora Robson in the play Close Quarters.

His first films were Die Abenteuer eines Zehnmarkscheines (Uneasy Money, 1926), Hokuspokus (Hocuspocus, 1930), and Dreyfus (The Dreyfus Case, 1930), Zwischen Nacht und Morgen (Between Night and Dawn, 1931), Geheimdienst (Intelligence, 1931), Junge Liebe (Young Love, 1931), and Nachtkolonne (Night Column, 1932). According to Homolka's own account, he made at least thirty silent films in Germany and starred in the first talking picture ever made there.

After the Nazi party came to power in Germany, Homolka moved to Britain, where he starred in the films Rhodes of Africa, with Walter Huston (1936) and Everything Is Thunder, with Constance Bennett (1936). Later, he was one of the many Austrian and specifically Viennese actors and theatrical people who left Europe for the US.[1][2]

In 1936, he appeared opposite Sylvia Sidney in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Sabotage. Although he often played villains such as Communist spies and Soviet-bloc military officers or scientists, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the crusty, beloved uncle in I Remember Mama (1948).

Oskar Homolka and Danielle De Metz in "The Ikon of Elijah", an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960)

He also acted with Ingrid Bergman in Rage in Heaven, with Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, with Ronald Reagan in Prisoner of War and with Katharine Hepburn in The Madwoman of Chaillot. He returned to England in the mid-1960s, to play the Soviet KGB Colonel Stok in Funeral in Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967), opposite Michael Caine. His last film was the Blake Edwards romantic drama The Tamarind Seed in 1974.

In 1967 Homolka was awarded the Filmband in Gold of the Deutscher Filmpreis for outstanding contributions to German cinema.

His career in television included appearances in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1957 and 1960, and a 1964 episode of Hazel. In 1973, he appeared in "Border Line", an episode of The Protectors, filmed in Austria.

Homolka was referenced in The Odd Couple. When Oscar Madison makes his desperate last call to find a date and his prospect does not recall him, Madison asks "How many Oscars do you know?" After a pregnant pause, Madison replies, "You know Oscar Homolka?"

Personal life

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Homolka married four times:

  • His first wife was Grete Mosheim, a German actress. They married in Berlin on 28 June 1928 but divorced in 1937. She later married Howard Gould.
  • His second wife, Baroness Vally Hatvany (died 1938), was a Hungarian actress. They married in December 1937, but she died four months later.
  • In 1939, Homolka married socialite and photographer Florence Meyer (1911–1962), a daughter of The Washington Post owner Eugene Meyer. They had two sons, Vincent and Laurence, but divorced after nine years of marriage.
  • His last wife was actress Joan Tetzel, whom he married in 1949. The marriage lasted until Tetzel's death in 1977.

Death

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Homolka made his home in Britain after 1966. He died of pneumonia in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on January 27, 1978, three months after the death of his fourth wife, actress Joan Tetzel. He was 79 years old.[1] He and Tetzel are buried in Christ Church churchyard, Fairwarp, East Sussex, England. Their gravestone is notable for having a pair of theatrical masks carved into the surface.

The grave of actor Oscar Homolka and his wife in Christ Church, Fairwarp, East Sussex

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1926 Adventures of a Ten Mark Note Direktor Haniel lost film
1927 Aftermath Der Matrose
Tragedy of the Street Anton
The Girl Without a Homeland Plempe
Regine, die Tragödie einer Frau Robert, ihr Bruder
The Holy Lie Jack
The Trial of Donald Westhof Lessing
Petronella – Das Geheimnis der Berge Fridolin Bortis
1928 Prince or Clown Zurube
The Serfs Gouverneur Fürst Kurganow
The Prince of Rogues Antmann
The Green Alley Doctor Horner
1930 Revolt in the Reformatory Erzieher
Masks Breitkopf
Hocuspocus Grandt
Dreyfus Major Walsin-Esterhazy
1931 Road to Rio Ricardo
1914 Sazanow
Between Night and Dawn Anton
In the Employ of the Secret Service Lanskoi, generalmajor
1932 Night Convoy André Carno
Nights in Port Said Winston Winkler
1933 Moral und Liebe Robert Keßler
Spies at Work Blünzli (Agent B 18)
Invisible Opponent James Godfrey
1936 Rhodes of Africa Paul Kruger
Everything Is Thunder Detective Schenck Götz
Sabotage Karl Anton Verloc
1937 Ebb Tide[3] Captain Jakob Therbecke
1940 Seven Sinners Antro
Comrade X Commissar Vasiliev
The Invisible Woman Blackie Cole
1941 Rage in Heaven Dr. Rameau
Ball of Fire Professor Gurkakoff
1943 Mission to Moscow Maxim Litvinov
Hostages Lev Pressinger
1947 The Shop at Sly Corner Desius Heiss
1948 I Remember Mama Uncle Chris nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1949 Anna Lucasta Joe Lucasta
1950 The White Tower Andreas
1951 Der schweigende Mund [de] Dr. Herbert Hirth
1952 Top Secret Zekov
1953 The House of the Arrow Inspector Hanaud
1954 Prisoner of War Colonel Biroshilov
1955 The Seven Year Itch Dr. Brubaker
1956 War and Peace Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov
1957 A Farewell to Arms Dr. Emerich
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Carl Kaminsky Season 3 Episode 6: "Reward to Finder"
1958 The Key Captain Van Dam
Tempest Savelic
1960 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Carpius Season 5 Episode 16: "The Ikon of Elijah"
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Jan Vander Klaue / Mr. A.J. Keyser Season 5 Episode 29: "The Hero"
1961 Mr. Sardonicus Krull
1962 Boys' Night Out Doctor Prokosch
Mooncussers Urias Hawke
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm The Duke
1964 The Long Ships Krok
1965 Joy in the Morning Stan Pulaski
1966 Funeral in Berlin Colonel Stok
1967 The Happening Sam
Billion Dollar Brain Colonel Stok
1968 Assignment to Kill Inspector Ruff
1969 The Madwoman of Chaillot The Commissar
1970 The Executioner Racovsky
Song of Norway Engstrand
1974 The Tamarind Seed General Golitsyn

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Oskar Homolka, Actor, Dies at 79; The Uncle in I Remember Mama". The New York Times. 29 January 1978. p. E-17. Retrieved 6 January 2015. Oskar Homolka, for decades one of the leading character actors of stage, theatre and television, with a range from somber terror to chortling affability, died Friday in Sussex, England. He was 79 years old.
  2. ^ Obituary Variety, February 1, 1978, p. 110.
  3. ^ "Advertisement: Discovery of the Year!". Screenland. Vol. XXXV, no. 5. September 1937. p. 95. Retrieved 7 August 2020. Oskar Homolka, Frances Farmer, Ray Milland and others of the cast of Paramount's Ebbtide in Technicolor use the new screen and stage make-up by Elizabeth Arden
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