|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
Francis Lederer 1899-2000
Born Frantisek Lederer, November 6, 1899, Karlin (near Prague), Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now in Czech Republic). Died May 25, 2000, Palm Springs, California of natural causes. Lederer's career spanned the silent era up until TV appearances made in the 1970's. He was also interviewed for a documentary on Louise Brooks in the late 90s. And he taught classes at his American National Academy of Performing Arts in Los Angeles up until one week before his death driving in from his home in the desert! He is most notable for roles in the 1929 silent film Pandora's Box, the 1939 Billy Wilder film, Midnight and Confessions of a Nazi Spy. After his career as an actor started to subside, he and his wife founded the American National Academy of Performing Arts in Los Angeles. Spouses: Frantisek Lederer was born in Karlin near Prague and grew up bilingual. Already as a teenager he worked partially as an extra for the theater and took play lessons by Roman Reinhardt. In 1918 he tackled a study at the academy of music and performing arts and received a fixed contract at the "Neues Deutsches Theater" in Prague. In the following years he acted frequently in Germany and started there his true theater career. In 1928 Lederer made his debut in the film business with "Zuflucht". In the next few years he appeared in thirteen further film productions before he went to England, and the US for a theater engagement. During his stay there the political situation in Germany came to a head and Lederer decided to stay in exile. This decision wasn't detrimental to his career. He received leading roles in the US and acted with the likes of Joan Bennett, Ginger Rogers and Claudette Colbert. In the 50s Lederer appeared in movies only occasionally, his last cinema movie came into being in 1959. Till 1971 he appeared time and again in guest roles of different TV serials like "Mission Impossible" and others. Francis Lederer, was known for his continental charm that won him leading man roles in silent film classics such as the 1929 German-made psychological drama "Pandora's Box," and who became wealthy through his substantial real estate holdings in the San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Lederer, a debonair international star of stage and screen in the 1920s and '30s who later created a gallery of offbeat character roles in U.S. films from 1933 to 1959, died Thursday at his Palm Springs home. "I would look on him as an essential continental leading man as opposed to a Hollywood star," said film historian Anthony Slide, who has written about 60 books on film history. "His natural charm comes across on film. He is like the German Maurice Chevalier -- without the songs." He served as a corporal with the Czechoslovakian artillery during World War II before launching his stage career as a walk-on in "Burning Heart" while an apprentice with the New German Theater. Lederer's earliest films included the French film "Maman Colibri," and the German films "The Wonderful Lie of Nina Perovna" and "Pandora's Box," considered a classic of German cinema and one of the greatest films of the silent era. On this side of the Atlantic, Lederer achieved success as an actor on the Broadway stage (Autumn Crocus, 1932), Hollywood studio back lots and later on television, where he made guest appearances on "Mission: Impossible," "Ben Casey," "The Untouchables" and "It Takes a Thief," among other programs. Lederer and his wife, Marion, purchased 300 acres in the San Fernando Valley and built an 18th-century Spanish mission-style home. In 1957, Lederer, one of the earliest members of the Screen Actors Guild, founded the American National Academy of Performing Arts, where he continued to teach a weekly actors' workshop.
To mark Lederer's 100th birthday, the Los Angeles City Council in November presented the actor with a resolution citing his acting credits and civic activism. (He had also been made Honorary Mayor of Canoga Park in the 1970s.) Showing his legendary wit and wisdom, Lederer said the secret of longevity "is to live a long time." Lederer is survived by his wife of 59 years and several relatives. A private funeral was planned. Films: Looking for Lulu (1998) .... Interviewee Terror Is a Man (1959)
.... Dr. Charles Girard Million Dollar Weekend
(1948) .... Alan Marker Midnight (1939) ....
Jacques Picot Mother Hummingbird
(1929) Television:
|
Francis
Lederer was born on the same day as me, November 6. He was born in 1899
and died in the year 2000 at the age of 100. He lived in three different
centuries.
With
his film career winding down, Lederer became active in civic affairs.
At times, Lederer's political activism put him at odds with colleagues
and government officials. In the 1940s, he was exonerated by a U.S. House
subcommittee of being a Communist sympathizer. In 1934 he had set up the
World Peace Federation, and was active in leftist politics.