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Erich Von Stroheim 1885 - 1957

Erich Von Stroheim was born on September 22, 1885 in Vienna, Vienna Austria, and died at age 71 years old on May 12, 1957 in Maurepas, Yvelines County, IDF France.

Erich Von Stroheim

Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim

September 22, 1885

Vienna, Vienna, Austria

May 12, 1957

Maurepas, Yvelines County, IDF, 78310, France

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Erich Von Stroheim Erich Von Stroheim (1885 - 1957)

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Erich Von Stroheim's History: 1885 - 1957

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Introduction

Famous Hollywood Director and Character Actor. Filmography As director Year Title Role Notes 1919 Blind Husbands Lieutenant Eric Von Steuben Director, screenwriter, producer, and star: von Stroheim. Set in the Austrian Alps. Extant. 1920 The Devil's Pass Key Director and screenwriter: von Stroheim. Set in Paris. The film is lost. 1922 Foolish Wives Count Wladislaw Sergius Karamzin (Russian Captain of Hussars): false Russian nobleman and con artist Director, screenwriter, and star: von Stroheim. Extant. 1924 Greed Balloon vendor - uncredited Director and screenplay adaptation: von Stroheim. Based on Frank Norris's 1899 novel McTeague. Much of the film is lost. 1925 The Merry Widow Director, screenwriter, and producer: von Stroheim. Extant. 1928 The Wedding March Nicki / Prince Nickolas von Wildeliebe-Rauffenburg. Co-starring role. Director and star: von Stroheim. Co-stars: Fay Wray and ZaSu Pitts. Set in Vienna. Extant. 1931 The Honeymoon Nikki Director, writer, and star: von Stroheim. Sequel to The Wedding March. Only known copy was destroyed in a fire in the 1950s. 1932 Queen Kelly Director, screenwriter, co-producer: von Stroheim. Produced in 1929. Silent film. Incomplete.
09/22

1885

Birthday

September 22, 1885

Birthdate

Vienna, Vienna Austria

Birthplace

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Ethnicity & Family History

Stroheim was born in Vienna, Austria in 1885 as Erich Oswald Stroheim (some sources give Hans Erich Maria Stroheim von Nordenwall, but this seems to have been an assumed name, see below), the son of Benno Stroheim, a middle-class hatmaker, and Johanna Bondy, both of whom were observant Jews. Stroheim emigrated to America aboard the SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm on November 26, 1909. On arrival at Ellis Island, he claimed to be Count Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim und Nordenwall, the son of Austrian nobility like the characters he would go on to play in his films.
Religious Beliefs

Jewish.
Personal Life & Family

However, he first found work as a traveling salesman – work which took him to San Francisco and then Hollywood. Both Billy Wilder and Stroheim's agent Paul Kohner claimed that he spoke with a decidedly lower-class Austrian accent. His years in America seem to have affected his speech, though. In The Great Gabbo, Stroheim's German, though fluid, has Midwestern American r's. Later, while living in Europe, Stroheim claimed in published remarks to have "forgotten" his native tongue. In Renoir's movie La Grande Illusion, Stroheim speaks German with what seems to be an American accent. Similarly, in his French-speaking roles, von Stroheim speaks with a noticeable American accent. Jean Renoir writes in his memoirs: "Stroheim spoke hardly any German. He had to study his lines like a schoolboy learning a foreign language." However, the fashion photographer Helmut Newton, whose first language was German, used a clip from a Stroheim film on which to base one of his fantasy nude photographs, and he has commented that in the clip Stroheim speaks "a very special kind of Prussian officer lingo – it's very abrupt: it's very, very funny". Stroheim was married three times. He was married to Margaret Knox from 1913 to 1915; His second marriage was to Mae Jones from 1916 to 1919. He was never divorced from his third wife Valerie Germonprez, though he lived with actress Denise Vernac, from 1939 until his death. Vernac also starred with him in several films. Two of Stroheim's sons eventually joined the film business: Erich Jr. (1916–1968) as an assistant director and Josef (1922–2002) as a sound editor. After appearing in 1950s Sunset Boulevard, Stroheim moved to France where he spent the last part of his life. There his silent film work was much admired by artists in the French film industry. In France, he acted in films, wrote several novels that were published in French, and worked on various unrealized film projects. He was awarded the French Legion of Honour shortly before his death. In 1956, Stroheim began to suffer severe back pain that was diagnosed as prostate cancer. He eventually became paralyzed and was carried to his drawing-room to receive the Legion of Honor award from an official delegation. He died at his chateau in Maurepas near Paris on May 12, 1957, at age 71, accompanied by his longtime lover Denise Vernac.
05/12

1957

Death

May 12, 1957

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Maurepas, Yvelines County, IDF 78310, France
Death location

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