Spanish postcard by C y A, no. 95. Barbara Eden and Pat Boone in All Hands on Deck (Norman Taurog, 1961). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Valentine's Day is coming. On 14 February 2024, there will be a La Collectionneuse post full of hugs and kisses at European Film Star Postcards!

Tags:   Barbara Eden Barbara Eden American Actress Hollywood Movie Star Pat Boone Pat Boone Singer Actor Film Cinema Vintage Postcard C y A All Hands on Deck 1961 La Collectionneuse

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Spanish postcard by C y A, no. 32. Natalie Wood and James Garner in Cash McCall (Joseph Pevney, 1960). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Valentine's Day is coming. On 14 February 2024, there will be a La Collectionneuse post full of hugs and kisses at European Film Star Postcards!

Tags:   Natalie Wood Natalie American Actress Hollywood Movie Star James Garner James Garner Actor Film Cinema Star Vintage Postcard Cash McCall 1960 C y A La Collectionneuse

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Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 433. Jean Marais in Le paria / Diamond Rush (Claude Carliez, 1969).

With his heroic physique, Jean Marais (1913-1998) was France’s answer to Errol Flynn, the epitome of the swashbuckling romantic hero of French cinema. The blonde and incredibly good-looking actor played over 100 roles in film and on television and was also known as a director, writer, painter and sculptor. His mentor was the legendary poet and director Jean Cocteau, also his lover.

Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais was born in 1913 in Cherbourg, France. He endured a turbulent childhood. When he was born, on the eve of World War I, his mother refused to see him. Her only daughter had died a few days before. When Marais' father returned from the war, the five-year-old Jean didn't remember him, and his father slapped him. His mother promptly packed her three children off to their grandmother's, and Jean grew up fatherless. He attended the Lycee Condorcet, a prestigious private school, where some of his future film partners also studied, such as Louis de Funes and Jean Cocteau, and the faculty had such figures as Jean-Paul Sartre. At 13, Marais had to leave the Lycee Condorcet, after gamingly flirting in drag with a teacher. He was placed in a Catholic boarding school, but at 16, he left school and became involved in amateur acting. As a child, he dreamed of becoming an actor but was twice rejected when he applied to drama schools. He took a job as a photographer's assistant and had acting classes with Charles Dullin. In 1933 Marcel L'Herbier gave him a bit part in L’Épervier/The Casting Net (1933) starring Charles Boyer. This was followed by more small parts in films by L’Herbier, in L'Aventurier/The Adventurer (1934), Le Bonheur/Happiness (1935), Les Hommes nouveaux/The New Men (1936), and Nuits de feu/The Living Corpse (1936). Marais also appeared in Abus de confiance/Abused Confidence (Henri Decoin, 1937), and Drôle de drame/Bizarre, Bizarre (Marcel Carné, 1937).

In 1937, then-24-year-old Jean Marais met Jean Cocteau at a stage rehearsal of 'Oedipe-Roi' (King Oedipus). They fell in love and would remain close friends until Cocteau died in 1963. Cocteau became his surrogate father, and he was Cocteau's surrogate son. Cocteau had a major influence on Marais’ career. In 1938 he cast him as Galahad in the stage play 'Les Chevaliers de La Table Ronde' (The Knights of the Round Table), and wrote the film L'Éternel retour with him in mind. With L’Éternal retour/The Eternal Return (Jean Delannoy, 1943), Marais made his big break in the cinema. This was the turning point in his life and the start of a film career spanning nearly sixty years. In the following years, he appeared in almost every one of Cocteau's films: La Belle et la bête/Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, Jean Delannoy, 1946), L'Aigle à deux têtes/The Eagle Has Two Heads (Jean Cocteau, 1947), Les Parents terribles/The Storm Within (Jean Cocteau, 1948), and Orphée/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950). After the Allies liberated Paris in August 1944, he joined France's Second Armored Division and served as a truck driver carrying fuel and ammunition to the front. Later he was decorated with the Croix de Guerre for his courage. During the war, Marais was engaged to his film partner, actress Mila Parély, and their engagement was blessed by Cocteau, who wanted Marais to be happy. Marais and Mila Parély separated after two years, and shortly after they worked together again in La Belle et la bête/Beauty and the Beast (1946). His double role as the beast and the prince in this classic film made Marais an international teen idol.

During the 1950s, Jean Marais became a dashing sword master, dazzling his audiences with impressive French swashbuckling adventures, in which he performed his own stunts. Le Comte de Monte Cristo/The Count of Monte Cristo (Robert Vernay, 1955), Le Bossu/The Hunchback of Paris (André Hunebelle, 1959), and Le Capitaine Fracasse/Captain Fracasse (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1961) all enjoyed great box office popularity in France. Marais would become one of the most admired and celebrated actors of his generation and star in international productions directed by Jean Renoir (Elena et les hommes/Elena and Her Men, 1956), Luchino Visconti (Le Notti bianche/White Nights, 1957), Cocteau (Le testament d'Orphée/The Testament of Orpheus, 1959), and others. During the 1960s and 1970s, he went on to appear in such popular adventure comedies as the Fantômas (1964-1967, André Hunebelle) trilogy, co-starring with Louis de Funes and Mylène Demongeot.

Jean Marais was equally impressive in the theatre, appearing in such plays as 'Britannicus,' 'Pygmalion' and 'Cher Menteur' at the Théâtre de Paris, Théâtre de l'Atelier, and the Comédie Francaise. He spent his later years living in his house in Vallauris, in the South of France where he was involved in painting, sculpture and pottery, and was visited by Pablo Picasso and other cultural figures. His monument Le passe muraille/The Walker Through Walls, honouring French author Marcel Aymé, can be seen in the Montmartre Quarter in Paris. After a long retirement, Jean Marais returned to filmmaking in the mid-1980s with choice character roles in such films as Parking (Jacques Demy, 1985). In 1993 he was awarded an honourable César. Marais made his final film appearance in Bernardo Bertolucci's Io ballo da sola/Stealing Beauty (1996) starring Liv Tyler. That year he received France's highest tribute, the Legion of Honour for his contribution to the French cinema. Jean Marais died of heart failure in 1998, in Cannes. He had an adopted son, Serge Marais.

Sources: Steve Shelokhonov (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia, French Films, Lenin Imports, and IMDb.

For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Tags:   Jean Marais Jean Marais French Actor European Film Star Cinema Film Star Vintage Postcard Casa Filmului Acin Acin Le Paria 1969

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West German postcard by UFA, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 444. Photo: Terb Agency.

Some Hollywood stars were much more popular in Europe than at home. A fabulous example is sweet Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967), one of Hollywood's original platinum blonde bombshells. Although most of her American films did not do much at the European box offices, Jayne was a sensation whenever she came to Europe to promote her films. During the 1960s, when Hollywood lost interest in her, Jayne continued to appear cheerfully in several European films.

Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, in 1933. She was the only child of Herbert William, a successful attorney of German ancestry, and Vera Jeffrey Palmer of English descent. While attending the University of Texas at Austin, Mansfield won several beauty contests. However, her prominent breasts were considered problematic and led to her losing her first professional assignment—an advertising campaign for General Electric. A natural brunette, Mansfield had her hair bleached and coloured platinum blonde when she moved to Los Angeles. She posed nude for the February 1955 issue of Playboy, modelling in pyjamas raised so that the bottoms of her breasts showed. This helped launch Mansfield's career, and that year, she became a major Broadway star as Marilyn Monroe-like actress Rita Marlowe in the Broadway version of George Axelrod's play 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?' This role won her a contract at 20th Century Fox. The following year, she reprised the role in the film version, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (Frank Tashlin, 1957), with Tony Randall, and became a major Hollywood star. She showcased her comedic skills in The Girl Can't Help It (Frank Tashlin, 1956), and her dramatic assets in The Wayward Bus (Victor Vicas, 1957) opposite Joan Collins. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “Despite good dramatic performances in such films as The Wayward Bus (1957), Kiss Them for Me (1957), and The Burglar (1957), Mansfield was forever typed as a parody of Marilyn Monroe.” By the late 1950s, with the decrease in the demand for big-breasted blonde bombshells and the increase in the negative backlash against her over-publicity, she became a box-office has-been.

While Hollywood studios lost interest in her, Jayne Mansfield’s film career continued in Europe with films in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Greece. 20th Century Fox loaned her out for the British Neo-Noir thriller Too Hot to Handle/Playgirl After Dark (Terence Young, 1960). Jayne played a nightclub dancer opposite Leo Genn, Karlheinz Böhm and Christopher Lee. In Britain, she also appeared in The Challenge/It Takes a Thief (John Gilling, 1960) with Anthony Quayle and Carl Möhner. Hollywood sent her to Italy for Gli amori di Ercole/The Loves of Hercules (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1960) opposite muscleman and husband Mickey Hargitay. Bruce Eder at AllMovie: “A fairly lavishly produced but otherwise relatively undistinguished sword-and-sandal adventure.” After her contract with 20th Century Fox ended, she made in Germany Heimweh nach St. Pauli/Homesick for St. Pauli (Werner Jacobs, 1963) starring Schlager star Freddy Quinn, and Einer frisst den anderen/Dog Eat Dog (Gustav Gavrin, 1964). Mark Deming at AllMovie describes the latter as an “offbeat but stylish crime drama”. At the time, she was photographed in Germany by legendary glamour photographer Bernard of Hollywood (a.k.a. Bruno Bernard) , which resulted in a series of very sexy and popular postcards. Jayne moved on to Italy for the comedies L'Amore Primitivo/Primitive Love (Luigi Scattini, 1964), and Panic Button (George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo, 1964) with Maurice Chevalier. During the 1960s, Mansfield remained a highly visible celebrity, through her publicity antics and daring performances in international nightclubs. In early 1967, she filmed her last screen role: a cameo in A Guide for the Married Man (Gene Kelly, 1967), a comedy starring Walter Matthau. Mansfield had taken her professional name from her first husband, public relations professional Paul Mansfield, with whom she married in 1950 at age 16, and with whom she had a daughter. She was the mother of three children from her second marriage to actor–bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay (1958-1964). She married her third husband, Italian-born film director Matt Cimber/Matteo Ottaviano in 1964, and separated from him in 1966. Mansfield and Cimber had a son. In 1967, while driving to a club engagement in New Orleans, Jayne Mansfield died in a car accident. She was only 34 years old at the time. Her fourth child, Mariska Hargitay, would later become a well-known TV actress.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Joel Nickerson (IMDb), Mark Deming (AllMovie), Bruce Eder (AllMovie), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Tags:   Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield American Actress Hollywood Movie Star Bombshell Platinum Blonde Cinema Film Vintage Postcard UFA Terb Agency

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French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil, no. 82. Photo: Sirius.

French stage and film actress Jacqueline Gauthier (1921-1982) made her name in comedies alongside fashionable singers such as Charles Trenet, Tino Rossi and Georges Guétary and often worked with director Jean Boyer. She began her film career as a young stage actress in the late 1930s and appeared in 30 films without making a lasting impression.

Jacqueline Jeanne Louise Gauthier (sometimes written as Gautier) was born in Paris in the 10th arrondissement in 1921 (IMDb writes 1918). Initially, she decided to become a dancer. However, her mother's opinion was not on her side, and she preferred to introduce her to her idol Louis Jouvet when Jacqueline was 14. But it was Alice Cocéa who gave her in 1938 her first role in 'Le coup de Trafalgar' (The Trafalgar Coup) by Roger Vitrac, at the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs. That same year, she made her film debut in the comedy Vacances payées / Paid Holidays (Maurice Cammage, 1938) with Frédéric Duvallès and Andrex. The following year, she played a supporting part in the musical Louise (Abel Gance, 1939) starring Grace Moore and based on the opera of the same name by Gustave Charpentier. Over the next decade, she appeared regularly in French films. In 1942 she appeared in 5 films. She played small parts in the dramas La femme que j'ai le plus aimée / The Woman I Loved Most (Robert Vernay, 1942) starring Arletty and Mireille Balin, and Le journal tombe à cinq heures / The Newspaper Falls at Five O'Clock (Georges Lacombe, 1942) starring Pierre Fresnay. Then followed co-starring roles opposite Jean Tissier and Suzanne Dehelly in the comedy À vos ordres, Madame / At Your Command, Madame (Jean Boyer, 1942) and René Dary in the mystery Huit hommes dans un château / Eight Men in a Castle (Richard Pottier, 1942), and Charles Trenet and Elvire Popesco in the comedy Frédérica / Frederica (Jean Boyer, 1942). She had a supporting part in the historical drama Au Bonheur des Dames / Shop Girls of Paris (André Cayatte, 1943) starring Michel Simon, an adaptation of a novel by Émile Zola. During the occupation of France, she also co-starred in the crime film Le mort ne reçoit plus / Death No Longer Awaits (Jean Tarride, 1944) starring Jules Berry.

After the liberation, Jacqueline Gauthier easily continued her film career. She starred in the comedy Tombé du ciel / Dropped from Heaven (Emil E. Reinert, 1946). She played a singer who jokingly tells one of her bandmates (Claude Dauphin) that he is the father of her child. The girl is not her daughter at all but belongs to a friend. Then she co-starred with Tino Rossi in Sérénade aux nuages / Song of the Clouds (André Cayatte, 1946). The comedy was one of the most popular films of the year in France with more than 3 million visitors. She co-starred with Albert Prejean and Jules Berry in the crime film L'assassin n'est pas coupable / The Murderer is Not Guilty (René Delacroix, 1946) about murders on film actors. She starred in the comedies Les maris de Léontine / The Husbands of Leontine (René Le Hénaff, 1947) with Pierre Jourdan, and Une nuit à Tabarin / One Night at the Tabarin (Karel Lamac, 1947) with Robert Dhéry. Gautier had a supporting part in the historical adventure Les aventures de Casanova / The Adventures of Casanova (Jean Boyer, 1947) starring Georges Guétary as Giacomo Casanova. In the 1950s Jacqueline Gauthier became a rarity on the silver screen. Her films included the comedies Ils ont vingt ans / They Are Twenty (René Delacroix, 1950) with Philippe Lemaire, Le clochard milliardaire / The Billionaire Tramp (Léopold Gomez, Hervé Bromberger, 1951) and La plus belle fille du monde / The Most Beautiful Girl in the World (Christian Stengel, 1951) with Françoise Arnoul in her first starring role. Disappointed by the roles she had been given in films, she turned to the small screen in 1956, a choice that proved fatal. She was never seen again in the cinema. Gautier's final film was the comedy Terreur des dames / The Terror with Women (Jean Boyer, 1956) with Noël-Noël and Fernandel. In the next decades, she became a familiar face to television audiences, appearing frequently in the programme Au théâtre ce soir between 1968 and 1980. She was on stage until the very end. Depressed, the beautiful Jacqueline Gauthier took her own life on 18 September 1982. She was 60. Gauthier is buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris. At IMDb, Guy Bellinger writes: "Jacqueline Gauthier had never agreed to be only a comedian, however good she was at it. Showing her true colors on the silver screen was the dream she long cherished but that she could never achieve, a few 'serious' projects (notably one with René Clair) ending up not coming to fruition. This is the reason why Jacqueline Gauthier stopped making movies in favor of the theater and television where besides her comic qualities she was given the opportunity to display her real talents in drama (for example Jacques Audiberti's 'La logeuse' on stage or La fortune des Rougon (1980) (TV Mini-Series), an adaptation of Émile Zola novel on TV ). It is more likely than not that the seventh art has missed out on a true talent."

Sources: Guy Bellinger (IMDb), Alexandre Carle (Les gens du Cinema - French), Wikipedia (English and French) and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Tags:   Jacqueline Gauthier Gauthier Jacqueline Gautier Jacqueline Gautier French Actress European Film Star Film Cinema Vintage Postcard Sirius Edit. Chantal Chantal

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