Swedish postcard. Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, No. 187.

Agnes Ayres (1898-1940) was an American film actress. After her debut with Chaplin and acting at Essanay and Fox, Ayres had her breakthrough in The Sheik (1921) with Rudolph Valentino, after which several important parts at Paramount followed in e.g. The Affairs of Anatol (1921) and The Ten Commandments (1923). After a dip in the mid-1920s, she had her comeback in The Son of the Sheik (1926), but the arrival of sound cinema made an end to her career.

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Swedish postcard by Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm. Photo: Wolfenstein.

Swedish actress Karin Molander (1889–1978) was a star of the silent Scandinavian cinema. In the films of Mauritz Stiller, she became a symbol of the modern, young and emancipated women of the 1910s.

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Swedish postcard by Ljunggren's Könstforlag, Stockholm, no. 507. Photo: Gösta Härd, Stockholm.

Handsome and sophisticated Swedish actor Einar Hanson (1899-1927) became as Einar Hansen a popular Hollywood star of the silent film era. In 1927 he was ideally positioned to take over from the late Rudolph Valentino as Hollywood's ‘great screen lover’, but suddenly he died tragically after a freak car accident.

Einar Hanson (sometimes credited as Einar Hansson or Hansen) was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Hanson had made his film debut in 1916 in a bit part in Hemsöborna/The People of Hemso (Carl Barcklind, 1919), based on a play by August Strindberg. He was discovered at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre by Finnish-born director Mauritz Stiller, who according to rumor had more than a professional relationship in mind. Stiller cast him as the title character of Gunnar Hedes saga/The Story of Gunnar Hede (Mauritz Stiller, 1923), based on the novel by Selma Lagerlöf. He went on to play leading parts in Mälarpirater/Pirates on the Malonen (Gustaf Molander, 1923), and Johan Ulfstjerna/Human Destinies (John W. Brunius, 1923). In early 1924, Stiller had a big success with Gösta Berling Saga. Shortly after, he signed a contract with the largest German film company at the time, Trianon A.G. for two films. He started production in December 1924 on a film version of the novel, Odalisken från Smoln/The Odalisque from Smolensk by Vladimir Semitjov, in Istanbul, Turkey. His other protegee Greta Garbo would play the female leading role, Einar Hansson was her film-lover, and Conrad Veidt was the film-villain. But Trianon went bankrupt and the project was stopped after only three weeks. Stiller sold Garbo’s contract to director Georg Wilhelm Pabst for Die Freudlose Gasse/A Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925). Einar Hanson also played a small part in this classic film.

In the summer of 1925 Einar Hanson, Stiller and Garbo traveled to Hollywood. At Universal Studios, Hanson starred opposite the ‘Orchid Lady’ Corinne Griffith in Into Her Kingdom (Sven Gade, 1926), and opposite another screen diva, Laura La Plante in the comedy Her Big Night (Melville W. Brown, 1926). Fan mail began pouring in and Hansen was promised bigger and better things to come by Paramount, who had bought his original five-year contract from Universal. He showed great progress in The Woman on Trial (Mauritz Stiller, 1927) and Barbed Wire (Rowland V. Lee, 1927) both starring Pola Negri. That same year, he also appeared in The Lady in Ermine (James Flood, 1927) with Corinne Griffith, The Masked Woman (Silvano Balboni, 1927) with Anna Q. Nilsson, Fashions for Women (Dorothy Arzner, 1927) with Esther Ralston, and Children of Divorce (Frank Lloyd, Josef von Sternberg, 1927) opposite Clara Bow and Esther Ralston.

On June 3, 1927, Einar Hanson was on his way home from having dinner with Stiller and Garbo when his car apparently skidded off the road on the Pacific Coast Highway near Topanga Canyon. He died on the way to the hospital. Barry Paris, in his 1995 biography Garbo says that Hanson met Garbo and Stiller at a party where Hanson became intoxicated and drove off on his own, leading to the fatal accident. When the crew of a tow truck came across Hanson's overturned car, they found him beneath the wreck pinned to the steering wheel, with his pet Airedale standing guard. It was too late. The actor passed away four hours later at a Santa Monica hospital with his loyal pet still at his side.

Sources: Hans J. Wollstein (All Movie), GarboForever, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

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

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Swedish postcard by Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 413. Photo: Hard, Stockholm.

Handsome and sophisticated Swedish actor Einar Hanson (1899-1927), aka Einar Hansson, became as Einar Hansen a popular Hollywood star of the silent film era. In 1927 he was ideally positioned to take over from the late Rudolph Valentino as Hollywood's ‘great screen lover’, but suddenly he died tragically after a freak car accident.

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Swedish postcard by Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 282. Photo: Campbell Studio, New York.

Milton Sills (1882-1930) was a major American silent film actor and university professor. His relatively early death and his unusual career made him a legend.

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

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