Oscar Homolka

Oscar Homolka (12 August 1898 – 27 January 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]

Oscar Homolka
Homolka in Funeral in Berlin (1966)
Born
Oskar Homolka

(1898-08-12)12 August 1898
Died27 January 1978(1978-01-27) (aged 79)
Occupationactor
Years active1926–1976
Spouse(s)
    (m. 1928; div. 1937)
      Baroness Vally Hatvany
      (m. 1937; died 1938)
        (m. 1939; div. 1948)
          (m. 1949; died 1977)
          Children2

          Career

          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.

          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, 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).

          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.

          Personal life

          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

          Homolka made his home in Britain after 1966. He died of pneumonia in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 27 January 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.

          Filmography

          YearTitleRoleNotes
          1926Adventures of a Ten Mark NoteDirektor Haniellost film
          1927AftermathDer Matrose
          Tragedy of the StreetAnton
          The Girl Without a HomelandPlempe
          Regine, die Tragödie einer FrauRobert, ihr Bruder
          The Holy LieJack
          The Trial of Donald WesthofLessing
          Petronella – Das Geheimnis der BergeFridolin Bortis
          1928Prince or ClownZurube
          The SerfsGouverneur Fürst Kurganow
          The Prince of RoguesAntmann
          The Green AlleyDoctor Horner
          1930Revolt in the ReformatoryErzieher
          MasksBreitkopf
          HocuspocusGrandt
          DreyfusMajor Walsin-Esterhazy
          1931Road to RioRicardo
          1914Sazanow
          Between Night and DawnAnton
          In the Employ of the Secret ServiceLanskoi, generalmajor
          1932Night ConvoyAndré Carno
          Nights in Port SaidWinston Winkler
          1933Moral und LiebeRobert Keßler
          Spies at WorkBlünzli (Agent B 18)
          Invisible OpponentJames Godfrey
          1936Rhodes of AfricaPaul Kruger
          Everything Is ThunderDetective Schenck Götz
          SabotageKarl Anton Verloc
          1937Ebb Tide[3]Captain Jakob Therbecke
          1940Seven SinnersAntro
          Comrade XCommissar Vasiliev
          The Invisible WomanBlackie Cole
          1941Rage in HeavenDr. Rameau
          Ball of FireProfessor Gurkakoff
          1943Mission to MoscowMaxim Litvinov
          HostagesLev Pressinger
          1947The Shop at Sly CornerDesius Heiss
          1948I Remember MamaUncle Chrisnominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
          1949Anna LucastaJoe Lucasta
          1950The White TowerAndreas
          1951Der schweigende MundDr. Herbert Hirth
          1952Top SecretZekov
          1953The House of the ArrowInspector Hanaud
          1954Prisoner of WarColonel Biroshilov
          1955The Seven Year ItchDr. Brubaker
          1956War and PeaceField Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov
          1957A Farewell to ArmsDr. Emerich
          1958The KeyCaptain Van Dam
          TempestSavelic
          1961Mr. SardonicusKrull
          1962Boys' Night OutDoctor Prokosch
          MooncussersUrias Hawke
          The Wonderful World of the Brothers GrimmThe Duke
          1964The Long ShipsKrok
          1965Joy in the MorningStan Pulaski
          1966Funeral in BerlinColonel Stok
          1967The HappeningSam
          Billion Dollar BrainColonel Stok
          1968Assignment to KillInspector Ruff
          1969The Madwoman of ChaillotThe Commissar
          1970The ExecutionerRacovsky
          Song of NorwayEngstrand
          1974The Tamarind SeedGeneral Golitsyn

          See also

          • List of Academy Award winners and nominees from German-speaking countries

          References

          1. "Oscar Homolka, Actor, Dies at 79. The Uncle in I Remember Mama". The New York Times. 29 January 1978. Retrieved 6 January 2015. Oscar 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. Oscar 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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