Mady Christians

Acteur

17 januari 1892 — 29 oktober 1951 (59 years)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marguerita Maria "Mady" Christians (January 19, 1892 – October 28, 1951) was an Austrian actress and naturalized US citizen who had a successful acting career in theatre and film in the United States until she was blacklisted during the McCarthy period. She was born on January 19, 1892 to Rudolph Christians, a well-known German actor, and his wife, Bertha. Her family moved to Berlin when she was one year old, and to New York City in 1912, where her father became the Irving Place Theatre's general manager. Five years later she returned to Europe to study under Max Reinhardt.

She appeared in a number of European films prior to the early 1930s. In 1929, she starred in the first full sound film made in Germany It's You I Have Loved. In 1933, she toured the United States in a play called Marching By and was offered a Broadway contract the following year that allowed her, like a number of other German artists, to seek refuge from the Nazi regime in the United States.

On Broadway, Christians played Queen Gertrude in Hamlet and Lady Percy in Henry IV, Part I, staged by director Margaret Webster. Webster was part of a small but influential group of lesbian producers, directors, and actors in theater (a group that included Eva Le Gallienne and Cheryl Crawford). Webster and Christians became close friends: according to Webster biographer Milly S. Barranger, it is likely that they also were lovers.

She also starred in Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine. She originated the title role in the 1944 play I Remember Mama. Her last movie roles were in All My Sons, based on the play by Arthur Miller, and Letter from an Unknown Woman, both released in 1948.

During World War II, Christians was involved in political work on behalf of refugees, rights for workers (especially in theater and film), and Russian War relief, political efforts that would bring her to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other anti-communist institutions and organizations. In addition to her political work, Christians also publicly criticized the House Committee on Un-American Activities in early 1941 and likened the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee's investigation of propaganda in US film to Nazi harassment of film and radio artists in the 1930s. In 1950, the FBI's internal security division began investigating Christians, who had been identified as a "concealed communist" by a confidential informant. When Christians' name appeared in Red Channels, the so-called bible of the broadcast blacklist, her career was effectively over.

Movies & Shows on Plex

  • Come and Get It
    Come and Get It1936

Known For

  • Brief van een onbekende vrouw
    Brief van een onbekende vrouw1948
  • All My Sons
    All My Sons1948
  • Come and Get It
    Come and Get It1936
  • Heidi, het stiefkind
    Heidi, het stiefkind1937
  • Address Unknown
    Address Unknown1944
  • Tender Comrade
    Tender Comrade1943
  • The Loves of Pharaoh
    The Loves of Pharaoh1922
  • Finances of the Grand Duke
    Finances of the Grand Duke1924
  • Ich und die Kaiserin
    Ich und die Kaiserin1933
  • The Waltz Dream
    The Waltz Dream1926
  • The Runaway Princess
    The Runaway Princess1929
  • Escapade
    Escapade1935
  • Der Farmer aus Texas
    Der Farmer aus Texas1925

Cinematografie

1948
Ford Theatre · as Mrs. Phelps
1948
1948
Letter from an Unknown Woman · as Frau Berndle
1948
All My Sons · as Kate Keller
1944
Address Unknown · as Elsa Schulz
1943
Tender Comrade · as Manya Lodge
1937
Heidi · as Dete
1937
The Woman I Love · as Florence
1937
Seventh Heaven · as Marie
1936
Come and Get It · as Karie LinbeckOp Plex
1935
Escapade · as Anita
1934
A Wicked Woman · as Naomi Trice, Aka Naomi Stroud
1933
Ich und die Kaiserin · as Kaiserin Eugenie
1929
The Runaway Princess · as Princess Priscilla
1928
1925
The Waltz Dream · as Prinzessin Alix
1925
Der Farmer aus Texas · as Mabel Bratt
1925
Slums of Berlin · as Regine Lossen
1924
Michael · as Woman (uncredited)
1924
Finances of the Grand Duke · as Großfürstin Olga Von Rußland
1923
Der verlorene Schuh · as Violante
1922
1921
1920
Der indische Tod · as Inge, Frau Von Ralph Leyen
1919
1919
1918
Die Verteidigerin · as Linda Saltarin - Doktor Der Rechte
1917
The Lost Paradise · as Edith Bernardi