Peter van Eyck

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Peter van Eyck
Actor Peter van Eyck.jpg
Postcard
Born
Götz von Eick

16 July 1911
Steinwehr, Pomerania (today in Poland)
Died15 July 1969(1969-07-15) (aged 57)
Männedorf, near Zürich, Switzerland
OccupationActor
Years active1943–1969
Spouse(s)Ruth Ford
(m. 1940; div. 194?)
Inge von Voris
(m. 19??; his death 1969)
Children3

Peter van Eyck (born Götz von Eick; 16 July 1911 – 15 July 1969) was a German-born film actor. He was perhaps best known (in English-language films) for his roles in the 1960s features The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Shalako and The Bridge at Remagen.

Biography[]

Van Eyck was born into an aristocratic German family from Pomerania (since 1945 part of Poland).[1] After graduating from high school he studied music in Berlin.

While studying music in Berlin, Van Eyck purportedly had a brief liaison with Jean Ross, a cabaret singer who inspired the fictional character of Sally Bowles.[2][3] Ross became pregnant with Eyck's child and, when Eyck departed Weimar-era Berlin, Ross had an abortion authorized by gay author Christopher Isherwood who falsely claimed to be her impregnator.[2][3] These factual events served as the genesis for a short story by Isherwood which later became the 1937 novella Sally Bowles and was later adapted into the 1966 Cabaret musical and the 1972 film of the same name.[4][5]

In 1931, after leaving Berlin, Van Eyck lived in Paris, London, Tunis, Algiers and Cuba, before settling in New York. He earned a living playing the piano in a bar, and wrote and composed for revues and cabarets. He worked for Irving Berlin as a stage manager and production assistant, and for Orson Welles Mercury Theatre company as an assistant director.[6]

Van Eyck went to Hollywood where he worked as a truck driver. He initially found radio work with the help of Billy Wilder, who later gave him small film roles.[7] In 1943, he took US citizenship and was drafted into the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer. At the end of the World War II, he returned to Germany as a control officer for film and remained there until 1948 as director of the film section.[6] In 1949, he appeared in his first German film Hallo, Fräulein![8]

He gained international recognition with a leading role in the 1953 film Le Salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear) directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.[9] He went on to appear in episodes of several US TV series including The Adventures of Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.[10][11] In English-language films he was most often typecast as a Nazi or other unsympathetic type, while in Germany he was a popular leading man in a wider range of films, including several appearances in the Doctor Mabuse thriller series of the 1960s.[1][12]

Personal life[]

Van Eyck was married to the American actress Ruth Ford for a short time in the 1940s.[13] With his second wife, Inge von Voris, he had two daughters,  [de], also an actor, and Claudia.[14]

Death[]

He died in 1969 in Männedorf, Switzerland of septicaemia, caused by an untreated relatively minor injury.[citation needed] He was 57.

Selected filmography[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Davidson, John; Hake, Sabine (2008), Framing the Fifties: Cinema in a Divided Germany, Berghahn Books, p. 47, ISBN 9781845455361
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Parker, Peter (September 2004). "Ross, Jean Iris (1911–1973)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74425. Retrieved 18 June 2017. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)(subscription required)
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Thomson, David (21 March 2005). "The Observer as Hero". The New Republic. New York City. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  4. ^ Lehmann, John (1987). Christopher Isherwood: A Personal Memoir. New York: Henry Holt and Company. pp. 28—9. ISBN 0-8050-1029-7.
  5. ^ Izzo, David Garrett (2005). Christopher Isherwood Encyclopedia. London: McFarland & Company. pp. 97, 144. ISBN 0-7864-1519-3.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim (2009), The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema, Berghahn Books, p. 496, ISBN 9780857455659
  7. ^ Erickson, Hal. "Peter Van Eyck - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  8. ^ "Peter Van Eyck". British Film Institute.
  9. ^ "Gestorben Peter Van Eyck" [Obituary Peter Van Eyck]. Der Spiegel. 21 July 1969.
  10. ^ "CTVA Crime "Ellery Queen, Detective" (TPA)(1954) starring Hugh Marlowe". ctva.biz.
  11. ^ "Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Season 1, Episode 21 Safe Conduct". TV Guide.
  12. ^ "The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) - Fritz Lang - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  13. ^ "Ruth Ford", The Telegraph, 17 August 2009
  14. ^ "In Biographical Summaries of Notable People, Kristina van Eyck", MyHeritage

External links[]

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