Oscar Homolka
| Oscar Homolka | |
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| Born | Oskar Homolka August 12, 1898(1898-08-12) Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | January 27, 1978 (aged 79) Sussex, England |
| Occupation | actor |
Oskar Homolka (August 12, 1898 – January 27, 1978) was an Austrian film and theatre actor. Homolka's strong European accent, stocky appearance, bushy eyebrows and rather Slavic-sounding name led many to believe he was Eastern European or Russian, but he was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary.
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Career
Homolka started his career on the Austrian stage, and success there led to work in the much more prestigious German theatrical community in Munich and Berlin. His first movies were the German productions Die Abenteuer eines Zehnmarkscheins (The Adventures of a Ten Mark Note, 1926) and Hokuspokus (Hocuspocus, 1930). After the Nazi rise to power, he emigrated to Britain and later was one of many Jewish actors and theatrical people who fled Europe for the U.S.
In 1936 he acted in Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage. In 1957 he starred as a villain in the title role of an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents called "Reward to Finder." Although he often played villainous roles – Communist spies, Soviet-bloc military officers or scientists and the like – he was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the crusty uncle in I Remember Mama (1948). Homolka also acted 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, chalking up two eye-catching turns as the Russian heavy in Funeral in Berlin (1967) and The Billion Dollar Brain (1968). His last film was the Blake Edwards romantic drama The Tamarind Seed in 1974.
Personal life
Homolka was married four times:
- His first wife was the Hungarian Jewish film and theatre actress Grete Mosheim. They married in Berlin on June 28, 1928 and divorced in 1937. She later married Howard Gould.
- His second wife, Baroness Vally Hatvany (died 1938), was also a Hungarian actress. They married in December 1937, but she died four months later.
- In 1939, Homolka married the socialite and photographer Florence Meyer (1911-1962), who was a daughter of Washington Post owner Eugene Meyer. They had two sons, Vincent and Laurence. They later divorced.
- His last wife was actress Joan Tetzel (d. 1977), whom he married in 1949.
Homolka died of pneumonia in Sussex, England on January 27, 1978.
Selected filmography
| Year | Film | Role |
| 1936 | Sabotage | Mr. Verloc |
| 1940 | Seven Sinners | Antro |
| 1941 | The Invisible Woman | Blackie Cole |
| 1941 | Ball of Fire | Prof.Gurkakoff |
| 1943 | Mission to Moscow | Maxim Litvinov |
| 1948 | I Remember Mama | Uncle Chris |
| 1948 | Prisoner of War | Col. Biroshilov |
| 1955 | The Seven Year Itch | Dr. Brubaker |
| 1956 | War and Peace | Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov |
| 1957 | A Farewell to Arms | Dr. Emerich |
| 1963 | The Long Ships | Krok |
| 1966 | Funeral in Berlin | Colonel Stok |
| 1967 | Billion Dollar Brain | Colonel Stok |
| 1969 | The Madwoman of Chaillot | The Commissar |
| 1974 | The Tamarind Seed | General Golitsyn |
Selected theatrical work
| Year | Play | Role | Theatre |
| 1924 | Edward II | Mortimer | Munich Kammerspiele |
Trivia
- Homolka is best remembered from the 1960s decade onwards for being a lookalike of Soviet leader Leonid Brejnev, leading to parts in two Harry Palmer films (Funeral in Berlin, Billion-Dollar Brain) and in The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969). He also played the great Russian patriot Marshal Mihail Kutuzov in King Vidor's War and Peace (1956), based on the novel by Liev Tolstoy.
- In the TV show The Simpsons, Krusty the Klown further emphasized his Jewish heritage by using the word "Oscar Homolka!!!!!" as an exclamation to show surprise when he discovered that the mother of his daughter had decorated her house with artistic renderings of clowns being violently killed, suggesting she still held some animosity toward him.
- On the Ian Dury and the Blockheads album Mr. Love Pants (1998), the lyrics of Honeysuckle Highway end with "I danced a light polka, you threw a few hoops / I was Oscar Homolka, you were Marjorie Proops".
In an episode of "The Odd Couple", Jack Klugman's character Oscar Madison, while furiously searching for a dinner date, utters the line "You know Oscar Homulka?" when he identifies himself over the phone only as "Oscar" to Crazy Rhoda Zimmerman.
External links
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