Eddie Constantine
Eddie Constantine ( born October 29, 1917 in Los Angeles as Edward Constantinowsky, † February 25, 1993 in Wiesbaden), was an American film actor and cabaret singer.
Life
The father of Eddie Constantine was Russian, his mother Polish. The parents emigrated to the United States, Eddie grew up in Los Angeles and in Providence. From 1933 to 1936 he studied singing at the Conservatory in Vienna and later in New York. Constantine was a chorister and co-founder of the vocal quintet The Five Musketeers.
In 1947 he went to London and also appeared in Parisian nightclubs. During this time his first records appeared. From 1950 he performed in Paris at the Moulin Rouge. With the number Schenk your wife but every now and then red roses Constantine in 1953 in the German speaking his biggest hit.
His first film appearance he graduated in 1952 in Egypt by Three. Just one year later he landed the role of FBI agent Lemmy Caution in the film Under the Spell of blond Satan a hit. Through this and the following films, which represented an idiosyncratic mix of crime, agents and adventure with humor, he was mid- 50s a broad audiences, especially in Germany and France known. He played agent, adventurer and daredevil and multiply the figure of Lemmy Caution, where he excelled in these roles more by charm than by brutality. The highlight was often a fight, celebrated in his own elegant way: Several opponents assail Eddie and at the last moment he enters loose a step back and bounce the opponent with full force each other. His first major success as a chanson singer he celebrated in 1955 with L' homme et l' entfant at Barclay Records, from which 200,000 copies were sold. The German version of The Tramp and the child came into the German singles chart in December 1956.
1965 turned Jean- Luc Godard film Lemmy Caution against Alpha 60 with Constantine in his signature role. The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 1965.
From the mid- 60s he was rare in this for him to see by then typical roles. Gradually he turned into the character actor and acted as such later in films of Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Aki and Mika Kaurismäki. Peter Lilienthal gave him 1969, the first character role as an aging anarchist Malatesta. In 1970 he played at Walter Bock and Rolf Mayer Bührmann Jane is Jane and in the same year Rainer Werner Fassbinder (with whom he made two more films ) in Beware of a Holy Whore. Unforgotten his appearances in the cult series Kottan remain determined, in which he satirized his former agent roles (1982 /83). 1986 saw him in the TV series Roncalli as old circus clown. Godard took Eddie Constantine " (un) moved Furchenvisage as a map of all time " (the time) for his film Germany New ( n ) 1991 zero again before the camera.
1975 Constantine came with the publication of his novel The favorite as a writer in appearance.
He spent his life in an Art Nouveau villa on Wiesbaden's spa gardens. Eddie Constantine died in 1993 in Wiesbaden after a heart attack.
Filmography (selection)
Bibliography
- Rolf Thissen: Eddie Constantine. His films - his life. In: Heyne - film library, Heyne Books No. 151 /32, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-04629-3. .
- Dieter hare man, Michael Dittmar: Oops, here comes Eddie! Eddie Constantine and his films, Vistas, Berlin 1986. ISBN 3-89158-008-8.