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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 1958)
fovtos sr. t t U if J I VI AS f.nV - U J in y Charmer of Two Continents This German actor is past 40, growing bald and paunchy, yet he's winning American movie fans just as he did European ones. by Peer J. Oppeaheimer European actors are box-office poi son in this country. Top stars like France's Fernandel, Ger many's O. W. Fischer, and even Eng land's Alec Guinness generally do well only in the art houses. But Holly wood now thinks it has a man to beat the jinx. His name: Curt Jurgens. Why should he succeed where so many others have failed? Ingrid Berg man, his current co-star in 20th Century-Fox's "The Inn of the Sixth Hap- ' V? ... I ; . J ffx? 'J uv -uifJ' LVy sTT, N L7 cy J 7 'jflra&i Cosmopolitan Curt Jurgens and Simone, hit bride, eat meal with chopsticks. piness," says, "Because this man has more charm in his little finger than most men in their whole being." She's not the only woman who thinks so. Four women married Curt for exactly the same reason the last one, the former Simone Bicheron, just a couple of months ago! But he's a man's man, too. His latest director, Mark Robson, said, "Curt has a vitality and strength unduplicated on the screen, or in real life." To form my own impression, I went to St. Jean Cap Ferrat on the French Curt (in early photo with father) claims he got his charm from him. Riviera, where Jurgens maintains one of his four villas. His other three resi dences are an ancient mansion in a vineyard outside Vienna, a hunting lodge in Bavaria, and what he refers to as "a modest bungalow with only 12 rooms" at Cadiz, Spain. "I'm not extravagant," he grinned when I asked him about it. "They are all good real-estate investments." The biographies say Curt is 43. He looks at least 10 years older. His hair is thinning, his stomach protruding. But when he shakes hands, when he Dressed for role in "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness," Jurgens displays strength of character that marks him. talks, when he strides around with his stomach in and chest out, self-confident and erect, the impression changes drastically. Here is a man of strength and charm, of wit and humor, whose presence would hold the center of attention wherever he might be. Curt was discovered for films by accident in 1935. He was walking past the Berlin office of one of Germany's most popular stats, Willy Forst, who was just having an argument with his producer about a bit player. "He will never do!" Willy was cry ing. "He can't act, he doesn't even look the part. Anyone walking along the street would be better qualified!" Just then Curt Jurgens, tall, blond, and handsome, approached. "Get that man in here!" Forst demanded. Minutes later Forst asked the sur prised young Jurgens whether he had any theatrical experience. Before Curt could tell him that, in his spare time, he was studying with the famous Max Reinhardt, Forst insisted, "Never mind, it's just a small part. You'll do." His performance attracted little at tention, but his appearance did. He climbed slowly and steadily and, as he complained, always played the same part the tall, handsome male suitor. As the years passed and Curt grew older, balder, and paunchier, make-up hid the physical discrep ancies to such an extent that he might easily have become the oldest young lover on the screen if he hadn't put his foot down one day. "I'm fed up being the handsome young nothing. I want to be myself. From now on I won't wear make-up or a hairpiece any more!" he insisted as he prepared for a 1950 film. There was a hassle and threats and counterthreats till Curt won his point. Result: the film became Ger many's top money-maker of the year, and Curt received the highest profes sional honors bestowed that year. In addition to his acting ability, his powerful looks and great charm, Curt has another asset which proved to be of tremendous value. He speaks Ger man, French, and English fluently. He was born in Munich, Germany, in 1915, but he comes by his con tinental charm naturally. His father was an importer-exporter who spent considerable time on business in Im perial Russia before World War I. It was at the court of the Czar in St. Petersburg (now Leningrad) that Curt Sr., met his future wife a young French girl, Maria Noir, who taught French to the young ladies and gentlemen of the Imperial Court. Because his mother spoke little Ger man and because his father wanted Curt to learn French anyway, no other language was spoken at home. At 6, Curt was undoubtedly the only boy in Munich who couldn't speak German. Curt learned his English in school and improved it during a trip to the United States in 1949. "I must have been the oldest exchange student ever to come to America," he grinned as he recalled his first visit as a guest of the State Department. To Curt, his father has always been "the great gentleman" after whose lite he wanted to pattern his own. "When he talked, people listened. His wisdom was immense, his judgment fair and his marriage to my mother ideal. If I could ever achieve half the happiness in my own life, I'd be satisfied." According to his sister, Mrs. Herbert Flynn, wife of a Los Angeles garage operator, he may well have reached his goal when he married Simone Bicheron in September. "I don't think his first three wives really understood Curt," she explained, referring to Lulu Basler, a German journalist, Judith Holzmeister, a Viennese of Brazilian ancestry, and the fiery Hungarian ac tress, Eva Bartok. "Our father was so happy with a French wife, I thinK Curt will finally find the same happi ness with Simone." I met the former model at St. Jean Cap Ferrat, where she and her mother were Curt's house guests at the time. She is 21, beautiful, quiet, modest, adequately awed by Curt's charm ana success and, unlike his first three wives, quite willing to let him play tne leading role in the family just as ne has done on the screen. In snort,.H ideal marriage partner for a man UK Curt Jurgens! 4 Family Weekly, November 23, 195
