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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-
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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