
Acting
Francis Lederer
Born 1899-11-05 · Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 – May 25, 2000) was a Czech-born film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. His original name was František Lederer. Lederer's first American movies were Man of Two Worlds (1934), Romance in Manhattan (1934), with Ginger Rogers, The Gay Deception (1935), with Frances Dee, and One Rainy Afternoon (1936). He was cast as the lead with Katharine Hepburn in the 1935 film Break of Hearts, but the producers replaced him with Charles Boyer. It was Irving Thalberg's plan to make Lederer "the biggest star in Hollywood" but the death of Thalberg ended this possibility. Although he continued to play leads occasionally – notably when he was a playboy in Mitchell Leisen's Midnight with Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore in 1939 – in the late 1930s Lederer began to expand his character parts, even playing villains. Edward G. Robinson praised Lederer's performance as a German American Bundist in Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939, and he earned plaudits for his portrayal of a fascist in The Man I Married (1940) with Joan Bennett. He also played Count Dracula for The Return of Dracula in 1958. Throughout his career, Lederer, who studied with Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City, continued to take stage acting seriously, and he performed often both in New York and elsewhere. He appeared in stage productions of Golden Boy (1937), Seventh Heaven (1939), No Time for Comedy (1939), in which he replaced Laurence Olivier, The Play's the Thing (1942), A Doll's House (1944), Arms and the Man (1950), The Sleeping Prince (1956) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1958). Although he took a break from making films in 1941, in order to concentrate on his stage work, he returned to the silver screen in 1944, appearing in Voice in the Wind and The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and in films such as Jean Renoir's The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Million Dollar Weekend (1948). He took another break from Hollywood in 1950, after making Surrender (1950), and returned in 1956 with Lisbon and the light comedy The Ambassador's Daughter. His final film appearance was in Terror Is a Man in 1959. During the 1950s, he served as honorary mayor of Canoga Park. He would continue to make television appearances for the next 10 years in such shows as Sally, The Untouchables, Ben Casey, Blue Light, Mission: Impossible and That Girl. His final television appearance occurred in a 1971 episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery called "The Devil Is Not Mocked". In it, he reprised his role as Dracula from The Return of Dracula.
Acting credits
7.7A young woman leaves behind her job, home and family to try to make it in the movie business. Features cameos from about three dozen German film stars of the era.
The Great Desire
1930
7.4An unemployed American showgirl poses as Hungarian royalty to infiltrate Parisian high society.
Midnight
1939
7.4The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
Pandora's Box
1929
6.1FBI agent Ed Renard investigates the pre-War espionage activities of the German-American Bund.
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
1939
4.7A neglected Baroness falls in love with her oldest son's military officer friend, their adulterous romance leading the two to flee to Algeria.
Mother Hummingbird
1929
7.0Ice-cold college dean Susan Middlecott feels there's no room in her life for romance. Enter Prof. Alec Stevenson, British lecturer on astronomy, touring North America and in possession of a keepsake of Susan's he wants to return. Desperate for publicity, lecture bureau press agent Teddy Evans magnifies this into a great romance. The efforts of both dignified principals to quash the story have the opposite effect; matters get more and more involved.
A Woman of Distinction
1950
6.4A wide-eyed working girl wins a $5,000 sweepstakes and plunges into the lush life of New York City, where she meets a bellboy who is more than he seems.
The Gay Deception
1935
6.2Celestine, the chamber-maid, has a new job in the country, at the Lanlaires. She has decided to use her beauty to seduce a wealthy man, but Mr. Lanlaire is not a right choice: the house is firmly controlled by Madame Lanlaire, helped by the strange valet Joseph. Then she tries the neighbour, former officer Mauger. This seems to work. But soon the son of the Lanlaires comes back. He is young, attractive and does not share his mother's antirepublican opinions. So Celestine's beauty attracts Captain Mauger, young Georges Lanlaire, and Joseph. Three men, from three different social classes, with three different conceptions of life. Will Celestine be able to convince Georges of her sincerity?
The Diary of a Chambermaid
1946
6.5A firefighter is sent to Venezuela to battle a blazing oil well but still finds time for romance.
Maracaibo
1958
6.9American Documentary, narrated by Christopher Lee
A Century of Science Fiction
1996
7.5This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and insight into what made the year so special.
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009
6.4For Capt. Robert John Evans, smuggling black-market goods is nothing out of the ordinary. But one day he's hired by Aristides Mavros for a more involved assignment -- sneaking an imprisoned American out of communist-controlled territory. The job seems challenging enough, but when he meets the prisoner's sultry wife, Sylvia, he realizes his mission comes with a startling catch: Not only must he rescue this man, he must bring him back from the dead.
Lisbon
1956
5.0Suave French actor Philippe Martin provokes a scandal when, in a darkened theater, he mistakes young Monique for his mistress, Yvonne, and tries to kiss her. Charged with assault, the quick-thinking Philippe claims it's French tradition to do as he did, and is let go. To his surprise, Philippe learns that Monique has paid his fine. As the tabloids exploit the situation, Monique dates Philippe, until a photo appears of him kissing Yvonne.
One Rainy Afternoon
1936
9.5A history of the famous vampire of books and movies, using film clips, previews and other methods.
Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
1991
5.8Near the end of World War II, a secret American raid on an enemy transportation hub goes very wrong when a turncoat warns the enemy. Led by Capt. Webster Carey, the mission causes the deaths of many bystanders -- among them, Carey believes, his Italian girlfriend, Giulia de Graffi. Back home, Carey stumbles across evidence that might uncover the identity of the informant. But, when he returns to Italy to get even, Carey is stunned by what he finds.
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
1950
10.0A retrospective of Dracula's appearances in film. It includes trailers and scenes from many Dracula-related films. There is an emphasis on films which feature the actors Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, as they portrayed the most popular versions of Dracula. Also covered are films depicting sons and daughters of Dracula, and Dracula-like vampires. Many of the trailers focus on the beauty of Dracula's victims, or the beauty of female vampires.
Dracula in the Movies
1992
10.0Young Jan Bergwall visits his grandmother, the so-called centenary, at Woyland Castle. There he meets his cousin Andrea, who everyone calls "Fundvogel". Jan is fascinated by the young girl's beauty, and soon there is an erotic tension in the air between the two. Although they both have strong feelings for each other, they are afraid to make a commitment, even though their domineering grandmother is determined that they marry. Panicked that he might feel obliged to marry Andrea, Jan escapes from this place. Andrea is deeply disappointed and seeks revenge. Out of spite, she becomes involved with the falconer Bartel and is later raped in a wooden hut. The centigress, concerned about morals and customs, then sends Fundvogel to a convent. She escapes from there and flees into the arms of Jan. When he learns from a letter from the countess what has happened to Andrea, he leaves her a second time. In her despair, Fundvogel then throws herself off a bridge into the floods with suicidal intent.
Fundvogel
1930
4.9While on leave in Paris, a G.I. pursues an ambassador's daughter. Meanwhile she's out to prove to her father that soldiers can be gentlemen, too.
The Ambassador's Daughter
1956
6.3A rope bridge over a gorge in the Peruvian Andes snaps, sending five people plunging to their deaths. A priest sets out to find out more about the life of each of the victims.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1944
6.5A British explorer brings an Eskimo hunter to London, where he misreads a woman.
Man of Two Worlds
1934
7.0Susanne Braun is keen to meet her father who she has never seen, but who supports her financially. She visits the Berlin lawyer who oversees the monthly maintenance payments, but he sets her on completely the wrong track. Consequently she encounters several potential fathers.
Susie Cleans Up
1930
9.0No synopsis available yet.
Meineid
1929
5.6After a vampire leaves his native Balkans, he murders a Czech artist, assumes his identity, and moves in with the dead man's American cousins.
The Return of Dracula
1958
7.8Karel Novak is an incredibly naive Czech immigrant who is taken under the wing of streetwise New York chorus girl Sylvia. With the help of lovable cop-on-the-beat Murphy, Sylvia hides Karel from the immigration authorities and ultimately falls in love with him. In addition to Karel's illegal-alien status, the plot is complicated by a crooked lawyer and a group of well-meaning welfare workers who endeavor to place Sylvia's kid brother Frank in a foster home.
Romance in Manhattan
1934