Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 1915 – 18 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in Des Teufels General. His English-language roles include James Bond villain Karl Stromberg in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Éric Carradine in And God Created Woman (1956), and Professor Immanuel Rath in The Blue Angel (1959).
Early life
Jürgens was born on 13 December 1915 in the Munich borough of Solln, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire. His father, Kurt, was a trader from Hamburg, and his mother, Marie-Albertine, was a French teacher.[1][2] He had two elder twin sisters, Jeanette and Marguerite.[3] He began his working career as a journalist before becoming an actor at the urging of his actress wife, Louise Basler. He spent much of his early acting career on the stage in Vienna. Due to serious injuries that he sustained in a car accident in the summer of 1933, he was unable to have children.[4]
Jürgens was critical of Nazism in his native Germany. In 1944, after filming Wiener Mädeln, he got into an argument with Robert Kaltenbrunner (brother of high-ranking Austrian SS official Ernst Kaltenbrunner), SS-ObersturmbannführerOtto Skorzeny and a member of Baldur von Schirach's staff in a Viennese bar without knowing who they were. After this event, Jürgens was sent to a labor camp for the "politically unreliable" in Hungary. After a few weeks he managed to escape and went into hiding.[2][5][6][7] Jürgens became an Austrian citizen after the war.
Jurgens was now an international film star. He did Bitter Victory (1957) with Richard Burton and director Nicholas Ray, Les Espions (1957) for Henri-Georges Clouzot then appeared in his first Hollywood film, The Enemy Below (1957), in which he portrayed a German U-boat commander. Michael Powell wanted Jurgens to play Heinrich Kreipe in Ill Met By Moonlight (1957) but the Rank Organisation would not pay his fee.[8]
Jurgens starred in a French film, Tamango (1958), opposite Dorothy Dandridge with whom he had an affair.[9] Jurgens went to Hollywood to appear in This Happy Feeling (1958) for Blake Edwards, Me and the Colonel (1958) with Danny Kaye and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) with Ingrid Bergman, which was very popular. An item in Variety in April 1958 said he was "well on the way to becoming another middleaged matinee idol in the Ezio Pinza tradition saying he'd "appeared in 89 pictures and an equal number of plays. In 1957 he starred in seven films, four made in France in English, French and German versions and three produced on the coast."[10]
In Germany Jurgens was in Der Schinderhannes (1958) then for Rank, and he co-starred opposite Orson Welles in Ferry to Hong Kong (1959), which was a huge box office flop in England and America. In Hollywood he starred in the remake of The Blue Angel (1959) opposite May Britt. He made Magnificent Sinner (1959) with Romy Schneider. In June 1959 Jurgens said he wanted to mix Hollywood films with non-Hollywood films so world producers did not forget him. Variety called him "the most active international star in the world today".[11]
Jurgens starred in I Aim at the Stars (1960). While promoting the latter he announced he had formed his own company Cinestar and would no longer make German films now that producers had set a maximum fee of $25,000.[12]
Although he appeared in over 100 films, Jürgens was also a notable stage actor. He was member of several theatres in Vienna (Volkstheater 1938–1941, Burgtheater 1940–1953 and 1965–1968, and others). He played the title role of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's play Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival from 1973 until 1977 – arguably the most high-profile role for a German-speaking male actor. In 1966 he appeared in a short run on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre opposite Geraldine Page, directed by George Schaefer.[13]
Jürgens maintained a home in France, but he frequently returned to Vienna to perform on stage. He had suffered a heart attack several years before. During this heart attack he had a near-death experience where he claimed he died and went to hell. Jürgens was interred in the Vienna Central Cemetery.
He was 1.92 metres (6 ft 4 in) tall.[17]Brigitte Bardot nicknamed him "the NormanWardrobe" during their work for Et Dieu... créa la femme.[18]
At some point Jürgens had affairs with actresses Romy Schneider (in 1957) and Dorothy Dandridge.[19] After a two-year affair, his relationship with his young lover Mathilda Mizart ended in 1974 when she died in an accident.[20]Marlene Knaus married F1-Champion Niki Lauda in 1976.
Jürgens was married to:
Lulu Basler, actress (15 June 1937 – 8 October 1947) (divorced)
His burial was in the Vienna Central Cemetery in a grave of honor (Group 32C No. 54).[22] It took place on 22 June 1982, in the first and only night ceremony from 9 p.m. to 21 hours{{clarify}}. His widow and one of his older sisters with his children and some 3,000 fans gathered at the graveside. A formation of the Austrian Air Force flew over the cemetery in his honor.[23]
Smiley's People (1982, TV miniseries), as General Vladimir (final film role)
References
^"Curt Jurgens, War Films' Star". The New York Times. UPI. June 18, 1982. Archived from the original on 2013-06-21. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
^ a bLuce, William P. (27 July 1977). "The Man You'll Love to Hate". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-02-22. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
^"Childhood and Youth – Nachlass Curd Jürgens". Retrieved 2022-02-12.
^Specht, Heike (2015). Curd Jürgens: General und Gentleman. Die Biographie (in German). Aufbau Digital. ISBN 9783841210302.
^Zäuner, Günther. Wien – Wo Persönlichkeiten zu Hause waren (PDF) (in German). p. 69.
^"Curd Jürgens 102" (in German). 13 December 2017. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
^Karney, Robyn (1984). The Movie Stars Story. Crescent Books.
^Powell, Michael (1992). Million Dollar Movie. Random House. p. 355. ISBN 9780679434436.
^Bogle, Donald (1998). Dorothy Dandridge : a biography. p. 382.
^"What Do International Stars Have?". Variety. April 1958. p. 24.
^Williams, Whitney (June 1959). "Jurgen's Credo: Keep Hollywood Not Enough". Variety. p. 5.
^"Curt Jurgens Won't Make Any More German Films". Variety. 14 September 1960. p. 13.
^Sill, Oliver (1991). Zerbrochene Spiegel (in German). Walter de Gruyter. p. 227. ISBN 978-3-11-012697-6. Retrieved 8 May 2009. quoting Holba et al. Reclams deutsches Filmlexikon, Stuttgart 1984, p. 181, ISBN 978-3-15-010329-6
