Nora Gregor

Nora Gregor (3 February 1901 – 20 January 1949) was an Austrian stage and film actress.

Nora Gregor
Nora Gregor in 1932
Born
Eleonora Hermina Gregor

(1901-02-03)3 February 1901
Görz, Austrian Littoral, Austria-Hungary (now in Italy)
Died20 January 1949(1949-01-20) (aged 47)
Viña del Mar, Chile
Years active1920–1945
Spouse(s)Mitja Nikisch (ca. 1925 – ca. 1934)
Ernst Ruediger, Prince von Starhemberg (1937–1949)

Biography

She was born Eleonora Hermina Gregor in Görz, a town which then belonged to Austria-Hungary but is now part of Italy, to Austrian parents.[1][2]

Her first husband was Mitja Nikisch, a pianist and son of celebrated orchestral conductor Arthur Nikisch. They divorced circa 1934.

In the mid-1930s, Gregor became the mistress of the married vice chancellor of Austria, the Austro-fascist, nationalist politician Prince Ernst Ruediger von Starhemberg, with whom she had a son, Heinrich (1934–1997).[3] On 2 December 1937, five days after the prince's marriage to his first wife (the former Countess Marie-Elisabeth von Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz) was annulled, he and Gregor wed in Vienna.

In 1938, the Starhembergs emigrated to France through Switzerland, and her husband joined the Free French forces; cut off from their money and 80 family estates, they were supported for a period by Starhemberg's close friend Friedrich Mandl, the Austrian armaments magnate. In 1942, the Starhembergs moved to Argentina where they lived under humble circumstances. She was depressed by her exile to South America, and many sources claim her early death in Viña del Mar, Chile was a suicide.[4] However, her biographer Hans Kitzmüller calls a suicide unlikely and notes that her death was probably from natural causes.[5]

Career

Gregor entered films in the early 1920s. She worked briefly in Hollywood during the early sound era, appearing in the foreign-language versions of films such as The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929) and His Glorious Night (1929). She was considered to be one of Austria's more popular film stars during this time, and she appeared as a stage actress at the famous Burgtheater.[6]

During her French exile, Gregor played her most famous screen role as Christine de la Chesnaye in Jean Renoir's 1939 film La Règle du Jeu. Her last appearance was in the 1945 Chilean film La Fruta mordida.

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1920Gefesselt
1920Wie Satan starb
1921The Grinning FaceHerzogin Josiane
1921Die Schauspielerin des Kaisers
1922The VenusYvonne
1922Meriota the DancerLukrezia Borgia
1922The Daughter of the Brigadier
1922The Separating Bridge
1922Der Mann, der das Lachen verlernte
1923Irrlichter der Tiefe
1923The Little Sin
1924Modern Vices
1924MikaëlFürstin Lucia Zamikoff
1925The Man Who Sold HimselfDaisy Bracca
1925The Girl with a PatronRevuestar Orina Norowna
1926The Fiddler of FlorenceRenées Stiefmutter
1927Eheskandal im Hause Fromont jun. und Risler sen.Claire
1930OlympiaOlympia
1931Mordprozeß Mary DuganMary Dugan
1931That's All That MattersRenée Roettlinck
1931Wir schalten um auf HollywoodHimself
1932But the Flesh Is WeakMrs. Rosine Brown
1933What Women DreamRina Korff
1933Abenteuer am LidoEvelyn Norman
1939La règle du jeuChristine de la Cheyniest
1945La Fruta mordidaLa mèrefinal film role

Names and Styles
  • 1901-ca. 1920: Fräulein Eleanora Gregor
  • ca. 1925-ca.1934: Frau Mitja Nikisch (privately), Fräulein Nora Gregor (professionally)
  • ca. 1934-1937: Fräulein Nora Gregor (professionally)
  • 1937-1949: Her Most Serene Highness Princess von Starhemberg (privately; see Austrian nobility and Adelsaufhebungsgesetz), Fräulein Nora Gregor (professionally)
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References
  1. http://www.cineartistes.com/fiche-Nora%2BGregor.html
  2. Alexander Waugh, "The House of Wittgenstein", Random House, 2009, page 201
  3. Born Heinrich Ruediger Gregor in Switzerland and legally named his father's heir in 1937 as Prince Heinrich von Starhemberg, the couple's only child was an actor, novelist, and playwright, professionally known as Heinrich Gregor, Henry Gregor, and Heinrich von Starhemberg. See http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758568,00.html
  4. Kinn, Gail; Piazza, Jim (2008). "Rules of the Game". The Greatest Movies Ever. Black Dog Publishing. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-57912-782-4. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
  5. http://orf.at/stories/2265969/2265970/
  6. http://orf.at/stories/2265969/2265970/
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