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1-9 of 9
- Writer
- Actor
- Script and Continuity Department
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in 1860, the third of six children to a family of a grocer, in Taganrog, Russia, a southern seaport and resort on the Azov Sea. His father, a 3rd-rank Member of the Merchant's Guild, was a religious fanatic and a tyrant who used his children as slaves. Young Chekhov was a part-time assistant in his father's business and also a singer in a church choir. At age 15, he was abandoned by his bankrupt father and lived alone for 3 years while finishing the Classical Gymnazium in Taganrog. Chekhov obtained a scholarship at the Moscow University Medical School in 1879, from which he graduated in 1884 as a Medical Doctor. He practiced general medicine for about ten years.
While a student, Chekhov published numerous short stories and humorous sketches under a pseudonym. He reserved his real name for serious medical publications, saying "medicine is my wife; literature - a mistress." While a doctor, he kept writing and had success with his first books, and his first play "Ivanov." He gradually decreased his medical practice in favor of writing. Chekhov created his own style based on objectivity, brevity, originality, and compassion. It was different from the mainstream Russian literature's scrupulous analytical depiction of "heroes." Chekhov used a delicate fabric of hints, subtle nuances in dialogs, and precise details. He described his original style as an "objective manner of writing." He avoided stereotyping and instructive political messages in favor of cool comic irony. Praised by writers Lev Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, he was awarded the Pushkin Prize from the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1888.
In 1890, Chekhov made a lengthy journey to Siberia and to the remote prison-island of Sakhalin. There, he surveyed thousands of convicts and conducted research for a dissertation about the life of prisoners. His research grew bigger than a dissertation, and in 1894, he published a detailed social-analytical essay on the Russian penitentiary system in Siberia and the Far East, titled "Island of Sakhalin." Chekhov's valuable research was later used and quoted by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his "Gulag Archipelago." In 1897-1899, Chekhov returned to his medical practice in order to stop the epidemic of cholera.
Chekhov developed special relationship with Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko at the Moscow Art Theater. He emerged as a mature playwright who influenced the modern theater. In the plays "Uncle Vanya," "Three Sisters," "Seagull," and "Cherry Orchard," he mastered the use of understatement, anticlimax, and implied emotion. The leading actress of the Moscow Art Theater, Olga Knipper-Chekhova, became his wife. In 1898, Chekhov moved to his Mediterranean-style home at the Black Sea resort of Yalta in the Crimea. There he was visited by writers Lev Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, Ivan Bunin, and artists Konstantin Korovin and Isaac Levitan.- Stephen Crane was the 14th child of parents who were both writers. Descended from a line of soldiers and clergymen (his father, Rev. Jonathan T. Crane, was a Methodist minister), Crane inherited from his forebearers the obsessive subject of war, stoical compassion and, particularly in his poetry, a Biblical style. His short, phenomenal literary career, which began in 1891 when he quit Syracuse University as a freshman, yielded the novels "The Red Badge of Courage" (1895), "The Open Boat" (1898) and "The Blue Hotel" (1899), as well as two volumes of poetry. His novel "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets", reputed to have been written in two days in 1891, is often credited with starting the naturalistic tradition in American fiction. He worked as a reporter in New York and later as a foreign correspondent following the wars. During his brief residence in England he befriended Henry James, Joseph Conrad, H.G. Wells and F.M. Ford, who all recognized Crane's ruthless literary talent. His emergence as a fiction writer and poet was cut short when he died of tuberculosis at the tragically premature age of 28.
- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Carl Clewing was born on 22 April 1884 in Schwerin, Germany. He was an actor and writer, known for Ein Sommernachtstraum in unserer Zeit (1914), Every Day Isn't Sunday (1935) and Alle Tage ist kein Sonntag (1959). He died on 15 May 1954 in Badenweiler, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.- Marietta Milner was born Maria Anna Paul Bieberhofer on December 8, 1894 in Linz, Austria. She grew up in Vienna where her father was a wealthy hotel owner. Sadly her family lost their entire fortune during World War One. She began her career performing on stage as Marietta Muller. At the age of thirty she made her film debut in the German drama Red Heels directed by Michael Curtiz. She starred in several more German films and became a popular European star. The beautiful brunette was nicknamed "Cleopatra of the Rhine". In 1927 was signed by Paramount and moved to Hollywood. She brought her two Schnauzers - Peter and Grell - with her. Marietta costarred with Warner Baxter in Drums Of The Desert and with Thomas Meighan in The City Gone Wild.
Her performances won rave reviews and her future seemed bright. Cameramen said her face was "photographically perfect". Unfortunately she started struggling with her weight. When Paramount told her she was too plump she went on a strict starvation diet. Marietta returned to Germany in 1928 to appear in the films Moderne Piraten and Adieu, Mascotte. In an interview she said "I just want to see the world. I am happy to do my movie work in Berlin." She married a well known business man from Klagenfurt, Austria. By the Spring of 1929 her health began to deteriorate and she contracted tuberculosis. Tragically on June 21, 1929 she died in Badenweiler, Germany. She was only thirty-four years old. Doctors said her extreme dieting had caused her death by making her vulnerable to the tuberculosis. - Grand Duke of Baden Frederick II was born on 9 July 1857 in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden [now Baden-Württemberg, Germany]. He was married to Princess Hilda of Nassau. He died on 9 August 1928 in Badenweiler, Republic of Baden, Germany [now Baden-Württemberg, Germany].
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Bert Reisfeld was born on 12 December 1906 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a composer and actor, known for The Devil All the Time (2020), God Bless America (2011) and Ice Princess (2005). He died on 11 June 1991 in Badenweiler, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.- Princess Hilda of Nassau was born on 5 November 1864 in Wiesbaden, Duchy of Nassau, German Confederation [now Hesse, Germany]. She was married to Grand Duke of Baden Frederick II. She died on 8 February 1952 in Badenweiler, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Ernst Goldschmidt was born on 1 July 1931 in Badenweiler, Baden, Germany. He was a producer, known for Apocalypse Now (1979), Of Love and Shadows (1994) and Kolya (1996). He died on 2 December 2023 in Badenweiler, Baden, Germany.- Producer
Rolf Deyhle was born on 3 October 1938 in Stuttgart, Germany. He was a producer, known for The Shadow (1994), The Black Dahlia (2006) and The Island on Bird Street (1997). He died on 2 May 2014 in Badenweiler, Germany.