Lilian Harvey (19 January 1906 – 27 July 1968) was a British-born actress and singer, long-based in Germany, where she is best known for her role as Christel Weinzinger in Erik Charell's 1931 film Der Kongress tanzt.

Life

Helene Lilian Muriel Pape was born in 1906 in Hornsey, North London. Her mother, Ethel Marion Laughton, was English and her father, Walter Bruno Pape, was a German businessman. At the beginning of World War I the family found itself in Magdeburg, and as they were unwilling and unable to return to England, Harvey was sent to live with an aunt at Solothurn in Switzerland. After the war, the Papes lived in Berlin, where Lilian took her high-school diploma (Abitur) in 1923. She began her career by attending the dance and voice school of the Berlin State Opera and assumed her grandmother's maiden name (Harvey) as her professional surname.

Career

After an engagement as a revue dancer in Vienna in 1924, Harvey received her first movie role as the young Jewish girl "Ruth" in the film Der Fluch directed by Robert Land. Subsequently, she starred in many silent films. In 1925, she was cast in her first leading role in the film Leidenschaft by Richard Eichberg, side by side with Otto Gebühr.

Because of her training as a singer, Harvey was able to pursue a successful acting career during the initial talkie era of the early 1930s. Her first movie with Willy Fritsch was the operetta film Die keusche Susanne in 1926. Harvey and Fritsch became the "dream couple" of German movies in the early 1930s with the romantic love story Liebeswalzer; she was called the "sweetest girl in the world" by the press, after a song featured in the film. She and Fritsch starred in a total of 11 movies together, among them the criminal comedy Hokuspokus (1930) after a play by Curt Goetz, directed by Gustav Ucicky, which became a box office success. An English version (The Temporary Widow) was filmed simultaneously, starring Lilian Harvey and Laurence Olivier, who thereby made his film debut. She also appeared in the musical film Die Drei von der Tankstelle of the same year, which also became a major success and gave the young actor Heinz Rühmann his break.

In 1931, Harvey played the leading part in the film Der Kongreß tanzt (The Congress Dances); her song Das gibt's nur einmal written by Werner R. Heymann became a most popular melody. Her subsequent movies were filmed in English and French versions, so Harvey became known outside of Germany. She was invited to Hollywood and made four movies for the Fox Film Corporation, but these were not as successful as her German films. She eventually abandoned George White's 1935 Scandals, leading executives to cast Alice Faye in the part, and Faye became an overnight sensation. In 1935, Lilian Harvey returned to Germany.

Emigration from Nazi Germany

As she was still in touch with her Jewish colleagues, Harvey was placed under close observation by the Gestapo. Nevertheless she pushed the career of her protégé, director Paul Martin, performing in his screwball comedy Glückskinder (1936) and further successful movies for the UFA until 1939, such as Sieben Ohrfeigen, the biographical film Fanny Elßler (1937) together with Willy Birgel and Capriccio; as well as Frau am Steuer in 1939.

In June 1937 Harvey had helped the choreographer Jens Keith prosecuted under Paragraph 175 by posting a bail for him. Released from custody, Keith escaped to Paris; this led to a stern interrogation by the Nazi authorities. In 1939, Harvey was forced to leave Germany herself, leaving her real-estate fortune, which was confiscated. She eventually landed in the United States and spent most of World War II in Los Angeles, working as a volunteer nurse. Because she had performed for French troops, the Nazi regime deprived Harvey of her German citizenship in 1943.

After retiring from acting, she retired to her residence in Juan-les-Pins in Vichy France. There, she made two movies in 1940 – Sérénade and Miquette (her last), both directed by Jean Boyer. After the occupation of southern France by Germany, she emigrated to Hollywood again and toured the United States performing in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit.

After World War II

After the war, Harvey returned to Paris. In the following years, she travelled as a singer through Scandinavia and Egypt. In 1949, she returned to West Germany giving several concerts. From 1953 to 1957, she was married to Danish theatre agent Hartvig Valeur-Larsen.

Harvey retired to the resort town of Antibes on the French Riviera, where she operated a souvenir shop and raised edible snails. She died of liver failure on 27 July 1968 in Juan-les-Pins, aged 62. She was buried at the Robiac Cemetery in Antibes.

Filmography

1924 – Der Fluch –

1924 – Die Motorbraut – Lee Perry's Double in Switzerland

1925 – Leidenschaft – Die Liebschaften der Hella von Gilsa

1925 – Der Fluch – Ruth

1925 – Liebe und Trompetenblasen – Komtesse Maria Charlotte

1925 – Die Kleine vom Bummel – Die 'Kleine'

1926 – Prinzessin Trulala – Prinzessin Trulala

1926 – Die keusche Susanne – Jacqueline

1926 – Vater werden ist nicht schwer – Harriet

1927 – Die tolle Lola – Tänzerin Tilly Schneider aka Lola Cornero

1927 – Eheferien – Hella

1927 – Du sollst nicht stehlen –

1928 – Eine Nacht in London – Aline Morland

1928 – Ihr dunkler Punkt – Lilian von Trucks/Yvette

1929 – Rund um die Liebe –

1929 – Adieu Mascotte – Mascotte

1929 – Wenn Du einmal Dein Herz verschenkst –

1930 – Liebeswalzer [MLV] – Princess Eva

1930 – The Love Waltz [MLV] – Princess Eva

1930 – Hokuspokus [MLV] – Kitty Kellermann

1930 – The Temporary Widow [MLV] – Princess Eva

1930 – Die Drei von der Tankstelle [MLV] – Lilian Cossmann

1930 – Le chemin du paradis [MLV] – Liliane Bourcart

1930 – Einbrecher [MLV] – Reneé

1931 – Princesse! à vos ordres! [MLV] – La princesse Marie-Christine

1931 – Nie wieder Liebe [MLV] – Gladys O'Halloran

1931 – Calais-Douvres [MLV] – Gladys O'Halloran

1931 – Der Kongreß tanzt [MLV] – Christel Weinzinger, Gloves-seller

1931 – Le Congrès s'amuse [MLV] – Christine "Christel" Weizinger

1932 – Zwei Herzen und ein Schlag [MLV] – Jenny

1931 – La fille et le garçon [MLV] – Jenny Berger/Ria bella

1932 – Quick – German [MLV] – Eva

1932 – Quick – French [MLV] – Christine Dawson

1932 – Ein blonder Traum [MLV] – Jou-Jou

1932 – Un rêve blond [MLV] – Joujou

1932 – Happy Ever After [MLV] – Jou-Jou

1933 – Ich und die Kaiserin [MLV] – Juliette

1933 – Moi et l'Impératrice [MLV] – Juliette

1933 – My Lips Betray – Lili Wieler

1933 – My Weakness – Looloo Blake

1933 – I Am Suzanne – Suzanne

1934 – The Only Girl [MLV] – Juliette

1935 – Let's Live Tonight – Kay Routledge aka Carlotta

1935 – Invitation to the Waltz – Jenny Peachey

1935 – Schwarze Rosen [MLV] – Tania Fedorovna

1935 – Roses noires [MLV] – Tatiana

1935 – Black Roses – Tania Fedorovna

1936 – Glückskinder [MLV] – Ann Garden & Jackson's Niece

1936 – Les gais lurons [MLV] – Ann Garden

1937 – Sieben Ohrfeigen – Daisy Terbanks – Astor's Daughter

1937 – Fanny Elßler – Fanny Elßler

1938 – Capriccio – Madelone aka Don Juan

1939 – Castelli in aria [MLV] – Annie Wagner detta 'Mimì'

1939 – Frau am Steuer – Maria Kelemen

1940 – Sérénade – Margaret Brenton

1940 – Miquette – Miquette Grandier

In popular media

In Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, Lillian Harvey's duet with Willy Fritsch from the 1936 film Glückskinder, Ich wollt' ich wär ein Huhn ("I wish I was a chicken") can be heard playing on a phonograph in the basement scene "La Louisiane" as well as in the extended scene "Lunch With Goebbels", as Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) happily sings a portion of the song after deciding to hold a private screening of the film. After the screening, cinema owner, Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), under the alias "Emmanuelle Mimieux", comments on liking Lilian Harvey in the film — to which an irritated Goebbels angrily insists her name never be mentioned again in his presence. The song as performed by the Comedian Harmonists remains popular in Germany to date.