Lou Tellegen

Lou Tellegen
Lou Tellegen in 1916
Born	Isidore Louis Bernard Edmon van Dommelen November 26, 1881(1881-11-26) Sint-Oedenrode, The Netherlands
Died	October 29, 1934 (aged 50) Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other name(s)	Lou-Tellegen
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter
Years active	1967 – 1983
Spouse(s)	Countess Jeanne de Brockere (m. 1903–1905) «start: (1903)–end+1: (1906)»"Marriage: Countess Jeanne de Brockere to Lou Tellegen" Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Tellegen) Geraldine Farrar (m. 1916–1920) «start: (1916)–end+1: (1921)»"Marriage: Geraldine Farrar to Lou Tellegen" Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Tellegen) Nina Romano (m. 1923–1928) «start: (1923)–end+1: (1929)»"Marriage: Nina Romano to Lou Tellegen" Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Tellegen) Eve Casanova (m. 1930–1932) «start: (1930)–end+1: (1933)»"Marriage: Eve Casanova to Lou Tellegen" Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Tellegen)

Lou Tellegen (November 26, 1881 – October 29, 1934) was a Dutch-born silent film and stage actor, director and screenwriter.

Early life

Born Isidore Louis Bernard Edmon van Dommelen, he was the illegitimate child of army lieutenant Isidore Louis Bernard Edmon Tellegen (1836 - 1902) and Anna Maria van Dommelen.

He left his birth town Sint Oedenrode to make his stage debut in Amsterdam in 1903, and over the next few years built a reputation to the point where he was invited to perform in Paris, eventually co-starring in several roles with Sarah Bernhardt, with whom he was involved romantically. In 1910, he made his motion picture debut alongside Bernhardt in La dame aux camélias, a silent film made in France based on the play by Alexandre Dumas, fils.

Move to the United States

In 1910, he and Bernhardt travelled to the United States, where The New York Times first published, and then retracted, the announcement of their impending marriage. (She was 37 years his senior) Back in France, in 1912 they made their second film together, Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth (Queen Elizabeth), and the following year, Adrienne Lecouvreur. The latter is considered a lost film.

In the summer of 1913, Tellegen went to London where he produced and starred in the Oscar Wilde play, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Invited back to the United States, Tellegen worked in theatre and made his first American film in 1915, titled The Explorer, followed by The Unknown, both with Dorothy Davenport as his co-star. Considered one of the best-looking actors on screen, he followed up with three straight films starring opposite Geraldine Farrar. In 1916, he married Farrar, a well-known opera diva turned film actress, who was herself known to be the lover of Germany's Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.

Tellegen's marriage to Farrar did not last (they divorced in 1923). Tellegen had married a total of four times, the first being a countess in 1905(this union produced a daughter), the second Farrar in 1916. He became an American citizen in 1918.^[1]

Later career and death

Tellegen had appeared in numerous films before his face was damaged in a fire. One of his memorable roles was as the bad guy villain in John Ford's 1926 western 3 Bad Men who wore a white hat instead of the stereotypical bad guy black hat. Fame faded, employment was not forthcoming and debt-ridden, he went bankrupt. He was diagnosed with cancer, though this information was kept from him, and he became despondent.

On October 29, 1934, Lou Tellegen now dispondent, his career seemingly ended, he decided to end his life in dramatic flair, while a guest in a Cudahy mansion at 1844 N.Vine St. (the Vine Franklin underpass of the now Hollywood freeway covers the site), near Hollywood's Hollywood & Vine. Mr Tellegen locked himself in the bathroom, then shaved and powdered his once handsome face. Then while standing in front of a full-length mirror, committed suicide by stabbing himself in the left side of his chest with a pair of sewing scissors seven times (supposedly while surrounded by newspaper clippings of his career), resulting in lurid press coverage.^[2][3]

Hollywood lore claims, that when his former wife, opera star Geraldine Farrar was notified of his death, she replied, "I am not interested in the least. His current wife at the time, Eve Casanova-Tellegen sent her regrets from New York. Only 37 friends and fans attended his modest funeral. Lou Tellegen, the man who was once leading man to the great actress Sarah Bernhardt, was only 53. He was cremated and scattered at sea.

Filmography

Footnotes

References

• The Divine Sarah, by Arthur Gold & Robert Fizdale, Vintage Books, 1991. ISBN 0-679-74185-2

External links

• Lou Tellegen at the Internet Movie Database
• Lou Tellegen at the Internet Broadway Database
• Extensive biography (Dutch)
• The Suicide of Lou Tellegen
• Lou Tellegen photo gallery NYP Library
• Lou Tellegen at Find a Grave