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Revision as of 19:30, 10 December 2012
Fern Andra | |
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| Born | Vernal Edna Andrews November 24, 1893 Watseka, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | February 8, 1974 (aged 80) Aiken, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, writer, film director/producer |
| Years active | 1913–1930 |
| Spouse(s) | General Samuel Edge Dockrell (1938-1973; his death) Ian Keith (1932/1934-19??; divorce) Kurt Prenzel (1923/24–19??; divorced) Baron Friedrich von Weichs (19??-1917; his death) |
Fern Andra (November 24, 1893[1] – February 8, 1974) was an American actress, film director, script writer and producer. Next to Henny Porten and Asta Nielsen she was one of the most popular and best-known actresses in German silent films of the 1910s. [citation needed]
Biography
Born as Vernal Edna Andrews in Watseka, Illinois in 1893, the daughter of a circus performer and an opera singer, Andra was already appearing in public in a tightrope act by the age of four. She later trained in song and dance. As early as 1899, in New York, she made her first film, a version of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
She remained however with the circus, with which she embarked on an extensive tour across the United States, Canada and Europe. In Berlin she met Max Reinhardt, who gave her acting lessons. In 1913, aged 19, she appeared in her first German film, Das Ave Maria. Still only moderately well-known, she made her only Austrian film in 1915: Zwei Freunde. From 1916-18 she appeared almost exclusively on camera with Alfred Abel. In 1920 she starred in Robert Wiene's expressionist horror film Genuine. In the mid-1920s she lost her public appeal in Germany. [citation needed]
On July 4, 1922, she was involved in the Hamburg-Berlin mail plane accident. The pilot, World War I flying ace Lothar von Richthofen, was killed. Andra was initially misreported as dead[2], but survived. Her companion, director Georg Bluen, died the following day from his injuries.
From 1928 she worked in the UK and the US, later expanding her range to include radio and television. [citation needed]
Marriages
Fern Andra was married four times; all of the unions were childless:
- Baron Friedrich von und zu Weichs (died in 1917)
- Kurt Prenzel (married 1923 or 1924; divorced) [when?]
- Ian Keith (married 1932; they wed again in 1934, when the legality of the first ceremony was questioned; divorced) [when?]
- Gen. Samuel Edge Dockrell (1938–1973; his death)
Death
Fern Andra died in Aiken, South Carolina, on February 8, 1974, aged 80.
Selected filmography
- The Night of Queen Isabeau (1920)
References
- ^ Born in 1893 per the 1900 United States Census, June 1, 1900, which gives her age as of her last birthday as six years old
- ^ New York Times (Chicago Tribune Co.) (July 5, 1922) Fern Andrea, Formerly of Illinois, Killed [sic] by Fall-Richtoff, Airman, Also Killed Hamburg-Berlin mail plane accident for original article
Links
- 1893 births
- 1974 deaths
- People from Watseka, Illinois
- Actors from Illinois
- American expatriates in Germany
- American film actors
- American radio actors
- American silent film actors
- American television actors
- German film actors
- German silent film actors
- Cinema of Germany
- Disease-related deaths in South Carolina
- 19th-century actors