Lou Tellegen

Lou Tellegen

Born: November 26, 1881
Died: October 29, 1934
in Sint-Oedenrode, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

Tellegen made 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.

In the summer of 1913, Tellegen went to London where he produced and starred in Oscar Wilde's 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. Considered one of the best-looking actors on screen, he followed up with three straight films starring with Geraldine Farrar (his wife 1916-1923).

Tellegen married a total of four times. He became an American citizen in 1918.

Tellegen appeared in numerous films before his face was damaged in a fire on Christmas Day 1929, when he fell asleep while smoking. He had extensive plastic surgery in 1931.

Fame fading, employment not forthcoming, and ridden with debt, he filed for bankruptcy. He was diagnosed with cancer, though this information was kept from him, and he became despondent. In 1931, he wrote his autobiography Women Have Been Kind.

On October 29, 1934, while a guest in the Cudahy Mansion at 1844 North Vine Street in Hollywood (now the site of the Vine-Franklin underpass of the Hollywood Freeway), Tellegen locked himself in the bathroom, then shaved and powdered his face. Then, while standing in front of a full-length mirror, he committed suicide by stabbing himself with a pair of sewing scissors seven times. Tellegen was cremated and his remains scattered at sea.

Movies for Lou Tellegen...

Together We Live
Title: Together We Live
Character: Bischofsky
Released: August 16, 1935
Type: Movie
A ham-handed cautionary fable against communism, the film concerns a group of Civil War veterans who are appalled by the burgeoning radical movement in America.
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Enemies of the Law
Title: Enemies of the Law
Character: Eddie Swan
Released: July 21, 1931
Type: Movie
The Lady cop Florence Vinton goes undercover to get the goods on rival gangsters Eddie Swan and Larry Marsh. Just at the point in which Florence looks like she's going to be rubbed out, Swan and Marsh shoot each other down.
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The Sculptor's Dream
Title: The Sculptor's Dream
Released: April 7, 1930
Type: Movie
A sculptor dreams about his work coming to life and having various adventures.
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Married Alive
Title: Married Alive
Character: James Duxbury
Released: July 17, 1927
Type: Movie
James Duxbury (Lou Tellegen) is an exponent of polygamy, which may not be legal but certainly provides him with several evenings of entertainment. Professor Charles Orme (Matt Moore) falls in love with Duxbury's fourth wife Amy (Margaret Livingston). Things get dicey indeed as Orme tries to figure out whether Amy is still married to Duxbury or not -- in fact, Duxbury isn't sure either.
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The Princess from Hoboken
Title: The Princess from Hoboken
Character: Prince Anton Balakrieff
Released: March 1, 1927
Type: Movie
To enliven their business, the O'Tooles, restaurant owners in Hoboken, New Jersey, transform their restaurant into the Russian Inn when they hear that a famous Russian princess is stranded in Chicago. Sheila, the daughter, is persuaded to impersonate the princess, who unfortunately arrives at the restaurant on opening night.
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Womanpower
Title: Womanpower
Character: The Broker
Released: September 19, 1926
Type: Movie
Womanpower (1926)
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3 Bad Men
Title: 3 Bad Men
Character: Sheriff Layne Hunter
Released: August 28, 1926
Type: Movie
Three outlaws come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed.
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Siberia
Title: Siberia
Character: Egor Kaplan
Released: March 28, 1926
Type: Movie
Officer in the Imperial Russian Army, Petroff, is in love with Sonia, a schoolteacher who casts her lot with revolutionaries. During a time of suppression, she is exiled with her brother to Siberia. There Petroff is sent in the discharge of his official duties and secretly renews their romance. When the Bolsheviki overthrow the government, Sonia is freed and aids in the escape of Petroff, who incurs the enmity of Egor, the revolutionary leader, because he is a royalist. Together they escape across the frozen wastes in a sledge, pursued by wolves and Egor, who has used patriotism as a cloak to conceal personal ambitions.
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The Outsider
Title: The Outsider
Character: Anton Ragatzy
Released: January 17, 1926
Type: Movie
1926 film starring Jacqueline Logan, Lou Tellegen, and Walter Pidgeon.
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East Lynne
Title: East Lynne
Character: Sir Francis Levison
Released: November 23, 1925
Type: Movie
This most famous of Victorian melodramas was more than half a century old, and had already been filmed several times when it came to the screen once again in 1925. Director Emmett J. Flynn had an all-star cast and kept close to the original story.
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Parisian Nights
Title: Parisian Nights
Character: Jean
Released: September 27, 1925
Type: Movie
American sculptress Adele La Rue, working in Paris, lacks the inspiration to create a masterpiece, until Jean Ballard, a wild apache leader, takes refuge from the police in her apartment.
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Parisian Love
Title: Parisian Love
Character: Pierre Marcel
Released: August 1, 1925
Type: Movie
Armand and Marie survive in the streets until charitable (and wealthy) scientist Pierre Marcel takes Armand in after a botched robbery. Marie, a fiery Apache, swears revenge on Marcel for taking her lover away from her.
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After Business Hours
Title: After Business Hours
Character: John King
Released: June 16, 1925
Type: Movie
A young woman marries a rich young man. However, he doesn't trust her with money and won't let her have any of her own. Desperate, she turns to gambling and finally forgery. Complications ensue.
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The Redeeming Sin
Title: The Redeeming Sin
Character: Lupin
Released: January 25, 1925
Type: Movie
Lupin is the lover of Joan of the Apaches. She is attracted by Paul de Gafilet, nobleman and sculptor. She visits him in his studio and resolves to abandon her underworld career for his sake. Lupin vows revenge but is frustrated by Joan. The latter's affection for Paul turns to rage when she sees him embracing another woman. Joan joins with her confederates to steal some jewels from a statue of the Madonna in a church. She learns that the woman she is jealous of is Paul's sister, attempts to halt the robbery but fails. Paul is injured by the thieves and Joan held captive.
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Greater Than Marriage
Title: Greater Than Marriage
Character: John Masters
Released: November 16, 1924
Type: Movie
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Flame of the Desert
Title: Flame of the Desert
Character: Sheik Essad
Released: October 26, 1919
Type: Movie
An Englishman goes undercover posing as an Egyptian sheik in order to infiltrate a conspiracy to throw off British rule. An English woman complicates things by falling in love with the sheik, unaware of his true identity.
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The World and Its Woman
Title: The World and Its Woman
Character: Prince Michael Orbeliana
Released: September 6, 1919
Type: Movie
A Russian peasant girl rises to fame as an operatic diva. She becomes beloved of a Russian prince. When the 1917 revolution overthrows the czar's government, the pair attempts to cross the icy steppes and find their way to America.
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The Black Wolf
Title: The Black Wolf
Character: The Black Wolf
Released: February 12, 1917
Type: Movie
In the Spanish Mountains, the Black Wolf, a bandit, reigns at the head of his band, known as "The Charcoal Burners."
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The Victoria Cross
Title: The Victoria Cross
Character: Maj Ralph Seton
Released: December 14, 1916
Type: Movie
Maj. Ralph Seton is a British army officer stationed in Cawnpore, India, when the Sepoy Rebellion--a mutiny of Indian soldiers in the Brtitish army in India--breaks out in 1857. He receives the prestigious Victoria Cross--the highest decoration that can be awarded to a British soldier--for his actions in battle. However, after a night of drunken debauchery, he is stripped of the honor and disgraced in front of his love, Joan Strathallen, the daughter of his commanding officer. When Indian rebel leader Azimoolah instigates an uprising by the natives and has Joan kidnapped, Seton sets out to redeem his honor and save the woman he loves.
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The Unknown
Title: The Unknown
Character: Richard Farquhar
Released: December 9, 1915
Type: Movie
Richard Farquhar, the ne'er-do-well nephew of a titled Englishman, after a protracted "good time" finds himself penniless in an Algerian hotel. He expects money from England, but instead receives a cablegram stating his allowance has been stopped and that his uncle will have nothing further to do with him.
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Adrienne Lecouvreur
Title: Adrienne Lecouvreur
Released: January 1, 1913
Type: Movie
A considered lost film from 1913
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Queen Elizabeth
Title: Queen Elizabeth
Character: Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex
Released: August 16, 1912
Type: Movie
Episodes from the life of Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603), focusing on her ill-fated love affair with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.
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Camille
Title: Camille
Character: Armand Duval
Released: January 2, 1912
Type: Movie
Marguerite is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand Duval. When Armand's father begs her not to ruin his hope of a career and position by marrying Armand, she acquiesces and leaves her lover. However, when poverty and terminal illness overwhelm her, Marguerite discovers that Armand has not lost his love for her.