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"On My Mother's Path" by André Schneider and Ian Hansen - English Movie Poster
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"Sur les Traces de ma Mère" by André Schneider and Ian Hansen - French Movie Poster
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The Boyd Affair!
When you do research about the life, and especially the many loves of Marisa Mell, and she had a lot of them, there is always one name, and one name only, that comes to the forefront: Stephen Boyd, most famous for his American peplum movie Ben-Hur with Charleton Heston. Although Marisa Mell had another man in her past whom she loved very much, Pier Luigi Torri, but in my humble opinion, her love for him, was on one side very rational and practical, and he was after all a suave Italian business man with a lot of money at his disposal, and on the other side he was like a surrogate father and protector, she never had in her hard youth in Austria. With Stephen Boyd, it was a complete other story!
From the first moment she lay eyes on him, Marisa Mell was touched very deeply in her soul and heart. A lot of people say that she fell in love with him because he was still a famous movie star at that moment in time and was a very beautiful manly guy but for Marisa Mell it was a lot more than that. She felt for the first time, and probably the only time in her life, what it was to be truly in love with someone. And I think it is was also the case for him, hence his hesitance at the beginning to start a relationship with her, afraid of losing himself in a romance with this absolutely beautiful woman.
But in the end he gave in and both became a very romantic couple making Marisa Mell, a very happy woman. Photo's of that romance show a very relaxed couple, enjoying their time together, being deeply in love with each other. Unfortunately, the romance was not to be permanent, and both drifted off into different directions of their lives. Sadly Stephen Boyd died very young on June 2nd 1977, due to a heart attack at the age of 45. Had this not happened, maybe, they would have found together in a later phase of their lives. One thing is for sure that Marisa Mell never forgot Stephen Boyd often referring to him when she was in a sentimental mood when getting older...and lonelier.
Thanks to major Stephen Boyd fan Monica Diedrich for providing these wonderful pictures of the couple!
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"Art or not art, that is the question!"
During the 80's, Marisa Mell really started to hit rock bottom trying to earn money from her movie career. She was so desperate to tap into new income sources that she started to sing, with no success, and then tried her hands at fine art by making drawings! I knew of a self portrait she had made for an exhibition. I had never seen any other art work by her hands, so I was very pleased to receive recently a notice from a good friend in Brasil of an auction of her work on the internet. After checking out the auction site and the art work at hand, it had all the elements making this piece a Marisa Mell drawing. But the question remained: was this a genuine Marisa Mell or not?
The drawing had her characteristic signature at the bottom which she used since the beginning of her career when she adopted her movie name "Marisa Mell" starting with a well formed "M" and ending with her typical writing of the double "L", even the numbers "8" and "5" are written in her own well known style, a signature that I have seen on dozens of autographed pictures by her hand. And this one was the real deal!
Then there was the dedication "Für Nikos An Weihnachten 1985 Marisa". I knew that Marisa Mell had once a relationship with a much younger man called Nikos around that time, so that part of the drawing was also correct. And I had seen the drawing of a little heart in the vicinity of her name on countless other autograph cards, so that was also correct.
And finally what was the most convincing element of the drawing was the style of the art itself. It was completely in accordance with the style of her self portrait that I had seen before. So in the end counting all those elements I came to the conclusion that this drawing was the real deal. A piece of art made by Marisa Mell.
And do I like it? Yes and no! Yes, because I like the quirkiness of the style which is very raw and elemental, even aggressive. No, because I feel no connection to it on an emotional level. Nevertheless I am glad that this piece of art still exists today and is still worthy to be sold in an auction by an auction house. I think that Marisa Mell would have smiled when she knew about this.
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Thanks to Daniel from Brasil for his help in finding this little gem!
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"Marta" or "Mata Al Macho Y Lo Devora" Photo novella
Marisa Mell was during the height of her movie career a major star, not only in Europe but also in almost the entire Spanish speaking countries of the world, especially in South-America. Before the rise of video, dvd and streaming in the 60's and 70's people living in those countries, who wanted to keep a part of a movie they particularly liked could only keep this momentum by buying magazines, soundtracks, novelizations or if it was available by buying photo novella's. These photo novella's were extremely popular, having print runs which are nowadays almost impossible to achieve anymore. They were often romantic stories, specially made for the magazines with its own cult following of their stars. Those stars often made the transgression into movies like Erica Blanc, Ivan Rassimov, Ornella Muti, Rosalba Neri... So it was only natural that movies with the big names from that time also ended up in print. Especially horror, western and erotic movies were very popular. One of the Marisa Mell's movies "Marta" or in Spanish known as "Mata Al Macho Y Lo Devora" from 1971 made into these magazines. Today this edition of the magazine is very hard to find in a good condition, thus very collectible.
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Thanks to Stephen Boyd-fan Monica from Denver, Colorado, USA I am able to present to you in this entry some very beautiful pages and lobby cards from this cult classic Marisa Mell and Stephen Boyd movie which I had never seen before!
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Monica has also a wonderful Stephen Boyd Blog
https://stephenboydblog.wordpress.com/
with a lot of interesting photo's and information about the life and work of this amazing actor. I highly recommend this blog. There is also an entry with information about Stephen Boyd and Marisa Mell as a couple during 1970-1971, when they made two back to back movies together.
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Herz, Schmerz und dies und das!
Marisa Mell, as a model and actress, was a very popular subject for German pulp novels, putting her on their covers during the 60's! She graced during those early years of her career a lot of those covers, which had absolutely no reference to the content which were mostly romance novels. Here are some examples of her best covers! Enjoy!
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Perversione!
At the beginning of the 1970's, Marisa Mell was at the peak of her movie career in Italy and around the world, especially in Latino countries and the French speaking region of Europe and Canada. In a span of only several years during that period, she made around twenty movies, as a leading actress, or more than often in a supporting role, which the Italian movie industry called "con la participatione di Marisa Mell". Most of those movies are now long forgotten but some of them have reached cult status, especially the movies she made for the Spanish movie production company "Emaus". Those movies were "Pena de Muerte", "Infamia" and "La Encadenada". La Encadenada, also known in English as "Diary of an Erotic Murderess", sigh, is regarded by a lot of Marisa Mell fans as part of her top three best movies, next to "Danger: Diabolik!" by Mario Bava and "Una Sull'Altra" by Lucio Fulci. The Italian coproducer "Metheus Films" gave the movie the Italian title "Perversione" for a first time screening during the month of May 1975. To promote this movie the Italians created some of the best lobby cards or "fotobusti" ever made for a Marisa Mell movie. Almost all of these lobby cards have Marisa Mell in a very prominent position from a movie scene, together with a little frame with another scene of the movie. Sadly the movie was not a box office success but, as said, luckily during the passing years became a cult favorite!
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"Time to say goodbye, Darling!"
Before the "it"-boys and girls on the internet, movie star Marisa Mell and her long time lover and professional playboy Pier Luigi Torri, were for years the center of high society and paparazzi Rome, mingling with everybody living in the Holy City, like other movie stars, artists, politicians, clergy, and ... criminals. And when you own, one of the most famous night venues in Rome, like Torri did with his bar and night club "Number One", it does not take long to draw the attention from the authorities into your wheeling and dealings. For an in depth account of these tumultuous years for both of them I refer to a previous entry on this blog "The Number One Couple". To escape conviction and long prison time Pier Luigi Torri fled Italy in 1971 in a much publicized endeavor. On August 17th 1972, the playboy was finally arrested in Munich, Germany, by the police and handed over to the Italian authorities. The above picture of the famous couple is regarded as their last picture together, both looking very stressed, knowing that time is running out. Several days later Torri fled Italy leaving Marisa Mell behind. Their relationship was over! They would never form a couple again.
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Take My Breath Away!
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New York Chiama Super Dragon: Rare French behind the scene clip!
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Objectif 500 Millions - Behind the scene!
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Casanova '70 - Rare color behind the scene pictures
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Venusberg revisted
Venusberg
One of the most intimistic and beautiful photo's ever made for a Marisa Mell-movie.
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Marisa Mell by Bert Stern
Marisa Mell
models
David Webb emarald, ruby and diamond belt
Hair by Martin Downey
Photo by Bert Stern
Vogue
1968
Photo shoot for Vogue 1968 as run up to the Mata Hari musical starring Marisa Mell trying to make her a new Broadway star which in the end horribly misfired!
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"Marisa - Geschichte einer Freundschaft" by Erika Pluhar (Re-edition)
On May 8, 2017 the German publishing house "Insel Verlag" will re-edit the cult book about Marisa Mell written in German by her longtime friend the Austrian actress-writer Erika Pluhar. There will be a little change in the title. The original title "Marisa-Rückblenden auf einer Freundschaft" will change into "Marisa-Geschichte einer Freundschaft". The content to my knowledge will stay the same. This re-edit marks the twenty-first anniversary of the original publication of the hardback edition of this wonderful book in 1996. Marisa Mell is wearing on the cover of this edition of the book a gown made of black crepe falling from a single slanted diamantè strap by Helga, jewelled cuffs by Robert Originals, photo by Bert Stern, Vogue US 1967. Sadly there are no plans for issuing this book in English, which is a pity because in my opion there is still a huge marked for this book of fans wanting to read it. For readers that do not want to wait untill next year there is an e-version in German of the original book available
Thanks to André Schneider for pointing this one out!
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"Marisa Mell" by German Nazi photographer Arthur Grimm
In the early 60's Marisa Mell was a struggling starlet from Austria trying to break into the movie business, first in her native home country, then in Germany! It was during that time that she needed to get her name and face known to all the right people in the hope of landing a part in a next movie production. Contrary to the present days, actors and actresses often did not have an agent or a manager to land parts in movies, but had to do all the hard work themselves by going to the right parties, meeting the right people and mingling in the right circles, hence the casting couch! For Marisa Mell it was no different because beautiful women wanting to break into the movie bussiness were plenty like Karen Dor, Senta Berger, Karin Baal, Ushi Glas,... and so many more. One way of making her face known was sending photo's of herself as glamorous and seductive as possible to the production offices in the hope of getting noticed. So around 1961, just after making the movie "Lebensborn", Marisa Mell came in contact with then already controversial but still power to be German photographer Arthur Grimm from Berlin. Arthur Grimm was, together with German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, a very controversial nazi artist during WWII, who made after the war his career in showbizz by photographing actors, actresses and directors in front and behind the camera for movies and television untill his death in the 1990's. What Angelo Frontini did in Italy, Arthur Grimm did in Germany. In spite of his nazi past, Arthur Grimm was still the man to be photographed by, so Marisa Mell took the opportunity to let him take a whole series of pictures of her in the most glamorous poses for ther portfollio. Pictures that were not free of charge, but being paid from her first earnings. Did it work out for her? Probably yes, because her next movie was a German production called "Ruf der Wildgänse".
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"Le Berlitz"à Paris: Train d' Enfer!
After leaving her native country Austria in the mid 60's, Marisa Mell was not sure where her movie home would be for the foreseeable future: would it be Germany, France, England, Spain or Italy? As a starlet still finding her way in the movie business, she had not much to say about accepting a role or not. She was just glad that a major part was offered to her, that it brought in the much needed money to pay the expenses of building a movie career, had a decent director and movie partner, who was not yet at the end of his career, with an acceptable story as a bonus, but that was not a necessity. So it wasn't strange that in the early years of her career, she worked in all the before mentioned countries as an aspiring actress, with even a short stop in South-Africa. Her first movie in France in 1965 was called "Train d'enfer", an agent movie with adventurous elements, directed by Gilles Grangier, most famous as a director at that time for working with Jean Gabin, the ultimate French character actor, regarded by his public as God on Earth. Her partner for this movie was also French actor Jean Marais, who was still en vogue after a stellar career in the 50's, as the hero in many pirate and musketeer movies, but who was also starting to feel his age at 52. He would make in that same period one last impression on his audience as Fantomas in the movie trilogy of the same name with the ultimate French comedian actor Louis de Funès.
The movie "Train d'Enfer" had its première on November 10th 1965 at cinema "Le Berlitz" in Paris, France, situated at 33, Boulevard des Italiens. Le Berlitz was regarded as an important first showing cinema with only "A"-graded movies shown in first run. Almost all famous French movies from that era got their première at Le Berlitz, like movies with sex kitten Brigitte Bardot in "La Femme et le Pantin" in 1959 or Louis de Funès in "La Grande Vadrouille" in 1966.
Every movie producer can tell you that the venue where your movie is shown on its opening night is a major part of getting the necessary box office or not. So opening in Le Berlitz in Paris was a major coup for Marisa Mell as the next step in her movie career that had all the elements of making it big first in Europe and then probably Hollywood. Looking at the numbers from the box office, the movie was not a major runaway success but did quite well when going to the movies was one of the most, if not the most popular spare time activities: 1.346.579 visitors in the whole of France, 92.304 visitors for cinema's with an exclusive screening, 228.099 visitors during the non exclusive screenings and 39.672 visitors in the first week in Paris
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Le Berlitz was build on a historical site in Paris. The original site was a garden belonging to the Duke de Richelieu where, between 1758-1760, the Pavilion de Hanovre was build, along the Rue Neuve Saint-Augustin, which later became the Boulevard des Italiens.
But progress could not be stopped in Paris in 1932, so the venue had to make place for a more commercial building then keeping a historical one, because of its historic value, the French government decided to tear down the building stone by stone, and rebuild it again in the Parc de Sceaux, but only to the first floor, the second floor was deleted.
With the historical building removed, there was enough room to build a commercial office building with shops on the ground floor and a cinema with 200 seats for news reels. The building got the name "Palais Berlitz", after the language school located in the offices above the cinema. In the early 50's, the ground floor and underground were rebuild as a cinema with 1500 seats and a restaurant. It became one of the most important first run movie theaters in Paris. The design featured a huge curved lobby with stained glass windows leading to the big auditorium which had club armchairs. Due to two large columns in the auditorium space, the size of the screen was limited.
In the 1980's Gaumont took over the building and devided Le Berlitz, including the restaurant, into six small screens. Sadly the place lost its original design and was not very attractive, so the building was again completely rebuild in the 1990's with only the facade remaining. The design is much nicer now with six cinema's with at total seating capacity of 1137 seats.
And so once again a bright landmark of Paris Nightlife disappeared forever. What a marvelous and magical time it must have been to walk through the streets of Paris at night in the Boulevard des Italiens, seeing from far already the brightly lit marquis of the cinema announcing the next-must-see movie "Train d'enfer" with enormous cut out boards of Marisa Mell and Jean Marais, against a back ground of painted action scenes of the movie and their names in bright red.
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Who ordered carnations for lunch?
Marisa Mell was always aware of her beauty and body, and like most of the actresses open to new fashion and diet trends in the world to keep this beauty and body in pristine condition. At the end of the 60's, a doctor from India was in Rome the new it-man, who made some waves with a new diet composed of eating flowers, especially the colourful carnations! So Marisa Mell had to try this at home in her beautiful apartment near the Forum Romanum. By the looks of it, it was not really her cup of tea, being a down to earth women from Austria, especially the hard boiled region of the Steiermark. In later years, after a long time living in Rome, that attitude would change when she became open to everything new age and spirituality like card reading, palm reading, pendels, guru's...
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"Ciao Amore" or remembering Marisa Mell's death already 25 years!
Today marks the 25th remembrance day of the passing of Marisa Mell on May 16th 1992, after losing her battle with throat cancer at the Wilhelminenspital, in Vienna, Austria. Her best friend actress, author and publisher Erika Pluhar wrote in her famous book “Marisa Mell – Rückblenden auf einer Freundschaft” shortly after her death the following eulogy:
“Marisa,
My dearest friend Marlies
When we strolled through the park of Schloss Schönbrunn 35 years ago we tried to grasp the secrets of life in our conversations. Life was in front of us, and we walked full of hope into its direction.
Now I have to say goodbye to you…and that hurts immensely.
You have fulfilled your life on Earth! It was full of glamour and hardship. It has gifted you with beauty, wisdom and talent… but it has also gifted you in the end with nothing.
What does give your early departure a glow, and what will stay with your friends forever, whom are now left behind, in the years to come, is another kind of beauty, which death could not wrangle from you, and that is your last wild coarsely laughter, which I will never forget.
We, your friends, your family of the “other art”, will never forget you.
We love you!
I will say only two words, which you always said when saying goodbye to your friends, and which you loved to say:
CIAO AMORE!”
Tonight I will watch as a remembrance of this date one of my favorite Marisa Mell movies “French Dressing” to see her on the screen in all her beauty, wisdom and talent but foremost to hear her wild coarsely laughter as a reminder that one’s life has to be cherished each and every day so that at the end of it, while crossing the Styx, you can look back at fond memories with a more than satisfied feeling that your life was worth living.
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Les Belles au Bois Dormantes (1970) - Publicity Stills
During the filming of the movie "Les Belles au Bois Dormantes" or "Versatiles Lovers" in Barcelona, Spain, in 1969, Marisa Mell and her co-star French cult actor Robert Hossein found some time to make these publicity stills at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia!
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