
Mady Christians
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1892-01-17
Day of Death
1951-10-29 (59 years old)
Place of Birth
Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria)
Mady Christians
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marguerita Maria "Mady" Christians (January 19, 1892 – October 28, 1951) was an Austrian actress and naturalized US citizen who had a successful acting career in theatre and film in the United States until she was blacklisted during the McCarthy period. She was born on January 19, 1892 to Rudolph Christians, a well-known German actor, and his wife, Bertha. Her family moved to Berlin when she was one year old, and to New York City in 1912, where her father became the Irving Place Theatre's general manager. Five years later she returned to Europe to study under Max Reinhardt.
She appeared in a number of European films prior to the early 1930s. In 1929, she starred in the first full sound film made in Germany It's You I Have Loved. In 1933, she toured the United States in a play called Marching By and was offered a Broadway contract the following year that allowed her, like a number of other German artists, to seek refuge from the Nazi regime in the United States.
On Broadway, Christians played Queen Gertrude in Hamlet and Lady Percy in Henry IV, Part I, staged by director Margaret Webster. Webster was part of a small but influential group of lesbian producers, directors, and actors in theater (a group that included Eva Le Gallienne and Cheryl Crawford). Webster and Christians became close friends: according to Webster biographer Milly S. Barranger, it is likely that they also were lovers.
She also starred in Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine. She originated the title role in the 1944 play I Remember Mama. Her last movie roles were in All My Sons, based on the play by Arthur Miller, and Letter from an Unknown Woman, both released in 1948.
During World War II, Christians was involved in political work on behalf of refugees, rights for workers (especially in theater and film), and Russian War relief, political efforts that would bring her to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other anti-communist institutions and organizations. In addition to her political work, Christians also publicly criticized the House Committee on Un-American Activities in early 1941 and likened the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee's investigation of propaganda in US film to Nazi harassment of film and radio artists in the 1930s. In 1950, the FBI's internal security division began investigating Christians, who had been identified as a "concealed communist" by a confidential informant. When Christians' name appeared in Red Channels, the so-called bible of the broadcast blacklist, her career was effectively over.
Acting
(1948)
Letter from an Unknown Woman
as Frau Berndle
(1948)
All My Sons
as Kate Keller
(1944)
Tender Comrade
as Manya Lodge
(1944)
Address Unknown
as Elsa Schulz
(1937)
Heidi
as Dete
(1937)
The Woman I Love
as Florence
(1937)
Seventh Heaven
as Marie
(1936)
Come and Get It
as Karie Linbeck
(1935)
Ship Cafe
as Countess Boranoff
(1935)
Escapade
as Anita
(1934)
A Wicked Woman
as Naomi Trice, aka Naomi Stroud
(1933)
The Only Girl
as Kaiserin Eugenie
(1933)
The Only Girl
as Empress Eugénie
(1933)
Salon Dora Green
as Dora Green
(1933)
Manolescu, der Fürst der Diebe
as Comtesse Maria Freyenberg
(1932)
The Black Hussar
as Marie Luise
(1932)
Frederica
as Friederike
(1931)
The Fate of Renate Langen
as Renate Langen
(1931)
My Incognito Heart
as La reine Alexandra
(1930)
Love Comes But Once
as Königin Alexandra von Gregorien
(1929)
The Burning Heart
as Dorothee Claudius
(1929)
(1929)
Meine Schwester und ich
as Margarete von Marquardstein
(1929)
Dich hab’ ich geliebt
as Inge Lund
(1929)
The Runaway Princess
as Princess Priscilla
(1928)
(1928)
Fräulein Chauffeur
as Steffi Walker
(1928)
(1927)
(1927)
Der Sohn der Hagar
as Lore
(1927)
Queen Louise
as Königin Luise
(1927)
Heimweh
as Princess Lydia Trubetskoy
(1926)
(1926)
(1926)
The Waltz Dream
as Prinzessin Alix
(1926)
Wien, wie es weint und lacht
as Sefi
(1926)
(1926)
Die Welt will belogen sein
as Mery
(1926)
Die Königin von Moulin Rouge
as die Herzogin
(1925)
In the Slums of Berlin
as Regine Lossen
(1925)
In the Valleys of the Southern Rhine
as Bettina von Wittelsbach
(1925)
Der Farmer aus Texas
as Mabel Bratt
(1924)
Michael
as Woman (uncredited)
(1924)
The Finances of the Grand Duke
as Großfürstin Olga von Rußland
(1924)
Soll und Haben
as Baroneß Leonore von Rothensattel
(1924)
(1923)
(1923)
Die Buddenbrooks
as Gerda Arnoldsen
(1923)
The Lost Shoe
as Violante
(1923)
(1922)
(1921)
Peter Voss, Thief of Millions
as Gert Nissen
(1921)
(1918)
(1918)
Am anderen Ufer
as Ebba von Thorn