Showing posts with label Daisy D'Ora. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daisy D'Ora. Show all posts

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Remembering Daisy D'Ora

Daisy D'Ora was what one would call a personality. She was a free spirit. I wrote an article about her which I posted to my Louise Brooks column on examiner.com. Please check it out.

D’Ora was discovered at the age of 15 by director G.W. Pabst, who noticed her in a cosmetics advertisement. In the ad, according to one article, she was dressed in her confirmation dress (a la Thymain in Diary of a Lost Girl). 

Pabst cast her in a small role in Pandora's Box, her first film. She was only 16 years old when it debuted in Berlin in February, 1929. After that, she appeared in only a few more films in 1929 and 1930.

In 1931, she was selected "Miss Germany," and was a contestant in that's year's international beauty pageant in Galveston, Texas. She placed fourth. She was not, as far I can tell, ever named "Miss Europe" (a la Prix de Beaute), as is claimed on some web pages. (There was such a contest in Europe in the 1930's.)

[This German newspaper obituary has a remarkable photo of D'Ora standing next to a painting of herself as a young woman.]

Friday, June 25, 2010

Daisy D'Ora (1913-2010)

Daisy D'Ora, a German actress whose brief career included a role as Charlotte Marie Adelaide in the 1929 Louise Brooks' film Pandora's Box, has died. D'Ora was one of the last surviving German actresses of the silent era. D'Ora, born February 2, 1913, died on June 19, 2010.

Daisy D'Ora was a baroness named Daisy, Baroness von Freyberg. Because it was thought improper in her circle in those days to work in show business, she acquired a stage name. At the end of the 20's, she had appeared in a few silent movies.

The famous writer Erich Maria Remarque persuaded her to take part in a beauty contest in Germany. She won and as a result she was sent to Miami for the Miss Universe contest. The famous vocal group, Comedian Harmonists, sang of her beauty in later years.

Here she is, as depicted in Pandora's Box. She played Dr. Schon's fiance, and it is her and Schon's son (played by Francis Lederer) who discover Brooks and Dr. Schon (played by Fritz Kortner) in an compromising position backstage. The hands that hold the picture are those of Lousie Brooks.

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