Nora Gregor

Nora Gregor
Nora Gregor in 1932
Born	Eleonora Hermina Gregor 3 February 1901(1901-02-03) Gorizia, Austrian Littoral, Austria-Hungary (now in Italy)
Died	20 January 1949(1949-01-20) (aged 47) Viña del Mar, Chile
Years active	1920–1945
Spouse	Mitja Nikisch (ca. 1925 – ca. 1934) Ernst Ruediger, Prince von Starhemberg (1937–1949)

Nora Gregor (3 February 1901 – 20 January 1949) was a stage and film actress.

Biography

She was born Eleonora Hermina Gregor in Gorizia, a town which then belonged to Austria-Hungary but is now part of Italy, to Austrian Jewish parents.^[1][2]

Her first husband was Mitja Nikisch, a pianist. They divorced circa 1934.

In the mid 1930s Gregor became the mistress of the married vice chancellor of Austria, fascist politician Prince Ernst Ruediger von Starhemberg, with whom she had a son, Heinrich (1934–1997).^[3] On 2 December 1937, five days after the prince's marriage to his first wife, the former Countess Marie-Elisabeth von Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz, was annulled, he and Gregor wed in Vienna.

In 1938, the Starhembergs emigrated to France through Switzerland, and her husband joined the Free French forces; cut off from their money and eighty family estates, they were supported for a period by Starhemberg's close friend Friedrich Mandl, the Austrian armaments magnate. In 1942, the Starhembergs moved to Argentina.

Reportedly depressed since the beginning of her South American exile, Gregor committed suicide^[4] in Viña del Mar, Chile.

Career

Gregor entered films in the early 1920s. She worked briefly in Hollywood during the early talkie era, appearing in the foreign-language versions of such films as The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929) and His Glorious Night (1929).

Her most famous screen role was as Christine de la Chesnaye in Jean Renoir's 1939 film La Règle du Jeu. Her last appearance was in the 1945 Chilean film La Fruta mordida.

Filmography

• Wie Satan starb (1920)
• Gefesselt (1920)
• Das Grinsende Gesicht (1921)
• Die Schauspielerin des Kaisers (1921)
• Die Trennende Brücke (1922)
• Die Tochter des Brigadiers (1922)
• Die Venus (1922)
• Irrlichter der Tiefe (1923)
• Die Kleine Sünde (1923)
• Mikaël (1924)
• Moderne Laster (1924)
• Das Mädchen mit der Protektion (1925)
• Der Mann, der sich verkauft (1925)
• Der Geiger von Florenz (1926)
• Eheskandal im Hause Fromont jun. und Risler sen. (1927)
• Olympia (1930)
• ...und das ist die Hauptsache!? (1931)
• Mordprozeß Mary Dugan (1931)
• Wir schalten um auf Hollywood (1931)
• La règle du jeu (1939)
• Abenteuer am Lido (1933)
• Was Frauen träumen (1933)
• But the Flesh Is Weak (1932)
• La Fruta mordida (1945)

Names and Styles

• 1901-ca. 1920: Fraulein Eleanora Gregor
• ca. 1925-ca.1934: Frau Mitja Nikisch (privately), Fraulein Nora Gregor (professionally)
• ca. 1934-1937: Fraulein Nora Gregor (professionally)
• 1937-1949: Her Most Serene Highness Princess von Starhemberg (privately), Fraulein Nora Gregor (professionally)

References

1. ^ http://www.cineartistes.com/fiche-Nora%2BGregor.html
2. ^ Alexander Waugh, "The House of Wittgenstein", Random House, 2009, page 201
3. ^ Born Heinrich Ruediger Gregor in Switzerland and legally named his father's heir in 1937 as Prince Heinrich von Starhemberg, the couple's only child was an actor, novelist, and playwright, professionally known as Heinrich Gregor, Henry Gregor, and Heinrich von Starhemberg. See http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758568,00.html
4. ^ Kinn, Gail; Piazza, Jim (2008). "Rules of the Game". The Greatest Movies Ever. Black Dog Publishing. p. 156. ISBN 9781579127824. http://books.google.com/books?id=Qa14zTEmCFIC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&source=bl&ots=vKJJGZB4cO&sig=O4WEiGXkqBSLHUke3bgbRMieLkc&hl=en&ei=pH4JS7PBK8WUtgeiwNi-Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&f=false. Retrieved November 22, 2009. 

External links

• Nora Gregor at the Internet Movie Database
• Photographs and literature
• Tribute website

Persondata
Name	Gregor, Nora
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 February 1901
Place of birth	Gorizia, Austrian Littoral, Austria-Hungary (now in Italy)
Date of death	20 January 1949
Place of death	Viña del Mar, Chile