Eddie Constantine
Encyclopedia
Eddie Constantine was an American-born French actor
and singer who spent his career working in Europe
.
He became well known for a series of French B movies in which he played secret agent Lemmy Caution
and is now best remembered for his role in Jean-Luc Godard
's philosophical science fiction film Alphaville.
Constantine also appeared in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
(as himself in Beware of a Holy Whore 1971), Lars von Trier
, and Mika Kaurismäki
. He continued reprising the role of Lemmy Caution well into his 70s; his final appearance as the character was in Jean-Luc Godard's Allemagne année 90 neuf zéro
(1991).
to immigrant parents, a Russia
n father) and Polish
mother. He went to Vienna
for voice training, but when he returned to America his singing career did not take off and he started taking work as a film extra. Having failed to make a career in America, Constantine returned to Europe in the 1950s and started singing and performing in Paris
ian cabaret. He was noticed by Edith Piaf
, who cast him in the musical La p'tite Lili. Constantine also helped Piaf with translations for her 1956 album, La Vie En Rose / Édith Piaf Sings In English, so that he has song-writing credits on the English versions of some of her most famous songs (especially "Hymne à l'amour"/"Hymn to Love").
Constantine became a huge star in his own right in 1950s France
due to his role as the hard-boiled detective/secret agent Lemmy Caution (from Peter Cheyney
's novels) in a series of French B-pictures, including La môme vert-de-gris (1953), Cet homme est dangereux (1953), Lemmy pour les dames (1961) and À toi de faire ... mignonne (1963).
Constantine eventually became a French citizen and enjoyed great popularity in several European countries, including France and Germany. When not playing Lemmy Caution, Constantine's character would still typically be a suave-talking, seductive smooth guy, although he often played this for laughs. He turned his accent and perceived American cockiness to advantage in such roles, and later described his film persona as having been "James Bond before James Bond".Eddie Constantine biography at cinemapassion.com
One of his most notable roles was in Jean-Luc Godard
's Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965), in which he reprised (to a more radical end) the role of Lemmy Caution, in a departure from the style of his other films. His box-office appeal in France waned in the mid-1960s. Having remarried with a German television producer, he eventually relocated to Germany
, where he worked as a character actor, appearing in German TV dramas as well as film. Constantine later claimed he had never taken his acting career seriously, as he considered himself to be a singer by trade, and had been an actor strictly for the money. He nevertheless worked with directors such as Godard and Rainer Werner Fassbinder
, and his last notable film appearance was in Lars Von Trier
's Europa in 1991. He had taken up the part of Lemmy for the last time in the same year, in Godard's experimental film Allemagne 90 neuf zéro.
on February 25, 1993, aged 75.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and singer who spent his career working in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
He became well known for a series of French B movies in which he played secret agent Lemmy Caution
Lemmy Caution
Lemmy Caution is a fictitious Federal Bureau of Investigation agent created by Peter Cheyney, who published the first book about him in 1936...
and is now best remembered for his role in Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
's philosophical science fiction film Alphaville.
Constantine also appeared in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
(as himself in Beware of a Holy Whore 1971), Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
, and Mika Kaurismäki
Mika Kaurismäki
Mika Juhani Kaurismäki is a Finnish film director.He is the elder brother of Aki Kaurismäki, and the father of Maria Kaurismäki who graduated from Tampere School of Art and Media in 2008 with her movie Sideline.Mika Kaurismäki has lived in Brazil since approximately 1992 and has made several...
. He continued reprising the role of Lemmy Caution well into his 70s; his final appearance as the character was in Jean-Luc Godard's Allemagne année 90 neuf zéro
Allemagne année 90 neuf zéro
Allemagne année 90 neuf zéro is a French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard and starring Eddie Constantine in his signature role as detective Lemmy Caution. This is the second film in which Godard and Constantine collaborated with the Lemmy Caution character, although it is not officially a sequel...
(1991).
Biography
Constantine was born as Edward Constantinowsky in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to immigrant parents, a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n father) and Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
mother. He went to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
for voice training, but when he returned to America his singing career did not take off and he started taking work as a film extra. Having failed to make a career in America, Constantine returned to Europe in the 1950s and started singing and performing in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian cabaret. He was noticed by Edith Piaf
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
, who cast him in the musical La p'tite Lili. Constantine also helped Piaf with translations for her 1956 album, La Vie En Rose / Édith Piaf Sings In English, so that he has song-writing credits on the English versions of some of her most famous songs (especially "Hymne à l'amour"/"Hymn to Love").
Constantine became a huge star in his own right in 1950s France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
due to his role as the hard-boiled detective/secret agent Lemmy Caution (from Peter Cheyney
Peter Cheyney
Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney, known as Peter Cheyney, was a British crime fiction writer who flourished between 1936 and 1951...
's novels) in a series of French B-pictures, including La môme vert-de-gris (1953), Cet homme est dangereux (1953), Lemmy pour les dames (1961) and À toi de faire ... mignonne (1963).
Constantine eventually became a French citizen and enjoyed great popularity in several European countries, including France and Germany. When not playing Lemmy Caution, Constantine's character would still typically be a suave-talking, seductive smooth guy, although he often played this for laughs. He turned his accent and perceived American cockiness to advantage in such roles, and later described his film persona as having been "James Bond before James Bond".Eddie Constantine biography at cinemapassion.com
One of his most notable roles was in Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
's Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965), in which he reprised (to a more radical end) the role of Lemmy Caution, in a departure from the style of his other films. His box-office appeal in France waned in the mid-1960s. Having remarried with a German television producer, he eventually relocated to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where he worked as a character actor, appearing in German TV dramas as well as film. Constantine later claimed he had never taken his acting career seriously, as he considered himself to be a singer by trade, and had been an actor strictly for the money. He nevertheless worked with directors such as Godard and Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
, and his last notable film appearance was in Lars Von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
's Europa in 1991. He had taken up the part of Lemmy for the last time in the same year, in Godard's experimental film Allemagne 90 neuf zéro.
Personal life
Constantine was married three times, to Helinka Musilova (divorced), with whom he had three children, Dorothea Gibson (1977–78, divorced), and the film producer Maya Faber-Jansen (1979–93, Constantine's death), with whom he had one child. His son, born in 1957 and named for Constantine's famous role, is Lemmy Constantine (entry on French wikipedia), also a singer and actor.Filmography
- Three Shake-a-Leg Steps to Heaven (1993)
- Tokyo no kyujitsu (1991)
- Allemagne 90 neuf zéro (1991)
- Europa (1991)
- Europa, abends (1989)
- Le retour de Lemmy Caution (1989)
- Helsinki Napoli All Night Long (1987)
- Tiger - Frühling in Wien (1984)
- Rote Liebe (1982)
- The Long Good FridayThe Long Good FridayThe Long Good Friday is a British gangster film starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren. It was completed in 1979 but, because of release delays, it is generally credited as a 1980 film...
(1980) - Panische ZeitenPanische Zeiten-Track listing:1 - Die Heizer komen 4: 402 - Katze 3: 283 - Auf heisser Spur 3: 384 - Raketen-Rocker 4: 165 - Deutsche Nationalhymne 2: 266 - Jamaika 4: 217 - Leinwand 3: 528 - Du warst wie ein Erdbeben 4: 189 - Baby wenn ich down bin 3: 25...
(1980) - Supergirl - Das Mädchen von den SternenSupergirl - Das Mädchen von den SternenSupergirl – Das Mädchen von den Sternen is a 1971 German TV movie directed by Rudolf Thome and written by Max Zihlmann. It has no connection with the comic book character Supergirl.- Cast :* Iris Berben - Supergirl Fancesca Farnese* Marquard Bohm - Evers...
(1971) - Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)
- À toi de faire... mignonneÀ toi de faire... mignonneÀ toi de faire... mignonne is a French-Italian film based on the novels of Peter Cheyney. It came out ten years after La môme vert-de-gris which had been the first of film of this series....
(1963) - Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)
- Lemmy pour les dames (1962)
- Bombs on Monte CarloBombs on Monte Carlo (1960 film)Bombs on Monte Carlo is a 1960 German comedy film directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Eddie Constantine, Marion Michael and Gunther Philipp. It was based on a novel by Fritz Reck-Malleczewen which had already between adapted as a film in 1931 as Monte Carlo Madnes.-Cast:* Eddie Constantine ... ...
(1960) - SOS PacificSOS PacificSOS Pacific is a 1959 British drama film directed by Guy Green and starring Richard Attenborough and Pier Angeli.-Plot synopsis:The pilot of a flying boat, along with five passengers, has to ditch his plane in a thunder storm. The plane ditches in the Pacific near an island...
(1959) - Les femmes s'en balancent (1954)
- Cet homme est dangereux (1953)
- La môme vert de gris (1953)
Death
Eddie Constantine died of a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on February 25, 1993, aged 75.