Step aside Clark Gable....Leonid Kinskey has entered the room, and woe to any man who has to battle with him for center stage! This scene-stealer will win any match hands down.
Kinskey did not have the gentlemanly charm of Cary Grant, or the rugged physique of Johnny Weissmuller, or even the crooning voice of Ol' Blue Eyes, but what he did have was confidence....heaps and bounds of the stuff. And with enough of that, and a good dose of vodka in your system, you can go anywhere.
It doesn't matter that Kinskey didn't have good looks, he thought so and whether you did or not made no difference. In real life, he knew how to flatter like a Frenchman and how to cater to a woman's inner desire, so it comes as no surprise that Ladykiller Kinskey was married three times. Why, even when he was 80-years old he turned on that old-fashioned Russian charisma and fetched himself another mate.
Kinskey was a native-born Russian, stemming from the great city of St. Petersburg. Unlike his acting comrades who portrayed characters of other nationalities as well as their own, Kinskey took pleasure in playing just pure Russians. Alright, a few French, German, and South American characters can be thrown in the mix, but primarily it was Boris, Ivan, Vladimir, Gregor, or Mischa that he was playing. And why not? He was proud of his heritage and enjoyed sharing the characteristics of his culture with the American public. Even the United States government relied on his thoroughly good Russian taste and, during WWII, chose him to select the Hollywood films to be shown in the USSR.
For this post we want to select a few of our favorite characters that Kinskey often played and share them with you:
The Gallant Gigolo :
Kinskey loved to flash that enormous grin of his in roles where he had to woo the women. He rarely snagged the Betty Grables, Alice Fayes, or Sonja Henies onscreen but that never bothered him. Afterall, he was the fellow that was out looking for a good time...and for a rich woman who could afford to give him one. But in the end Kinskey's characters were just as happy to settle for the Charlotte Greenwood-types and make a day of it. Off-screen, he was more particular and remained true to his wives...taking them one at a time of course. His second wife loved him so much that she married him four times over. "It started in Mexico City", he explained, "and then over 20 years of our happy marriage we celebrated every five years by taking a new marriage license in a different country".
The Creative Genius :
Whenever Kinskey played a composer or an artist, he couldn't keep it straight, but loved to exaggerate the mannerisms one associates with the artistic set. Mussed up hair, flailing arms, temper tantrums, baggy pants, wrinkled tails....these were all the little cliches that Kinskey resorted to when creating the master effect. Cafe Metropole (1937 ), On Your Toes ( 1939 ), Broadway Limited ( 1940 ), and Presenting Lily Mars ( 1943 ) were just some of the films where he played an artist or composer. Too bad Leonid was never selected for the part of a magician, it would have suited him to perfection.
The Professor :
When Kinskey wasn't chasing women or chasing the elusive creative thought, he was chasing down students as a college professor. In Ball of Fire ( 1941 ), Professor Quintana ( Kinskey ) was one of the ivory-tower profs who rescues the nightclub singer from the mob. He was Professor Vladimir Smitken in Cinderella Swings It ( 1943 ) and years later, after he retired from film, portrayed Professor Overbeck in the Batman television series ( 1966 ) and Professor Hammerschlag in My Favorite Martian.
And of course...as Sascha!
After seeing Rick fix a roulette game so that a young Hungarian couple could win enough money to pay for an exit visa, bartender Sascha kisses him and exclaims "Boss, you've done a beautiful thing!" Rick snarls back, "Go away, you crazy Russian".
During the making of Casablanca ( 1943 ), it was decided that Leon Mostovoy, the actor cast as the bartender at Rick's Cafe, needed to be replaced because he did not have that added touch of humor that the role required. The producers needed a man like Leonid Kinskey...and a man like Kinskey is what they got. Leonid just happened to be a drinking buddy of Humphrey Bogart and so he pulled him into the cast midway through production. Leonid Kinskey was great for the part of the "crazy Russian" and it remains his most famous role to this day.
This post is our contribution to the Russia in Film Blogathon being held over at Movies Silently and sponsored by Flicker Alley. To read more about Russian actors and films, head on over to Movies Silently and check out all the posts!
Even though some viewers may not know his name, Felix Bressart is a face that many will recognize. His performances were unmistakably unique and each and every one of them was genuine, humorous and heartfelt. We feel a particular fondness for this beloved actor because he reminds us so much of our late grandfather, Mathias Metzinger, both in appearance and character. Both men led simple lives, just doing their jobs with a quiet diligence common of European workers, and all the while leaving a profound effect on those around them through their kindness and good deeds.
One of Bressart's endearing qualities was that he often portrayed true down-to-earth friends, always there to give you a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on in your hour of need. A good comrade through and through. Mr. Kralik and Klara ( James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan ) certainly thought so, and they valued his friendship and his humble opinions very much in A Shop Around the Corner ( 1940 )....especially when it came to deciding whether a cigarette box should play "Ochi Tchornya" or not.
In Blossoms in the Dust ( 1941 ), Dr. Bressler ( Bressart ) brought Edna's ( Greer Garson ) child into the world and when this little boy tragically died, his friendship was pivotal in giving Edna hope and helping her fulfill her purpose in life. Even Shirley Temple benefited from Bressart's sage advice, when, in Kathleen ( 1941 ), she needed a kindly paternal friend to pour out her troubles to.
For his Hollywood productions, Bressart played a wide range of European characters including Russians, Hungarians, and Germans; not surprisingly since he bore the classic profile of an Eastern European Jew with that prominent hook nose, those soulful eyes that saw much persecution, and the timid stance of one accustomed to submitting to authorities. Felix was in fact born in Eydtkuhnen, East Prussia ( what is now Chernyshevskoye, Russia ). As a young man he qualified as a medical practitioner but somewhere along the way, turned his attention to acting. His wiry frame and bespectacled appearance were not leading man attributes and, like Mary Wickes, remained a character portrayer all his life.
In Berlin, Felix studied acting and honed his skills in musicals and comedies in the theatres of Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna. By the early 1930s he was a respected film personality, having performed in popular films such as Die Drei von der Tankstelle ( 1930 ) and Die Privatsekretärin ( 1931 ).
When the Nazis came to power Bressart and his wife Frieda found safety in neutral Switzerland and, later, in Paris. While in Europe, he befriended Joe Pasternak and Ernst Lubitsch who both offered him plentiful work upon his eventual arrival in Hollywood. One of his first parts in America was that of Buljanoff in Lubitsch's sparkling comedy Ninotchka ( 1939 ) where he played with his Landsmann and frequent co-star, Sig Ruman.
Because Bressart was himself a refugee, fleeing from the Nazi regime, he often portrayed men aiding others in their flight to freedom. During wartime it was difficult to determine friend from foe; Bressart's kind face and transparent nature made his character's undeniably trustworthy. When Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray were seeking an unknown contact in Salzburg in Above Suspicion ( 1943 ), it was Mr. Werner ( Bressart ) who passed on to them information needed to rescue a scientist from the hands of the Nazis. In The Seventh Cross ( 1944 ) Bressart was once again helping his fellow man as an undercover resistance fighter forging documents for a concentration camp escapee ( Spencer Tracy ).
However, the tables were turned in Comrade X ( 1940 ) when Bressart portrayed a desperate father pleading to a reporter ( Clark Gable ) to take his daughter ( Hedy Lamarr ) out of Communist held Russia.
Felix had great depth in his acting ability and one can easily tell that his performances stemmed from personal experience. In his eyes and in the tone of his voice, he evoked pathos which made audiences sympathize with the plight of Europeans during the war. Even in comedies this naturalism came through. This was especially evident in one of Felix's greatest roles, in Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be ( 1942 ), where he portrayed the hired Jewish actor Greenburg who yearns to perform his favorite role, that of Shylock from Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", before a full house. The zenith of his performance is his delivery of the "Hath not a Jew eyes?" monologue which becomes one of the most poignant moments in a film strewn with scenes of light-hearted zaniness.
Bressart's characters were often the pillars of strength for others to lean on for support and like most of the meek men of the world, they were the ones who were willing to defy authority and stand up to protect those whom they love. Just like all the other Jews in Germany at the time, he displayed the fortitude and cheerful optimism they shared amidst their surrounding hardships.
Bressart also exemplified the "everyman"....the common hardworking bread-winner. He was an old trusted servant in Escape ( 1940 ), a fellow lab worker in Edison, the Man ( 1940 ) and a poor music maestro in Three Smart Girls Grow Up ( 1939 ), Ziegfeld Girl ( 1941 ), Greenwich Village ( 1944 ), and Without Love ( 1945 ). He always came across as a happily married man and a proud papa-bear of a large family, blissfully content.
It is amazing that Bressart's career in Hollywood lasted but a decade, for by the end of the 1940s he was in failing health and during the production of My Friend Irma ( 1949 ), Felix passed away at the age of 57 from leukemia.
We never had the opportunity to capture our "opa" Matthias on videotape before he passed on, but when we watch Felix Bressart in any of his films it is like seeing our grandfather come to life again and for that alone we are grateful that Bressart chose acting as his profession and shared his talent with so many.
This is our contribution to the Russia in Film Blogathon being hosted by Fritzi over at Movies Silently. This превосходный event celebrates Russian films, Russian-born actors and films with Russian settings. So rush-on over there and check out all the wonderful posts!
During the making of Casablanca ( 1943 ), it was decided that Leon Mostovoy, the actor cast as the bartender at Rick's Cafe, needed to be replaced because he did not have that added touch of humor that the role required. The producers needed a man like Leonid Kinskey...and a man like Kinskey is what they got. Leonid just happened to be a drinking buddy of Humphrey Bogart and so he pulled him into the cast midway through production. Leonid Kinskey was great for the part of the "crazy Russian" and it remains his most famous role to this day. 
