Irene Von Meyendorff

Irene von Meyendorff (6 June 1916 – 28 September 2001) was a Russian-born German-British actress.

Biography

Irene von Meyendorff was of Baltic German origin, born in 1916 in Tallinn (then Reval, Russia), Estonia as the eldest child of a German-Baltic aristocrat. Her birth name and title was Baroness Irene Isabella Margarete Pauline Caecila von Meyendorff. In the early 1930s she moved to Berlin to work as a cutter in the UFA film studios of Babelsberg. Her beauty soon landed her first film roles and the attention of Joseph Goebbels. Being purported to represent the purest ideal of Aryan beauty, the actress portrayed mostly noble patricians. The sale of her promotional postcards shows that she was the number one pin-up girl among the German Army during World War II.

She was cast by propaganda director Veit Harlan twice: in 1944 in ''Opfergang'' and in 1945 in '' Kolberg''. The production of these elaborately produced colour films was strictly supervised by Goebbels; ''Kolberg'' was the most expensive film ever produced in Germany (with the budget of 8.5 million Reichsmarks), intended to celebrate the 12th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's ascent to power, opening on 30 January 1945. In 1960 she met British actor James Robertson Justice, fell in love with him and left her third husband Pit Severin, a journalist from Hamburg, to follow Justice to Britain. She all but gave up acting, returning only briefly in such films as the costume drama ''Mayerling'' (1968).

She became a British citizen in 1967, and changed her name to Irina. A series of strokes, starting in 1968, gradually prevented James Robertson Justice from working again and led to his eventual bankruptcy. Earning her living as a teacher at a local language school, Irina nursed him until his death in 1975. After 14 years of living together, they were finally married on his deathbed in hospital three days before he died.

In 1990, she married his best friend and their neighbour, millionaire and philanthropist — heir to shoe sellers Russell & Bromley — Frederick Keith ("Toby") Bromley. At age 70, she sailed to the Arctic and the Orinoco River. On 28 September 2001 she died in Hampshire, aged 85. She was predeceased by her son, Andreas Zahler (1940–1985). She was survived by her granddaughter, Rebecca (b. 1984).

Filmography

* 1936 ''The Last Four on Santa Cruz''
* 1936 ''Verräter''
* 1938 '' Travelling People''
* 1938 ''Es leuchten die Sterne''
* 1938 ''Zwei Frauen''
* 1939 '' Wibbel the Tailor''
* 1939 ''Linen from Ireland''
* 1939 ''We Danced Around the World''
* 1940 ''Casanova heiratet''
* 1941 '
* 1941 ''Was geschah in dieser Nacht ?''
* 1942 ''Einmal der liebe Herrgott sein''
* 1942 '' Whom the Gods Love''
* 1943 ''Johann''
* 1944 ''Um 9 kommt Harald''
* 1944 ''Opfergang''
* 1944 ''Philharmoniker''
* 1944 ''Eine kleine Sommermelodie''
* 1945 '' Kolberg''
* 1948 ''Film Without a Title''
* 1948 ''Der Apfel ist ab''
* 1949 ''1x1 der Ehe''
* 1950 ''The Orplid Mystery''
* 1950 ''A Rare Lover''
* 1952 ''Poison in the Zoo''
* 1953 '' The Cousin from Nowhere''
* 1954 ''Portrait of an Unknown Woman''
* 1954 ''Captain Wronski''
* 1955 ''Versuchung''
* 1955 ''Holiday in Tyrol''
* 1956 ''Three Birch Trees on the Heath''
* 1957 '
* 1960 ''In Namen einer Mutter''
* 1960 '' The Ambassador''
* 1960 ''Das Paradies'' (TV)
* 1965 ''Hell Is Empty''
* 1965 ''Long Legs, Long Fingers''
* 1968 ''Mayerling''

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyendorff, Irene von
1916 births
2001 deaths
Actresses from Tallinn
People from the Governorate of Estonia
Baltic-German people

German emigrants to the United Kingdom
German film actresses
20th-century German actresses
British film actresses
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
20th-century Estonian actresses
Estonian emigrants to Germany