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

Biography

She was born Eleonora Hermina Gregor in

Görz Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gorit ...

, a town which then belonged to

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, but is now part of Italy, to Austrian-Jewish parents. Her first husband was

Mitja Nikisch Mitja Nikisch was a classical pianist and dance band leader, born in Leipzig, Germany on 21 May 1899 and died in Venice, Italy on 5 August 1936. Career Mitja Nikisch was the son of the celebrated Hungarian orchestral conductor Arthur Nikisch an ...

, a pianist and son of celebrated orchestral conductor Arthur Nikisch. They divorced circa 1934. In the mid-1930s, Gregor became the mistress of the married vice chancellor of Austria, the Austro-fascist, nationalist politician Prince Ernst Ruediger von Starhemberg, with whom she had a son, Heinrich (1934–1997). 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 en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1938, the Starhembergs emigrated to France through Switzerland, and her husband joined the Free French forces; cut off from their money and 80 family estates, they were supported for a period by Starhemberg's close friend

Friedrich Mandl Friedrich Alexander Maria "Fritz" Mandl (9 February 1900 – 8 September 1977) was chairman of Hirtenberger Patronen-Fabrik, a leading Austrian armaments firm founded by his father, Alexander Mandl. A prominent fascist, Mandl was attached to ...

, the Austrian armaments magnate. In 1942, the Starhembergs moved to Argentina where they lived under humble circumstances. She was depressed by her exile to South America, and many sources claim her early death in Viña del Mar, Chile was a suicide. However, her biographer Hans Kitzmüller calls a suicide unlikely and notes that her death was probably from natural causes.

Career

Gregor entered films in the early 1920s. She worked briefly in Hollywood during the early sound era, appearing in the foreign-language versions of films such as ''The Trial of Mary Dugan'' (1929) and ''His Glorious Night'' (1929). She was considered to be one of Austria's more popular film stars during this time, and she appeared as a stage actress at the famous Burgtheater. During her French exile, Gregor played her most famous screen role 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

Names and Styles

* 1901 –ca. 1920: ''Fräulein'' Eleanora Gregor * ca. 1925–ca.1934: ''Frau'' Mitja Nikisch (privately), ''Fräulein'' Nora Gregor (professionally) * ca. 1934–1937: ''Fräulein'' Nora Gregor (professionally) * 1937–1949: ''Her Most Serene Highness'' Princess von Starhemberg (privately; see Austrian nobility and Adelsaufhebungsgesetz), ''Fräulein'' Nora Gregor (professionally)

References

External links