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 (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Regional decentralization ...

, a town which then belonged to

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, but is now part of Italy, to Austrian-Jewish parents. Her first husband was Mitja Nikisch, 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 Rüdiger von Starhemberg, with whom she had a son, Heinrich von Starhemberg (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. 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, 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 The Burgtheater (; literally: "Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater", originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in ...

. During her French exile, Gregor played her most famous screen role as Christine de la Chesnaye in

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. His '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greate ...

'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 The Austrian nobility () is a status group that was officially abolished in 1919 after the fall of Austria-Hungary. Austria's system of nobility was very similar to that of Germany (see German nobility), as both countries were previously part of ...

and Adelsaufhebungsgesetz), ''Fräulein'' Nora Gregor (professionally)

References

External links