Rose Stradner

Rose Luise Maria Stradner (July 31, 1913 – September 27, 1958) was an Austrian–American stage and film actress. Her notable films include '' The Last Gangster'' (1937), in which she co-starred opposite Edward G. Robinson and James Stewart, and ''The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944) with Gregory Peck. She was the second wife of film director Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

Early years

Rosa Stradner was born on July 31, 1913 in Vienna, Austria. While still an infant, she moved with her parents to Trieste and Isonzo, where her father was stationed as an engineer in charge of troop transportation during World War I. After the war, Stradner was educated at the Sacred Heart Academy in Vienna, where she wrote, directed and performed in student plays.

Career

On her 19th birthday, Stradner approached Austrian theatrical producer and film director Max Reinhardt directly, and asked him for an acting job. She auditioned and under Reinhardt's tutelage, acted in over 50 theatrical productions, including plays written by William Shakespeare, Molière, Henrik Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw. According to one newspaper, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini was so captivated by Stradner that he saw one of her plays three times and gave her a bouquet.

By 1933, Stradner began acting in several German-language films. At the Berlin premiere of one of her films, Joseph Goebbels offered her a 15-year contract to appear in Nazi Germany propaganda films. Stradner declined the offer, stating she would continue acting in Austrian films. Goebbels replied: "In that case, you'll be working for us eventually. It's only a matter of time." A year later, Stradner performed at the Volksbühne theatre, where she was directed by Karlheinz Martin, whom she married. She also appeared at the Volkstheater, Vienna, where Luise Rainer was her understudy.

During a talent search, László Willinger's photographs of Stradner caught the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) while she was performing in a stage adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's '' Fräulein Else''. One studio publicity story circulated that Stradner was discovered by Louis B. Mayer and Benjamin Thau while in Europe. She was then imported into the United States on the same ship with director Victor Saville, actresses Hedy Lamarr and Ilona Massey, singer Miliza Korjus, and screenwriter Walter Reisch. However, her son Tom stated she and her mother Louise had fled the Nazis during the mid-1930s.

In 1937, Stradner was placed under contract to MGM where studio publicists considered renaming her Andrea Marlow or Andra Marlo. However, they simply substituted her first name for Rose. She made her Hollywood film debut opposite Edward G. Robinson and James Stewart in '' The Last Gangster'' (1937), where she played the wife of Robinson's character, Joe Krozac. A review in ''Variety'' praised her performance, writing Stradner "is a natural as the gangster's wife, the accent fitting in perfectly. As an actress, her talents lie on the dramatic side; she's attractive enough to win attention, too." The ''Washington Evening Star'' placed a byline underneath her image stating: "Rose Stradner is being hailed by the M-G-M people as the studio's greatest discovery since Garbo, as they seem to feel she is going places in the cinema." Despite her positive notices, Stradner was not cast in another film with MGM.

In 1938, MGM loaned Stradner to RKO Pictures for '' The Saint in New York'' but she was replaced. A year later, Stradner signed a long-term contract with Columbia Pictures. There, she appeared in '' Blind Alley'' (1939), in which she played Ralph Bellamy's wife. Despondent over her career trajectory, Stradner threatened suicide and was violently anxious at her second husband Joseph L. Mankiewicz. He cabled talent agent Leland Hayward for assistance when Stradner was being considered for a New York production of ''Lorelei'' but she did not get the role. Months after she gave birth to her second son, in October 1942, Stradner fell into a catatonic state while vacationing with her husband and Alice and Franz Waxman at the Arrowhead Springs Hotel. She was returned home, and Mankiewicz entered her into the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. She spent nine months at the clinic under the care of Karl Menninger who prescribed her medication to treat her illness.

Stradner's final film was ''The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944), in which she portrayed Reverend Mother Maria-Veronica. The role had been intended for Ingrid Bergman because of her box office appeal as Gregory Peck was then an unknown actor. However, Bergman was unavailable at the time, and Stradner auditioned for the role without her husband's knowledge. After some time, Bergman became available and Darryl F. Zanuck instead offered Stradner a two-picture contract with Twentieth Century-Fox. Stradner declined and pushed Mankiewicz to have her retain the role. Mankiewicz pleaded with Zanuck to have Stradner in the role to save his already-troubled marriage, and Zanuck agreed. When filming had wrapped, Stradner decided to quit acting and raise her family.

In 1948, Stradner made her American stage debut in the play ''Bravo!'' written by Edna Ferber, produced by Max Gordon, and directed by George S. Kaufman. She had auditioned for the role of Rosa Rucker, whereby Ferber and Kaufman were left impressed that they applauded. The play previewed in October at the Wilbur Theatre, where theatre critic Cyrus Durgin called ''Bravo!'' "a disappointing play, but with some good acting." A month later, it was staged at the Lyceum Theatre. However, despite positive reviews of her performance, Stradner was replaced by Lili Darvas. Mankiewicz reflected decades later, "I don't think she ever recovered from that. She was just on her way back up and that really was a tremendous blow to her..."

Despite her illness, her son Tom wrote: "She had a unique ear for languages and spoke English and later Italian fluently, without a trace of accent. She was a tremendous help to Dad as an in-house critic of his screenplays. He routinely solicited her opinion and acted on it." Stradner's last onscreen appearance was the 1953 TV episode "Reign of Terror" from ''Suspense''.

Personal life and death

In 1934, Stradner married German stage and film director Karlheinz Martin, who was 27 years her senior. When MGM placed her on contract, Stradner's marriage and past film career was expunged from the public. She later returned to Europe and divorced Martin. At MGM, Stradner met Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who was instructed to help improve her English as he had with other German-speaking actresses. The two were married on July 28, 1939, at Mankiewicz's sister's apartment in New York. When they returned to Los Angeles, on Stradner's 26th birthday, MGM studio writers and producers greeted them at the railway station with rice and a ten-piece orchestra. Stradner gave birth to two sons, Christopher, born in 1940, and Tom Mankiewicz, born in 1942.

On the night of September 26, 1958, at their summer home in Mount Kisco, New York, her husband Joseph and Stradner fought, and he left for New York City to work on his Broadway play. Hours later, Joseph contacted the caretaker after Stradner had not been answering the phone. On September 27, Stradner was found dead lying on the floor near a writing desk, at the age of 45. She was found holding a "nearly indecipherable note" in her hand stating she was "tired". Her death was ruled a suicide through an overdose of sedatives. She was interred at the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla.

Selected filmography

* ''Wedding at Lake Wolfgang'' (1933)
* '' So Ended a Great Love'' (1934)
* '' A Night of Change'' (1935)
* ''Hundred Days'' (1935)
* '' Dinner Is Served'' (1936)
* '' City of Anatol'' (1936)
* '' The Postman from Longjumeau'' (1936)
* '' The Last Gangster'' (1937)
* '' Blind Alley'' (1939)
* ''The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944)

References

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Bibliography

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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stradner, Rose
1913 births
1958 suicides
1958 deaths
Austrian film actresses
Actresses from Vienna
20th-century Austrian actresses
Drug-related suicides in New York (state)
Mankiewicz family
Austrian emigrants to the United States
Burials at Kensico Cemetery