Mady Christians
Marguerita Maria Christians, known as Mady Christians, was an Austrian-born German-American actress who had a successful acting career in theatre and film in the United States until she was blacklisted during the McCarthy period.
Biography
She was born on January 19, 1892, to
daughter of Rudolf Christians and Bertha Christians. Her father was a well-known German actor. Her family moved to Berlin when she was one year old, and to New York City in 1912, where her father became the Irving Place Theatre's general manager. Five years later she returned to Europe to study under Max Reinhardt.
She appeared in several European films before the early 1930s. In 1929, she starred in the first full sound film made in Germany It's You I Have Loved. In 1933, she toured the United States in a play called Marching By and was offered a Broadway contract the following year that allowed her, as several other German artists, to seek refuge from the Nazi regime in the United States.
On Broadway, Christians played Queen Gertrude in Hamlet and Lady Percy in Henry IV, Part I, staged by director Margaret Webster. Webster was part of a small but influential group of lesbian producers, directors, and actors in the theater. Webster and Christians became close friends. According to Webster biographer Milly S. Barranger, it is likely that they also were lovers.
She also starred in Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine. She originated the title role in the 1944 play I Remember Mama. Her last movie roles were in All My Sons, based on the play by Arthur Miller, and Letter from an Unknown Woman, both released in 1948. On February 13, 1949, Christians starred in "Silver Cord", an episode of Ford Television Theatre on CBS.
During World War II, Christians was involved in political work on behalf of refugees, rights for workers, and Russian War relief, political efforts that would bring her to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other anti-communist institutions and organizations.
Blacklisting
In addition to her political work, Christians publicly criticized the House Committee on Un-American Activities in early 1941 and likened the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee's investigation of propaganda in US film to Nazi harassment of film and radio artists in the 1930s.
In 1950, the FBI's internal security division began investigating Christians, who had been identified as a "concealed communist" by a confidential informant. When Christians' name appeared in Red Channels, the so-called bible of the broadcast blacklist, her career was effectively over.
Death
On October 28, 1951, aged 59, Christians died of a cerebral hemorrhage, which some attributed to the stress of being subjected to FBI surveillance and being blacklisted.
Selected filmography
Audrey as Evelyn ByrdDie Krone von Kerkyra The Lost Paradise as Edith BernardiDie fremde Frau Am Scheidewege as CorneliaFrau Marias Erlebnis as Maria - ihre TochterDie Verteidigerin as Linda Saltarin - Doktor der RechteDie Dreizehn Eine junge Dame von Welt as Fürstin TscharkowskaAm anderen Ufer Fidelio as Sonja Maderewska - singerDie Sühne der Martha Marx as MadyThe Peruvian as Fernades MatamorerThe Golden Club as Marga von Olsberg, junge WitweNot und Verbrechen as RuthDie Nacht des Grauens Die Gesunkenen as Reta de LorniDer indische Tod as Inge, Frau von Ralph LeyenIndian Revenge Wer unter Euch ohne Sünde ist... Peter Voss, Thief of Millions as Gert, seine TochterThe Fateful Day as Felicitas / Harriet Steel / Jelena / MariettaToday's Children as EvaThe Loves of Pharaoh It Illuminates, My Dear as Jeanne, Marquiße von ChateletA Glass of Water as Königin AnnaThe Buddenbrooks as Gerda ArnoldsenThe Lost Shoe as ViolanteThe Weather Station as Die DameFinances of the Grand Duke as Großfürstin Olga von RußlandMichael as Frau Debit and Credit as Baroneß Leonore vin RothensattelMan Against Man Slums of Berlin as Regine LossenIn the Valleys of the Southern Rhine as Bettina von WittelsbachThe Farmer from Texas as Mabel BrattA Waltz Dream as Princess AlixThe Adventurers as Armely - seine FrauNanette Makes Everything as NanetteSword and Shield as Prinzessin WilhelmineThe World Wants To Be Deceived as Sefi - seine TochterThe Queen of Moulin Rouge as Die HerzoginThe Divorcée as Gonda van der LooVienna, How it Cries and Laughs as Mery, seine FrauOut of the Mist as LoreQueen Louise as Luise von Mecklenburg, Königin von PreussenGrand Hotel Homesick as Fürstin Lydia TrubezkojThe Duel Miss Chauffeur as Steffi WalkerA Woman with Style as Dschilly BeyThe Burning Heart as Dorothee ClaudiusThe Runaway Princess as Princess PriscillaMy Sister and I as Prinzessin Margarete von MarquardsteinIt's You I Have Loved as Inge LundLieutenant, Were You Once a Hussar? as Königin Alexandra von GregorienMy Heart Incognito as La reine AlexandraThe Fate of Renate Langen as Renate LangenThe Woman They Talk About as Vera MorettiThe Black Hussar as Marie LuiseFrederica as FriederikeThe House of Dora Green as Dora GreenThe Empress and I as EmpressManolescu, Prince of Thieves as Comtesse Maria FreyenbergThe Only Girl as The EmpressA Wicked Woman as Naomi TriceEscapade as AnitaShip Cafe as Countess BoranoffCome and Get It as Karie LinbeckSeventh Heaven as MarieThe Woman I Love as FlorenceHeidi as DeteTender Comrade as Manya LodgeAddress Unknown as Elsa SchulzAll My Sons as Kate KellerLetter from an Unknown Woman as Frau Berndle