Camilla Horn

The daughter of a railroad official Camilla Horn was educated in Germany and Switzerland She initially trained as a dressmaker and received her first job experience in a fashion salon in Erfurt This was merely a stepping stone for a performing career which began with dance lessons in Berlin and subsequent acting studies under Lucie Höflich The lithe blond and strikingly beautiful Camilla soon appeared in cabaret revues staged by Rudolf Nelson By 1926 she was employed as an extra at Ufa where she was spotted by the director FW Murnau who found in her the ideal representation of Gretchen for his seminal production of Fausto 1926 The role catapulted Camilla to instant stardom Within a year she was signed by United Artists in Hollywood befriending Charles Chaplin and more importantly studio chairman Joseph M Schenck The friendship with Schenck may or may not have led to an affair depending on which story one is to believe but it did result in two high profile starring roles opposite John Barrymore in the torrid melodramas Tempestad 1928 and Amor eterno 1929 both produced by Schenck Neither film was a commercial success With the coming of sound Camilla returned to Europe briefly appearing on stage in London and Paris before resuming her screen career in Germany As the 1930s went on she rarely turned down a role playing anything from baronesses and fashion models to vamps and fallen women The quality of her films was variable but there were several noteworthy standouts such as Hans in allen Gassen 1930 opposite Hans Albers Fiesta en palacio 1934 and Payasos 1938 as a circus artiste again with Albers During this tumultuous decade Camilla conducted a lengthy affair with the singer Louis Graveure fifteen years her senior This came to an end in 1938 when Graveure was suspected of espionage by the Gestapo and fled to England via the Cote dAzure After her luxury villa in Berlin was ransacked in search for nonexistent clues Camillas outspoken criticism of the Nazi regime reached a point where it got her into serious trouble She saw out the first half of her career with a trio of long forgotten films made in Italy Having failed in an attempt to flee to Switzerland she kept a low profile and even tried her hand at farming After the war she had a stint as an interpreter for the occupying US forces in Germany Camilla made a successful return to the stage in a 1948 Frankfurt production of Jean Cocteaus LAigle a Deux Tetes aka The Eagle Has Two Heads She spent the latter half of her acting career playing grand dames matriarchs and worldly ladies with colourful backgrounds in both films and on television In 1974 she was awarded the Filmband in Gold also known as Lola for lifetime achievement in the German film industry In her 1985 autobiography Verliebt in die Liebe In Love with Love she happily recounted her marriages and liaisons