Lou Tellegen

Born: 1881-11-26

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lou Tellegen (born Isidor Louis Bernard Edmon van Dommelen, November 26, 1881 – October 29, 1934) was a Dutch-born silent film and stage actor, film director and screenwriter. Tellegen made his stage debut in Amsterdam in 1903, and over the next few years built a reputation to the point where he was invited to perform in Paris, eventually co-starring in several roles with Sarah Bernhardt, with whom he was involved romantically. In 1910, he made his motion picture debut alongside Bernhardt in La dame aux camélias, a silent film made in France. In the summer of 1913, Tellegen went to London where he produced and starred in Oscar Wilde's play The Picture of Dorian Gray. Invited back to the United States, Tellegen worked in theatre and made his first American film in 1915, titled The Explorer, followed by The Unknown. Considered one of the best-looking actors on screen, he followed up with three straight films starring with Geraldine Farrar (his wife 1916-1923). Tellegen married a total of four times. He became an American citizen in 1918. Tellegen appeared in numerous films before his face was damaged in a fire on Christmas Day 1929, when he fell asleep while smoking. He had extensive plastic surgery in 1931. Fame fading, employment not forthcoming, and ridden with debt, he filed for bankruptcy. He was diagnosed with cancer, though this information was kept from him, and he became despondent. In 1931, he wrote his autobiography Women Have Been Kind. On October 29, 1934, while a guest in the Cudahy Mansion at 1844 North Vine Street in Hollywood (now the site of the Vine-Franklin underpass of the Hollywood Freeway), Tellegen locked himself in the bathroom, then shaved and powdered his face. Then, while standing in front of a full-length mirror, he committed suicide by stabbing himself with a pair of sewing scissors seven times. Tellegen was cremated and his remains scattered at sea.


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3 Bad Men

as Sheriff Layne Hunter
Released: 1926-08-28

Three outlaws come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed.

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Womanpower

as The Broker
Released: 1926-09-19

Womanpower (1926)

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Parisian Nights

as Jean
Released: 1925-09-27

American sculptress Adele La Rue, working in Paris, lacks the inspiration to create a...

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Siberia

as Egor Kaplan
Released: 1926-03-28

Officer in the Imperial Russian Army, Petroff, is in love with Sonia, a schoolteacher who casts...

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East Lynne

as Sir Francis Levison
Released: 1925-11-23

This most famous of Victorian melodramas was more than half a century old, and had already been...

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Married Alive

as James Duxbury
Released: 1927-07-17

James Duxbury (Lou Tellegen) is an exponent of polygamy, which may not be legal but certainly...

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The Princess from Hoboken

as Prince Anton Balakrieff
Released: 1927-03-01

To enliven their business, the O'Tooles, restaurant owners in Hoboken, New Jersey, transform...

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Parisian Love

as Pierre Marcel
Released: 1925-08-01

Armand and Marie survive in the streets until charitable (and wealthy) scientist Pierre Marcel...

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Together We Live

as Bischofsky
Released: 1935-08-16

A ham-handed cautionary fable against communism, the film concerns a group of Civil War veterans...

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After Business Hours

as John King
Released: 1925-06-16

A young woman marries a rich young man. However, he doesn't trust her with money and won't let...

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Enemies of the Law

as Eddie Swan
Released: 1931-07-21

The Lady cop Florence Vinton goes undercover to get the goods on rival gangsters Eddie Swan and...

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The Outsider

as Anton Ragatzy
Released: 1926-01-17

1926 film starring Jacqueline Logan, Lou Tellegen, and Walter Pidgeon.

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Flame of the Desert

as Sheik Essad
Released: 1919-10-26

An Englishman goes undercover posing as an Egyptian sheik in order to infiltrate a conspiracy to...

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The Unknown

as Richard Farquhar
Released: 1915-12-09

Richard Farquhar, the ne'er-do-well nephew of a titled Englishman, after a protracted "good...

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The World and Its Woman

as Prince Michael Orbeliana
Released: 1919-09-06

A Russian peasant girl rises to fame as an operatic diva. She becomes beloved of a Russian...

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Greater Than Marriage

as John Masters
Released: 1924-11-16

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The Black Wolf

as The Black Wolf
Released: 1917-02-12

In the Spanish Mountains, the Black Wolf, a bandit, reigns at the head of his band, known as...

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Queen Elizabeth

as Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex
Released: 1912-08-16

Episodes from the life of Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603), focusing on her ill-fated...

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Adrienne Lecouvreur

as uncredited
Released: 1913-01-01

A considered lost film from 1913

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Camille

as Armand Duval
Released: 1912-01-02

Marguerite is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand...

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The Victoria Cross

as Maj Ralph Seton
Released: 1916-12-14

Maj. Ralph Seton is a British army officer stationed in Cawnpore, India, when the Sepoy...

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The Redeeming Sin

as Lupin
Released: 1925-01-25

Lupin is the lover of Joan of the Apaches. She is attracted by Paul de Gafilet, nobleman and...

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