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Oscar Homolka papers

 Collection
Identifier: 0205

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Scope and Contents

Collections contains mainly manuscripts by Oscar Homolka but also a few photographs, newspaper clippings and an audio recording.

Dates

  • Creation: 1935 - 1960

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Exile Studies Librarian at ullmann@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Biographical Background Oscar Homolka



Oscar Homolka (born August 12, 1898 in Vienna, Austria, died January 27, 1978 in Sussex, England) was an Austrian-American actor.



Homolka attended the Royal Dramatic Academy in Vienna and began his career on the Austrian stage. Success there led to work in the much more prestigious German theatrical community in Munich and Berlin. His first films were Die Abenteuer eines Zehnmarkscheins (The Adventures of a Ten Mark Note, 1926), Hokuspokus (Hocuspocus, 1930), and Dreyfus (The Dreyfus Case, 1930). After the Nazi rise to power, Homolka moved to Britain in 1934 and later was one of many Jewish actors and theatrical people who fled Europe for the United States.



In 1936, he played the bomber in Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage. Although he often played villains such as Communist spies and Soviet-bloc military officers or scientists, he was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the crusty, beloved uncle in I Remember Mama (1948). Homolka also acted with Ingrid Bergman in Rage in Heaven, with Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, with Ronald Reagan in Prisoner of War, and with Katharine Hepburn in The Madwoman of Chaillot.



Homolka returned to England in the mid-1960s, to play the Soviet KGB Colonel Stok in Funeral in Berlin (1967) and Billion Dollar Brain (1968), opposite Michael Caine. His last film was the Blake Edwards romantic drama The Tamarind Seed in 1974.

Extent

1 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection consists of manuscripts written by Oscar Homolka during his stay in Southern California. The collections also contains some photographs and ephemera relating to Homolka.

Title
Finding Aid for Oscar Homolka papers
Status
Completed
Author
Michaela Ullmann
Date
2010
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
German and English

Repository Details

Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States