Oscar Homolka papers
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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
- Homolka, Oscar (Person)
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.
Subject
- Homolka, Oscar -- Archives (Person)
Genre / Form
Geographic
- California, Southern -- Emigration and immigration -- Archival resources
- Germany -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 1933-1945 -- Archival resources
Topical
- Actors -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
- Exiles -- Austria -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Exiles -- Germany -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Exiles -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Feature films -- California -- Archival resources
- Jewish refugees -- California, Southern -- Archival resources
- Jewish refugees -- Europe -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Theater -- Austria -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Theater -- Germany -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- 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
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States
specol@usc.edu