Estelle Brody
Estelle Brody | |
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Joseph Brody (father) |
Estelle Brody (15 August 1900 – 3 June 1995)
Early life and stardom
Brody was born in New York City, and began her career as a dancer in
Brody spent the remainder of the 1920s starring in a number of high-profile productions which earned her critical and popular acclaim as a natural in front of the camera. Reflecting on this period in later life, Brody commented: "Apparently my work went over well. Beyond my wildest dreams".[1] Her most enduring performance is generally considered to be in 1927's Hindle Wakes, again for Elvey. This was the second silent version of the famous, and controversial in its time, stage play by Stanley Houghton, and received an appropriate budget for a prestige production. Extensive location filming took place in Manchester and Blackpool, giving the film a documentary realism feel very unusual in British silent cinema, which is now regarded as a valuable socio-historical portrait of 1920s Lancashire.
In 1929, Brody had just finished work on the silent film
Career decline and later life
Returning from New York, Brody found the British film industry in a state of flux and uncertainty on the cusp of the transition from silents to talkies. Her voice was not considered desirable by British producers at the time, which heightened her anxiety about the situation. When no new film offers were immediately forthcoming, she made the decision to try her luck in Hollywood. She later acknowledged that this had been a major mistake; not only did she at a stroke alienate a large number of her British fans who accused her of betrayal, but once in Hollywood she found that her status in Britain counted for nothing with American directors. The few offers made were not the kind of roles she wished to play, and ultimately she would only appear as support in two films in which her characters were billed as "Girl from Kokomo" and "Prisoner".
Disillusioned with her Hollywood experiences, Brody returned to England in the mid-1930s but did not seek to resurrect her British career. She married Robert Fenn, an agent representing actors and film composers, and settled into private life out of the spotlight. She finally returned to the screen in 1949 with a minor role in I Was a Male War Bride and for the next decade made sporadic film appearances, with her last film credit coming in Never Take Sweets from a Stranger in 1960. She also appeared occasionally in TV productions in the 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1969, Brody and Fenn relocated to Malta, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Brody died in Valletta on 3 June 1995, aged 94.[1]
Filmography
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See also
- Cinema of the United States
- American silent film actresses
- American film actresses
- American silent films
- British silent films
- British silent film actresses
References
- ^ a b c d Brownlow, Kevin (June 6, 1995). "OBITUARY: Estelle Brody". The Independent. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
- ^ "JOSEPH BRODY DEAD; A JEWISH COMPOSER; Choirmaster, Writer of Sacred Songs and Former Associate of Cantor Rosenblatt (Published 1937)". The New York Times. August 17, 1937.
- ^ Mademoiselle from Armentieres Archived 2011-09-10 at the Wayback Machine BFI National Archive. Retrieved 15-08-2010
External links
- Estelle Brody at IMDb
- Estelle Brody at Find a Grave