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- Born to acting parents, Casanova was a sickly child and was raised almost entirely by his grandmother. As a young man, he went to Padua to board with a Doctor Gozzi, and fell in love with Gozzi's younger sister, Bettina. After learning his first lessons about women, Casanova set out as an adventurer across Europe, falling in love often along the way. One of his first great loves was Angiola Calori, a supposed castrato whom Casanova unmasked; they planned to marry, but Casanova decided he could not bear the indignity of being the unemployed husband of a woman of the theatre. After he and Angiola broke up, he met the mysterious Henriette in Cesena, who becomes his next great love. However, Henriette reluctantly left him to return to her family, and Casanova journeyed on to France, where he became a Freemason. In his long, wild, and scandalous life, he made the acquaintance of such figures as Frederick the Great of Prussia, Voltaire, the Chevalier d'Eon, Benjamin Franklin, and Catherine the Great of Russia. In 1784, he accepted the offer of Count Josef Karl Emmanuel von Waldstein to work as a librarian at the Count's castle in Dux, where Casanova lived out the rest of his days. According to his friend, the Prince de Ligne, Casanova's last words were: "I have lived as a philosopher, and die as a Christian."
- August Heinrich Hoffman von Fallersleben was born on 2 April 1798 in Fallersleben, Lower Saxony, Germany. August Heinrich died on 19 January 1874.
- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Andersen experienced an unhappy childhood marked by deep poverty. When he was 14 years old, he left his parents' home and fled alone to Copenhagen. Here the director of the Royal Theater, Jonas Collin, took care of the child and gave him shelter and work. With his help, the young Hans Christian Andersen was also able to attend school. Inspired by his theater work, he began to write his first plays, which he later wanted to expand into stage plays. The first stories, stories and poems were created at this time. In 1822, Andersen's first plots were published with great success. He became a recognized writer in 1829 with his fantastic stories, which were entirely based on the example of the German writer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann.
Andersen's debut novel, "The Improviser", was written in 1835 and received extremely positive reviews from critics. The Danish philosopher and writer Sören Kierkegaard was critical of him in his 1837 work "Only a Violinist". From 1839 Andersen was provided with a state poet's salary. As a result, financially secure, he traveled to Europe, Asia and Africa. However, he spent most of his time in Germany. He recorded his adventures and experiences in dramas, novels and travel books. Anderson became a literary figure with worldwide recognition through his precise portrayal of individual characters, which the writer wrote in everyday language that was atypical at the time. The secret fears and longings of the characters were portrayed, and their exemplary behavior also represented an educational goal.
During his literary work, Andersen wrote some of the most popular children's stories of modern times. Andersen's collected fairy tales and poems were published between 1835 and 1848 under the Danish title "Eventyr, fortalte for børn". His most successful stories include "The Ugly Duckling", "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Snow Queen" and "The Princess and the Pea". Andersen's extensive legacy includes over 150 fairy tales, including "The Little Mermaid", which gave rise to the sculpture of the same name in memory of him in the harbor of Copenhagen. Andersen's stories have been translated into over 80 languages and served as plays, ballets, picture books and later as successful films.
Hans Christian Andersen died on August 4, 1875 in Copenhagen.- Friedrich Halm was born on 2 April 1806 in Krakau, Galicia, Austrian Empire [now Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland]. He was a writer, known for Die Rache der Toten (1916) and Spannende Geschichten (1978). He was married to Sophia von Schloißnigg. He died on 22 May 1871 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria].
- Léon Gambetta was born on 2 April 1838 in Cahors, France. He died on 31 December 1882 in Ville d'Avray, France.
- Émile Zola was born on April 2, 1840, in Paris, France. His father was an Italian engineer. Young Zola studied at the Collége Bourbon in Provence, where his schoolmate and friend was Paul Cezanne. In 1858 Zola returned to Paris and became a student at the Lycée Saint-Louis, from which he graduated in 1862. After working at clerical jobs, he began to write a literary column for a Parisian newspaper. Zola's main literary work was "Les Rougon-Macquart", a monumental cycle of twenty novels about Parisian society during the French Second Empire under Napoleon III and after the Franco-Prussian War.
Zola was the founder of the Naturalist movement in 19th-century literature. His medicinal approach in scrupulous description of the lives of ordinary people was based on the contemporary theory of hereditary determinism, which he used to demonstrate how genetic and environmental factors influence human behavior. His most notable novels, "L'assommoir" (1877), "Nana" (1880) and "Germinal" (1885), displayed Zola's concerns of both scientific and artistic nature, as well as his stances on social reform. His life in the Parisian intellectual elite was that of a statesman and a bon vivant. He lived in a villa in Medan on the Seine and had a home in Paris. He was a political apprentice and follower of Victor Hugo in his stand against the corrupt monarchy of Napoleon III. Zola was among the strongest proponents of the Third Republic and was elected to the Legion of Honour. At the same time he was an important figure in the Parisian cultural milieu. He entered a circle of realist writers such as Edmond de Goncourt, Alphonse Daudet, Ivan Turgenev and Gustave Flaubert, his literary mentor and a close friend. After his novels brought him critical and financial success, Zola himself became surrounded by such followers as Guy de Maupassant and Paul Alexis, among others.
Zola shook the Parisian art world with his novel "L'Oevre" ("The Masterpiece") in 1886. Its protagonist, named Claude Lantier, was actually an amalgam of several artists including Paul Cezanne, Edouard Manet and Claude Monet. Zola also portrayed himself and his friend and mentor Gustave Flaubert. However, the personality and artistic career of painter Paul Cezanne was shown with a closer resemblance, especially when it came to intimate personal characteristics. Zola and Cezanne were schoolmates and close friends from childhood, which gave the writer a wealth of material for the novel. Cezanne's reticent personality, his self-doubt, his artistic anxieties and his more hidden sexual anxieties all came out in Zola's narrative. He revealed Cezanne's "passion for the physical beauty of women, and insane love for nudity desired but never possessed", his almost misogynistic perception of the "satanic female beauty", which affected his sexuality, and sublimated in his brush-strokes that he laid on his paintings. He showed Cezanne's work on his numerous sketches of nudes and impressionistic bathers as an outlet to artist's masculinity. He also hinted on Cezanne's countless depictions of apples as a sublimation and displacement of the artist's erotic interests. Zola used Cezanne's inner struggles of artistic and sexual nature and the interdependence of his sexual and artistic anxiety, to show some intricate parts of an eternal conundrum where lies one of the mysterious sources of creativity. In Zola's novel the artist fails to depict a perfectly beautiful nude, his wife has a baby that has a disfigured head and dies, then artist presents a painting of his dead child to the Salon, then artist commits suicide. In real life Cezanne, as a highly sensitive and refined individual, took Zola's novel too personally. The book ended their life-long friendship. Even the wise and friendly comments by Claude Monet and Camille Pisarro failed to help their reconciliation. Zola's powerful literary image had formed a lasting perception of Cezanne among his fellow artists, as well as among critics and public. Cezanne fled from the Parisian art world into a self-imposed isolation.
Zola risked his career in February of 1898, when he defended army Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer who was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for treason. Zola accused the French government of anti-Semitism in an open letter to François Félix Faure, the President of France. Zola's "J'Accuse" was published on the front page of the Paris daily "L'Aurore". Zola declared that Dreyfus' conviction was based on false accusations and forged "evidence" of espionage, which the court that convicted him knew was false, and was a misrepresentation of justice. Zola was brought to trial for libel for publishing "L'Accuse" and was convicted two weeks later, sentenced to jail, and removed from the Legion of Honour. Zola managed to escape to England. He returned during the collapse of the government and continued defending Dreyfus, who was imprisoned on the hellish penal colony in South America called Devil's Island. France became deeply divided by the case, known as the Dreyfus affair. Zola stood together with the more liberal commercial society opposite the reactionary army and Catholic church. Zola's open letter formed a major turning point in the Dreyfus affair. The case was reopened and Dreyfus was acquitted, then convicted again, but ultimately freed and completely exonerated by the French Supreme Court.
Zola's strange and tragic death from carbon monoxide poisoning was caused by a stopped chimney and remained an unresolved mystery. His enemies were blamed, but nothing was proved. He died on September 29, 1902, in Paris, and was initially laid to rest in the Cimetiere de Montmartre in Paris. On June 4, 1908, Zola's remains were laid to rest in the Pantheon in Paris, France. - Robert V. Ferguson was born on 2 April 1848 in Dumbarton, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Robespierre (1913), Kathleen Mavourneen (1913) and Secret Service Sam (1913). He died on 21 April 1913 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Mrs. Hubert Willis was born on 2 April 1860 in Bow, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Lonely Lady of Grosvenor Square (1922), The Beloved Vagabond (1923) and Gwyneth of the Welsh Hills (1921). She was married to Hubert Willis. She died on 13 August 1950 in New Malden, Surrey, England, UK.
- Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews was born on 2 April 1860 in Mobile, Alabama, USA. Mary Raymond Shipman was a writer, known for The Courage of the Common Place (1917), The Unbeliever (1918) and The Perfect Tribute (1935). Mary Raymond Shipman was married to William Shankland Andrews. Mary Raymond Shipman died on 2 August 1936 in Syracuse, New York, USA.
- Chung Ling Soo was born on 2 April 1861 in New York, USA. He died on 24 March 1918 in Wood Green, London, England, UK.
- Nicholas Murray Butler was born on 2 April 1862 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA. He was married to Kate La Montagne and Susanna Edwards Schuyler. He died on 7 December 1947 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Olfert Jespersen was born on 2 April 1863 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was an actor, known for Potteplanten (1922). He died on 7 January 1932.- John Peachey was born on 2 April 1863 in Dalston, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Diamond Necklace (1921) and The Call of Youth (1921). He died on 26 February 1947 in Finchley, London, England, UK.
- Sandow was already a great admirer of Greek and Roman statues of gladiators and mythical heroes when his father took him to Italy as a boy. By the time he was 19, he was already performing strongman stunts in side shows. The legendary Florenz Ziegfeld saw the young strongman and hired him for his carnival show. He soon found that the audience was far more fascinated by Sandows' bulging muscles than by the amount of weight he was lifting, so Ziegfeld had Sandow perform poses which he dubbed "muscle display performances." The legendary strongman added these displays in addition to performing his feats of strength with barbells. He also added chain-around-the-chest breaking and other colorful displays to Sandows routine. Sandow quickly became a sensation and Ziegfeld's first star.
Sandow's resemblance to the physiques found on classic Greek and Roman sculpture was no accident. He actually measured the marble artworks in museums and helped to develope "The Grecian Ideal" as a formula for the perfect physique. He built his physique to those exact proportions. Because of this, he is considered to be the father of modern bodybuilding, having been one of the first athletes to intentionally develope his musculature to pre-determined dimensions.
Sandow performed all over Europe and came to America to perform at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He could be seen in a black velvet-lined box with his body covered in white powder to appear even more like a marble statue come to life. His popularity grew since he was cultured, highly intelligent, and well-mannered. He also dressed very well and had a charming European accent, coupled with deep blue eyes and hearty laugh. He wrote several books on bodybuilding, nutrition and encouraged a healthy lifestyle as being as important as having a sound mind.
He was married to Blanche Brooks Sandow, had 2 daughters, but was probably unfaithful to her, since he was constantly in the company of women who paid money to feel his flexed muscles back stage after his stage performances. He also had a close relationship to a male musician he hired to accompany him during his shows. The man was Martinus Sieveking, a handsome pupil of Sandow. The degree of their relationship has never been determined, but they lived together in New York for a time.
Sandow knew many famous people in his lifetime... among his friends were Arthur Conan Doyle; Thomas Edison, who made early motion pictures of Sandow; the King of England; Isabella Gardner of Boston and many other celebrities of the day. Sandow invented many bodybuilding exercises, some still used today, and equipment such as a lightweight dumbbell-shaped hand exerciser that was spring-loaded. He was quite generous with his time and money -- out of his own pocket, he paid the housing costs of foreign athletes at the Olympic Games held in London. Sandow was the promoter and judge at the first bodybuilding contest ever held, in New York on September 14, 1901. Sandow also made a world tour in 1903. He died prematurely in 1925 at age 58 of a stroke shortly after pushing his car out of the mud.
Sandow was a charming, intelligent and industrious man who worked very hard for what he earned. He also inspired countless men to look at their bodies as something at least as important as their minds, since for several decades in the 19th century, more men were working in offices as clerks, bankers and other jobs which turned many bodies pale and weak. He changed countless attitudes about health and fitness, and we continue to feel its effects today. - Lajos Szathmáry was born on 2 April 1867 in Marosvásárhely, Hungary, Tirgu Mures, now Romania. He was an actor, known for Göre Marcsa lakodalma (1915), Ágyú és harang (1915) and A piros bugyelláris (1917). He died on 20 July 1939 in Szentendre, Hungary.
- Director
- Actor
Holger Hofmann was born on 2 April 1868. He was a director and actor, known for Den røde Drøm (1914) and Temptations of a Great City (1911). He died on 27 December 1929.- Hubert Carter was born on 2 April 1868 in Great Horton, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Rebecca the Jewess (1913), London (1926) and The Wonderful Year (1921). He died on 26 March 1934 in Surrey, England, UK.
- Hughie Jennings was born on 2 April 1869 in Pittston, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 1 February 1928 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
Joseph W. Girard was born on 2 April 1871 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Captain Midnight (1942), Social Error (1935) and Beloved Jim (1917). He died on 21 August 1949 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Producer
- Director
- Actor
János Fröhlich was born on 2 April 1873 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. He was a producer and director, known for Árvák imája (1922), A karthausi (1916) and Pufi - Hogyan lett ünnepelt hös egy jámbor pesti férjböl? (1914). He died on 29 August 1926 in Budapest, Hungary.- Frank Dudley was born on 2 April 1874 in Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for The Nightingale (1914). He was married to Cora Belle Boney (actress). He died on 6 January 1914 in Hammond, Indiana, USA.
- Walter Percy Chrysler was born on 2 April 1875 in Wamego, Kansas, USA. He died on 18 August 1940 in Great Neck, New York, USA.
- Margaret Yarde was born on 2 April 1878 in Dartmouth, Devon, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Good Companions (1933), Squibs (1935) and The Only Way (1925). She died on 11 March 1944 in London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Director
Alexander Moissi was born on 2 April 1879 in Trieste, Austria-Hungary. He was an actor and director, known for Die Königsloge (1929), Der junge Goethe (1919) and Figaros Hochzeit (1920). He was married to Johanna Terwin and Marie Urfus. He died on 23 March 1935 in Lugano, Switzerland.- Béla Magas was born on 2 April 1879 in Kassa, Hungary, Austria-Hungary [now Kosice, Slovakia]. He was an actor, known for A tékozló fiú (1919), Lu, a kokott (1919) and Sappho (1919). He died on 20 February 1920 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Olof Krook was born on 2 April 1879 in Malmo, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Mans kvinna (1945), Dollarmillionen (1926) and Gustaf Wasa del I (1928). He died on 26 April 1952 in Malmo, Sweden.
- René Champoiseau was born on 2 April 1879 in Orléans, France. He died on 23 March 1966 in Paris, France.
- Hulbert Footner was born on 2 April 1879 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was a writer, known for The Dangerous Blonde (1924), Ramshackle House (1924) and Youth to Youth (1922). He was married to Gladys Marsh. He died on 25 November 1944 in Lusby, Maryland, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Arvid Ringheim was born on 2 April 1880 in Denmark. He was an actor and writer, known for Venus (1911), Den hvide Tulipan (1911) and Nyhavn 17 (1933). He died on 11 December 1941 in Denmark.- Viking Ringheim was born on 2 April 1880 in Denmark. He was an actor, known for From the Rococo Times (1908), Brændemærket (1913) and To Mennesker (1916). He died on 2 October 1954 in Denmark.
- Frank Royde was born on 2 April 1882 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Around the World in 80 Days (1956), BBC Sunday-Night Play (1960) and After Office Hours (1932). He died on 28 October 1962 in Paddington, London, England, UK.
- Writer
- Director
Arthur Bárdos was born on 2 April 1882 in Budapest, Hungary. He was a writer and director, known for Én voltam (1936), Scandal in Paris (1928) and Pique Dame (1927). He died on 10 August 1974 in Buffalo, New York, USA.- Claire Meade was born on 2 April 1883 in West Orange, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Daughter of Don Q (1946), The Unfaithful (1947) and Peter Gunn (1958). She died on 14 January 1968 in Encino, California, USA.
- Art Department
John Bossert was born on 2 April 1884 in Switzerland. John died on 7 April 1976 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- J.C. Squire was born on 2 April 1884 in Plymouth, Devon, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Estudio 1 (1965), BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and Kraft Theatre (1947). He died on 20 December 1958 in Rushlake Green, Sussex, England, UK.
- Charles McAvoy was born on 2 April 1885 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Those Who Dance (1930), The Velvet Touch (1948) and Strike Me Pink (1936). He died on 20 April 1953 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Canadian-born (Winnipeg) Reginald Barker moved with his family to Scotland shortly after he was born, and they eventually emigrated to the US, settling in California. Bitten by the show-business bug early, Barker was acting in plays by age 16, and then joined up with a traveling stock company as stage manager. He eventually made his way to New York City, where he got a job as a stage manager and, starting in 1910, as an actor. He found that the burgeoning motion picture business proved more interesting to him than the stage, and he joined Bison Pictures, traveling to California and working under legendary producer Thomas H. Ince. He soon left acting and worked as an assistant director, making his directorial debut in 1912 with On the Warpath (1912), a western with Art Acord. He worked steadily for Ince, and was so highly thought of by the producer that he shared director duties with Barker on Ince's epic, Civilization (1915).
Barker directed almost 100 films over his career, working with such stars as Sessue Hayakawa, Hoot Gibson and Myrna Loy. He directed his last film in 1935 and then retired from the industry. He and his wife opened up a gift shop in Pasadena, California. Barker died of a heart attack in 1945 in Los Angeles. He was 58.- Kirile Macharadze was born on 2 April 1886. He was an actor, known for Gakra (1931), Tsanis kheobis saundje (1941) and Dakarguli samotkhe (1937). He died on 17 November 1967.
- Harald Steen was born on 2 April 1886 in Norway. He was an actor, known for Bra mennesker (1937), Strandvaskeren (1916) and Den glade enke i Trangvik (1927). He was married to Signe Heide Steen. He died on 18 April 1941 in Norway.
- Christel Holch was born on 2 April 1887 in Aalborg, Denmark. She was an actress, known for Spejlets Spaadom (1916), Fiskeren og hans Brud (1912) and En stærkere magt (1914). She was married to Jacob Jørgen Jacobsen and Jens Augustus Holch. She died on 8 March 1969.
- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Script and Continuity Department
Verna Willis was born on 2 April 1887 in Illinois, USA. Verna was an editor, known for Varsity (1928), The Santa Fe Trail (1930) and Half a Bride (1928). Verna died on 11 November 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Marietta Shaginyan was born on 2 April 1888 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was a writer, known for The Adventures of the Three Reporters (1926), The Last Attraction (1929) and Zrodenie syna (1970). He was married to Hachatryants Jacob Samsonovich. He died on 20 March 1982 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Art Department
Gregor Rabinovitch was born on 2 April 1889 in Kiev, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was a producer, known for Looping the Loop (1928), Tout pour l'amour (1933) and Be Mine Tonight (1932). He died on 12 November 1953 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Ira H. Morgan was born on 2 April 1889 in Fort Ross, California, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Modern Times (1936), Lost in the Stratosphere (1934) and Congo Bill (1948). He was married to Rena Carlton. He died on 10 April 1959 in San Rafael, California, USA.- Neville Cardus was born on 2 April 1889 in Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK. He was married to Edith Honorine King. He died on 28 February 1975 in London, England, UK.
- James R. Gregson was born on 2 April 1889 in Brighouse, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950), Sing As We Go! (1934) and The Way of an Angel (1959). He was married to Florence Gregson. He died on 3 November 1981 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.
- Cinematographer
- Actor
- Director
George Robinson was born on 2 April 1890 in California, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Mister Dynamite (1935), Madame Spy (1942) and Slave Girl (1947). He died on 30 August 1958 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Leland Harris was born on 2 April 1890. He was an actor, known for All About Eve (1950), Hands of Mystery (1949) and Steve Randall (1952). He died on 1 July 1977 in the USA.
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Hans Hemes was born on 2 April 1890 in Geisenheim, Germany. He was an actor, known for Sérénade (1940), Ein Unsichtbarer geht durch die Stadt (1933) and Schneider Wibbel (1939). He died on 20 January 1963 in Berlin, Germany.- Aleko Lilius was born on 2 April 1890 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was an actor and writer, known for Venusta etsimässä eli erään nuoren miehen ihmeelliset seikkailut (1919). He died on 24 May 1977.