Adina Mandlová (28 January 1910 â€" 16 June 1991) was a Czech film
and stage actress. She was one of the leading stars of 1930s and 1940s
Czech cinema. She was involved in a number of scandals and love
affairs.She was born Jarmila Anna Františka Marie Mandlová in a
middle-class family in Mladá Boleslav. Her father Jan Mandl was a
talented pianist who wanted to study music in Vienna, but when his
father died, he became a railway inspector. He married his first wife
and had two sons â€" Jan and Karel. When his wife died of
tuberculosis, he married Mandlová's mother Anna Krýžová. She was
an innkeeper's daughter. Together they had a son JiÅ™Ã, and finally a
daughter Adina. Her father chose her name inspired by Gaetano
Donizetti's opera L'elisir d'amore. He made Adina listen to classical
music and to play the piano. When she was 7 years old, her father died
of Spanish flu. After his death her mother made Adina stop playing the
piano. The family struggled financially, so her mother was stealing
food from their neighbour Václav Klement's garden. After that her
mother rented rooms in their house to students. Adina was sent to
study at a boarding school in Paris, but was expelled before
graduation. She got pregnant there and had an abortion. She returned
home and become a secretary. Her film career started in 1932 thanks to
a small part in film DÄ›vÄ Ã¡tko, neÅ™Ãkej ne!, where she performed
as a model. In 1932 she met an actor Hugo Haas, who became her
partner. He cast her cast in his movie Life Is a Dog in 1933. She
worked as a model for a fashion designer Ulli Rosenbaum. Haas made her
to refuse the main role in Gustav Machatý's movie Ecstasy (1933),
which made Hedy Lamarr famous. They broke up in 1937. The movie Holka
nebo kluk? (1938) was commercially very successful and made her the
leading actress in Czechoslovakia.In the late 1930s and early 1940s
she made her best movies by her own account â€" Virginity, Kouzelný
dům or Nocturnal Butterfly. During the early 1940s Mandlová dated a
German film executive of Barrandov Willy Söhnel. After a false rumour
that she also dated a Reichsprotektor Karl Hermann Frank, her public
image suffered. She was asked to act in a German movie I Entrust My
Wife to You in 1942. She accepted the offer after the actor Heinz
Rühmann came to meet her. Joseph Goebbels told her, that Hitler did
not approve of Slavic sounding names in German movies and the name
"Mandl" sounds too Jewish. The next day Mandlová found out she would
be known as Lil Adina, a name that Goebbels personally chose for her.
After the shooting was finished Frank sent a letter to Goebbels
objecting that Mandlová should be cast in German films. Following the
letter she was blacklisted from German and also Czech movies and acted
only in theatres. She married a painter and ardent communist Zdeněk
Tůma to silence the rumors about her and Frank. In 1943 she was
finally cast in her next movie Happy Journey. After her husband
committed suicide, she had a breakdown. In 1944 she fell in love with
a married actor VladimÃr Å meral, her theatre colleague. She got
pregnant, but after Šméral was transported to a concentration camp
and she learned he planned to stay with his wife, she suffered a
miscarriage. Nevertheless, she helped to hide Šméral until the end
of the war when he escaped from the concentration camp. After the war
Mandlová was arrested for suspicion she had become a German citizen.
She was charged with collaboration and after two months sentenced to
the time served.She was offered a role in Basil Dearden's movie
Saraband for Dead Lovers, but a Communist Minister of Information
Václav Kopecký refused to give her a passport. She married a Czech
flight engineer Josef KoÄ várek who had British citizenship and moved
to UK in 1947. There she continued her acting career with only a
moderate success. In 1948, she acted in the movie The Fool and the
Princess. She fell in love with her co-star Bruce Lester and got
divorced. Lester soon moved back to Hollywood and Mandlová stayed in
England. Later she dated a producer Alexander Korda. She married a
wealthy Englishman named Geoffrey, but immediately regretted it and
the marriage ended in divorce after two years. In 1950 Mandlová got
ill with tuberculosis and left to get a treatment in Switzerland. She
then worked in Radio Free Europe and later as a secretary of a fashion
designer Ben Pearson, whom she married in 1954. During the 1960s, she
had small roles in the British TV shows Ghost Squad (in the episode
"Rich Ruby Wine") and The Saint (in the episode "The Rhine Maiden")
and continued acting in theatres. She also started sculpting.
and stage actress. She was one of the leading stars of 1930s and 1940s
Czech cinema. She was involved in a number of scandals and love
affairs.She was born Jarmila Anna Františka Marie Mandlová in a
middle-class family in Mladá Boleslav. Her father Jan Mandl was a
talented pianist who wanted to study music in Vienna, but when his
father died, he became a railway inspector. He married his first wife
and had two sons â€" Jan and Karel. When his wife died of
tuberculosis, he married Mandlová's mother Anna Krýžová. She was
an innkeeper's daughter. Together they had a son JiÅ™Ã, and finally a
daughter Adina. Her father chose her name inspired by Gaetano
Donizetti's opera L'elisir d'amore. He made Adina listen to classical
music and to play the piano. When she was 7 years old, her father died
of Spanish flu. After his death her mother made Adina stop playing the
piano. The family struggled financially, so her mother was stealing
food from their neighbour Václav Klement's garden. After that her
mother rented rooms in their house to students. Adina was sent to
study at a boarding school in Paris, but was expelled before
graduation. She got pregnant there and had an abortion. She returned
home and become a secretary. Her film career started in 1932 thanks to
a small part in film DÄ›vÄ Ã¡tko, neÅ™Ãkej ne!, where she performed
as a model. In 1932 she met an actor Hugo Haas, who became her
partner. He cast her cast in his movie Life Is a Dog in 1933. She
worked as a model for a fashion designer Ulli Rosenbaum. Haas made her
to refuse the main role in Gustav Machatý's movie Ecstasy (1933),
which made Hedy Lamarr famous. They broke up in 1937. The movie Holka
nebo kluk? (1938) was commercially very successful and made her the
leading actress in Czechoslovakia.In the late 1930s and early 1940s
she made her best movies by her own account â€" Virginity, Kouzelný
dům or Nocturnal Butterfly. During the early 1940s Mandlová dated a
German film executive of Barrandov Willy Söhnel. After a false rumour
that she also dated a Reichsprotektor Karl Hermann Frank, her public
image suffered. She was asked to act in a German movie I Entrust My
Wife to You in 1942. She accepted the offer after the actor Heinz
Rühmann came to meet her. Joseph Goebbels told her, that Hitler did
not approve of Slavic sounding names in German movies and the name
"Mandl" sounds too Jewish. The next day Mandlová found out she would
be known as Lil Adina, a name that Goebbels personally chose for her.
After the shooting was finished Frank sent a letter to Goebbels
objecting that Mandlová should be cast in German films. Following the
letter she was blacklisted from German and also Czech movies and acted
only in theatres. She married a painter and ardent communist Zdeněk
Tůma to silence the rumors about her and Frank. In 1943 she was
finally cast in her next movie Happy Journey. After her husband
committed suicide, she had a breakdown. In 1944 she fell in love with
a married actor VladimÃr Å meral, her theatre colleague. She got
pregnant, but after Šméral was transported to a concentration camp
and she learned he planned to stay with his wife, she suffered a
miscarriage. Nevertheless, she helped to hide Šméral until the end
of the war when he escaped from the concentration camp. After the war
Mandlová was arrested for suspicion she had become a German citizen.
She was charged with collaboration and after two months sentenced to
the time served.She was offered a role in Basil Dearden's movie
Saraband for Dead Lovers, but a Communist Minister of Information
Václav Kopecký refused to give her a passport. She married a Czech
flight engineer Josef KoÄ várek who had British citizenship and moved
to UK in 1947. There she continued her acting career with only a
moderate success. In 1948, she acted in the movie The Fool and the
Princess. She fell in love with her co-star Bruce Lester and got
divorced. Lester soon moved back to Hollywood and Mandlová stayed in
England. Later she dated a producer Alexander Korda. She married a
wealthy Englishman named Geoffrey, but immediately regretted it and
the marriage ended in divorce after two years. In 1950 Mandlová got
ill with tuberculosis and left to get a treatment in Switzerland. She
then worked in Radio Free Europe and later as a secretary of a fashion
designer Ben Pearson, whom she married in 1954. During the 1960s, she
had small roles in the British TV shows Ghost Squad (in the episode
"Rich Ruby Wine") and The Saint (in the episode "The Rhine Maiden")
and continued acting in theatres. She also started sculpting.
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