Fern Andra
Fern Andra, born Vernal Edna Andrews (24 November 1894[1]–8 February 1974) was an American actress, film director, script writer and producer. Next to Henny Porten and Asta Nielsen she was one of the most popular and best-known actresses in German silent films of the 1910s.
Biography
Vernal Edna Andrews was born in Watseka, Illinois, the daughter of a circus performer and an opera singer, and at the age of four was already appearing in public in a tightrope act. She was later trained in song and dance. As early as 1899, in New York, she made her first film, a version of Uncle Tom's Cabin. She did not however immediately leave the circus, with which she embarked on a huge tour across the USA, Canada and Europe.
In Berlin she met Max Reinhardt, who gave her acting lessons. In 1913 she apperaed in her first German film, entitled Das Ave Maria. Still only moderately well-known, she made her only Austrian film in 1915: Zwei Freunde. She exactly met the taste of the contemporary publc and appeared primarily in sentimental light entertainment films, but when necessary could also produce impressive artistic performances in circus films. Between 1916 and 1918 she appeared almost exclusively on camera with Alfred Abel. In 1920 she starred in Robert Wiene's Expressionist horror film Genuine. In the mid-1920s she lost her public appeal in Germany and from 1928 worked instead in the UK and the USA, later expanding her range to include radio and television.
In 1922 she was involved in a high-profile plane crash, in which the pilot, the former WWI flying ace Lothar von Richthofen, was killed. Andra and her director Georg Bluen survived.
She had three husbands: Friedrich von und zu Weichs; Kurt Prenzel (from 1924); and Sam Edge Dockrell.
Andra died in Aiken, South Carolina, on 8 February 1974.
Notes
- ^ some sources also give 1893 or 1895
Sources / EXternal links
