Sari Maritza(1910-1987)
- Actress
Dora Patricia Detering-Nathan was born in Tientsin, China, the daughter
of British Army Major Walter Nathan and his Austrian wife. She received
her school education in England, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and
was, therefore, linguistically well-equipped to appear in films in
England as well as on the continent. Her stage name was an amalgamation
of two popular contemporary operettas: Sari (also known as
'The Gypsy
Violinist') and Countess Maritza, both composed by 'Emmerich Kalman'.
Sari made her screen debut in her mother's home town, Vienna, and then went on to film in Budapest, Berlin and London. Most of her films were low budget efforts, such as 'Monte Carlo Madness', which was made by Ufa simultaneously in English and in German (as Bombes sur Monte-Carlo (1931)). In this, she played a queen. Ironically, the New York Times commented in a June 4 1932 review about the 'vivacious Continental actress', that her "English is fluent and she looks far more attractive than she does in Forgotten Commandments". Forgotten Commandments (1932) was a patchwork which re-used left-over footage from Cecil B. DeMille's Biblical epic Les dix commandements (1923), and had Maritza playing a vamp. The New York Times stated (June 2 1) that, though her make-up "was not in her favour", she gave a "competent performance". The connection between Ufa and Paramount was significant in launching Sari Maritza's brief Hollywood career. Paramount, always experimenting with continental actresses in the hope of finding another Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich, invented a fictitious, exotic background for her, though she was first, and foremost, English. Usually cast in femme fatale roles, neither the quality of her subsequent films, nor her performances, suggested major star potential. Sari married Paramount employee Sam Katz in 1934. Four years later, she confessed candidly to a reporter that she was, in fact, British, not Austrian, and added that she was quitting films, because she realized that she couldn't act. Sari Maritza worked for a lens manufacturer during World War II. Her second husband was an Air Force navigator.
Sari made her screen debut in her mother's home town, Vienna, and then went on to film in Budapest, Berlin and London. Most of her films were low budget efforts, such as 'Monte Carlo Madness', which was made by Ufa simultaneously in English and in German (as Bombes sur Monte-Carlo (1931)). In this, she played a queen. Ironically, the New York Times commented in a June 4 1932 review about the 'vivacious Continental actress', that her "English is fluent and she looks far more attractive than she does in Forgotten Commandments". Forgotten Commandments (1932) was a patchwork which re-used left-over footage from Cecil B. DeMille's Biblical epic Les dix commandements (1923), and had Maritza playing a vamp. The New York Times stated (June 2 1) that, though her make-up "was not in her favour", she gave a "competent performance". The connection between Ufa and Paramount was significant in launching Sari Maritza's brief Hollywood career. Paramount, always experimenting with continental actresses in the hope of finding another Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich, invented a fictitious, exotic background for her, though she was first, and foremost, English. Usually cast in femme fatale roles, neither the quality of her subsequent films, nor her performances, suggested major star potential. Sari married Paramount employee Sam Katz in 1934. Four years later, she confessed candidly to a reporter that she was, in fact, British, not Austrian, and added that she was quitting films, because she realized that she couldn't act. Sari Maritza worked for a lens manufacturer during World War II. Her second husband was an Air Force navigator.
