Vera Molnar(1923-1986)

A stunningly attractive, dark-haired star of post-war revue films, she was born Vera Kmet, the daughter of a German mother and a Hungarian (engineer) father. Encouraged to pursue acting after successful screen testing in Berlin, she went on to pursue drama studies in Vienna at the Reinhardt Seminar (1943-1945) at night, while conscripted to work in an armaments factory during the daytime. Following the end of the war, Vera, trying to supplement her meagre income, was caught up in black market activities and spent sixteen months in an Austrian prison. Her life changed dramatically, when she was discovered singing at a cafe during the Salzburg opera season by the director Géza von Cziffra, who changed her name to Molnar and starred her as wordly, emancipated women in several of his films, notably Gabriela (1950), Une fille du tonnerre (1950) and the romantic musical comedy Le Rêve multicolore (1952), the most lavish production thus far undertaken in post-war Germany. At the same time, Vera and her (married) Svengali conducted a not entirely discreet affair, living together at a rented house in Hamburg.

U.S. immigration authorities subsequently denied her a visa and thereby the opportunity to act in Hollywood due to her 'criminal past'. From the mid-1950's, Vera continued to pop up in a brace of undistinguished international productions, which did little for her rapidly waning career. By the end of the decade, she called it quits. Having established dual residencies in Rome and Vienna in the 1960's, she committed her remaining years to the muse of painting.