Lisa Golm(1891-1964)
- Actress
Lisa Golm was born Luise Schmertzler and married Ernst (Ernest) Golm
who would later become a character actor with her in Hollywood, but had
his first career as a dentist catering to some of the movie stars in
Berlin in the late 1920s and 30s. Lisa studied theater as a hobby with
Conrad Veidt. When she and Ernst fled Nazi Germany in the late 1930s
and settled in Southern California, her husband continued his dental
career from Beverly Hills while Lisa put her acting training to use
with the increasing demand for German accented and other ethnic bits in
films as the USA advanced toward World War II. When her first film,
Les aveux d'un espion nazi (1939), opened, members of the Golm family in
different parts of the US took the day off work to see her on the big
screen. Lisa and Ernest (who made far fewer film appearances and no TV)
were together in two movies, Hitler et sa clique (1944) and Mission à Moscou (1943).
Lisa was the type who enjoyed mingling with the society set, so it was
ironic she was often cast as maids. Her family nickname, the red
broomstick, because she was tall, thin, and had red hair, can best be
understood if one sees one of her few color films such as Rhapsodie (1954).
After Ernest died Lisa retired and moved to Israel.
