
Elissa Landi
Elissa Landi (December 6, 1904 – October 21, 1948) was an Italian born actress who was popular in Hollywood films of the 1920s and 1930s. Rumoured to be a descendant of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, she was noted for her aristocratic bearing.
Born Elisabeth Marie Christine Kühnelt in Venice, Landi was raised in Austria and educated in England.
Her first ambition was to be a writer, and she wrote her first novel at the age of twenty. She would return to writing during lulls in her acting career. She joined the Oxford Repertory Company at an early age, appearing in many British and American stage successes.
During the 1920s she appeared in British, French, and German films before travelling to the United States to appear in a Broadway production of A Farewell to Arms. She was signed to a contact by Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century Fox) in 1931.
She played the heroine in Cecil B. De Mille's The Sign of the Cross (1932), but was overshadowed by Claudette Colbert who played the flashier role of Poppea. She was paired successfully with some of the major leading men, such as David Manners, Charles Farrell, Warner Baxter, and Ronald Colman in romantic dramas such as Body and Soul (1931) before appearing in the box office hit The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) with Robert Donat.
Her contract with Fox was abruptly cancelled in 1936 as a result of her refusal to accept a particular role. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed her to a contract and after a couple of romantic dramas she played the cousin of Myrna Loy in the very popular After the Thin Man (1936). After only two more films she retired, in 1943.
She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1943, and dedicated herself to writing, producing six novels and a series of poems.
She died from cancer in Kingston, New York, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Elissa Landi has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to Motion Pictures, at 1615 Vine St.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Elissa Landi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.062 |
Birthday | 1904-12-06 |
Place of Birth | Venice, Italy |
Also Known As | Элисса Ланди, Elisabeth Marie Christine von Kühnelt, |

1928

Underground
6.9/18
A working-class love story set in and around the London Underground of the 1920s. Two men – gentle Bill and brash Bert – meet and are attracted to the...
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Underground

1936

After the Thin Man
7.3/170
Nick and Nora Charles investigate when Nora's cousin reports her disreputable husband is missing, and find themselves in a mystery involving the shady...
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After the Thin Man

1934

The Count of Monte Cristo
6.7/53
After greedy men have Edmound Dantes unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him, he escapes to revenge himse...
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The Count of Monte Cristo

1932

Devil's Lottery
0/0
Intricate, soapy drama of romance, heartbreak, and murder amongst a diverse group of sweepstakes winners visiting a newspaper tycoon's estate.
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Devil's Lottery

1932

The Sign of the Cross
6.2/41
A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.
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The Sign of the Cross

1935

Enter Madame
5.5/4
Man marries opera singer, winds up taking back seat to her career.
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Enter Madame

1931

The Yellow Ticket
5/14
A young Russian girl is forced into a life of prostitution in Czarist Russia, and she and a British journalist find their lives endangered when she re...
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The Yellow Ticket

1936

Mad Holiday
6/6
A temperamental film star's vacation turns deadly when he uncovers a murder.
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Mad Holiday

1933

By Candlelight
5.8/12
A beautiful woman mistakes a Prince's butler for the Prince.
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By Candlelight

1937

The Thirteenth Chair
5.8/6
A phony psychic tries to solve a murder that took place during her seance.
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The Thirteenth Chair

1931

Wicked
4.7/3
Margot Rande, a basically decent woman, is led down the path to perdition by her bank robber husband.
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Wicked

1928

Sin
6/7
A married writer's luck turns when he gets a play produced at Théâtre de Paris. He meets the femme fatale who should play the lead in his play. Passio...
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Sin

1935

Crimson Dynasty
5.3/3
Koenigsmark is a 1935 British-French drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Elissa Landi, John Lodge and Pierre Fresnay. The film is bas...
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Crimson Dynasty

1934

Man of Two Worlds
6/1
A British explorer brings an Eskimo hunter to London, where he misreads a woman.
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Man of Two Worlds

1937

Hollywood Party
6.3/3
Elissa Landi and Charley Chase host an East Asian themed garden tea party in Hollywood. After introducing a few Hollywood luminaries who are attending...
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Hollywood Party

1933

The Masquerader
4.8/4
A drug-addicted member of Parliament needs to take time off and secretly pull his life together, so he gets his lookalike cousin to agree to temporari...
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The Masquerader

1933

I Loved You Wednesday
2.5/2
Vicki Meredith, an American ballet student in Paris, falls in love with Randall Williams, another American studying architecture in Paree, and they se...
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I Loved You Wednesday

1935

Without Regret
0/0
In order to save herself while in China, a woman marries a young drifter and is able to return to England. Later, believing that her new husband is de...
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Without Regret

1933

The Warrior's Husband
0/0
The Warrior's Husband is a satire of the male and female roles in society set in 800 B.C.. Queen Hippolyta (Marjorie Rambeau) rules Pontus with mascul...
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The Warrior's Husband

1927

London
0/0
A Lady adopts a runaway slum girl who resembles her own dead daughter.
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London

1932

A Passport to Hell
5.3/6
Just prior to the outbreak of World War I, in the British West African town of Akkra, English woman Myra Carson becomes involved in a scandal and is d...
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A Passport to Hell

1931

Always Goodbye
0/0
Stranded and broke after her erstwhile boyfriend leaves her, A onetime London heiress joins a con man to bilk a millionaire at his Italian villa. Litt...
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Always Goodbye

1931

Body and Soul
4.5/3
Andress, Watson and Johnson, pilots with a Royal Air Force squadron in France, are tasked with a deadly mission.
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Body and Soul

1936

The Amateur Gentleman
4/1
A former boxing champion, now an innkeeper, is accused of stealing a watch from a party of guests at his inn, who happen to be members of English roya...
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The Amateur Gentleman

1943

Corregidor
4.8/2
A doctor and his staff in a hospital on the Philippine island of Corregidor shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor try to treat the sick, i...
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Corregidor

1932

The Woman in Room 13
0/0
Divorcee Laura marries Paul but his employer is also enamored with Laura and sends Paul on a business trip during which a murder is committed and he i...
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The Woman in Room 13

1930

The Voice of Hollywood
0/0
The Voice of Hollywood hosted by Pat O'Brien. Features Joan Blondell, Robert Montgomery, Elissa Landi, Warner Baxter, and the coronation of Mary Pickf...
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The Voice of Hollywood

1928

Bolibar
0/0
Hessian officers' flirtations with an artist's daughter accidentally give signals to the attacking English.
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Bolibar

1930

Children of Chance
0/0
A casual date at a high-class hotel leads Binnie, an aspiring showgirl, to be mistaken for model and actress Lia de Marita – landing her an audition f...
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Children of Chance

1930

The Price of Things
0/0
Courtenay John Dayre is drugged by a jealous spy on the night before his loveless marriage to Anthea. His twin, John Courtenay Dayre, reluctantly agr...
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The Price of Things

1930

Knowing Men
0/0
Facing an arranged marriage to a man of dubious morals, heiress Korah Hurley poses as the impoverished travelling companion of her aunt, the Marquise...
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Knowing Men

1934

The Great Flirtation
3/2
An actor is jealous of his wife's stardom.
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