Finding Aid for Oscar Homolka papers 0205

Finding aid prepared by Michaela Ullmann
USC Libraries Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California, 90089-0189
213-740-5900
specol@usc.edu
2010


Title: Oscar Homolka papers
Collection number: 0205
Contributing Institution: USC Libraries Special Collections
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 1.0 Linear feet 2 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1935-1960
Abstract: This collection consists of manuscripts written by Oscar Homolka during his stay in Southern California. The collections also contains some photographs and ephemera relating to Homolka.
creator: Homolka, Oscar, 1898-1978

Biographical Background Oscar Homolka

Oscar Homolka (born August 12, 1898 in Vienna, Austria, died January 27, 1978 in Sussex, England) was an Austrian-American actor.
Homolka attended the Royal Dramatic Academy in Vienna and began his career on the Austrian stage. Success there led to work in the much more prestigious German theatrical community in Munich and Berlin. His first films were Die Abenteuer eines Zehnmarkscheins (The Adventures of a Ten Mark Note, 1926), Hokuspokus (Hocuspocus, 1930), and Dreyfus (The Dreyfus Case, 1930). After the Nazi rise to power, Homolka moved to Britain in 1934 and later was one of many Jewish actors and theatrical people who fled Europe for the United States.
In 1936, he played the bomber in Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage. Although he often played villains such as Communist spies and Soviet-bloc military officers or scientists, he was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the crusty, beloved uncle in I Remember Mama (1948). Homolka also acted with Ingrid Bergman in Rage in Heaven, with Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, with Ronald Reagan in Prisoner of War, and with Katharine Hepburn in The Madwoman of Chaillot.
Homolka returned to England in the mid-1960s, to play the Soviet KGB Colonel Stok in Funeral in Berlin (1967) and Billion Dollar Brain (1968), opposite Michael Caine. His last film was the Blake Edwards romantic drama The Tamarind Seed in 1974.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Oscar Homolka papers, Collection no. 0205, Feuchtwanger Memorial Library, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Scope and Contents

Collections contains mainly manuscripts by Oscar Homolka but also a few photographs, newspaper clippings and an audio recording.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Exile Studies Librarian at ullmann@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Conditions Governing Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Homolka, Oscar, 1898-1978 -- Archives
Reagan, Ronald
Actors--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources
Audiotapes
California, Southern--Emigration and immigration--Archival resources
Ephemera
Exiles--Austria--History--20th century--Archival resources
Exiles--Germany--History--20th century--Archival resources
Exiles--United States--History--20th century--Archival resources
Feature films--California--Archival resources
Germany--Emigration and immigration--History--1933-1945--Archival resources
Jewish refugees--California, Southern--Archival resources
Jewish refugees--Europe--20th century--Archival resources
Photographs
Scripts
Theater--Austria--20th century--Archival resources
Theater--Germany--20th century--Archival resources

 

Manuscripts

Language of Material: English
Box 1, Folder 1

"Paradies der Hoelle" 195[?]

Scope and Contents note

Author unknown
Box 1, Folder 2

"The Third Ear - Drama in 3 Acts"

Scope and Contents note

Author: Eric Frey
Box 1, Folder 3

"This Crazy, Lovely World" 1944

Scope and Contents note

Author: Ladislas Fodor
Box 1, Folder 4

Expose zu dem Film nach dem Roman 'Die Gefoppten" und Akt III

Scope and Contents note

Author: Hans Juellig
Box 1, Folder 5

"Black Hamlet" 1949

Scope and Contents note

Author: John Bright
Box 1, Folder 6

"Einbruch in die Schoepfung" 1951

Scope and Contents note

Author: Kate Fabian
Box 1, Folder 7

"Silk Hat Harry"

Scope and Contents note

Author: Lawrence Vincent
Box 1, Folder 8

"Die Stunde schlaegt" 1935

Scope and Contents note

Author: Claude Spaak
Box 1, Folder 9

"Thumbs" or "Something wicked"

Scope and Contents note

Authors: Hector Bolitho and Terence Rattigan
Box 1, Folder 10

"Der Unsichtbare"

Scope and Contents note

Author: Claude Spaak
Box 1, Folder 11

"Smetse Sme"

Scope and Contents note

Author: Cyril Scott
Box 1, Folder 12

"Noose" 1947

Scope and Contents note

Author: Richard Llewellyn
 

Audio

Box 1, Folder 13

"Hollywood Profile with Ronald Reagan", audio cassette 1960

 

Photographs

Box 1, Folder 14

Various photographs (9)

 

Ephemera

Box 1, Folder 15

Various newspaper clippings on the movie "War and Peace"

Box 2, Folder 1

2 photo albums filled with various newspaper clippings