Lou Tellegen
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Lou Tellegen, (26 November 1881-29 October 1934) actor, was probably born in St. Oedenrode, the Netherlands, and died by his own hand in Hollywood, California.
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Born Isadore Louis Bernard van Dommelem, he was the illegitimate child of a Belgian lieutenant. He made his stage debut in Amsterdam in 1903 and over the next few years built a reputation to the point where he was invited to perform in Paris, France, eventually co-starring in several roles with Sarah Bernhardt. In 1910 he made his motion picture debut along side Bernhardt in La Dame aux camélias, a silent film made in France based on the play by Alexandre Dumas, fils.
In 1910, he and Bernhardt travelled to the United States where the New York Times first published and then retracted the announcement of their impending marriage. (She was 37 years older than he.) Back in France, in 1912 they made their second film together, Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, and the following year, Adrienne Lecouvreur. In the summer of 1913, Tellegen went to London where he produced and starred in the Oscar Wilde play, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Invited back to the United States, Tellegen worked in theatre and made his first American film in 1915 titled The Explorer followed by The Unknown, both with Dorothy Davenport as his co-star. Considered one of the most good-looking actors on screen, he followed up with three straight films starring opposite Geraldine Farrar. He married Farrar, a well-known opera 'diva' turned actress, who was herself well-known as the lover of Germany's Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.
Tellegen's marriage to Farrar did not last and he would go on to marry a total of four times. He had appeared in numerous films, when his face was injured in a fire. Fame faded, employment was not forthcoming, and he went bankrupt. He was diagnosed with cancer, though this information was kept from him, and he became despondent. He committed suicide by stabbing himself in the chest with a pair of scissors seven times, resulting in fairly lurid press coverage.
His autobiography, "Women Have Been Kind", is at best unreliable and contains many false claims, one of which is that he posed for Rodin's sculpture "Eternal Spring".