Tamara Desni

Tamara Desni
Born Tamara Brodsky
(1913-10-22)22 October 1913
Berlin, Germany
Died 7 February 2008(2008-02-07) (aged 94)
Valence d'Agen, France
Years active 1931–1950
Spouse(s) Hans Wilhelm (m. 1929; div. 1930)
Bruce Seton (m. 1937; div. 1940)
Roland Gillett (m. 1942; div. 1945)
Raymond Lovell (m. 1947; div. 1951)
Albert Lavagna (m. 1956)
Children 2
Parent(s) Xenia Desni

Tamara Desni (22 October 1913 – 7 February 2008) was a German-born British actress. She appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s and married five times.

Biography

Born as Tamara Brodsky,[1] the daughter of actress Xenia Desni, Tamara Desni was born in Berlin. Her mother was born in Kiev, then in the Russian Empire, but emigrated to Germany sometime before the Russian Revolution. She became a star of German cinema during the silent era.

She studied ballet as a child and appeared on stage and in several German films. She married a dentist while a teenager, although they divorced before Desni landed her first London acting role in 1931 in the musical White Horse Inn. She followed this up with another leading role in the musical Casanova, featuring music by Johann Strauss, Jr.

Desni's film career took off in 1933 with Falling for You, and continued through 1950. Other film credits include Dick Barton at Bay, The Torso Murder Mystery, Fire Over England and Hell's Cargo.

Marriages

She met her second husband, actor Bruce Seton, on the set of Blue Smoke in 1934. They married in 1936, but divorced in 1940. She next married film producer Bill Gillett, though he did not survive World War II. Her fourth marriage was to the Canadian-born actor Raymond Lovell in 1947, the two separating in 1951. Her stepdaughter during this short marriage was the actress Simone Lovell.

In France, she met Albert Lavagna, a builder. They built the popular inn 'L'Auberge Chez Tamara', marrying in 1956, shortly after Desni discovered she was pregnant for the first time. They had two daughters.

Death

Desni's health began declining while in her late eighties. She died, a widow, on February 7, 2008 in Valence d'Agen, France, aged 94.

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Tamara Desni" The Telegraph (15 February 2008). Retrieved 29 September 2010.
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