Great Lives

A barely concealed desire for the old Russian empire would infuse his work but even this did not preclude Stalin’s tacit admiration

He arrived in the US as the “James Dean of Germany” but that promise would never truly be fulfilled

Many exiled European writers embraced their situation, but for Zweig the loss of his nation represented the loss of his identity

As good a musician as Keith Richards, the German was never entirely comfortable in the limelight

Once the toast of New York society, the mystery of why she did what she did remains

The singer almost came to embody the nation’s revival before it all ended at the dawn of a decade that could have been made for him

The role of Rico in Little Caesar proved as career-defining for Robinson as Frankenstein’s monster was for Boris Karloff or Dracula for Bela Lugosi

More famous dancers would follow her lead but Nora Kovach was the first, the pioneer, arguably the bravest of them all

While she became one of the most highly respected names in the history of US theatre, Hagen brought a European sensibility to Broadway

So emblematic of the city’s spirit did she become that Mistinguett seemed timeless even in her own lifetime

Attempting to steal children’s Christmas gifts from a kindly old man is only one item on the charge sheet of the cannibalistic witch

His zeal doused by public apathy and establishment ambivalence, Albert became gradually overwhelmed by disillusionment

The relentlessly prolific author of plays, poems, short stories and novels, Pirandello was always looking ahead

There was no other with his extraordinary improvising in the medium

Malle’s unique approach to cinema meant he was always on the hunt for ways to freshen things up, no matter the risk

The blame for the end of a glorious imperial story cannot be laid solely at his feet, but the longer he lived the more anachronistic his rule became

For all the cod philosophy attached to the art, being a goalkeeper did not cause the Germany international to end his life

Never a religious man, at the end of his life converting a damp garage into a chapel became an unlikely obsession

The Swedish actress’s unhappy Hollywood experience prompted a lifelong questioning of what being herself actually meant

Few cultural figures can have combined political activism and theatre as successfully as Fo

Internment provided the German the perfect conditions to develop the exercise regimes that would make his name famous

For all his unorthodox methods and opinions, Breton never lost a desire to create and foster an entirely new mentality

Patti soared to fame pre-radio and pre-gramophone, making her stardom all the more impressive

During the second world war, the nobleman negotiated the release of tens of thousands of prisoners from German concentration camps

Toulouse-Lautrec was an aristocrat who recognised in the outliers of society a shared vulnerable otherness

Eclipsed by contemporaries like Garbo and Dietrich, it’s difficult today to appreciate just what a presence Baclanova was in her heyday

Through hard work and determination the actress forged an exalted presence in the French screen canon

To the end, the German remained convinced that revolution was in the best interests of the people

Few writers have been able to distil the world’s most complex themes and turn them into absorbing fiction as well as Conrad

Few directors have mined their internal anguish and lived experience as deeply as Bergman

Whatever her outlet, the Spanish writer always derived immense pleasure from reactions to her work and never lost her gratitude

Born into privilege she may have been, but Anastasia’s short life and awful death remain one of the great tragedies of the 20th century