Mischa Auer

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Semyonovich and the family name is Unkovsky.

Mischa Auer
Auer in the 1940s
Born	Mikhail Semyonovich Unkovsky (1905-11-17)17 November 1905 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	5 March 1967(1967-03-05) (aged 61) Rome, Italy
Resting place	Prospect Hill Cemetery (Gloversville, New York), U.S.
Other names	Mischa Ounskowsky
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1925–1967
Spouses	Norma Tillman ​ ​ (m. 1931; div. 1941)​ Joyce Hunter ​ ​ (m. 1941; div. 1950)​ Susanne Kalish ​ ​ (m. 1950; div. 1957)​ Elsie Souls Lee ​ (m. 1965)​
Children	3

Mischa Auer (born Mikhail Semyonovich Unkovsky, Russian: Михаил Семёнович Унковский; 17 November 1905 – 5 March 1967) was a Russian-born American actor who moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s. He first appeared in film in 1928. Auer had a long career playing in many of the era's best known films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1936 for his performance in the screwball comedy My Man Godfrey, which led to further zany comedy roles. He later moved into television and acted in films again in France and Italy well into the 1960s.

Early life

Auer was born in St. Petersburg, Russia to a Jewish family. His name is usually seen as Mischa Ounskowsky, Mischa being the German transliteration of Misha (the diminutive form of Mikhail), and Ounskowsky being the French transliteration of his surname. Auer's father was an Imperial Russian Navy officer Semyon Ivanovich Unkovsky (1871–1921)^[1] and his mother was Zoya Lvovna Unkovskaya (née Auer), the eldest daughter of the Hungarian-born violinist Leopold Auer.^[2] Contrary to the popular belief, his father did not die when Mischa was three years old. Semyon Unkovsky left Zoya Auer and married her sister, Maria Lvovna Auer (they had a son, also named Mischa (Mikhail Unkovsky) (1904–1940), Russian actor, arrested in 1938 on counter-revolutionary charges and died in forced labour camp in Kolyma).^[3] Semyon Unkovsky retired from the Navy in 1906 and settled in Kaluga, Russia, where he died in 1921.^[4] Leopold Auer emigrated to the United States after the Russian Revolution. Mischa Auer and his mother became separated, but were reunited during the Russian Civil War.^[2] She, however, died of typhus.^[2] Auer was able to contact his grandfather, who brought him to the United States in August 1920.^[2]

Career

Auer began performing on the stage in the 1920s^[2] in Bertha Kalich's Thalia Yiddish Theater, then moved to Hollywood, where he first appeared in 1928 in Something Always Happens.^[5] He appeared in several small, mostly uncredited roles into the 1930s, appearing in such films as Rasputin and the Empress, Viva Villa!, The Yellow Ticket, the George Gershwin musical Delicious, the Paramount Pictures all-star revue Paramount on Parade and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer.^[6]

In 1936, Auer was cast as Alice Brady's protégé in the comedy My Man Godfrey, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[7] Prior to that, he had been mostly playing villains.^[2] He stated, "That one role made a comic out of me."^[2] From then on, he was regularly cast in zany comedy roles.^[5] Auer played the ballet instructor Kolenkov in the Best Picture-winning You Can't Take It with You and the prince-turned-fashion designer in Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938.^[6] Auer can also be seen cavorting in such films as: Arsène Lupin (1932), One Hundred Men and a Girl, Hold That Ghost, Destry Rides Again, Spring Parade, Hellzapoppin', Cracked Nuts, Lady in the Dark, and Up in Mabel's Room (1944).^[8] He was also one of the large cast of And Then There Were None, and appeared in a pair of vehicles for opera singer Lily Pons.^[9][10][11]

In the 1950s, Auer appeared on several episodic television series, such as Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Studio One, Broadway Television Theatre and The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre. He appeared in Orson Welles's Mr. Arkadin (1955), and in the 1960s, he made several films in France and Italy, including The Christmas That Almost Wasn't.^[9]

Personal life

Auer married four times and had three children. His first wife was Norma Tillman (1931–1941), whom he married in 1931. They had a son Anthony and a daughter Zoia. They divorced in 1941. In the same year, he married Joyce Hunter (4 December 1941 – 1950), his second wife, whom he lived with for 9 years. His third wife was Susanne Kalish (5 May 1950 – 1957), and they had one daughter. His fourth wife was Elise Souls Lee (1965 – 5 March 1967) who died in 1976.

Death

Auer died of cardiovascular disease in Rome in 1967 and was interred at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Gloversville, New York.^[12]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1928	Something Always Happens	Clark	Frank Tuttle
1929	Marquis Preferred	Albert	Frank Tuttle
1929	Why Be Good?	Man Dancing at The Boiler	William A. Seiter	Uncredited
1929	The Studio Murder Mystery	Grant's Secretary	Frank Tuttle	Uncredited
1929	The Mighty	Hood	John Cromwell	Uncredited
1930	Guilty?	Minor Role		Uncredited
1930	The Benson Murder Case	Albert Brecker	Frank Tuttle	Uncredited
1930	Paramount on Parade	Thug (Murder Will Out)	Edmund Goulding and 10 other directors	Uncredited
1930	Inside the Lines	Amahdi	Roy Pomeroy[13]
1930	Shooting Straight	Frenchie	George Archainbaud	Uncredited
1930	Just Imagine	B-36	David Butler
1931	The Royal Bed	Grecian Ambassador	Lowell Sherman	Uncredited
1931	No Limit	Romeo	Frank Tuttle
1931	Command Performance	Duke Charles	Walter Lang
1931	It Pays to Advertise	Man Putting Sign on Car	Frank Tuttle	Uncredited
1931	King of the Wild	Prince Dakka, escaped lunatic	Theodore Joos
1931	The Drums of Jeopardy	Peter	George B. Seitz
1931	The Spy	Man in Cafe	Berthold Viertel
1931	Always Goodbye	Mechanic	William Cameron Menzies	Uncredited
1931	Women of All Nations	Hassan's Aide	Raoul Walsh	Uncredited
1931	Women Love Once	Oscar	Edward Goodman
1931	The Lady from Nowhere	Rigo	Richard Thorpe
1931	The Unholy Garden	Prince Nicolai Poliakoff	George Fitzmaurice
1931	The Yellow Ticket	Melchior	Raoul Walsh
1931	Working Girls	Elsie's Boyfriend	Dorothy Arzner	Uncredited
1931	Mata Hari	Firing Squad Victim	George Fitzmaurice	Uncredited
1931	Delicious	Mischa	David Butler
1932	The Monster Walks	Hanns Krug	Frank R. Strayer
1932	Murder at Dawn	Henry	Richard Thorpe
1932	Sinister Hands	Swami Yomurda	Armand Schaefer
1932	Arsène Lupin	Louvre Tour Guide	Jack Conway	Uncredited
1932	Midnight Patrol	Dummy Black	Christy Cabanne
1932	The Last of the Mohicans	General Montcalm	B. Reeves Eason
1932	No Greater Love	Rabbi
1932	Beauty Parlor	Herman Bauer	Richard Thorpe
1932	Almost Married	Russian Policeman	William Cameron Menzies	Uncredited
1932	Drifting Souls	Skeets	Louis King
1932	The Western Code	Chapman	John P. McCarthy
1932	Scarlet Dawn	Sergei	William Dieterle	Uncredited
1932	Call Her Savage	Agitator in Restaurant	John Francis Dillon	Uncredited
1932	The Unwritten Law	Abu Zeyd	Christy Cabanne
1932	The Sign of the Cross	Christian in Dungeon	Cecil B. DeMille	Uncredited
1932	Rasputin and the Empress	Butler Pouring Drinks at Party	Richard Boleslawski	Uncredited
1933	Dangerously Yours	Kassim	Frank Tuttle
1933	Clear All Wires!	Arab Leader	George Hill	Uncredited
1933	Sucker Money	Swami Yomurda	Melville Shyer
1933	The Intruder	Wild Man	Albert Ray
1933	Gabriel Over the White House	Mr. Thieson	Gregory La Cava	Uncredited
1933	Infernal Machine	Klein	Marcel Varnel Martin Santell	Uncredited
1933	The Flaming Signal	Manu—High Priest	Charles E. Roberts
1933	I Loved You Wednesday	Piano Accompanist	William Cameron Menzies	Uncredited
1933	Corruption	Volkov	Charles E. Roberts
1933	Storm at Daybreak	Assassin	Richard Boleslawski	Uncredited
1933	Tarzan the Fearless	Eltar, High Priest of Zar	Robert F. Hill
1933	The Way to Love	Songwriter at Piano	Norman Taurog	Uncredited
1933	After Tonight	Adjutant Lehan	George Archainbaud
1933	Cradle Song	Village Priest	Mitchell Leisen
1933	Girl Without a Room	Walksky	Ralph Murphy
1934	Moulin Rouge	Sculptor	Sidney Lanfield	scenes deleted
1934	The Crosby Case	DeCobra	Edwin L. Marin	Uncredited
1934	Wharf Angel	Sadik	George Somnes
1934	The Woman Condemned	Dr. Wagner	Dorothy Davenport
1934	Viva Villa!	Military Attaché	William Wellman	Uncredited
1934	The Trumpet Blows		Stephen Roberts
1934	Change of Heart	Smith	John G. Blystone	Uncredited
1934	Stamboul Quest		Sam Wood Jack Conway (uncredited)[14]
1934	Beyond the Law	Tully	D. Ross Lederman
1934	Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back	Hassan	Roy Del Ruth
1934	Student Tour	Sikh Cop	Charles Reisner	Uncredited
1935	Biography of a Bachelor Girl	Mr. Rabinowitz	Edward H. Griffith	Uncredited
1935	The Lives of a Bengal Lancer	Captured Afridi	Henry Hathaway	Uncredited
1935	Mystery Woman	Dmitri	Eugene Forde
1935	Clive of India	King Suraj Ud Dowlah	Richard Boleslawski
1935	Murder in the Fleet	Kamchukan consul	Edward Sedgwick
1935	The Adventures of Rex and Rinty	Tanaga [Chs. 1, 4, 8, 10-12]	B. Reeves Eason	Serial
1935	The Crusades	Monk	Cecil B. DeMille
1935	Anna Karenina	Mahotin	Clarence Brown	Uncredited
1935	Condemned to Live	Zan	Frank R. Strayer
1935	I Dream Too Much	Darcy's Pianist	John Cromwell
1935	We're Only Human	William 'Lefty' Berger	James Flood Clem Beauchamp (assistant)	Uncredited
1936	Tough Guy	Chi	Chester Franklin
1936	Here Comes Trouble		Lewis Seiler
1936	The House of a Thousand Candles	Victor Demetrius	Arthur Lubin
1936	Sons o' Guns	German Spy	Lloyd Bacon
1936	One Rainy Afternoon	Leading man	Rowland V. Lee
1936	The Princess Comes Across	Inspector Morevitch	William K. Howard
1936	My Man Godfrey	Carlo	Gregory La Cava
1936	The Gay Desperado	Diego	Rouben Mamoulian
1936	Winterset	A radical	Alfred Santell
1936	College Holiday	Ticket Taker at Door	Frank Tuttle	Uncredited
1936	Three Smart Girls	Count Arisztid	Henry Koster
1936	That Girl from Paris	Butch	Leigh Jason
1937	Top of the Town	Hamlet	Walter Lang
1937	We Have Our Moments	Capt. Enrico Mussetti	Alfred L. Werker
1937	Pick a Star	Rinaldo Lopez	Edward Sedgwick
1937	Marry the Girl	Dimitri Kyeff	William C. McGann
1937	It's All Yours	Baron Rene de Montigny	Elliott Nugent
1937	Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938	Prince Muratov	Irving Cummings Charles Kerr (assistant)
1937	One Hundred Men and a Girl	Michael Borodoff	Henry Koster
1937	Merry-Go-Round of 1938	Mischa
1937	Prescription for Romance	Count Sandor	S. Sylvan Simon
1938	The Rage of Paris	Mike Lebedovich	Henry Koster
1938	You Can't Take It with You	Potap Kolenkhov	Frank Capra
1938	Service de Luxe	Serge Bebenko	Rowland V. Lee
1938	Little Tough Guys in Society	Dr. Trenkle	Erle C. Kenton
1938	Sweethearts	Leo Kronk	W.S. Van Dyke
1939	East Side of Heaven	Nicky	David Butler
1939	Unexpected Father	Boris Bebenko	Charles Lamont
1939	Destry Rides Again	Boris Callahan	George Marshall
1940	Alias the Deacon	Andre	Christy Cabanne
1940	Sandy Is a Lady	Felix Lobo Smith	Charles Lamont
1940	Public Deb No. 1	Grisha	Gregory Ratoff
1940	Spring Parade	Gustav	Henry Koster
1940	Margie	Gomez	Paul Gerard Smith
1940	Seven Sinners	Sasha Mencken	Tay Garnett
1940	Trail of the Vigilantes	Bolo
1941	The Flame of New Orleans	Zolotov	René Clair
1941	Cracked Nuts	Boris Kabikoff	Edward F. Cline
1941	Hold That Ghost	Gregory	Arthur Lubin
1941	Sing Another Chorus	Stanislaus	Charles Lamont
1941	Moonlight in Hawaii	'Clipper' Canovan	Charles Lamont
1941	Hellzapoppin'	Pepi	H. C. Potter Joseph A. McDonough (assistant) Edward F. Cline (additional comedy scenes)
1942	Don't Get Personal	Stainslaus Noodnick a.k.a. Charlie	Charles Lamont
1942	Twin Beds	Nicolai Cherupin	Tim Whelan
1943	Around The World	Himself	Allan Dwan Harry Scott (assistant)
1944	Lady in the Dark	Russell Paxton	Mitchell Leisen
1944	Up in Mabel's Room	Boris	Allan Dwan
1945	A Royal Scandal	Captain Sukov	Ernst Lubitsch
1945	Brewster's Millions	Michael Michaelovich	Allan Dwan
1945	And Then There Were None	Prince Nikita Starloff	René Clair
1946	Sentimental Journey	Gregory Petrovich Rogozhin	Walter Lang
1946	She Wrote the Book	Joe	Charles Lamont
1947	For You I Die	Alec Shaw	John Reinhardt
1948	Sofia	Ali Imagu	John Reinhardt
1949	A Night of Fame	Bernard Stork	Steno
1949	Snow White and the Seven Thieves	Mirko	Giacomo Gentilomo
1950	Vivere a sbafo	Il Cavalier Pippo Berlocco
1952	Song of Paris	Comte Marcel de Sarliac	John Guillermin
1954	Service Entrance	Nicolas Pouchkoff	Carlo Rim
1955	School for Love	Berger	Marc Allégret
1955	Frou-Frou	Grand Duke Alexis	Augusto Genina
1955	L'impossible Monsieur Pipelet	The unsuccessful writer, a lodger	André Hunebelle
1955	Mr. Arkadin	the Professor	Orson Welles
1955	La pícara molinera	el corregidor
1955	Thirteen at the Table	Badabof	André Hunebelle
1956	Naughty Girl	Igor the ballet master	Michel Boisrond
1956	Trois de la Canebière	Garopoulos
1956	Mannequins of Paris	Yaschlik
1956	Plucking the Daisy	Alexis the taxi driver	Marc Allégret	Uncredited
1956	The Monte Carlo Story	Hector, the Maitre D'	Samuel A. Taylor
1957	La polka des menottes	Charles Magne
1957	Nathalie	Cyril Boran
1958	Tabarin	Boris	Richard Pottier
1958	Le tombeur	M. Pedro Olivaro
1958	Sacrée Jeunesse	Prof. Koranoff
1958	A Dog, a Mouse, and a Sputnik	Professor Papov	Jean Dréville
1962	We Joined the Navy	Colonel & President	Wendy Toye
1963	The King's Breakfast	Master of the king's music		Short
1963	Les femmes d'abord	Le baron Lionel de Balconi
1964	Cleopazza	Produttore Strombic
1964	Queste pazze pazze donne	The Psychiatrist
1964	Clémentine chérie	Le décorateur
1964	I due mafiosi	Mischa	Giorgio Simonelli
1964	What Ever Happened to Baby Toto?	Count Mischa	Ottavio Alessi
1966	The Christmas That Almost Wasn't	Jonathan, the elf foreman	Rossano Brazzi
1966	Drop Dead Darling	Romeo	Ken Hughes
1967	Per amore... per magia...	Magrebì, Grand Duke of Forilarì	Duccio Tessari	(final film role)

References

1. "Государственный архив Ярославской области. Имена и даты. Из истории семьи Унковских (The State Archives of Yaroslavl Oblast. Excerpts on the history of Unkovsky family)". Retrieved December 14, 2023.
2. Robinson, Harlow (2007). Russians in Hollywood, Hollywood's Russians: Biography of an Image. UPNE. pp. 78–81. ISBN 9781555536862. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
3. "Российский Родословный Фонд: Михаил Семенович Унковский (Russian genealogical foundation: Mikhail Semyonovich Unkovsky)". Retrieved December 14, 2023.
4. "Российский Родословный Фонд: Семен Иванович Унковский (Russian genealogical foundation: Semyon Ivanovich Unkovsky)". Retrieved December 14, 2023.
5. "Mischa Auer - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos". AllMovie.
6. "Mischa Auer". BFI. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017.
7. "My Man Godfrey (1936) - Gregory La Cava - Awards". AllMovie.
8. Higham, Charles; Greenberg, Joel (1968). Hollywood in the Forties. London: A. Zwemmer Limited. p. 161. ISBN 9780302004777.
9. "Mischa Auer - Movies and Filmography". AllMovie.
10. "I Dream Too Much (1935) - John Cromwell - Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
11. "That Girl from Paris (1937) - Leigh Jason - Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
12. Willis, John (June 1, 1983). Screen World 1968. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. ISBN 9780819603098 – via Google Books.
13. "Inside the Lines: Technical Details". theiapolis.com. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
14. "Notes" on TCM.com

External links

• Mischa Auer at IMDb
• Mischa Auer at the Internet Broadway Database
• Mischa Auer at Find a Grave