Eddie Constantine (born Israel Constantine; October 29, 1913 – February 25, 1993) was a Jewish-American singer, actor and entertainer who spent most of his career in France. He became well-known to film audiences for his portrayal of secret agent Lemmy Caution and other, similar pulp heroes in French B-movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
His celebrity and status as something of a pop icon saw him work with prominent arthouse directors like Jean-Luc Godard (as Caution in Alphaville and Germany Year 90 Nine Zero), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (as himself in Beware of a Holy Whore 1971 and also World on a Wire), Jesús Franco, Agnès Varda, Rosa von Praunheim, Lars von Trier, William Klein and Mika Kaurismäki.
Early life
Constantine was born Israel Constantine in Los Angeles, California to Jewish immigrant parents, a Russian father and Polish mother; his father was a jeweler. In pursuit of a singing career, he went to Vienna for voice training. However, when he returned to the United States, his career failed to take off, and he started taking work as a film extra.
Career
Having failed to make a career in the United States, Constantine returned to Europe in the early 1950s and started singing and performing in Paris cabarets. He was noticed by Edith Piaf, who cast him in the musical La p'tite Lili. Constantine also helped Piaf with translations for her 1956 album La Vie en Rose/Édith Piaf Sings In English and so he has songwriting credits on the English versions of some of her most famous songs (especially "Hymne à l'amour"/"Hymn to Love").
thumb|right|Eddie Constantine at the airport in [[Copenhagen, 1958]]
In the 1950s, Constantine was a star in France because of his role as the hard-boiled detective/secret agent Lemmy Caution (from Peter Cheyney's novels) in a series of French B-pictures, including La môme vert-de-gris (1953), This Man Is Dangerous (1953), Je suis un sentimental (1955), Lemmy pour les dames (1961) and Your Turn, Darling (1963).
He was hired by the Rank Organisation to play the lead in SOS Pacific but it was not a big success.
When not playing Lemmy Caution, Constantine often played a character that was still typicall a suave-talking, seductive, smooth guy although he often played that for laughs. He turned his accent and perceived American cockiness to advantage in such roles, and he later described his film persona as having been "James Bond before James Bond".
One of his best remembered later roles was as the visiting Mafia boss Charlie in the British gangster film The Long Good Friday (1980), a rare English-speaking role.
One of his most notable roles was in Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville (1965), in which he reprised (to a more radical end) the role of Lemmy Caution, in a departure from the style of his other films. His box-office appeal in France waned in the mid-1960s. Having married a German television producer, he eventually relocated to Germany, where he worked as a character actor, appearing in German television dramas as well as film. Constantine later claimed that he had never taken his acting career seriously, as he considered himself to be a singer by trade, and that he had been an actor strictly for the money.
|-
| rowspan="3" |1968
|' ()
|Dan Leyton
|Jesus Franco
|
|-
|'
|Cousin Lemmy
|Raoul André
|
|-
|À tout casser
|Ric
|John Berry
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1969
|'
|Eddie
|Raymond Leboursier
|
|-
|Lions Love
|Himself
|Agnès Varda
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1970
|Malatesta
|Malatesta
|Peter Lilienthal
|TV movie
|-
|Eine Rose für Jane
|Boss
|Hans W. Geißendörfer
|TV movie
|-
| rowspan="3" |1971
|Supergirl
|Partygast bei Polonsky
|Rudolf Thome
|TV movie
|-
|Beware of a Holy Whore
|Himself
|Rainer Werner Fassbinder
|
|-
|'
|Professor
|Ulli Lommel
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1973
|Geen paniek
|Bill Silkstocking
|Ko Koedijk
|
|-
|World on a Wire
|Man in car
|Rainer Werner Fassbinder
|TV serial
|-
|1974
|'
|Eddie
|Jacques Bral
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1975
|Souvenir of Gibraltar
|Father Jo
|Henri Xhonneux
|
|-
|'
|Frank Cabot
|Ulli Lommel
|
|-
|1976
|Raid on Entebbe
|Capt. Michel Bacos
|Irvin Kershner
|TV movie
|-
| rowspan="2" |1977
|Bloedverwanten
|Priest
|Wim Lindner
|
|-
|Le Couple témoin
|Dr. Goldberg
|William Klein
|
|-
|1978
|It Lives Again
|Dr. Forrest
|Larry Cohen
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1979
|The Third Generation
|Peter Lurz
|Rainer Werner Fassbinder
|
|-
|Ticket of No Return (Bildnis einer Trinkerin)
|Küstler
|Ulrike Ottinger
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |1980
|Exit... nur keine Panik
|Poigrard
|Franz Novotny
|
|-
|Panic Time
|Lemmy Caution
|Udo Lindenberg
|
|-
|Car-napping
|police officer Laroux
|Wigbert Wicker
|
|-
|The Long Good Friday
|Charlie
|John Mackenzie
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |1981
|Die Alptraumfrau
|
|Lothar Lambert
|
|-
|Tango durch Deutschland
|Eddie
|Lutz Mommartz
|
|-
|Neige
|Pierrot
|Juliet Berto et Jean-Henri Roger
|
|-
|Freak Orlando
|Säulenheiliger
|Ulrike Ottinger
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1982
|Red Love
|Pawel Pawlowitsch
|Rosa von Praunheim
|
|-
|Boxoffice
|Hugh Barren
|Josef Bogdanovitch
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |1983
|'
|Gregori Ustinov
|Ottokar Runze
|
|-
|'
|the bar proprietor
|Patrick Chaput
|
|-
|
|Beppo Bourbon
|Torsten Emrich
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |1984
|Rambo Zambo
|Harry
|
|TV movie
|-
|Flight to Berlin
|Himself
|Christopher Petit
|
|-
|'
|Sammy
|Mariano Laurenti
|
|-
|'
|Lemmy Caution
|Peter Patzak
|
|-
|Seifenblasen
|
|Alfred Ninaus
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1985
|Seifenblasen
|cameo appearance
|
|
|-
|'
|Boy Pappa
|Pim de la Parra
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1986
|'
|Lemmy Caution
|Bela Csepesanyi
|
|-
|Roncalli
|Pablo
|Michael Mackenroth
|TV series
|-
| rowspan="3" |1987
|Frankenstein's Aunt
|Alois - Water Spirit
|Juraj Jakubisko
|TV series, 7 episodes
|-
|Freckled Max and the Spooks
|Alojz
|Juraj Jakubisko
|
|-
|Helsinki Napoli All Night Long
|Old Gangster
|Mika Kaurismäki
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1989
|Le retour de Lemmy Caution
|Lemmy Caution
|Josée Dayan
|TV movie
|-
|Europa, abends
|Mr. Hardayle
|Claudia Schröder
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |1991
|Europa
|Colonel Harris
|Lars von Trier
|
|-
|Germany Year 90 Nine Zero
|Lemmy Caution
|Jean-Luc Godard
|
|-
|'
|William Wright
|Naoki Nagao
|
|-
|1993
|'
|Don Fabrizzi
|Andy Bausch
|
|-
|2010
|Dimension
|N/A
|Lars von Trier
|Unfinished
|}
References
External links
- Eddie Constantine at Uni France