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Una Merkel 1903 - 1986

Una (Kohnfelder) Merkel was born on December 10, 1903 at Covington, KY, and died at age 82 years old on January 2, 1986 at Los Angeles, CA.

Una (Kohnfelder) Merkel

Una Merkel (Kohnfelder)

Los Angeles.

December 10, 1903

Covington, KY

January 2, 1986

Los Angeles, CA

Female

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Una Merkel Una Merkel (1903 - 1986)

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Una (Kohnfelder) Merkel's History: 1903 - 1986

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Introduction

Una Merkel Born December 10, 1903 in Covington, Kentucky, USA Died January 2, 1986 in Los Angeles, California, USA Birth Name Una Kohnfelder Height 5' 4" (1.63 m) Mini Bio (1) Una Merkel began her movie career as stand-in for Lillian Gish in the movie The Wind (1928). After that, she performed on Broadway before she returned to movies for the D.W. Griffith film Abraham Lincoln (1930). In her early years, before gaining a few pounds, she looked like Lillian Gish, but after Abraham Lincoln (1930) her comic potential was discovered. She mostly played supporting roles as the heroine's no-nonsense friend, but with her broad Southern accent and her peroxide blond hair, she gave one of her best performances as a wisecracking but not-so-bright chorus girl in 42nd Street (1933). Perhaps she is best remembered for her hair-pulling fight with Marlene Dietrich in Destry Rides Again (1939). In 1962, she was nominated for the Academy Award as best supporting actress in Summer and Smoke (1961). - IMDb Mini Biography By: [contact link] Spouse (1) Ronald Lucin Burla (1 January 1932 - 26 March 1947) ( divorced) Trivia (13) She almost died on March 5, 1945 when her mother, Bess Merkel, committed suicide by turning on the gas. Her suicide note was personalized to Una's husband, Robert Burla, whom she affectionately addressed as "Bid". Was originally signed for the title role in Blondie (1938) but was replaced before filming began. Father: (Albert) Arno Merkel born May 9, 1882 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Died December 23, 1969 in Los Angeles, California. Mother: Bessie Phares Merkel died in New York City on March 5, 1945. She was 61 years old. Interred in Covington, Kentucky. On March 4, 1952, nearly seven years after her mother committed suicide, she overdosed on sleeping pills. She was found unconscious by a nurse who caring for her at the time, and was rushed to the hospital where she remained in a coma. She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6230 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960. Her name was pronounced U-nah MER-cull. Following her death, she was interred near her parents, Arno and Bess Merkel, at Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. During the filming of True Confession (1937) she rescued a movie property man Arthur Camp from drowning at Lake Arrowhead, California, when the backwash from her motorboat upset his skiff. She caught his suspenders with a boat hook and held him until help arrived from the shore. Camp was unable to swim. Merkel appeared in both versions of "The Merry Widow (1934)" with Jeanette Macdonald and Maurice Chevalier and more than seventeen years later "The Merry Widow (1952)" with Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas in different roles. She got a couple of prime early roles because she reportedly looked like Lillian Gish, "World Shadows" with Charles Ray and "Abraham Lincoln" for D.W. Griffith. Merkel had a vaudeville act before she entered films. Merkel's father and Lee DeForest raised $250,000 for the patent on talking pictures but lost it to Warner Bros. because neither had "an ounce of business sense" according to Miss Merkel. D. W. Griffith had Merkel take a test to play Mary Todd in his version of "Abraham Lincoln," and United Artists signed her to a one year contract. However, when she arrived to start shooting, he decided that he now wanted her to play Ann Rutledge. Kay Hammond ultimately played the First Lady. Personal Quotes (8) [on Pamela Franklin] In "A Tiger Walks"there was a little girl who is now in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," and she is excellent----Pamela Franklin. I can't understand why she wasn't nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. [on W.C. Fields] Yes, I remember the first day I worked with him; he was two hours late to the set. He was due at 9 and came in at 11, and he'd had quite a night the night before, I guess. The first scene was all of us sitting around the table--- I was his daughter; I was supposed to say, "Good morning, Pater," and kiss him. So in the rehearsal he apologized because you could smell the alcohol, and I said, "Mr. Fields, on you it smells like Chanel No. 5," and he said, "Honey, you're in!" From then on, he was just wonderful to me. He was a pretty grand person...If he thought a scene was too long, he'd take a couple of pages and tear them off. "That's enough; I'm not going to remember any more. You had to be pretty quick to keep up with him, but it was fun. It was never a strain. [on Ernst Lubitsch] Oh, he was wonderful. He did all the parts for you; It's a wonder. every part in the picture didn't sound like Lubitsch. [on Hope and Crosby] There was a New York actress who was supposed to be in that. I've had more things happen overnight, not expect to do them , and then all of a sudden somebody calls up. The best things I've ever gotten have been that way. And Paramount called me and asked me to come in, and I started work the day after they called me, because they had decided that this woman was not going to be right for the part. The atmosphere on the film was wonderful; they were like a couple of bad kids. [0n "Destry Rides Again"] Well, it was very funny. I had never met Miss Dietrich until that day, and they outlined exactly what places they'd like is to hit on the set. We were not supposed to do anything but a few feet, and they had the stunt girls there to take over. But Mr. Marshall said, "Once you get started on this, just keep going as long as you can; don't worry. the camera will follow you." We did the whole thing, and we turned our checks over to the stunt girls!. We did the whole battle, and then at the end Jimmy Stewart came over and dumped a pail of water over our heads. We had to do it over again for close-ups, and do it for "Life" magazine... I went to the hospital after that picture. I finished it, but I was a mess of bruises, because I had little fat heels on, and Marlene had high spiked heels. All through the fight scene we were whispering to each other, "Are you all right?" "Can you finish it?" "Are you OK?" We did it in one continuous take. I thought they'd never call "Cut." [on the studio system] ... of course, studios have changed. It used to be that Metro was the studio to be at. Now all of them are more standardized, I guess. It's more of a business. [on David Wayne] I worked with David Wayne on the stage in "The Ponder Heart" and won a Tony Award for Best Supporting Performance of the year. I loved that part, and I loved David Wayne. I think he's one of the finest actors we have. He's so good they don't know what to do with them. [on favorite directors] So many of the directors were so wonderful, and I think a picture took its tone from the director. I can't remember anyone I worked with I didn't like, but the man who directed "Reunion in Vienna" and "Private Lives" I thought was a genius, Sidney Franklin. George Marshall was another one.
12/10

1903

Birthday

December 10, 1903

Birthdate

Covington, KY

Birthplace

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Military Service

Una Merkel toured USO camps during World War II with Gary Cooper and other stars.
01/2

1986

Death

January 2, 1986

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Los Angeles, CA
Death location

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Obituary

UNA MERKEL DIES AT AGE OF 82; FROM SILENT FILMS TO A TONY By Alexander Reid Jan. 5, 1986 UNA MERKEL DIES AT AGE OF 82; FROM SILENT FILMS TO A TONY Credit...The New York Times Archives Una Merkel, a Hollywood veteran and a Tony Award winner, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 82 years old. Miss Merkel won the Antoinette Perry Award for best supporting actress in ''The Ponder Heart,'' a dramatization of the Eudora Welty story by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov in 1956. Miss Merkel played Edna Earle Ponder. In 1962, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Geraldine Page's embittered mother in the film version of Tennessee Williams's ''Summer and Smoke.'' Miss Merkel was born Dec. 10, 1903, in Covington, Ky., and grew up in Philadelphia and New York City. She began her film career as a stand-in for Lillian Gish, to whom she bore a striking resemblance, in such D. W. Griffith films as ''Way Down East'' in 1920 and ''The White Rose'' in 1923. Her first feature film credit came in 1924, when she played the feminine lead in ''The Fifth Horseman.'' Role With Helen Hayes Miss Merkel, who had attended drama school in New York, made her stage debut as a cigarette girl in ''Montmartre'' in 1922, at the Belmont Theater in New York City. In 1925 she appeared in two short-lived plays, ''Two by Two'' and ''The Poor Nut.'' One of her major Broadway successes came in 1927 when she was cast with Helen Hayes in ''Coquette,'' which ran 22 months at the Maxine Elliot Theater. Miss Merkel played Betty Lee Reynolds, a country girl, and received good notices. Miss Merkel returned to the screen in 1930 as Ann Rutledge in Griffith's ''Abraham Lincoln.'' Among her other films were ''Private Lives,'' in 1930, ''The Maltese Falcon,'' in 1931, ''42nd Street,'' in 1933, and ''Destry Rides Again'' in 1939. The blonde, blue-eyed Miss Merkel sometimes made as many as six movies a year, appearing as a supporting actress with such stars of the era as Jean Harlow, W. C. Fields, Harold Lloyd, and Marlene Dietrich. She was cast in much of her movie career as the typical wise-cracking comic foil, opposite a glamorous star, and she delivered her lines with a Southern drawl. Return to New York In the 1950's, Miss Merkel returned to New York, where her success in ''The Ponder Heart'' led to her film role in ''Summer and Smoke.'' She made four more movies, the last in 1966, and a few television appearances. She starred on Broadway in TAKE ME ALONG with Jackie Gleason. Miss Merkel married Ronald Burla, an aircraft executive, in 1932. They were divorced in 1947. In 1945 Miss Merkel was almost killed when her mother committed suicide by turning on the gas in the New York apartment they shared. For the last several years she had lived quietly in Los Angeles. She is to be buried near her parents in Covington, Ky. She leaves no survivors. Una Merkel, whose physical resemblance to Lillian Gish enabled her to embark on a dramatic career and whose talent kept her firmly at the thick of the productive actors who dominated Hollywood throughout the film industry’s fabled years, died Thursday. The Kentucky-born Miss Merkel was 82 and was seen in the last of her 67 silent and sound pictures in 1966. At her death, she had run a coastal gamut that brought her an Antoinette Perry (Tony) award in 1956 for best supporting actress in Broadway’s “The Ponder Heart” and an Academy Award (Oscar) nomination for best supporting actress in Hollywood’s “Summer and Smoke.” She was part of that nearly extinct cadre of entertainers who made successful transitions from the era of overdrawn acting in films that could not talk to the often asinine comedies of the 1930s, when audiences fretted that characters would never shut up. Looks Back on Career And she managed it, said her associates, with an equanimity and self-effacing personna seldom seen on motion picture sets. Looking back on her career several years ago, she did allow to author Richard Lamparski that “I really was kinda cute.” But then she quickly added: “I wish I’d known that then. I always thought I came over like a little hick.” A blonde with sparkling blue eyes who so closely resembled Miss Gish in her early years that director D. W. Griffith made her a stand-in in “Way Down East” in 1920 and “The White Rose” in 1923, Miss Merkel had moved from her native Kentucky to Los Angeles while in her teens, seeking a career in films. Movie Saloon Fight The actress, who may best be remembered for the savage saloon fight she had with Marlene Dietrich in “Destry Rides Again,” had studied drama with Tyrone Power’s mother in New York. Her first featured film credit was in the long forgotten “The Fifth Horseman” in 1924. However, she had to return to New York for work after that, uttering one line in “Two by Two” in 1925, which ran two weeks, and another sentence in “The Poor Nut” the same year, which lasted three weeks. However, she persevered and in 1927, was cast with Helen Hayes in “Coquette,” which enjoyed a 22-month Broadway run. By 1930, she had returned to both Hollywood and Griffith, who cast her as Ann Rutledge, the sweetheart of “Abraham Lincoln,” opposite Walter Huston. But after one additional melodrama (“The Bat Whispers,” also in 1930), she became typed as a second female banana in a string of commercial triumphs. It was not unusual for her to make six films or more in a single year. She was a caustic chorine in “42nd Street,” played opposite such comics as Harold Lloyd and Charles Butterworth and was an object of W. C. Fields’ frustrations in “The Bank Dick.” She was best on-screen buddies with Ruby Keeler, Janet Gaynor, Myrna Loy and Carole Lombard in individual films and to Jean Harlow in several. She deadpanned, drawled and wisecracked her way through “Broadway Melody of 1936,” “Biography of a Bachelor Girl,” “Evelyn Prentice,” “Born to Dance,” “Saratoga” and two dozen more films in the 1930s, capping the decade with “Destry” in 1939. The grits-thick accent, quick retorts and sarcasm continued into the ‘40s, as she kept up a pace of secondary roles in secondary films. However, when the phone quit ringing in the 1950s, Miss Merkel opted to return to New York, where she won critical acclaim and the Tony for Eudora Welty’s “The Ponder Heart.” The success evidently convinced film producers that there was more to Miss Merkel than scatterbrained banter, and she was cast as Geraldine Page’s bitter mother in the film version of Tennessee Williams’ “Summer and Smoke.” She did, however, have to submit to a screen test to get the role, even though she had already performed it on stage. Nearly Killed Miss Merkel, who toured USO camps during World War II with Gary Cooper and other stars, was divorced from aircraft executive Ronald L. Burla in 1946. That was a year after she was nearly killed when her mother committed suicide by turning on the gas in the New York apartment they were sharing. In 1959, she was seen on Broadway with Jackie Gleason and Walter Pidgeon in “Take Me Along,” a musical adaptation of “Ah, Wilderness” remembered now primarily for its title song. Her movie career lasted only for four additional pictures after “Summer and Smoke,” “The Parent Trap,” “Summer Magic,” “A Tiger Walks” and “Spinout,” an Elvis Presley vehicle in 1966. After that there were only a scattering of television appearances. “I don’t remember in all those years ever being with unpleasant people,” was how she remembered her career during one of the last interviews she ever granted. For the past several years, she had lived quietly in an apartment in Los Angeles. She leaves no immediate survivors and will be buried near her parents in Covington, Ky. [contact link]

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21 Memories, Stories & Photos about Una

Amanda S. Stevenson

16.8k+ favorites

01/27/2024

Una Merkel

Pose for publicity.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

16.8k+ favorites

01/27/2024

Una Merkel

A biography about her.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

16.8k+ favorites

01/27/2024

Una Merkel

Una Merkel co-starred in the musical.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Jim Fazzi

60 favorites

07/02/2017

Dobodura Air Field Nov 1943

A photo of Una Merkel, Phyllis Brooks, MSGT. James A Fazzi Sr, and others in Dobodura New Guinea in Nov 1943

In this photo: Phyllis Brooks (1915 - 1995), Una Merkel (1903 - 1986), and James A Fazzi Sr (1917 - 1995)

Does anyone know any of the soliders in this picture
Bottom Row: Unknown, Unknown, Phyllis Brooks, Unknown, MSGT. James A Fazzi Sr
Middle Row: Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Una Merkel, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown
Back Row: Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown

Date & Place: November 1943 at Dobodura Air Field in Dobodura, Ijivitari County, Northern Province Papua New Guinea