Lilli Palmer

Lilli Palmer, born Lilli Marie Peiser (May 24, 1914 – January 27, 1986)

She was a German actress and writer. While performing in cabarets, she attracted the attention of British talent scouts and was offered a contract by the Gaumont Film Company. She made her screen debut in Crime Unlimited (1935) and appeared in numerous British films for the next decade. After beginning her career in British films in the 1940s, she would later transition to major Hollywood productions, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance in But Not for Me (1959). Other notable roles include in the comedy The Pleasure of His Company (1961), the Spanish horror film The House That Screamed (1969), and in the miniseries Peter the Great (1986), which earned her another Golden Globe Award nomination. Ms. Palmer starred with Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds in The Pleasure of His Company in 1961. She starred opposite William Holden in The Counterfeit Traitor (1962), an espionage thriller based on fact, and opposite Robert Taylor in another true Second World War story, Disney's Miracle of the White Stallions (1963). For her career in European films, Palmer won the Volpi Cup and the Deutscher Filmpreis three times. Her first husband was actor Rex Harrison, whom she married in 1943 (they divorced in 1957). Lilli Palmer died from abdominal cancer at age 71 in 1986, and is buried at Forest Lawn-Glendale.