Lilli Palmer

Lovely Lilli Palmer as photographed by Otto Dyar for the 1937 adventure film THE GREAT BARRIER. A charming, elegant, international film star with a gentle, understated beauty, Palmer was born as Lilli Marie Peiser on May 24, 1914, in Posen, Prussia. She studied drama in Berlin and made her theatrical debut there in 1932 at age 18. Within a short time, however, the family was forced to flee their native homeland with the rise of Hitler and settled in Paris. Eventually Palmer moved to England to rebuild the career she had started on stage and film. She made her British movie debut co-starring in the mystery drama "Crime Unlimited" (1935). Throughout the rest of the decade she upped the value of her name in both "A" and "B" material, notably Alfred Hitchcock's "Secret Agent" (1936), "Silent Barriers" (1937) and "The Man with 100 Faces" (1938). Palmer married actor Rex Harrison in 1943, and followed him to Hollywood in 1945. She signed with Warner Brothers and appeared in several films, notably "Cloak and Dagger" (1946) and "Body and Soul" (1947). She also played the prickly wife of Clark Gable in "But Not for Me" (1959); was a sparkling and witty standout in "The Pleasure of His Company" (1961); and proved quite moving in the William Holden spy thriller "The Counterfeit Traitor" (1962). Palmer matured gracefully in films, but she lost any potential for top stardom after leaving Hollywood. She made international productions for the rest of her career, primarily German and French. The final decade and a half played out rather routinely with supporting roles in such films as diverse as Oedipus the King (1968), De Sade (1969), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). She also demonstrated her writing talents with her popular bestselling biography "Change Lobsters and Dance" in 1975, and later published a novel "The Red Raven" in 1978. The eptiome of grace and beauty, Palmer passed away from cancer in 1986 at age 71.

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