Columbo Playback
Concerning Columbo: The creator of the Columbo TV series said, that the detective in Fyodor Dostoevsky's roman "Crime and Punishment" was the inspiration for the principal part of the Columbo series. - This is quite interesting because as many of the OW fans know, OW made a radio play "Raskolnikof", which is the name of the leading figur of "Crime and Punishment". So her is a link between one of OW's classical roles and the murder in Columbo Playback. By the way, it is possible to buy a recording of the radio play Raskolnikof (in German) at the Radio station. I hope to see you all again on this new Forum. Many greetings from Susanne P.S.: Nici would it be possible to make a map like on the old Forum to see what part of the world all the members are living??? It would be wonderful! Thank you for the great deal of work you have put into this Forum, Nici. Greetings from Susanne

Dear Forum members, Thanks Nici for starting this new forum. I send my greetings and best wishes to all of you. I don't know if I am in the correct thread, but I saw something on American TV. It was on a university station, the City University of New York, and it was a documentary about Hedy Lamarr. I know that she was Austrian and Viennese. I don't know if OW knew her. Does anyone know? But she had a great career, but came to a rather sad end. I think she had a drinking problem, and I think she was arrested for shoplifting, and spent her last years living in Florida in a very modest house. She was befriended by a working class family, who liked her very much. She had had many plastic surgeries, and her face was almost unrecognizable from her former beauty. She was magnificent in her youth and starred in many movies. This documentary was done by her son. It was done with love and pathos. It was very interesting, but quite sad at the end. She had been married many many times. She sent her children, (I think she had a son and a daughter) away to boarding schools. She was not the ideal mother. She did an interview in German, but I don't think she ever went back to Vienna, although she always considered herself Viennese and she wanted to go back. I thought that this kind of sadness was similar to what OW felt too. Anyway, my best wishes to you all. Tina

Hello Tina, I have seen that documentary about Hedy Lamarr on german television and I think that she was a very intelligent und beautiful woman but despite all these things she was not happy (6 marriages) and always felt homesick. Otherwise I got the impression that she was no likeable person if you see how bad she treated her children. Her first husband was the well known austrian gun producer Fritz Mandl who worked for the "Heimwehr"

First, thanks Susanne for the info about the radioplay.. can you maybe send me a PM or e-mail with more infos, where to get it? Second: About Hedy. I am somehow a fan, am interested in her mostly because she was an Austrian who reached such a stardom, and in the end died nearly alone. Yes she was Viennese, but she came from a wealthier family. She had a totally different background than Oskar Werner had. Am sure he knew her at least from the movies, how couldn't he? Yes, she always said she wanted to go back to Austria, but she never did. As I saw in this docu made by her son, they did finally threw her ashes into the air in the Vienesse woods. As for the sadness she has felt for Vienna, which was for her far, far away.. I think many Viennese do feel so, when they are out of their city.. every now and then, we get this nostaltic moment...

Thanks Susanne, for both, the e-mail and the post over here. I think we Vienesse, do have a melancholic and sentimental soul.. somehow.

The only actress working at about the same time as Ms Lamarr that Oskar ever expressed admiration for was Greta Garbo that I know of.

Well, he adored Lilian Harvey as a teenager... but he hated Marlene Dietrich...

Interesting
I had no idea he didn't like Marlene Dietrich...I find that interesting. Anyone know why?

It's said, he didn't like her, cause she reminded him on/of/at(I never know what's correct, sorry) his mother.

Hello Forum members, It was very interesting what you wrote about OW and Marlene D. Did he have a difficult relationship with his mother? I remember seeing some photos of OW and his mother at the house in Liechtenstein. One was on a balcony, another was one where I think he was celebrating birthday, and she was in the photo. It must have been devastating for her to have her son die before she did. That I think is the worst heartbreak. Did his mother remarry? Then OW would have had a stepfather. Was he friendly with this man? Any info would be appreciated. All the best to everyone. Tina

Hello Tina, yes, OW's relationship to his mother seems to have been difficult. His daughter mentions in the docu "Ich ueber mich" that his childhood was very difficult and that his mother was a strong woman (I understand this as dominating). His parents were divorced when he was about 6 years old. That was not very usual in the catholic Vienna in the year of 1928. In this same docu the journalist summs up, that OW in the consequens of having had a "strong mother" looked for a quite different type of women than his mother represented and that his relation to women was difficult. His daughter says: "He couldn't live without women, but he refused the female in the woman" (difficult to translate. Her words in German:"das Weib in der Frau") - OW's mother remarried I think when he was a teenager and he liked his stepfather. Greetings from Susanne

Hello Susanne, Many thanks for the information regarding OW and his mother. I bet it was quite something for a woman to be divorced in Catholic Vienna in 1928, and quite difficult for her son too. Best wishes to all and especially you Susanne, Tina

Hi!
Nici, it would be "She reminded him of his mother." Perfectly understandable...I have similar problems in learning German. I just wish I was as good at German as you are English.