Percy Adlon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Percy Adlon
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| Born |
Paul Rudolf Parsifal Adlon
1 June 1935 Munich, Germany
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| Died | 10 March 2024 (aged 88) Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.
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| Occupation | Director, screenwriter, producer |
| Years active | 1975-2024 |
| Spouse(s) | Eleonore Adlon |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Lorenz Adlon (great-grandfather) Pamela Adlon (former-daughter-in-law) Gideon Adlon (granddaughter) Odessa A'zion (granddaughter) |
Paul Rudolf Parsifal "Percy" Adlon ( 1 June 1935 – 10 March 2024) was a German director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his film Bagdad Cafe. He is associated with the New German Cinema movement (ca. 1965–1985), and is known for his strong female characters and positive portrayals of lesbian relationships.
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Early life
Adlon was born in Munich, Germany. He grew up in Ammerland/Starnberger See. He studied art, theater history, and German literature at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian University; took acting and singing classes; and was a member of a student theater group.
Career
Adlon's films were shown in competition regularly at international film festivals, such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, and others.
Adlon started his professional career as an actor, became interested in radio work, was a narrator and editor of literature series and a presenter and voice-over actor in television for 10 years.
In 1970, he made his first short film for Bavarian television, followed by more than 150 documentary films about art and the human condition. His first one-hour portrait Tomi Ungerer's Landleben started a very successful co-operation with Benigna von Keyserlingk who became Adlon's television producer of documentaries and feature films.
Their first feature film Céleste, drew international attention at Cannes in 1981. Bagdad Cafe (1987) started their co-operation with Dietrich v. Watzdorf (Bayerischer Rundfunk). The story of Jasmin Münchgstettner and the Café owner Brenda was an international hit. Marianne Sägebrecht whom Percy Adlon discovered in 1979 became a cult figure, and he developed songs with Tony, Oscar, and Grammy award nominated Bob Telson on such songs as "Calling You" a classic.
Percy and Eleonore Adlon won numerous awards, including top honors in Rio de Janeiro for Bagdad Cafe, and in Montreal for Salmonberries, two Césars, the Ernst Lubitsch Award, a Norwegian Amanda Award, the Swedish and the Danish Academy awards, the Prix Humanum, Belgium, prizes in Venice, Chicago, Valladolid, Brussels, Tokyo as well as Bavarian and German Federal Film Awards, among others.
Percy Adlon was the recipient of the Officer's Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany, and a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Personal life
Percy Adlon was the great-grandson of Lorenz Adlon, the founder of the Hotel Adlon. He was also the grandson of Louis Adlon Sr., who had five children with his first wife Tilly. After almost 15 years of marriage, he met a hotel guest, the German-American Hedwig Leythen (1889–1967), called Hedda, at a New Year's Eve party in the Hotel Adlon, left his wife and children, and in 1922 he married her. It was one of the biggest scandals of Berlin in the 1920s. Tilly moved with her daughter Elisabeth, then two, to the south of Germany, while the other children Susanne Adlon-Meyerhöfer (mother of Percy), Lorenz, and twins Carl and Louis (junior) were sent to boarding school and later all four emigrated to America.
Adlon's father was opera tenor Rudolf Laubenthal. He grew up in the Bavarian countryside with his mother Susanne and attributes the strong, often unconventional, women's roles in his films to his being brought up in this manner. His son, Felix, also a film director, is the former husband of American actress Pamela Adlon and the father of her three daughters, including actresses Odessa and Gideon Adlon.
Percy and Eleonore Adlon lived in Pacific Palisades, California. Percy Adlon died there on 10 March 2024, at the age of 88.
Thomas Meyerhöfer is a half-brother of Percy, 15 years younger and son of Emil Meyerhöfer.
Awards
| Award | Year | Recipient(s) | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adolf Grimme Awards, Germany | 1979 | The Guardian and His Poet (1978) | Award in Gold Fiction/Entertainment | Won, shared with lead actor Rolf Illig | |
| Amanda Award, Norway | 1989 | Bagdad Cafe (1987) | Best Foreign Feature Film (Årets utenlandske spillefilm) | Won | |
| Bavarian Film Awards | 1988 | Bagdad Cafe (1987) | Best Screenplay (Drehbuchpreis) | Won, shared with Eleanore Adlon | |
| Fünf letzte Tage (1982) | Best Direction | Won | |||
| Bavarian TV Awards | 1997 | The Glamorous World of the Adlon Hotel (1996) | Directing | Won | |
| Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (BIFFF) | 1994 | Younger and Younger (1993) | Silver Raven | Won | |
| Cannes Film Festival | 1989 | Rosalie Goes Shopping (1989) | Palme d'Or | Nominated | |
| Chicago International Film Festival | 1984 | The Swing (1983) | Gold Hugo Best Feature | Nominated | |
| Fünf letzte Tage (1982) | Gold Hugo Best Feature | Nominated | |||
| Céleste (1980) | Gold Hugo Best Feature | Nominated | |||
| César Awards | 1989 | Bagdad Cafe (1987) | Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger) | Won | |
| Bagdad Cafe (1987) | Best Film of the European Community (Meilleur film de l'Europe communautaire) | Won | |||
| Ernst Lubitsch Award | 1988 | Bagdad Cafe (1987) | Ernst Lubitsch Award | Won | |
| Film Independent Spirit Awards | 1989 | Bagdad Cafe (1987) | Best Foreign Film | Nominated | |
| French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Award | 1989 | Bagdad Cafe (1987) | Best Foreign Film | Won, tied with The Dead | |
| Guild of German Art House Cinemas | 1989 | Bagdad Cafe (1987) | Gold German Film (Deutscher Film) | Won | |
| Céleste (1980) | Silver German Film (Deutscher Film) | Nominated | |||
| Manhattan Film Festival | 2012 | Céleste (1980) | Buzz Award | Won | |
| Medias Central European Film Festival 7+1 | 2011 | Mahler on the Couch (2010) | Audience Award Best Picture | Won, shared with Felix O. Adlon | |
| Montreal World Film Festival | 1991 | Salmonberries (1991) | Grand Prix des Amériques | Won | |
| Robert Festival | 1989 | Bagdad Cafe (1987) | Best Foreign Film (Årets udenlandske spillefilm) | Won | |
| Tokyo International Film Festival | 1993 | Younger and Younger (1993) | Tokyo Grand Prix | Nominated | |
| Valladolid International Film Festival | 1985 | Sugarbaby (1985) | Silver Spike | Won | |
| Venice Film Festival | 1982 | Fünf letzte Tage (1982) | OCIC Award | Won | |
| Fünf letzte Tage (1982) | Golden Lion | Won |
Filmography
- Von Nimbus der Ferne (The Aura in the Distance) (1974, documentary) Director, writer
- Der Vormund und sein Dichter (The Guardian and His Poet) (1978, TV film) Director, Writer (written by), Producer (Adolf Grimme Award in Gold)
- Herr Kischott (1980, TV film) Director
- Céleste (1980) Director, (Writer Special Jury Award IFF Chicago)
- Fünf letzte Tage (Five Last Days) (1982) Director) (German Federal Film Award, Bavarian Film Award, OCIC-Prize, IFF Venice, 1982)
- The Swing (1983) Director, Writer
- Sugarbaby (1985) Director, Writer ... a.k.a. Sugarbaby (Ernst-Lubitsch-Award for Marianne Sägebrecht)
- Herschel und die Musik der Sterne (1986, TV film) Director, Writer
- Out of Rosenheim a.k.a. Bagdad Cafe (USA) (1987) Director, Writer, Producer (Grand Prix IFF Rio de Janeiro, César, best foreign Film (French Film Award), Ernst-Lubitsch-Award (Director), Swedish and Danish Film Academies, Bavarian Film Award (original screenplay) Prix Humanum, Belgium.)
- Babycakes (1989, TV film), American remake of Zuckerbaby aka Sugarbaby, co-writer
- Rosalie Goes Shopping (1989) Director, Writer, Producer (Official German Entry, 1989 Cannes Film Festival. Best Film - Section "Cinema & Denaro", IFF EuropaCinema & TV, Viareggio.)
- Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter (1990, TV film) Director
- Salmonberries (1991) Director, Writer ... a.k.a. Percy Adlon's Salmonberries (Germany: poster title) (Grand Prix des Ameriques, Montreal. Bavarian Film Awards for director P.A. and for Rosel Zech, Best Actress.)
- Younger and Younger (1993) Director, Writer, Producer. (Special Prize of the Jury, Brussels. Best Actress IFF Tokyo Lolita Davidovich)
- In der glanzvollen Welt des Hotel Adlon (1996, TV film) Director ... a.k.a. The Glamorous World of the Adlon Hotel (Bavarian Television Award)
- Eat Your Heart Out (1997) Producer
- Die Straußkiste (1999) Director, Writer Cinematographer ... a.k.a. Forever Flirt (International: English title)
- Hawaiian Gardens (2001) Director, Writer
- Koenig's Sphere (2001) Director ... a.k.a. Koenigs Kugel (German title)
- Bagdad Cafe - The Musical (2003–2006) Director
- Orbela's People (2007)
- Mahler auf der Couch (2010)
See also
In Spanish: Percy Adlon para niños
- Lorenz Adlon (1849–1921), German hotelier, grandfather of Percy
- Hotel Adlon, Berlin, Germany – built by Lorenz Adlon
- Louis Adlon (1908–1947), German-American film actor in Hollywood, grandson of Lorenz, cousin of Percy
- Pamela Adlon (born 1966), American actress, daughter-in-law of Percy
- Hotel Adlon, German film, from book by Louis's father's second wife
