Albert Conti | WatchedThis
Albert Conti
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Albert De Conti Cadassamare (29 January 1887 – 18 January 1967), professionally billed as Albert Conti, was an Austrian-Hungarian-born Italian-American film actor. Born in the village Gorizia (now part of Italy), Conti achieved moderate fame as an actor in American films, but first he specialized in law (high school and law college in Graz) and natural science, and married Patricia Cross. When World War I began, he became an officer. His father was Albert, Ritter Conti v. Cedassamare and his mother was Marie Bernhardine Anna (Countess Caboga) a member of an old Ragusan/Dubrovnik noble family. After his discharge from the Austrian army at the close of World War I, he came to America like many other now-impoverished postwar Europeans from both sides of the conflict. Conti emigrated to the United States via the Port of Philadelphia in 1919. After settling in the new country, Conti was obliged to take a series of manual labor jobs, his patrician background notwithstanding. While working in the California oil fields, he answered an open call placed by director Erich von Stroheim, who was in search of an Austrian military officer to act as technical advisor for his upcoming film Merry-Go-Round (1923). A better actor than most of his fellow Habsburg Empire expatriates, Conti was able to secure dignified character roles in several silent and sound films; his credits ranged from Josef von Sternberg's Morocco (1930) to the early Laurel and Hardy knockabout Slipping Wives (1927). He appeared in the 1928 silent film Dry Martini as a roué artist. Though he made his last film in 1942, Albert Conti remained in the industry as an employee of the MGM wardrobe department, where he worked until his retirement in 1962.
Filmography Movies
Acting
The Black Cat
After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.
The Legion of the Condemned
Finding his sweetheart, Christine, in the arms of a German officer, Price joins the French Air Legion. Christine is later revealed to be the spy whom Price has been ordered to drop behind enemy lines. They are reconciled, are captured by the Germans, and are rescued by his unit.
Shanghai Madness
In the 1920s Pat Jackson destroys a Chinese post and is discharged from the Navy. Li Po Chang hires him to run a gunboat up the river. He drops Wildeth off at a mission for safety, but when his boat returns the mission is being attacked by communists.
Fashions of 1934
When the Manhattan investment firm of Sherwood Nash goes broke, he joins forces with his partner Snap and fashion designer Lynn Mason to provide discount shops with cheap copies of Paris couture dresses.
Captain Lash
Lash is the head coal stoker on a steam ship whose shipmates have nicknamed "Captain". Lash somehow grabs the attention of society dame passenger Cora Nevins. Nevins is actually a jewel thief who's lifted diamonds from wealthy passenger Arthur Condrax. She needs Lash to aid in sneaking the "ice" ashore at Singapore. Cocky is Lash's concertina-playing buddy and uses it to signal Lash.
The Greeks Had a Word for Them
A trio of money-hungry women rent a luxurious penthouse, spending their dough on drink and debonair clothing, backbiting and catfighting as they steal each other's boyfriends.
Slipping Wives
Neglected by her husband, our heroine decides to make him jealous by getting the handyman to play a literary genius at a party and flirt with her.
Love Time
Newly arrived in the nineteenth century court of Emperor Francis 1st of Austria Countess Valerie happens to overhear a young pianist and advises him to play with more feeling, for he is playing a piece by Franz Schubert, her favorite composer. Unknown to Valerie, the man is Schubert, and he playfully keeps his identity a secret. Valerie visits Franz the next day, and he teaches her to play the violin part of a new song he has written, and she hopes for romance though he still longs for his lost love Caroline. But as a week passes, he forgets Caroline and returns Valerie's affections. When Franz is evicted, there is much tumult, but he is finally called to court where his music is celebrated, and Valerie and he are reunited.
The Night Is Young
Young Austrian Archduke Paul "Gustl" Gustave is in an arranged engagement but his uncle, the emperor, decides to let Gustl carry on a fling with ballet dancer Lisl Gluck.
Heartbreak
John Merrick and Vilma Walden, who fall in love at an embassy fundraiser in Vienna before World War I. Vilma's brother, Carl, who is a war veteran, poses as a rival for Vilma's affections. When war erupts, John requests a transfer to the Italian front, where he confronts Carl, who had borrowed his aircraft for a mission. John is devastated to learn the pilot he downed was actually Carl, leading him to announce he will no longer kill.
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