''Orient Express'' is a 1954 Italian-language film starring Silvana Pampanini, Henri Vidal and Eva Bartok. The plot revolves around a two-day stop at a village in the Alps by passengers on the Orient Express.

References

External links

Category:1954 films Category:French films Category:Italian films Category:West German films Category:Italian-language films Category:1950s drama films Category:Rail transport films

it:Orient Express (film 1954)

Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
name	Ingrid Bergman
birth date	August 29, 1915
birth place	Stockholm, Sweden
death date	August 29, 1982
death place	London, England
years active	1935–82
occupation	Actress
spouse
Children	Pia Lindström, born on September 20, 1938Robertino "Robin" Rossellini, born on February 02, 1950Isabella Rossellini, born on June 18, 1952Isotta Ingrid Rossellini, born on June 18, 1952 }}

Ingrid Bergman (29 August 1915 – 29 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute. She is best remembered for her roles as Ilsa Lund in ''Casablanca'' (1942), a World War II drama co-starring Humphrey Bogart and as Alicia Huberman in ''Notorious'' (1946), an Alfred Hitchcock thriller co-starring Cary Grant.

Before becoming a star in American films, she had already been a leading actress in Swedish films. Her first introduction to American audiences came with her starring role in the English remake of ''Intermezzo'' in 1939. In America, she brought to the screen a "Nordic freshness and vitality", along with exceptional beauty and intelligence, and according to the ''St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture'', she quickly became "the ideal of American womanhood" and one of Hollywood's greatest leading actresses.

Her producer David O. Selznick, who called her "the most completely conscientious actress" he had ever worked with, gave her a seven-year acting contract, thereby supporting her continued success. A few of her other starring roles, besides ''Casablanca'', included ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' (1943), ''Gaslight'' (1944), ''The Bells of St. Mary's'' (1945), Alfred Hitchcock's ''Spellbound'' (1945), ''Notorious'' (1946), and ''Under Capricorn'' (1949), and the independent production, ''Joan of Arc'' (1948).

In 1950, after a decade of stardom in American films, she starred in the Italian film ''Stromboli'', which led to a love affair with director Roberto Rossellini while they were both already married. The affair created a scandal that forced her to return to Europe until 1956, when she made a successful Hollywood comeback in ''Anastasia'', for which she won her second Academy Award, as well as the forgiveness of her fans. Many of her personal and film documents can be seen in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives.

Early years: 1915–1938

Bergman, named after Princess Ingrid of Sweden, was born in Stockholm, Sweden on 29 August 1915 to a Swedish father, Justus Samuel Bergman, and a German mother, Friedel Adler Bergman. When she was three years of age, her mother died. Her father, who was an artist and photographer, died when she was thirteen. In the years before he died, he wanted her to become an opera star, and had her take voice lessons for three years. But she always "knew from the beginning that she wanted to be an actress", sometimes wearing her mother's clothes and staging plays in her father's empty studio. Her father documented all her birthdays with a borrowed camera.

After his death, she was then sent to live with an aunt, who died of heart complications only six months later. She then moved in with her aunt Hulda and uncle Otto, who had five children. Another aunt she visited, Elsa Adler, first told Ingrid, when she was 11, that her mother may have "some Jewish blood", and that her father was aware of that fact long before they married. But her aunt also cautioned her about telling others about her Jewishness as "there might be some difficult times coming."

At the age of 17, Bergman was allowed only one chance to become an actress by entering an acting competition with the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. Bergman recalls her feelings during that competition:

:"As I walked off the stage, I was in mourning, I was at a funeral. My own. It was the death of my creative self. My heart had truly broken... they didn't think I was even worth listening to, or watching."

However, her impression was wrong, as she later met one of the judges who described how the others viewed her performance: :"We loved your security and your impertinence. We loved you and told each other that there was no reason to waste time as there were dozens of other entrants still to come. We didn't need to waste any time with you. We knew you were a natural and great. Your future as an actress was settled."

As a result she received a scholarship to the state-sponsored Royal Dramatic Theatre School, where Greta Garbo had years earlier also earned a similar scholarship. After a few months she was given a part in a new play, ''Ett Brott'' (A Crime), by Sigfrid Siwertz. Yet, this was "totally against procedure" at the school, notes Chandler, where girls were expected to complete three years of study before getting such acting roles. During her first summer break, she was also hired by a Swedish film studio, which consequently led to her leaving the Royal Dramatic Theatre to work in films full time, after just one year. Her first film role after leaving the Royal Dramatic Theatre was a small part in 1935's ''Munkbrogreven'' (She had previously been an extra in the 1932 film ''Landskamp''). She later acted in a dozen films in Sweden, including ''En kvinnas ansikte'', which was later remade as ''A Woman's Face'' with Joan Crawford, and one film in Germany, ''Die vier Gesellen'' ("The Four Companions") (1938).

Hollywood period: 1939–1949

''Intermezzo: A Love Story'' (1939)

Bergman's first acting role in America came when Hollywood producer David O. Selznick brought her to America to star in ''Intermezzo: A Love Story'', an English language remake of her 1936 Swedish film, ''Intermezzo''. Unable to speak English and uncertain about her acceptance by the American audience, she expected to complete this one film and return home to Sweden. Her husband, Petter, remained in Sweden with their daughter Pia. In the film she played the role of a young piano accompanist opposite Leslie Howard as a famous violin virtuoso.

She arrived in Los Angeles on 6 May 1939, and stayed at the Selznick home until she could find another residence. According to David Selznick's son Danny, who was a child at the time, his father had a few concerns about Ingrid: "She didn't speak English, she was too tall, her name sounded too German, and her eyebrows were too thick." However, Bergman was soon accepted without having to modify her looks or name, despite some early suggestions by Selznick. "He let her have her way", notes a story in ''Life Magazine''. Selznick understood her fear of Hollywood make-up artists, who might turn her into someone she wouldn't recognize, and "instructed them to lay off." He was also aware that her natural good looks would compete successfully with Hollywood's "synthetic razzle-dazzle."

During the weeks following, while ''Intermezzo'' was being filmed, Selznick was also filming ''Gone with the Wind''. In a letter to William Herbert, his publicity director, Selznick described a few of his early impressions of Bergman:

:"Miss Bergman is the most completely conscientious actress with whom I have ever worked, in that she thinks of absolutely nothing but her work before and during the time she is doing a picture ... She practically never leaves the studio, and even suggested that her dressing room be equipped so that she could live here during the picture. She never for a minute suggests quitting at six o'clock or anything of the kind... Because of having four stars acting in ''Gone with the Wind'', our star dressing-room suites were all occupied and we had to assign her a smaller suite. She went into ecstasies over it and said she had never had such a suite in her life... All of this is completely unaffected and completely unique and I should think would make a grand angle of approach to her publicity... so that her natural sweetness and consideration and conscientiousness become something of a legend... and is completely in keeping with the fresh and pure personality and appearance which caused me to sign her..."

''Intermezzo'' became an enormous success and as a result Bergman became a star. The film's director, Gregory Ratoff, said "She is sensational", as an actress. This was the "sentiment of the entire set", writes ''Life'', adding that workmen would go out of their way to do things for her, and the cast and crew "admired the quick, alert concentration she gave to direction and to her lines." Film historian David Thomson notes that this would become "the start of an astonishing impact on Hollywood and America" where her lack of makeup contributed to an "air of nobility." According to ''Life'', the impression that she left on Hollywood, after she returned to Sweden, was of a tall (5 ft. 9 in.) girl "with light brown hair and blue eyes who was painfully shy but friendly, with a warm, straight, quick smile." Selznick appreciated her uniqueness, and with his wife Irene, they remained important friends throughout her career.

''Casablanca'' (1942)

After Germany initiated World War II, Bergman "felt guilty because she had so misjudged the situation in Germany" while she was there filming ''Die vier Gesellen'' (The Four Companions). According to one of her biographers, Charlotte Chandler (2007), she had at first considered the Nazis only a "temporary aberration, 'too foolish to be taken seriously.' She believed Germany would not start a war." Bergman felt that "The good people there would not permit it." Chandler adds, "Ingrid felt guilty all the rest of her life because when she was in Germany at the end of the war, she had been afraid to go with the others to witness the atrocities of the Nazi extermination camps."

After completing one last film in Sweden and appearing in three moderately successful films (''Adam Had Four Sons'', ''Rage in Heaven'' and ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', all in 1941) in the United States, Bergman co-starred with Humphrey Bogart in the 1942 classic film ''Casablanca'', which remains her best-known role. In this film, she played the role of Ilsa, the beautiful Norwegian wife of Victor Laszlo, played by Paul Henreid, an "anti-Nazi underground hero" who is in Casablanca, a safe-haven from the Nazis. Bergman did not consider ''Casablanca'' to be one of her favorite performances. ''"I made so many films which were more important, but the only one people ever want to talk about is that one with Bogart."'' In later years however, she stated, "I feel about ''Casablanca'' that it has a life of its own. There is something mystical about it. It seems to have filled a need, a need that was there before the film, a need that the film filled."

''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' (1943)

After ''Casablanca'', with "Selznick's steady boosting", she played the part of Maria in ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' (1943), which was also her first color film. For the role she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The film was taken from Ernest Hemingway's novel of the same title. When the book was sold to Paramount Pictures, Hemingway stated that "Miss Bergman, and no one else should play the part." His opinion came from seeing her in her first American role, ''Intermezzo'', although he hadn't yet met her. A few weeks later, they did meet, and after studying her said "You ''are'' Maria!"

''Gaslight'' (1944)

The following year, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for ''Gaslight'' (1944), a film in which George Cukor directed her as a "wife driven close to madness" by co-star Charles Boyer. The film, according to Thomson, "was the peak of her Hollywood glory." Bergman next played a nun in ''The Bells of St. Mary's'' (1945) opposite Bing Crosby, for which she received her third consecutive nomination for Best Actress.

''Notorious'' (1946)

Bergman starred in the Alfred Hitchcock films ''Spellbound'' (1945), ''Notorious'' (1946), and ''Under Capricorn'' (1949). Unlike her earlier Hitchcock films, ''Under Capricorn'', the only one of the three made in colour, was a slow-paced costume drama, and has never received the acclaim that the other films that Bergman made with Hitchcock have. Bergman was a student of the acting coach Michael Chekhov during the 1940s. Coincidentally, it was for his role in ''Spellbound'' that Chekhov received his only Academy Award nomination.

''Joan of Arc'' (1948)

Later, Bergman received another Best Actress nomination for ''Joan of Arc'' (1948), an independent film based on the Maxwell Anderson play ''Joan of Lorraine'', produced by Walter Wanger, and initially released through RKO. Bergman had championed the role since her arrival in Hollywood, which was one of the reasons she had played it on the Broadway stage in Anderson's play. The film was not a big hit with the public, partly because of the scandal of Bergman's affair with Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, which broke while the film was still in theaters. Even worse, it received disastrous reviews, and although nominated for several Academy Awards, did not receive a Best Picture nomination. It was subsequently shorn of 45 minutes, and it was not until its restoration to full length in 1998 and its 2004 appearance on DVD that later audiences could see it as it was intended to be shown.

Between motion pictures, Bergman appeared in the stage plays ''Liliom'', ''Anna Christie'', and ''Joan of Lorraine''. Furthermore, during a press conference in Washington, D.C. for the promotion of ''Joan of Lorraine'', she protested against segregation after seeing it first hand at the theater she was acting in. This led to a lot of publicity and some hate mail.

Bergman went to Alaska during World War II to entertain American troops. Soon after the war ended, she also went to Europe for the same purpose, where she was able to see the devastation caused by the war. It was during this time that she began a relationship with the famous photographer Robert Capa. She became a smoker after needing to smoke for her role in ''Arch of Triumph''.

Personal life

In 1937, at the age of 21, Bergman married dentist Petter Lindström, and a year and a half later had a daughter, Pia Lindström.

After returning to America in 1940, she acted on Broadway before continuing to do films in Hollywood. The following year, her husband arrived from Sweden with daughter Pia. Lindström stayed in Rochester, New York, where he studied medicine and surgery at the University of Rochester. Bergman would travel to New York and stay at their small rented stucco house between films, her visits lasting from a few days to four months.

According to a ''Life'' magazine article, the ''"doctor regards himself as the undisputed head of the family, an idea that Ingrid accepts cheerfully."'' He insisted she draw the line between her film and personal life, as he has a ''"professional dislike for being associated with the tinseled glamor of Hollywood."'' Dr. Lindström later moved to San Francisco, California, where he completed his internship at a private hospital, and they continued to spend time together when she could travel between filmings.

Italian period with Rossellini: 1949–1957

Bergman strongly admired two films by Italian director Roberto Rossellini that she had seen in the United States. In 1949, Bergman wrote to Rossellini, expressing this admiration and suggesting that she make a film with him. This led to her being cast in his film ''Stromboli'' (1950). During production, Bergman fell in love with Rossellini, and they began an affair. Bergman became pregnant with Rossellini's son, Renato Roberto Giusto Giuseppe ("Robin") Rossellini (born 2 February 1950).

This affair caused a huge scandal in the United States, where it led to Bergman being denounced on the floor of the United States Senate. Ed Sullivan chose not to have her on his show, despite a poll indicating that the public wanted her to appear. However, Steve Allen, whose show was equally popular, did have her on, later explaining "the danger of trying to judge artistic activity through the prism of one's personal life." Spoto notes that Bergman had, by virtue of her roles and screen persona, placed herself "above all that". She had played a nun in ''The Bells of St. Mary's'' (1945) and a virgin saint in ''Joan of Arc'' (1948), and Bergman herself later acknowledged, "People saw me in ''Joan of Arc'' and declared me a saint. I'm not. I'm just a woman, another human being."

As a result of the scandal, Bergman returned to Italy, leaving her husband and daughter (Pia), which led to a publicized divorce and custody battle for their daughter. Bergman and Rossellini were married on 24 May 1950. In addition to Renato, they had twin daughters (born 18 June 1952): Isabella Rossellini, who became an actress and model, and Isotta Ingrid Rossellini, who became a professor of Italian literature.

''Stromboli'' and "neorealism"

Rossellini completed five films starring Bergman between 1949 and 1955: ''Stromboli'', ''Europa '51'', ''Viaggio in Italia'', ''Giovanna d'Arco al rogo'', and ''La paura''. He also directed her in a brief segment of his 1953 documentary film, ''Siamo donne'' (We, the Women), which was devoted to film actresses. Rossellini biographer Peter Bondanella notes that problems with communication during their marriage may have inspired his films' central themes of "solitude, grace, and spirituality in a world without moral values."

In addition, Rossellini's use of a Hollywood star in his typically "neorealist" films, in which he normally used non-professional actors, did provoke negative reactions in some circles. Bondanella speculates that this change may have been intentional: he may have "intended to provoke a significant change in direction within Italian cinema." In ''Stromboli'', Bergman's first film with Rossellini, her character was "defying audience expectations" in that Rossellini preferred to work without a script. This forced Bergman to act most of her scenes "inspired by reality while she worked", a style which Bondanella calls "a new cinema of psychological introspection." She was aware of his directing style before filming however, as Rossellini had earlier written her explaining that he worked from "a few basic ideas, developing them little by little" as a film progressed.

After separating from Rossellini, Bergman starred in Jean Renoir's ''Elena and Her Men'' (''Elena et les Hommes'', 1956), a romantic comedy where she played a Polish princess caught in political intrigue. Although the film wasn't a success, it has since come to be regarded as one of her best performances.

Later years: 1957–1982

''Anastasia'' (1956)

With her starring role in 1956's ''Anastasia'', Bergman made a triumphant return to the American screen and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for a second time. The award was accepted for her by her friend Cary Grant. Bergman would not make her first post-scandal public appearance in Hollywood until the 1958 Academy Awards, when she was the presenter of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Furthermore, she was given a standing ovation, after being introduced by Cary Grant and walking out onto the stage to present the award.

Bergman would continue to alternate between performances in American and European films for the rest of her career and also made occasional appearances in television dramas such as a 1959 production of ''The Turn of the Screw'' for ''Ford Startime'' TV series for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress.

During this time, Bergman also performed in several stage plays. In addition, she married the producer Lars Schmidt, a fellow Swede, on 21 December 1958. This marriage ultimately ended in divorce in 1975. He died on 18 October 2009.

After a long hiatus, Bergman did the movie ''Cactus Flower'' in 1969, with Walter Matthau and Goldie Hawn.

In 1972, U.S. Senator Charles H. Percy entered an apology into the ''Congressional Record'' for the attack made on Bergman 22 years earlier by Edwin C. Johnson. She was the President of the Jury at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.

''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1974)

Bergman became one of the elite actresses to receive three Oscars when she won her third (and first for Best Supporting Actress) for her performance in ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1974). Director Sidney Lumet offered Bergman the important part of Princess Dragomiroff, with which he felt she could win an Oscar. However, she insisted on playing the much smaller role of Greta Ohlsson, the old Swedish missionary. Lumet discussed Bergman's role:

:"She had chosen a very small part, and I couldn't persuade her to change her mind. She was sweetly stubborn. But stubborn she was... Since her part was so small, I decided to film her one big scene, where she talks for almost five minutes, straight, all in one long take. A lot of actresses would have hesitated over that. She loved the idea and made the most of it. She ran the gamut of emotions. I've never seen anything like it."

Bergman could speak Swedish (her native language), German (her second language, learned from her German mother and in school), English (learned when brought over to United States), Italian (learned while living in Italy) and French (her third language, learned in school). In addition, she acted in each of these languages at various times. Fellow actor John Gielgud, who had acted with her in ''Murder on the Orient Express'' and who had directed her in the play ''The Constant Wife'', playfully mocked this ability when he remarked, "She speaks five languages and can't act in any of them."

Although known chiefly as a film star, Bergman strongly admired the great English stage actors and their craft. She had the opportunity to appear in London's West End, working with such stage stars as Sir Michael Redgrave in ''A Month in the Country'' (1965), Sir John Gielgud in ''The Constant Wife'' (1973) and Dame Wendy Hiller in ''Waters of the Moon'' (1977–78).

''Autumn Sonata'' (1978)

In 1978, Bergman played in Ingmar Bergman's ''Autumn Sonata'' (''Höstsonaten'') for which she received her 7th Academy Award nomination and made her final performance on the big screen. In the film, Bergman plays a celebrity pianist who travels to Trondheim in Norway to visit her neglected daughter, played by Liv Ullmann. The film was shot in Norway. It is considered by many to be among her best performances. Indian Bollywood film director Khalid Mohammed made a copy of Autumn Sonata in hindi with the name Tehzeeb in 2003 casting Shabana Azmi Urmila Matondkar, Diya Mirza, Arjun Rampal without giving credit to Autumn Sonata or Ingmar Bergman. She hosted the AFI's Life Achievement Award Ceremony for Alfred Hitchcock in 1979.

''A Woman Called Golda'' (1982) – her final role

In 1982 she was offered the starring role in a television mini-series, ''A Woman Called Golda'', about the late Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. It was to be her final acting role and she was honored posthumously with a second Emmy Award for Best Actress.

At first, she couldn't imagine herself acting the part of a well-known world figure whose physical appearance, especially her height, was so different from her own. Her daughter, Isabella, described Ingrid's surprise at being offered the part and the producer trying to explain to her, "People believe you and trust you, and this is what I want, because Golda Meir had the trust of the people." Isabella adds, "Now ''that'' was interesting to mother." She was also persuaded that Golda was a "grand-scale person", one that people would assume was much taller than she actually was. Chandler notes that the role "also had a special significance for her, as during World War II, Ingrid felt guilty because she had so misjudged the situation in Germany."

According to Chandler, "Ingrid's rapidly deteriorating health was a more serious problem. Insurance for Ingrid was impossible. Not only did she have cancer, but it was spreading, and if anyone had known how bad it was, no one would have gone on with the project." After viewing the series on TV, Isabella commented, :"She never showed herself like that in life. In life, Mum showed courage. She was always a little vulnerable, courageous, but vulnerable. Mother had a sort of presence, like Golda, I was surprised to see it... When I saw her performance, I saw a mother that I'd never seen before—this woman with balls."

Ingrid was frequently ill during the filming although she rarely complained or showed it. Four months after the filming was completed, she died. After Ingrid's death it was her daughter Pia who accepted her Emmy.

Death and legacy

Bergman died in 1982 on her 67th birthday in London, England, following a long battle with breast cancer. Her body was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery, London and her ashes taken to Sweden, where some were scattered in the sea and the rest placed next to her parents in Norra begravningsplatsen (Northern Cemetery), Stockholm, Sweden.

According to biographer Donald Spoto, she was "arguably the most international star in the history of entertainment." Acting in five languages, she was seen on stage, screen, and television, and won three Academy Awards plus many others. After her American film debut in the 1939 film ''Intermezzo: A Love Story'', co-starring Leslie Howard, Hollywood saw her as a unique actress who was completely natural in style and without need of makeup. Film critic James Agee wrote that she "not only bears a startling resemblance to an imaginable human being; she really knows how to act, in a blend of poetic grace with quiet realism."

Bergman was a tall, natural-looking, and intelligent Swedish actress, fluent in English. According to film historian David Thomson, she "always strove to be a 'true' woman", and many filmgoers identified with her:

:"There was a time in the early and mid-1940s when Bergman commanded a kind of love in America that has been hardly ever matched. In turn, it was the strength of that affection that animated the 'scandal' when she behaved like an impetuous and ambitious actress instead of a saint."

Nonetheless, writing about her first years in Hollywood, ''Life'' magazine stated that "All Bergman vehicles are blessed", and "they all go speedily and happily, with no temperament from the leading lady." She was "completely pleased" with her early career's management by David O. Selznick, who always found excellent dramatic roles for her to play, and equally satisfied with her salary, once saying, "I am an actress and I am interested in acting, not in making money." ''Life'' adds that "she has greater versatility than any actress on the American screen ... her roles have demanded an adaptability and sensitiveness of characterization to which few actresses could rise."

She continued her acting career while fighting an eight-year battle with cancer, and won international honors for her final roles. "Her spirit triumphed with remarkable grace and courage", adds Spoto. Director George Cukor once summed up her contributions to the film media when he said to her, "Do you know what I especially love about you, Ingrid, my dear? I can sum it up as your naturalness. The camera loves your beauty, your acting, and your individuality. A star must have individuality. It makes you a great star. A great star."

For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Bergman has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6759 Hollywood Blvd.

Autobiography

In 1980, Bergman's autobiography was published under the title ''Ingrid Bergman: My Story''. It was written with the help of Alan Burgess, and in it she discusses her childhood, her early career and her life during her time in Hollywood.

Awards

! Year !! Group !! Award !! Result !! Title of work
1944	Academy Award	Best Actress
1945	Academy Award	Best Actress
1945		Best Actress – Motion Picture		''Gaslight''
1946	Academy Award	Best Actress		''The Bells of St. Mary's''
1946	Golden Globe	Best Actress – Motion Picture		''The Bells of St. Mary's''
1946		Best Actress
1947	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play		''Joan of Lorraine''
1949	Academy Award	Best Actress
1956	NYFCC Award	Best Actress
1957	Academy Award	Best Actress		''Anastasia''
1957	Golden Globe	Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama		''Anastasia''
1958		Best Actress		''The Inn of the Sixth Happiness''
1959		Best Foreign Actress		''The Inn of the Sixth Happiness''
1959	Golden Globe	Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama		''The Inn of the Sixth Happiness''
1959	Golden Globe	Best Motion Picture Actress – Comedy/Musical
1960	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
1961	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie		''24 Hours in a Woman's Life''
1970	Golden Globe	Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy
1975	Academy Award	Best Supporting Actress
1975	BAFTA	Best Supporting Actress		''Murder on the Orient Express''
1976	César Award	Honorary Award
1978	NBR Award	Best Actress		''Autumn Sonata'' (Swedish title: ''Höstsonaten'')
1978	NYFCC Award	Best Actress		''Autumn Sonata'' (Swedish title: ''Höstsonaten'')
1979	Academy Award	Best Actress		''Autumn Sonata'' (Swedish title: ''Höstsonaten'')
1979	Golden Globe	Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama		''Autumn Sonata'' (Swedish title: ''Höstsonaten'')
1979		Best Actress		''Autumn Sonata'' (Swedish title: ''Höstsonaten'')
1982	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie		''A Woman Called Golda''
1983	Golden Globe	Best Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television		''A Woman Called Golda''

Filmography

Notes

References

External links

Biographical profiles

TCM Confidential: Ingrid Bergman

Official sites

Ingrid Bergman site run by CMG

Ingrid Bergman Collection at Wesleyan University

Interviews

1943 New York Times Interview

Larry King transcript with Ingrid Bergman's daughters on the 60th anniversary of ''Casablanca''

Excerpt from Isabella Rossellini's ''Some of Me'' that describes Ingrid Bergman's passion for cleaning

Videos

clip from ''Intermezzo'', 1936 Swedish version

clip from ''Intermezzo'', 1939 U.S. version

clip from ''Casablanca''

clip from ''Gaslight''

clip from ''Notorious''

clip from ''Joan of Arc''

Television interview by Radio-Canada reporter Judith Jasmin on 15 July 1957 Television interview on JT 20H on 22 February 1959 Television interview by France Roche on Cinépanorama on 19 November 1960

Audios

Radio rich media may be found in the radio credits table.

Ingrid Bergman's Spoken Word Version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Audio Recording of Ingrid Bergman in the NY Production of ''More Stately Mansions'' (1967) (Adobe Flash)

Other

Photographs and bibliography

Category:BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:Deaths from breast cancer Category:César Award winners Category:Deaths from lymphoma Category:Deaths from surgical complications Category:Emmy Award winners Category:People from Stockholm Category:Swedish people Category:Swedish people of German descent Category:Swedish film actors Category:Tony Award winners Category:Cancer deaths in England Category:1915 births Category:1982 deaths

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Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
name	Roberto Rossellini
birth date	May 08, 1906
birth place	Rome, Italy
death date	June 03, 1977
death place	Rome, Italy
occupation	Director, Producer, Screenwriter
spouse	Assia NorisMarcella De Marchis (1936-1950)Ingrid Bergman (1950-1957)Sonali Das Gupta (1957-1977)
children	Marco Romano Rossellini (1937–1946)Renzo Rossellini (1941)Roberto Ingmar Rossellini (1950)Ingrid Rossellini (1952)Isabella Rossellini (1952)Gil Rossellini (1956-2008)(stepson)Raffaella Rossellini (1958)}}

Roberto Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as ''Roma città aperta'' (''Rome, Open City'' 1945) to the movement.

Early life

Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had his first Roman hotel in 1922 when Fascism obtained power in Italy.

Rossellini's father built the first cinema in Rome, granting his son an unlimited free pass; the young Rossellini started frequenting the cinema at an early age. When his father died, he worked as a soundmaker for films and for a certain time he experienced all the accessory jobs related to the creation of a film, gaining competence in each field. Rossellini had a brother, Renzo, who later scored many of his films.

On 26 September 1936, he married Marcella De Marchis (17 January 1916, Rome – 25 February 2009, Sarteano), a costume designer. This was after a quick annulment from Assia Noris, a Russian actress who worked in Italian films. De Marchis and Rossellini had two sons: Marco Romano (born 3 July 1937 and died of appendicitis in 1946), and Renzo (born 24 August 1941). Rossellini and De Marchis separated in 1950 (and eventually divorced). He was an atheist.

Career

In 1937, Rossellini made his first documentary, ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune''. After this essay, he was called to assist Goffredo Alessandrini in making ''Luciano Serra pilota'', one of the most successful Italian films of the first half of the 20th century. In 1940 he was called to assist Francesco De Robertis on ''Uomini sul Fondo''. His close friendship with Vittorio Mussolini, son of ''Il Duce'', has been interpreted as a possible reason for having been preferred to other apprentices.

Some authors describe the first part of his career as a sequence of trilogies. His first feature film, ''La nave bianca'' (1942) was sponsored by the audiovisual propaganda centre of Navy Department and is the first work in Rossellini's "Fascist Trilogy", together with ''Un pilota ritorna'' (1942) and ''Uomo dalla Croce'' (1943). To this period belongs his friendship and cooperation with Federico Fellini and Aldo Fabrizi. When the Fascist regime ended in 1943, just two months after the liberation of Rome, Rossellini was already preparing ''Roma città aperta'' (''Rome, Open City'' 1945). Fellini assisted on the script and Fabrizi playing the role of the priest, while Rossellini self-produced. Most of the money came from credits and loans, and film had to be found on the black market. This dramatic film was an immediate success. Rossellini had started now his so-called ''Neorealistic Trilogy'', the second title of which was ''Paisà'' (1946), produced with non-professional actors, and the third, ''Germany, Year Zero'' (1948), sponsored by a French producer and filmed in Berlin's French sector. In Berlin also, Rossellini preferred non-actors, but he was unable to find a face he found "interesting"; he placed his camera in the center of a town square, as he did for Paisà, but was surprised when nobody came to watch.

As he declared in an interview, "in order to really create the character that one has in mind, it is necessary for the director to engage in a battle with his actor which usually ends with submitting to the actor's wish. Since I do not have the desire to waste my energy in a battle like this, I only use professional actors occasionally". One of the reasons of success has been supposed to be the fact that Rossellini rewrote the scripts according to the non-professional actors' feelings and histories. Regional accent, dialect and costumes were shown in the film how they were in real life.

After his Neorealist Trilogy, Rossellini produced two films now classified as the 'Transitional films': ''L'Amore'' (1948) (with Anna Magnani) and ''La macchina ammazzacattivi'' (1952), on the capability of cinema to portray reality and truth (with recalls of commedia dell'arte). In 1948, Rossellini received a letter from a famous foreign actress proposing a collaboration: ::Dear Mr. Rossellini, :I saw your films Open City and Paisan, and enjoyed them very much. If you need a Swedish actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French, and who in Italian knows only "ti amo", I am ready to come and make a film with you. :::Ingrid Bergman

With this letter began one of the best known love stories in film history, with Bergman and Rossellini both at the peak of their careers. Their first collaboration was ''Stromboli terra di Dio'' (1950) (in the island of Stromboli, whose volcano quite conveniently erupted during filming). This affair caused a great scandal in some countries (Bergman and Rossellini were both married to other people); the scandal intensified when Bergman became pregnant. Rossellini and Bergman had three children, Isabella Rossellini (actress & model) and her twin, Ingrid Isotta, as well as a son Roberto Ingmar Rossellini. ''Europa '51'' (1952) and ''Journey to Italy'' (1953), ''La paura'' (1954) and ''Giovanna d'Arco al rogo'' (1954) were the other films on which they worked together.

In 1957, Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister at the time, invited him to India to make the documentary ''India'' and put some life into the floundering Indian Films Division. Though married to Bergman, he had an affair with Sonali Das Gupta, a screenwriter, who was helping develop vignettes for the film. Given the climate of the 1950s this led to a huge scandal in India as well as Hollywood. Nehru had to ask Rossellini to leave.

Rossellini married Sonali Das Gupta in 1957 and adopted her young son Arjun, renamed Gil Rossellini (23 October 1956 – 3 October 2008). Rossellini and Sonali had a daughter together, Raffaella Rossellini (born 1958).

In 1971, Rice University in Houston, Texas, invited Rossellini to help establish a Media Center. In 1973, he was invited to teach at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he taught a one-semester course entitled "The Essential Image." Roberto Rossellini died of a heart attack aged 71 in 1977.

Legacy

Rossellini's films after his early Neo-Realist films — particularly his films with Ingrid Bergman — were commercially unsuccessful, though ''Journey to Italy'' is well regarded in some quarters. He was an acknowledged master for the critics of ''Cahiers du Cinema'' in general and André Bazin, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard in particular. Truffaut noted in his 1963 essay, ''Roberto Rossellini Prefers Real Life'' (available in ''The Films In My Life'') that Rossellini's influence in France particularly among the directors who would become part of the ''nouvelle vague'' was so great that he was in every sense, "the father of the French New Wave".

Martin Scorsese has also acknowledged Rossellini's seminal influence in his documentary, ''My Voyage to Italy'' (the title itself a take on Rossellini's ''Voyage to Italy''). An important point to note is that out of Scorsese's selection of Italian films from a select group of directors (Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio DeSica, Michelangelo Antonioni) Rossellini's films form at least half of the films discussed and analyzed, highlighting Rossellini's monumental role in Italian and world cinema. The films covered include his Neo-Realist films to his films with Ingrid Bergman as well as ''The Flowers of St. Francis'', a film about St. Francis of Assisi. Scorsese notes in his documentary that in contrast to directors who often become more restrained and more conservative stylistically as their careers advance, Rossellini became more and more unconventional and was constantly experimenting with new styles and technical challenges. Scorsese particularly highlights the series of biographies Rossellini made in the 60's of historical figures and, although he does not discuss it in detail, singles out ''La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV'' for praise. Certain of Rossellini's film related material and personal papers are contained in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives to which scholars and media experts from around the world may have full access.

Filmography

''Dafne'' (1936)

''Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un faune'' (1937)

''La Fossa degli angeli''

''Luciano Serra pilota'' (1938)

''La Vispa Teresa'' (1939)

''Il Tacchino prepotente'' (1939)

''Fantasia sottomarina'' (1940)

''Il Ruscello di Ripasottile''

''Un Pilota ritorna'' (1942)

''La nave bianca'' (1942)

''L'Uomo dalla Croce'' (1943)

''Rome, Open City'' (1945)

''Desiderio'' (1946)

''Paisà'' (1946)

''L'Amore'' (segments: "Il Miracolo" and "Una voce umana") (1948)

''Germany, Year Zero'' (1948)

''L'Invasore'' (1949)

''Stromboli terra di Dio'' (1950)

''Francesco, giullare di Dio'' (1950)

''Medico condotto'' (1952)

''Les Sept péchés capitaux'' (segment: "Envie, L'Envy") (1952)

''La macchina ammazzacattivi'' (1952)

''Europa '51'' (1952)

''Siamo donne'' (segment: "Ingrid Bergman") (1953)

''Amori di mezzo secolo'' (segment: "Napoli 1943") (1954)

''Dov'è la libertà ... ?'' (1954)

''Viaggio in Italia'' (1954)

''La Paura'' (1954)

''Giovanna d'Arco al rogo'' (1954)

''India: Matri Bhumi'' (1959)

''Il generale Della Rovere'' (1959)

''Era Notte a Roma'' (1960)

''Viva l'Italia!'' (1961)

''Vanina Vanini'' (1961)

''Uno sguardo dal ponte'' (1961)

''Anima nera'' (1962)

''Benito Mussolini'' (1962)

''Ro.Go.Pa.G.'' (segment: "Illibatezza") (1963)

''Les Carabiniers'' (1963)

''The Taking of Power by Louis XIV'' (1966)

''Da Gerusalemme a Damasco'' (1970)

''Rice University'' (1971)

''Intervista a Salvador Allende: La forza e la ragione'' (1971)

''Agostino d'Ippona'' (1972)

''Concerto per Michelangelo'' (1974)

''The World Population'' (1974)

''Anno uno'' (1974)

''Il messia'' (1976)

''Beaubourg, centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou'' (1977)

Television credits

''L'India vista da Rossellini'' (miniseries) (1959)

''Torino nei cent'anni'' (1961)

''L'Età del ferro'' (1964)

''La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV'' (1966)

''Idea di un'isola'' (1967)

''Atti degli apostoli'' (miniseries) (1969)

"La Lotta dell'uomo per la sua sopravvivenza" (series) (1970)

''Socrates'' (1971)

''Blaise Pascal'' (1972)

''L'Età di Cosimo de Medici'' (1973)

''Cartesius'' (1974)

''Concerto per Michelangelo'' (1977)

Notes

External links

NY Times: The Elusive Realism of Rossellini

Rossellini's India at Indian Auteur

Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Italian film directors Category:Rice University people Category:People from Rome (city) Category:Italian atheists Category:1906 births Category:1977 deaths

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Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
name	Herman Melville
birth date	August 01, 1819
birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
death date	September 28, 1891
death place	New York City, New York, U.S.
occupation	Novelist, short story writer, teacher, sailor, lecturer, poet, customs inspector
nationality	American
genre	Travelogue, Captivity narrative, Sea story, Gothic Romanticism, Allegory, Tall tale
movement	Romanticism, and Skepticism; precursor to Modernism, precursor to absurdism and existentialism
signature	Herman Melville signature.svg }}

Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel ''Moby-Dick'' and the posthumous novella ''Billy Budd''. His first three books gained much contemporary attention (the first, ''Typee'', becoming a bestseller), but after a fast-blooming literary success in the late 1840s, his popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime. When he died in 1891, he was almost completely forgotten. It was not until the "Melville Revival" in the early 20th century that his work won recognition, especially ''Moby-Dick'', which was hailed as one of the literary masterpieces of both American and world literature. He was the first writer to have his works collected and published by the Library of America.

Biography

Early life, education, and family

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1, 1819, the third of eight children of Allan and Maria Gansevoort Melvill. After her husband Allan died, Maria added an "e" to the family surname. Part of a well-established and colorful Boston family, Melville's father spent a good deal of time abroad as a commission merchant and an importer of French dry goods. The author's paternal grandfather, Major Thomas Melvill, an honored participant of the Boston Tea Party who refused to change the style of his clothing or manners to fit the times, was depicted in Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem "The Last Leaf". Herman visited him in Boston, and his father turned to him in his frequent times of financial need. The maternal side of Melville's family was Hudson Valley Dutch. His maternal grandfather was General Peter Gansevoort, a hero of the Battle of Saratoga; in his gold-laced uniform, the general sat for a portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart, which is described in Melville's 1852 novel, ''Pierre'', for Melville wrote out of his familial as well as his nautical background. Like the titular character in ''Pierre,'' Melville found satisfaction in his "double revolutionary descent."

Allan Melvill sent his sons to the New York Male School (Columbia Preparatory School). Overextended financially and emotionally unstable, Allan tried to recover from his setbacks by moving his family to Albany in 1830 and going into the fur business. The new venture, however, was unsuccessful; the War of 1812 had ruined businesses that tried to sell overseas and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. He died soon afterward, leaving his family penniless, when Herman was 12. Although Maria had well-off kin, they were concerned with protecting their own inheritances and taking advantage of investment opportunities rather than settling their mother's estate so Maria's family would be more secure with Herman's younger brother, Thomas Melville, who eventually became a governor of Sailors Snug Harbor.

Melville attended the Albany Academy from October 1830 to October 1831, and again from October 1836 to March 1837, where he studied the classics.

Early working life

Melville's roving disposition and a desire to support himself independently of family assistance led him to seek work as a surveyor on the Erie Canal. This effort failed, and his brother helped him get a job as a cabin boy on a New York ship bound for Liverpool. He made the voyage, and returned on the same ship. ''Redburn: His First Voyage'' (1849) is partly based on his experiences of this journey.

The three years after Albany Academy (1837 to 1840) were mostly occupied with teaching school, except for the voyage to Liverpool in 1839. From 1838 to 1847, he resided at what is now known as the Herman Melville House in Lansingburgh, New York. Near the end of 1840 he once again decided to sign ship's articles. On January 3, 1841, he sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts on the whaler ''Acushnet'', which was bound for the Pacific Ocean. He was later to comment that his life began that day. The vessel sailed around Cape Horn and traveled to the South Pacific. Melville left little direct information about the events of this 18-month cruise, although his whaling romance, ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale,'' probably gives many pictures of life on board the ''Acushnet''. Melville deserted the ''Acushnet'' in the Marquesas Islands in July 1842. For three weeks he lived among the Typee natives, who were called cannibals by the two other tribal groups on the island—though they treated Melville very well. ''Typee'', Melville's first novel, describes a brief love affair with a beautiful native girl, Fayaway, who generally "wore the garb of Eden" and came to epitomize the guileless noble savage in the popular imagination.

Melville did not seem to be concerned about repercussions from his desertion from the ''Acushnet''. He boarded another whaler bound for Hawaii and left that ship in Honolulu. While in Honolulu, he became a controversial figure for his vehement opposition to the activities of Christian missionaries seeking to convert the native population. After working as a clerk for four months, he joined the crew of the frigate , which reached Boston in October 1844. These experiences were described in ''Typee'', ''Omoo'', and ''White-Jacket'', which were published as novels mainly because few believed their veracity.

Melville completed ''Typee'' in the summer of 1845, though he had difficulty getting it published. It was eventually published in 1846 in London, where it became an overnight bestseller. The Boston publisher subsequently accepted ''Omoo'' sight unseen. ''Typee'' and ''Omoo'' gave Melville overnight notoriety as a writer and adventurer, and he often entertained by telling stories to his admirers. As writer and editor Nathaniel Parker Willis wrote, "With his cigar and his Spanish eyes, he ''talks'' Typee and Omoo, just as you find the flow of his delightful mind on paper". The novels, however, did not generate enough royalties for him to live on. ''Omoo'' was not as colorful as ''Typee'', and readers began to realize Melville was not just producing adventure stories. ''Redburn'' and ''White-Jacket'' had no problem finding publishers. ''Mardi'' was a disappointment for readers who wanted another rollicking and exotic sea yarn.

Marriage and later working life

Melville married Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Lemuel Shaw, on August 4, 1847; the couple honeymooned in Canada. They had four children: two sons and two daughters. In 1850 they purchased Arrowhead, a farm house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, now a museum. Here Melville lived for 13 years, occupied with his writing and managing his farm. While living at Arrowhead, he befriended the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who lived in nearby Lenox. Melville, an intellectual loner for most of his life, was tremendously inspired and encouraged by his new relationship with Hawthorne during the period that he was writing ''Moby-Dick'' (dedicating it to Hawthorne), though their friendship was on the wane only a short time later, when he wrote ''Pierre'' there. However, these works did not achieve the popular and critical success of his earlier books. Indeed, The New York ''Day Book'' on September 8, 1852, published a venomous attack on Melville and his writings headlined ''HERMAN MELVILLE CRAZY''. The item, offered as a news story, reported, "A critical friend, who read Melville's last book, 'Ambiguities," between two steamboat accidents, told us that it appeared to be composed of the ravings and reveries of a madman. We were somewhat startled at the remark, but still more at learning, a few days after, that Melville was really supposed to be deranged, and that his friends were taking measures to place him under treatment. We hope one of the earliest precautions will be to keep him stringently secluded from pen and ink." Following this and other scathing reviews of ''Pierre'' by critics, publishers became wary of Melville's work. His publisher, Harper & Brothers, rejected his next manuscript, ''Isle of the Cross'' which has been lost. On April 1, 1857, Melville published his last full-length novel, ''The Confidence-Man''. This novel, subtitled "His Masquerade", has won general acclaim in modern times as a complex and mysterious exploration of issues of fraud and honesty, identity and masquerade, but when it was published, it received reviews ranging from the bewildered to the denunciatory.

To repair his faltering finances, Melville listened to the advice of friends and decided to enter what was for others the lucrative field of lecturing. From 1857 to 1860, he spoke at lyceums, chiefly on the South Seas. Turning to poetry, he gathered a collection of verse that failed to interest a publisher. In 1863, he and his wife resettled, with their four children, in New York City. After the end of the American Civil War, he published ''Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War'', (1866) a collection of over 70 poems that generally was ignored by the critics, though a few gave him patronizingly favorable reviews. In 1866, Melville's wife and her relatives used their influence to obtain a position for him as customs inspector for the City of New York (a humble but adequately paying appointment), and he held the post for 19 years. In a notoriously corrupt institution, Melville soon won the reputation of being the only honest employee of the customs house. (The customs house was coincidentally on Gansevoort St., named after his mother's prosperous family.) But from 1866, his professional writing career can be said to have come to an end.

Later years

Melville spent years writing a 16,000-line epic poem, ''Clarel'', inspired by his earlier trip to the Holy Land. His uncle, Peter Gansevoort, by a bequest, paid for the publication of the massive epic in 1876. But the publication failed miserably, and the unsold copies were burned when Melville was unable to afford to buy them at cost.

As his professional fortunes waned, Melville's marriage was unhappy. Elizabeth's relatives repeatedly urged her to leave him, and offered to have him committed as insane, but she refused. In 1867, his oldest son, Malcolm, shot himself, perhaps accidentally. While Melville worked, his wife managed to wean him off alcohol, and he no longer showed signs of agitation or insanity. But recurring depression was added to by the death of his second son, Stanwix, in San Francisco early in 1886. Melville retired in 1886, after several of his wife's relatives died and left the couple legacies that Mrs. Melville administered with skill and good fortune.

As English readers, pursuing the vogue for sea stories represented by such writers as G. A. Henty, rediscovered Melville's novels, he experienced a modest revival of popularity in England, though not in the United States. Once more he took up his pen, writing a series of poems with prose head notes inspired by his early experiences at sea. He published them in two collections, each issued in a tiny edition of 25 copies for his relatives and friends: ''John Marr'' (1888) and ''Timoleon'' (1891).

One of these poems further intrigued him, and he began to rework the headnote to turn it into first a short story and then a novella. He worked on it on and off for several years, but when he died in September 1891, he left the piece unfinished, and not until the literary scholar Raymond Weaver published it in 1924 did the book – which is now known as ''Billy Budd, Sailor'' – come to light.

Melville died at his home in New York City early on the morning of September 28, 1891, age 72. The doctor listed "cardiac dilation" on the death certificate. He was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. A common story says that his ''New York Times'' obituary called him "''Henry'' Melville", implying that he was unknown and unappreciated at his time of death, but the story is not true.

From about age 33, Melville ceased to be popular with a broad audience because of his increasingly philosophical, political, and experimental tendencies. His novella ''Billy Budd, Sailor'', unpublished at the time of his death, was published in 1924. Later it was turned into an opera by Benjamin Britten, a play, and a film by Peter Ustinov.

In ''Herman Melville's Religious Journey'', Walter Donald Kring detailed his discovery of letters indicating that Melville had been a member of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City. Until this revelation, little had been known of his religious affiliation. Hershel Parker in the second volume of his biography makes it clear that Melville became a nominal member only to placate his wife. Melville despised Unitarianism and its associated "ism", Utilitarianism. (The great English Unitarians were Utilitarians.) See the 2006 Norton Critical Edition of ''The Confidence-Man'' for more detail on Melville and religion than in Parker's 2002 volume.

Publications and contemporary reactions

Most of Melville's novels were published first in the United Kingdom and then in the U.S. Sometimes the editions contain substantial differences; at other times different printings were either bowdlerized or restored to their pre-bowdlerized state. (For specifics on different publication dates, editions, printings, etc., please see entries for individual novels.)

''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' has become Melville's most famous work and is often considered one of the greatest literary works of all time. It was dedicated to Melville's friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. It did not, however, make Melville rich. The book never sold its initial printing of 3,000 copies in his lifetime, and total earnings from the American edition amounted to just $556.37 from his publisher, Harper & Brothers. Melville also wrote ''Billy Budd, White-Jacket, Israel Potter, Redburn, Typee, Omoo, Pierre, The Confidence-Man'' and many short stories, including "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" and "Benito Cereno," and works of various genres.

Melville is less well known as a poet and did not publish poetry until later in life. After the Civil War, he published ''Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War'', which did not sell well; of the Harper & Bros. printing of 1200 copies, only 525 had been sold ten years later. Again tending to outrun the tastes of his readers, Melville's epic length verse-narrative ''Clarel'', about a student's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, was also quite obscure, even in his own time. Among the longest single poems in American literature, ''Clarel'', published in 1876, had an initial printing of only 350 copies. The critic Lewis Mumford found a copy of the poem in the New York Public Library in 1925 "with its pages uncut"—in other words, it had sat there unread for 50 years.

His poetry is not as highly critically esteemed as his fiction, although some critics place him as the first modernist poet in the United States; others would assert that his work more strongly suggest what today would be a postmodern view. A leading champion of Melville's claims as a great American poet was the poet and novelist Robert Penn Warren, who issued a selection of Melville's poetry prefaced by an admiring and acute critical essay.

Critical response

Contemporary criticism

Melville was not financially successful as a writer, having earned just over $10,000 for his writing during his lifetime. After the success of travelogues based on voyages to the South Seas and stories based on misadventures in the merchant marine and navy, Melville's popularity declined dramatically. By 1876, all of his books were out of print. In the later years of his life and during the years after his death he was recognized, if at all, as only a minor figure in American literature.

Melville revival

A confluence of publishing events in the 1920s brought about a reassessment now commonly called "the Melville Revival". The two books generally considered most important to the Revival were Raymond Weaver's 1921 biography ''Herman Melville: Man, Mariner and Mystic'' and his 1924 edition of Melville's last great but never quite finished manuscript, ''Billy Budd'', which Melville's granddaughter gave to Weaver when he visited her for research on the biography. The other works that helped fan the Revival flames were Carl Van Doren's ''The American Novel'' (1921), D. H. Lawrence's ''Studies in Classic American Literature'' (1923), and Lewis Mumford's biography, ''Herman Melville: A Study of His Life and Vision'' (1929). In 1945, the Melville Society was formed as a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating Melville’s literary legacy. Jay Leyda, better known for his work in film, spent more than a decade gathering documents and records for the day by day ''Melville Log'' (1951). In the same year Newton Arvin published the critical biography ''Herman Melville'', which won the nonfiction National Book Award.

In the 1960s, Northwestern University Press, in alliance with the Newberry Library and the Modern Language Association, established ongoing publication runs of Melville's various titles. This alliance sought to create a "definitive" edition of Melville's works. Titles republished under the Northwestern-Newberry Library include ''Typee'', ''Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces'', ''Omoo'', ''Israel Potter'', ''Pierre or the Ambiguities'', ''Confidence-Man'', ''White Jacket or the World in a Man-of-War'', ''Moby Dick'', ''Mardi and a Voyage Thither'', ''Redburn'', ''Clarel'', as well as several volumes of Melville's poems, journals, and correspondence.

Themes of gender and sexuality

Although not the primary focus of Melville scholarship, there has been an emerging interest in the role of gender and sexuality in some of Melville's writings. Some critics, particularly those interested in gender studies, have explored the existence of male-dominant social structures in Melville's fiction. For example, Alvin Sandberg claimed that the short story "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids" offers "an exploration of impotency, a portrayal of a man retreating to an all-male childhood to avoid confrontation with sexual manhood" from which the narrator engages in "congenial" digressions in heterogeneity. In line with this view Warren Rosenberg argues the homosocial "Paradise of Bachelors" is shown to be "superficial and sterile." David Harley Serlin observes in the second half of Melville's diptych, "The Tartarus of Maids," the narrator gives voice to the oppressed women he observes: "As other scholars have noted, the "slave" image here has two clear connotations. One describes the exploitation of the women's physical labor, and the other describes the exploitation of the women's reproductive organs. Of course, as models of women's oppression, the two are clearly intertwined." In the end the narrator is never fully able to come to terms with the contrasting masculine and feminine modalities. Issues of sexuality have been observed in other works as well. Rosenberg notes Taji, in "Mardi", and the protagonist in "Pierre" "think they are saving young "maidens in distress" (Yillah and Isabel) out of the purest of reasons but both are also conscious of a lurking sexual motive." When Taji kills the old priest holding Yillah captive, he states "remorse smote me hard; and like lightning I asked myself whether the death deed I had done was sprung of virtuous motive, the rescuing of a captive from thrall, or whether beneath the pretense I had engaged in this fatal affray for some other selfish purpose, the companionship of a beautiful maid." In "Pierre" the motive for his self-sacrifice for Isabel is admitted: "womanly beauty and not womanly ugliness invited him to champion the right." Rosenberg argues "This awareness of a double motive haunts both books and ultimately destroys their protagonists who would not fully acknowledge the dark underside of their idealism. The epistemological quest and the transcendental quest for love and belief are consequently sullied by the erotic."

Melville fully explores the theme of sexuality in his major poetical work "Clarel." When the narrator is separated from Ruth, with whom he has fallen in love, he is free to explore other sexual (and religious) possibilities before deciding at the end of the poem to participate in the ritualistic order marriage represents. In the course of the poem "he considers every form of sexual orientation - celibacy, homosexuality, hedonism, and heterosexuality - raising the same kinds of questions as when he considers Islam or Democracy."

Some passages and sections of Melville's works demonstrate his willingness to address all forms of sexuality, including the homoerotic, in his works. Commonly given examples from ''Moby Dick'' are the interpretation of male bonding from what is termed the "marriage bed" episode involving Ishmael and Queequeg, and the "Squeeze of the Hand" chapter describing the camaraderie of sailors extracting spermaceti from a dead whale. Billy Budd's physical attractiveness is described in quasi-feminine terms: "As the Handsome Sailor, Billy Budd's position aboard the seventy-four was something analogous to that of a rustic beauty transplanted from the provinces and brought into competition with the highborn dames of the court." Some critics argue that "Ahab's pursuit of the whale, which can be associated with the feminine in its shape, mystery, and in its naturalness, represents the ultimate fusion of the epistemological and sexual quest."

Law and literature

In recent years, ''Billy Budd'' has become a central text in the field of legal scholarship known as law and literature. In the novel, Billy, a handsome and popular young sailor impressed from the merchant vessel ''Rights of Man'' to serve aboard H.M.S. ''Bellipotent'' in the late 1790s, during the war between Revolutionary France and Great Britain and her monarchic allies, excites the enmity and hatred of the ship's master-at-arms, John Claggart. Claggart devises phony charges of mutiny and other crimes to level against Billy, and Captain the Honorable Edward Fairfax Vere institutes an informal inquiry, at which Billy convulsively strikes Claggart because his stammer prevents him from speaking. Vere immediately convenes a drumhead court-martial, at which, after serving as sole witness and as Billy's de facto counsel, Vere then urges the court to convict and sentence Billy to death. The trial is recounted in chapter 21, the longest chapter in the book, and that trial has become the focus of scholarly controversy: was Captain Vere a good man trapped by bad law, or did he deliberately distort and misrepresent the applicable law to condemn Billy to death?

Legacy

On May 12, 1985, the New York City Herman Melville Society gathered at 104 East 26th Street to dedicate the intersection of Park Avenue south and 26th Street as Herman Melville Square. This is the street where Melville lived from 1863 to 1891 and where, among other works, he wrote ''Billy Budd''.

In 2010 it was announced that a new species of extinct giant sperm whale, ''Livyatan melvillei'' was named in honor of Melville. The paleontologists who discovered the fossil are all fans of ''Moby-Dick'' and wanted to dedicate their discovery to Melville.

Bibliography

References and further reading

Notes

External links

Arrowhead—The Home of Herman Melville

Physical description of Melville from his 1856 passport application

Melville's page at Literary Journal.com-research articles on Melville's works

Melville Room at the Berkshire Athenaeum

New Bedford Whaling Museum

The Confidence Man: His Masquerade ed. Scott Atkins with critical introduction, historical contexts, and new footnotes from American Studies at the University of Virginia.

Billy Budd: Foretopman ed. David Padilla with extensive linked footnotes and glossary of terms from American Studies at the University of Virginia

The Language of Gesture: Melville's Imaging of Blackness and the Modernity of ''Billy Budd'' by Klaus Benesch

The Encantadas from American Studies at the University of Virginia

The Life and Works of Herman Melville

The Melville Society

Melville index entry at Poets' Corner

Contemporary views on Herman Melville

"Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World", PBS, ''American Experience'', 2010. Cf. section on Melville.

Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America: Collecting Herman Melville

Category:1819 births Category:1891 deaths Category:American novelists Category:American essayists Category:American poets Category:American Presbyterians Category:American Christians Category:American sailors Category:American short story writers Category:American travel writers Category:American Unitarians Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:Moby-Dick Category:People from Albany, New York Category:People from New York City Category:People from Pittsfield, Massachusetts Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:Maritime writers

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