Mischa Auer
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| Mischa Auer | |
 from the trailer for the film Sweethearts (1938). |
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| Born | November 17, 1905 St. Petersburg, Russia |
| Died | March 5, 1967 Rome, Italy |
Mischa Auer (17 November 1905 in St. Petersburg – 5 March 1967 in Rome) was a Russian actor, born Mischa Ounskowsky. Young Ounskowsky renamed himself Auer after his grandfather, violinist Leopold Auer. He began stage work in the 1920s, then moved to Hollywood, where he first appeared in 1928 in Something Always Happens. He appeared in several small and mostly uncredited roles into the 1930s, appearing in such films as Rasputin and the Empress, Viva Villa!, Gershwin musical Delicious, and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer.
But in 1936, Auer was cast as a false nobleman in the comedy My Man Godfrey, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. From then on, he was regularly cast in zany comedy roles. Auer is at his zenith in such roles as the ballet instructor, Kolenkov, in the Best Picture-winning You Can't Take It With You (wherein he instructs Jean Arthur with the line, "Ah, my little Rubishka!") and the prince turned fashion designer in Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938. Auer can also be seen cavorting in such films as: 100 Men and a Girl, Destry Rides Again, Spring Parade, Hellzapoppin', Cracked Nuts and Lady in the Dark. He was also one of the large cast of And Then There Were None.
In the 1950s, Auer appeared on several episodic television series, like Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Studio One, Broadway Television Theatre and The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre. In the 1960s, he made several films in France and Italy.
Auer married four times, and had three children. He died of cardiovascular disease in Rome in 1967.
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