# Eddie Constantine

Eddie Constantine (born Israel Constantine; October 29, 1913 – February 25, 1993) was an American singer, actor and entertainer who spent most of his career in France. He became well-known to film audiences for his portrayal of secret agent Lemmy Caution and other, similar pulp heroes in French B-movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
His celebrity and status as something of a pop icon saw him work with prominent arthouse directors like Jean-Luc Godard (as Caution in Alphaville and Germany Year 90 Nine Zero), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (as himself in Beware of a Holy Whore 1971 and also World on a Wire), Jesús Franco, Agnès Varda, Rosa von Praunheim, Lars von Trier, William Klein and Mika Kaurismäki.

## Early life

Constantine was born Israel Constantine in Los Angeles, California to Jewish immigrant parents, a Russian father and Polish mother; his father was a jeweler. In pursuit of a singing career, he went to Vienna for voice training. However, when he returned to the United States, his career failed to take off, and he started taking work as a film extra.

## Career

Having failed to make a career in the United States, Constantine returned to Europe in the early 1950s and started singing and performing in Paris cabarets. He was noticed by Edith Piaf, who cast him in the musical La p'tite Lili. Constantine also helped Piaf with translations for her 1956 album La Vie en Rose/Édith Piaf Sings In English and so he has songwriting credits on the English versions of some of her most famous songs (especially "Hymne à l'amour"/"Hymn to Love").
In the 1950s, Constantine was a star in France because of his role as the hard-boiled detective/secret agent Lemmy Caution (from Peter Cheyney's novels) in a series of French B-pictures, including La môme vert-de-gris (1953), This Man Is Dangerous (1953), Je suis un sentimental (1955), Lemmy pour les dames (1961) and Your Turn, Darling (1963).
When not playing Lemmy Caution, Constantine would have a character that would still typically be a suave-talking, seductive, smooth guy although he often played that for laughs. He turned his accent and perceived American cockiness to advantage in such roles, and he later described his film persona as having been "James Bond before James Bond". One of his best remembered later roles was as the visiting Mafia boss Charlie in the British gangster film The Long Good Friday (1980), a rare English-speaking role.
One of his most notable roles was in Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville (1965), in which he reprised (to a more radical end) the role of Lemmy Caution, in a departure from the style of his other films. His box-office appeal in France waned in the mid-1960s. Having remarried to a German television producer, he eventually relocated to Germany, where he worked as a character actor, appearing in German television dramas as well as film. Constantine later claimed that he had never taken his acting career seriously, as he considered himself to be a singer by trade, and that he had been an actor strictly for the money. In 1982 he appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's film Red Love. He nevertheless worked with directors including Godard and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and his last notable film appearance was in Lars von Trier's Europa in 1991. He had taken up the part of Lemmy for the last time that year, in Godard's experimental film Germany Year 90 Nine Zero.

## Personal life

Constantine was married three times: to Helene Musil (1942-1976, divorced), with whom he had three children; Dorothea Gibson (1977, divorced); and the film producer Maya Faber-Jansen (1979–1993, Constantine's death), with whom he had one child. His daughter Tanya (b. 1943) is a photographer. His daughter Barbara (b. 1955) is a writer, his son Lemmy (b. 1957) is also a singer and actor. His daughter Mia (b. 1981) is a theater director.

## Death

Constantine died of a heart attack on February 25, 1993 in Wiesbaden, Germany, aged 79. His remains were cremated and remanded to Paris.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1953 | Egypt by Three | Nick | Victor Stoloff | (third episode) |
| 1953 | La môme vert-de-gris | Lemmy Caution | Bernard Borderie | |
| 1953 | This Man Is Dangerous | Lemmy Caution | Jean Sacha | |
| 1954 | The Women Couldn't Care Less | Lemmy Caution | Bernard Borderie | |
| 1954 | Avanzi di galera [it] | Franco Cesari | Vittorio Cottafavi | |
| 1954 | Yours Truly, Blake | Larry Blake | Jean Laviron | |
| 1955 | Give 'em Hell | Johnny Jordan | John Berry | |
| 1955 | Je suis un sentimental | Barney Morgan | John Berry | |
| 1955 | Vous pigez ? [fr] | Lemmy Caution | Pierre Chevalier | |
| 1956 | Ce soir les jupons volent [fr] | Monsieur Howard | Dimitri Kirsanoff | Uncredited |
| 1956 | Folies-Bergère | Bob Wellington | Henri Decoin | |
| 1956 | Man and Child | Fred Barker | Raoul André | |
| 1956 | Bonsoir Paris, bonjour l'amour [fr] | cameo appearance | Ralph Baum | |
| 1957 | Et par ici la sortie | Eddie | Willy Rozier | Uncredited |
| 1957 | Le Grand Bluff [fr] | Eddie F. Morgan | Patrice Dally [fr] | |
| 1957 | Ces dames préfèrent le mambo | Burt Brickford | Bernard Borderie | |
| 1957 | Les Truands | Jim Esposito | Carlo Rim | |
| 1958 | Incognito [fr] | Bob Stanley | Patrice Dally [fr] | |
| 1958 | Hoppla, jetzt kommt Eddie [de] | Eddie Petersen | Werner Klingler | |
| 1958 | Passport to Shame | Johnny McVey | Alvin Rakoff | |
| 1959 | Du rififi chez les femmes | Interpol Agent Williams | Alex Joffé | |
| 1959 | The Treasure of San Teresa (Hot Money Girl) | Larry Brennan | Alvin Rakoff | |
| 1959 | SOS Pacific | Mark Reisner | Guy Green | |
| 1960 | Bombs on Monte Carlo | Captain Eddie Cronen | Georg Jacoby | |
| 1960 | Women Are Like That | Lemmy Caution | Bernard Borderie | |
| 1960 | Jack of Spades | Patrick | Yves Allégret | |
| 1960 | Ravishing | cameo appearance | Robert Lamoureux | Uncredited |
| 1960 | Ça va être ta fête [fr] | John Lewis / John Jarvis | Pierre Montazel | |
| 1961 | Me faire ça à moi [fr] | Eddie MacAvoy | Pierre Grimblat [fr] | |
| 1961 | Destination Fury | Felice Esposito | Giorgio Bianchi | |
| 1961 | Cause toujours, mon lapin [fr] | Jackson | Guy Lefranc | |
| 1962 | Une grosse tête [fr] | Napoléon "Naps" Dubois | Claude de Givray | |
| 1962 | The Seven Deadly Sins | cameo appearance | Jean-Luc Godard | (segment "La paresse") |
| 1962 | Lemmy pour les dames | Lemmy Caution | Bernard Borderie | |
| 1962 | Cléo from 5 to 7 | cameo appearance | Agnès Varda | Uncredited |
| 1962 | Lykke og krone | cameo appearance | Colbjørn Helander and Stein Saelen | |
| 1962 | Bonne chance, Charlie | Charlie | Jean-Louis Richard | |
| 1962 | L'Empire de la nuit [fr] | Eddie | Pierre Grimblat [fr] | |
| 1962 | Nous irons à Deauville | Friend of Pin-Up Girl | Francis Rigaud [fr] | Uncredited |
| 1963 | Jeff Gordon, Secret Agent | Jeff Gordon | Raoul André | |
| 1963 | Les Femmes d'abord [fr] | Bobby Carao | Raoul André | |
| 1963 | Tela de araña | Eddie Ross | José Luis Monter | |
| 1963 | Your Turn, Darling | Lemmy Caution | Bernard Borderie | |
| 1964 | Die ganze Welt ist himmelblau [de] | Himself | Franz Antel | |
| 1964 | How Do You Like My Sister? | Himself | Michel Boisrond | |
| 1964 | Laissez tirer les tireurs [fr] | Jeff Gordon | Guy Lefranc | |
| 1964 | Nick Carter va tout casser | Nick Carter | Henri Decoin | |
| 1964 | Lucky Jo | Lucky Jo | Michel Deville | |
| 1965 | Ces dames s'en mêlent | Jeff Gordon | Raoul André | |
| 1965 | Faites vos jeux, mesdames [fr] | Mike Warner | Marcel Ophuls | |
| 1965 | Cent briques et des tuiles | Le consommateur au bar | Pierre Grimblat [fr] | |
| 1965 | Alphaville | Lemmy Caution | Jean-Luc Godard | |
| 1965 | Je vous salue, mafia! | Rudy Hamberg | Raoul Lévy | |
| 1965 | Nick Carter and Red Club | Nick Carter | Jean-Paul Savignac [fr] | |
| 1966 | Attack of the Robots | Al Pereira | Jesus Franco | |
| 1968 | Residencia para espías [it] (transl. Boarding House for Spies) | Dan Leyton | Jesus Franco | |
| 1968 | Ces messieurs de la famille [fr] | Cousin Lemmy | Raoul André | |
| 1968 | À tout casser | Ric | John Berry | |
| 1969 | Les Gros Malins [fr] | Eddie | Raymond Leboursier | |
| 1969 | Lions Love | Himself | Agnès Varda | |
| 1970 | Malatesta | Malatesta | Peter Lilienthal | TV movie |
| 1970 | Eine Rose für Jane | Boss | Hans W. Geißendörfer | TV movie |
| 1971 | Supergirl | Partygast bei Polonsky | Rudolf Thome | TV movie |
| 1971 | Beware of a Holy Whore | Himself | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | |
| 1971 | Haytabo (Eddie geht weiter) | the professor | Ulli Lommel | |
| 1973 | Geen paniek | Bill Silkstocking | Ko Koedijk | |
| 1973 | World on a Wire | Man in car | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | TV serial |
| 1974 | Une baleine qui avait mal aux dents [fr] | Eddie | Jacques Bral | |
| 1975 | Souvenir of Gibraltar | Father Jo | Henri Xhonneux | |
| 1975 | A Second Spring [de] | Frank Cabot | Ulli Lommel | |
| 1976 | Raid on Entebbe | Capt. Michel Bacos | Irvin Kershner | TV movie |
| 1977 | Bloedverwanten | Priest | Wim Lindner | |
| 1977 | Le Couple témoin | Dr. Goldberg | William Klein | |
| 1978 | It Lives Again | Dr. Forrest | Larry Cohen | |
| 1979 | The Third Generation | Peter Lurz | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | |
| 1979 | Ticket of No Return (Bildnis einer Trinkerin) | Küstler | Ulrike Ottinger | |
| 1980 | Exit... nur keine Panik | Poigrard | Franz Novotny | |
| 1980 | Panic Time | Lemmy Caution | Udo Lindenberg | |
| 1980 | Car-napping | police officer Laroux | Wigbert Wicker | |
| 1980 | The Long Good Friday | Charlie | John Mackenzie | |
| 1981 | Die Alptraumfrau | | Lothar Lambert | |
| 1981 | Tango durch Deutschland | Eddie | Lutz Mommartz | |
| 1981 | Neige | Pierrot | Juliet Berto et Jean-Henri Roger | |
| 1981 | Freak Orlando | Säulenheiliger | Ulrike Ottinger | |
| 1982 | Red Love | Pawel Pawlowitsch | Rosa von Praunheim | |
| 1982 | Boxoffice | Hugh Barren | Josef Bogdanovitch | |
| 1983 | Non-Stop Trouble with Spies [de] | Gregori Ustinov | Ottokar Runze | |
| 1983 | La Bête noire [fr] | the bar proprietor | Patrick Chaput | |
| 1983 | Das Mikado-Projekt | Lemmy Caution | Torsten Emrich | |
| 1984 | Rambo Zambo | Harry | Reinhard Donga [de] | TV movie |
| 1984 | Flight to Berlin | Himself | Christopher Petit | |
| 1984 | Uno scugnizzo a New York [it] | Sammy | Mariano Laurenti | |
| 1984 | Tiger: Springtime in Vienna [de] | Lemmy Caution | Peter Patzak | |
| 1984 | Seifenblasen | | Alfred Ninaus | |
| 1985 | Seifenblasen | cameo appearance | Alfred Ninaus [de] | |
| 1985 | Paul Chevrolet en de ultieme hallucinatie [nl] | Boy Pappa | Pim de la Parra | |
| 1986 | Makaroni Blues [no] | Lemmy Caution | Bela Csepesanyi | |
| 1986 | Roncalli | Pablo | Michael Mackenroth | TV series |
| 1987 | Frankenstein's Aunt | Alois - Water Spirit | Juraj Jakubisko | TV series, 7 episodes |
| 1987 | Freckled Max and the Spooks | Alojz | Juraj Jakubisko | |
| 1987 | Helsinki Napoli All Night Long | Old Gangster | Mika Kaurismäki | |
| 1989 | Le retour de Lemmy Caution | Lemmy Caution | Josée Dayan | TV movie |
| 1989 | Europa, abends | Mr. Hardayle | Claudia Schröder | |
| 1991 | Europa | Colonel Harris | Lars von Trier | |
| 1991 | Germany Year 90 Nine Zero | Lemmy Caution | Jean-Luc Godard | |
| 1991 | Tokyo no kyujitsu [ja] | William Wright | Naoki Nagao | |
| 1993 | Three Shake-a-leg Steps to Heaven [lb] | Don Fabrizzi | Andy Bausch | |
| 2010 | Dimension | N/A | Lars von Trier | Unfinished |