# Mischa Auer

Mischa Auer (born Mikhail Semyonovich Unkovsky, Russian: Михаил Семёнович Унковский; 17 November 1905 – 5 March 1967) was a Russian-born American actor who moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s. He first appeared in film in 1928. Auer had a long career playing in many of the era's best known films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1936 for his performance in the screwball comedy My Man Godfrey, which led to further zany comedy roles. He later moved into television and acted in films again in France and Italy well into the 1960s.

## Early life

Auer was born in St. Petersburg, Russia to a Jewish family. His name is usually seen as Mischa Ounskowsky, Mischa being the German transliteration of Misha (the diminutive form of Mikhail), and Ounskowsky being the French transliteration of his surname (with an unexplained additional "s"). Auer's father was an Imperial Russian Navy officer Semyon Ivanovich Unkovsky (1871–1921) and his mother was Zoya Lvovna Unkovskaya (née Auer), the eldest daughter of the Hungarian-born violinist Leopold Auer. Contrary to the popular belief, his father did not die when Mischa was three years old. Semyon Unkovsky left Zoya Auer and married her sister, Maria Lvovna Auer (they had a son, also named Mischa (Mikhail Unkovsky) (1904–1940), Russian actor, arrested in 1938 on counter-revolutionary charges and died in forced labour camp in Kolyma). Semyon Unkovsky retired from the Navy in 1906 and settled in Kaluga, Russia, where he died in 1921. Leopold Auer emigrated to the United States after the Russian Revolution. Mischa Auer and his mother became separated, but were reunited during the Russian Civil War. She, however, died of typhus. Auer was able to contact his grandfather, who brought him to the United States in August 1920.

## Career

Auer began performing on the stage in the 1920s in Bertha Kalich's Thalia Yiddish Theater, then moved to Hollywood, where he first appeared in 1928 in Something Always Happens. He appeared in several small, mostly uncredited roles into the 1930s, appearing in such films as Rasputin and the Empress, Viva Villa!, The Yellow Ticket, the George Gershwin musical Delicious, the Paramount Pictures all-star revue Paramount on Parade and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer.
In 1936, Auer was cast as Alice Brady's protégé in the comedy My Man Godfrey, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Prior to that, he had been mostly playing villains. He stated, "That one role made a comic out of me." From then on, he was regularly cast in zany comedy roles. Auer played the ballet instructor Kolenkov in the Best Picture-winning You Can't Take It with You and the prince-turned-fashion designer in Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938. Auer can also be seen cavorting in such films as: Arsène Lupin (1932), One Hundred Men and a Girl, Hold That Ghost, Destry Rides Again, Spring Parade, Hellzapoppin', Cracked Nuts, Lady in the Dark, and Up in Mabel's Room (1944). He was also one of the large cast of And Then There Were None, and appeared in a pair of vehicles for opera singer Lily Pons.
In the 1950s, Auer appeared on several episodic television series, such as Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Studio One, Broadway Television Theatre and The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre. He appeared in Orson Welles's Mr. Arkadin (1955), and in the 1960s, he made several films in France and Italy, including The Christmas That Almost Wasn't.

## Personal life

Auer married four times and had three children. His first wife was Norma Tillman (1931–1941), whom he married in 1931. They had a son Anthony and a daughter Zoia. They divorced in 1941. In the same year, he married Joyce Hunter (4 December 1941 – 1950), his second wife, whom he lived with for 9 years. His third wife was Susanne Kalish (5 May 1950 – 1957), and they had one daughter. His fourth wife was Elise Souls Lee (1965 – 5 March 1967) who died in 1976.

## Death

Auer died of cardiovascular disease in Rome in 1967 and was interred at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Gloversville, New York.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1928 | Something Always Happens | Clark | Frank Tuttle | |
| 1929 | Marquis Preferred | Albert | Frank Tuttle | |
| 1929 | Why Be Good? | Man Dancing at The Boiler | William A. Seiter | Uncredited |
| 1929 | The Studio Murder Mystery | Grant's Secretary | Frank Tuttle | Uncredited |
| 1929 | The Mighty | Hood | John Cromwell | Uncredited |
| 1930 | Guilty? | Minor Role | | Uncredited |
| 1930 | The Benson Murder Case | Albert Brecker | Frank Tuttle | Uncredited |
| 1930 | Paramount on Parade | Thug (Murder Will Out) | Edmund Goulding and 10 other directors | Uncredited |
| 1930 | Inside the Lines | Amahdi | Roy Pomeroy | |
| 1930 | Shooting Straight | Frenchie | George Archainbaud | Uncredited |
| 1930 | Just Imagine | B-36 | David Butler | |
| 1931 | The Royal Bed | Grecian Ambassador | Lowell Sherman | Uncredited |
| 1931 | No Limit | Romeo | Frank Tuttle | |
| 1931 | Command Performance | Duke Charles | Walter Lang | |
| 1931 | It Pays to Advertise | Man Putting Sign on Car | Frank Tuttle | Uncredited |
| 1931 | King of the Wild | Prince Dakka, escaped lunatic | Theodore Joos | |
| 1931 | The Drums of Jeopardy | Peter | George B. Seitz | |
| 1931 | The Spy | Man in Cafe | Berthold Viertel | |
| 1931 | Always Goodbye | Mechanic | William Cameron Menzies | Uncredited |
| 1931 | Women of All Nations | Hassan's Aide | Raoul Walsh | Uncredited |
| 1931 | Women Love Once | Oscar | Edward Goodman | |
| 1931 | The Lady from Nowhere | Rigo | Richard Thorpe | |
| 1931 | The Unholy Garden | Prince Nicolai Poliakoff | George Fitzmaurice | |
| 1931 | The Yellow Ticket | Melchior | Raoul Walsh | |
| 1931 | Working Girls | Elsie's Boyfriend | Dorothy Arzner | Uncredited |
| 1931 | Mata Hari | Firing Squad Victim | George Fitzmaurice | Uncredited |
| 1931 | Delicious | Mischa | David Butler | |
| 1932 | The Monster Walks | Hanns Krug | Frank R. Strayer | |
| 1932 | Murder at Dawn | Henry | Richard Thorpe | |
| 1932 | Sinister Hands | Swami Yomurda | Armand Schaefer | |
| 1932 | Arsène Lupin | Louvre Tour Guide | Jack Conway | Uncredited |
| 1932 | Midnight Patrol | Dummy Black | Christy Cabanne | |
| 1932 | The Last of the Mohicans | General Montcalm | B. Reeves Eason | |
| 1932 | No Greater Love | Rabbi | | |
| 1932 | Beauty Parlor | Herman Bauer | Richard Thorpe | |
| 1932 | Almost Married | Russian Policeman | William Cameron Menzies | Uncredited |
| 1932 | Drifting Souls | Skeets | Louis King | |
| 1932 | The Western Code | Chapman | John P. McCarthy | |
| 1932 | Scarlet Dawn | Sergei | William Dieterle | Uncredited |
| 1932 | Call Her Savage | Agitator in Restaurant | John Francis Dillon | Uncredited |
| 1932 | The Unwritten Law | Abu Zeyd | Christy Cabanne | |
| 1932 | The Sign of the Cross | Christian in Dungeon | Cecil B. DeMille | Uncredited |
| 1932 | Rasputin and the Empress | Butler Pouring Drinks at Party | Richard Boleslawski | Uncredited |
| 1933 | Dangerously Yours | Kassim | Frank Tuttle | |
| 1933 | Clear All Wires! | Arab Leader | George Hill | Uncredited |
| 1933 | Sucker Money | Swami Yomurda | Melville Shyer | |
| 1933 | The Intruder | Wild Man | Albert Ray | |
| 1933 | Gabriel Over the White House | Mr. Thieson | Gregory La Cava | Uncredited |
| 1933 | Infernal Machine | Klein | Marcel Varnel Martin Santell | Uncredited |
| 1933 | The Flaming Signal | Manu—High Priest | Charles E. Roberts | |
| 1933 | I Loved You Wednesday | Piano Accompanist | William Cameron Menzies | Uncredited |
| 1933 | Corruption | Volkov | Charles E. Roberts | |
| 1933 | Storm at Daybreak | Assassin | Richard Boleslawski | Uncredited |
| 1933 | Tarzan the Fearless | Eltar, High Priest of Zar | Robert F. Hill | |
| 1933 | The Way to Love | Songwriter at Piano | Norman Taurog | Uncredited |
| 1933 | After Tonight | Adjutant Lehan | George Archainbaud | |
| 1933 | Cradle Song | Village Priest | Mitchell Leisen | |
| 1933 | Girl Without a Room | Walksky | Ralph Murphy | |
| 1934 | Moulin Rouge | Sculptor | Sidney Lanfield | scenes deleted |
| 1934 | The Crosby Case | DeCobra | Edwin L. Marin | Uncredited |
| 1934 | Wharf Angel | Sadik | George Somnes | |
| 1934 | The Woman Condemned | Dr. Wagner | Dorothy Davenport | |
| 1934 | Viva Villa! | Military Attaché | William Wellman | Uncredited |
| 1934 | The Trumpet Blows | | Stephen Roberts | |
| 1934 | Change of Heart | Smith | John G. Blystone | Uncredited |
| 1934 | Stamboul Quest | | Sam Wood Jack Conway (uncredited) | |
| 1934 | Beyond the Law | Tully | D. Ross Lederman | |
| 1934 | Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back | Hassan | Roy Del Ruth | |
| 1934 | Student Tour | Sikh Cop | Charles Reisner | Uncredited |
| 1935 | Biography of a Bachelor Girl | Mr. Rabinowitz | Edward H. Griffith | Uncredited |
| 1935 | The Lives of a Bengal Lancer | Captured Afridi | Henry Hathaway | Uncredited |
| 1935 | Mystery Woman | Dmitri | Eugene Forde | |
| 1935 | Clive of India | King Suraj Ud Dowlah | Richard Boleslawski | |
| 1935 | Murder in the Fleet | Kamchukan consul | Edward Sedgwick | |
| 1935 | The Adventures of Rex and Rinty | Tanaga [Chs. 1, 4, 8, 10-12] | B. Reeves Eason | Serial |
| 1935 | The Crusades | Monk | Cecil B. DeMille | |
| 1935 | Anna Karenina | Mahotin | Clarence Brown | Uncredited |
| 1935 | Condemned to Live | Zan | Frank R. Strayer | |
| 1935 | I Dream Too Much | Darcy's Pianist | John Cromwell | |
| 1935 | We're Only Human | William 'Lefty' Berger | James Flood Clem Beauchamp (assistant) | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Tough Guy | Chi | Chester Franklin | |
| 1936 | Here Comes Trouble | | Lewis Seiler | |
| 1936 | The House of a Thousand Candles | Victor Demetrius | Arthur Lubin | |
| 1936 | Sons o' Guns | German Spy | Lloyd Bacon | |
| 1936 | One Rainy Afternoon | Leading man | Rowland V. Lee | |
| 1936 | The Princess Comes Across | Inspector Morevitch | William K. Howard | |
| 1936 | My Man Godfrey | Carlo | Gregory La Cava | |
| 1936 | The Gay Desperado | Diego | Rouben Mamoulian | |
| 1936 | Winterset | A radical | Alfred Santell | |
| 1936 | College Holiday | Ticket Taker at Door | Frank Tuttle | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Three Smart Girls | Count Arisztid | Henry Koster | |
| 1936 | That Girl from Paris | Butch | Leigh Jason | |
| 1937 | Top of the Town | Hamlet | Walter Lang | |
| 1937 | We Have Our Moments | Capt. Enrico Mussetti | Alfred L. Werker | |
| 1937 | Pick a Star | Rinaldo Lopez | Edward Sedgwick | |
| 1937 | Marry the Girl | Dimitri Kyeff | William C. McGann | |
| 1937 | It's All Yours | Baron Rene de Montigny | Elliott Nugent | |
| 1937 | Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938 | Prince Muratov | Irving Cummings Charles Kerr (assistant) | |
| 1937 | One Hundred Men and a Girl | Michael Borodoff | Henry Koster | |
| 1937 | Merry-Go-Round of 1938 | Mischa | | |
| 1937 | Prescription for Romance | Count Sandor | S. Sylvan Simon | |
| 1938 | The Rage of Paris | Mike Lebedovich | Henry Koster | |
| 1938 | You Can't Take It with You | Potap Kolenkhov | Frank Capra | |
| 1938 | Service de Luxe | Serge Bebenko | Rowland V. Lee | |
| 1938 | Little Tough Guys in Society | Dr. Trenkle | Erle C. Kenton | |
| 1938 | Sweethearts | Leo Kronk | W.S. Van Dyke | |
| 1939 | East Side of Heaven | Nicky | David Butler | |
| 1939 | Unexpected Father | Boris Bebenko | Charles Lamont | |
| 1939 | Destry Rides Again | Boris Callahan | George Marshall | |
| 1940 | Alias the Deacon | Andre | Christy Cabanne | |
| 1940 | Sandy Is a Lady | Felix Lobo Smith | Charles Lamont | |
| 1940 | Public Deb No. 1 | Grisha | Gregory Ratoff | |
| 1940 | Spring Parade | Gustav | Henry Koster | |
| 1940 | Margie | Gomez | Paul Gerard Smith | |
| 1940 | Seven Sinners | Sasha Mencken | Tay Garnett | |
| 1940 | Trail of the Vigilantes | Bolo | | |
| 1941 | The Flame of New Orleans | Zolotov | René Clair | |
| 1941 | Cracked Nuts | Boris Kabikoff | Edward F. Cline | |
| 1941 | Hold That Ghost | Gregory | Arthur Lubin | |
| 1941 | Sing Another Chorus | Stanislaus | Charles Lamont | |
| 1941 | Moonlight in Hawaii | 'Clipper' Canovan | Charles Lamont | |
| 1941 | Hellzapoppin' | Pepi | H. C. Potter Joseph A. McDonough (assistant) Edward F. Cline (additional comedy scenes) | |
| 1942 | Don't Get Personal | Stainslaus Noodnick a.k.a. Charlie | Charles Lamont | |
| 1942 | Twin Beds | Nicolai Cherupin | Tim Whelan | |
| 1943 | Around The World | Himself | Allan Dwan Harry Scott (assistant) | |
| 1944 | Lady in the Dark | Russell Paxton | Mitchell Leisen | |
| 1944 | Up in Mabel's Room | Boris | Allan Dwan | |
| 1945 | A Royal Scandal | Captain Sukov | Ernst Lubitsch | |
| 1945 | Brewster's Millions | Michael Michaelovich | Allan Dwan | |
| 1945 | And Then There Were None | Prince Nikita Starloff | René Clair | |
| 1946 | Sentimental Journey | Gregory Petrovich Rogozhin | Walter Lang | |
| 1946 | She Wrote the Book | Joe | Charles Lamont | |
| 1947 | For You I Die | Alec Shaw | John Reinhardt | |
| 1948 | Sofia | Ali Imagu | John Reinhardt | |
| 1949 | A Night of Fame | Bernard Stork | Steno | |
| 1949 | Snow White and the Seven Thieves | Mirko | Giacomo Gentilomo | |
| 1950 | Vivere a sbafo | Il Cavalier Pippo Berlocco | | |
| 1952 | Song of Paris | Comte Marcel de Sarliac | John Guillermin | |
| 1954 | Service Entrance | Nicolas Pouchkoff | Carlo Rim | |
| 1955 | School for Love | Berger | Marc Allégret | |
| 1955 | Frou-Frou | Grand Duke Alexis | Augusto Genina | |
| 1955 | L'impossible Monsieur Pipelet | The unsuccessful writer, a lodger | André Hunebelle | |
| 1955 | Mr. Arkadin | the Professor | Orson Welles | |
| 1955 | La pícara molinera | el corregidor | | |
| 1955 | Thirteen at the Table | Badabof | André Hunebelle | |
| 1956 | Naughty Girl | Igor the ballet master | Michel Boisrond | |
| 1956 | Trois de la Canebière | Garopoulos | | |
| 1956 | Mannequins of Paris | Yaschlik | | |
| 1956 | Plucking the Daisy | Alexis the taxi driver | Marc Allégret | Uncredited |
| 1956 | The Monte Carlo Story | Hector, the Maitre D' | Samuel A. Taylor | |
| 1957 | La polka des menottes | Charles Magne | | |
| 1957 | Nathalie | Cyril Boran | | |
| 1958 | Tabarin | Boris | Richard Pottier | |
| 1958 | Le tombeur | M. Pedro Olivaro | | |
| 1958 | Sacrée Jeunesse | Prof. Koranoff | | |
| 1958 | A Dog, a Mouse, and a Sputnik | Professor Papov | Jean Dréville | |
| 1962 | We Joined the Navy | Colonel & President | Wendy Toye | |
| 1963 | The King's Breakfast | Master of the king's music | | Short |
| 1963 | Les femmes d'abord | Le baron Lionel de Balconi | | |
| 1964 | Cleopazza | Produttore Strombic | | |
| 1964 | Queste pazze pazze donne | The Psychiatrist | | |
| 1964 | Clémentine chérie | Le décorateur | | |
| 1964 | I due mafiosi | Mischa | Giorgio Simonelli | |
| 1964 | What Ever Happened to Baby Toto? | Count Mischa | Ottavio Alessi | |
| 1966 | The Christmas That Almost Wasn't | Jonathan, the elf foreman | Rossano Brazzi | |
| 1966 | Drop Dead Darling | Romeo | Ken Hughes | |
| 1967 | Per amore... per magia... | Magrebì, Grand Duke of Forilarì | Duccio Tessari | (final film role) |