Georges Metaxa
George-Radu Metaxa (11 September 1899 – 8 December 1950) was a Romanian-born American singer, film & stage actor. He was known for his crooning high baritone voice and often portrayed genteel antagonists.
Georges Metaxa | |
|---|---|
.jpg.webp) Metaxa in Hi Diddle Diddle (1943) | |
| Born | George Radu Metaxa 11 September 1894 Bucharest, Romania |
| Died | 8 December 1950 (aged 56) Monroe, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1931–1945 |
| Spouses |
Margaret M. Stafford
(m. 1933; died 1934)Byrnece Mcfadden Muckerman
(m. 1936) |
| Children | 1 |
Life and career
Metaxa was born in Bucharest, Romania, to Nicholas Metaxa and Emilie Theophilatos.[1] He worked as a civil servant, becoming principle private secretary to the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture before emigrating to London in 1926 to pursue a career in musical comedy.[2]
He first began his showbusiness career recording songs, the first being the Romanian folk song "Mandrulita" in 1927.[3] After engaging with Charles B. Cochran, his first stage billing was in John Hastings Turner's 1929 musical revue Wake Up and Dream. Metaxa was then cast in Noël Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet.[4] He continued to record songs in London until 1931, finishing with Ray Noble's "Goodnight Sweetheart" before moving to New York with the Bitter Sweet touring company.[2]
His career in New York was slow to start, perhaps in part due to the saturation of similar male leads at the time. He nevertheless managed to find roles, his first film role being in Secrets of a Secretary in 1931. Metaxa was cast in the musical The Cat and the Fiddle and later the musical comedy Revenge with Music. He notably starred opposite Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in 1936's Swing Time, playing Astaire's love rival, the bandleader Ricky Romero.
He was married to Helene Valoary until their amicable divorce in July 1933, and they had one daughter. He then married 18-year-old actress Margaret Stafford in September 1933.[5] In April 1934, Metaxa and Stafford were involved in an automobile accident in Miami, which killed Stafford and gravely injured Metaxa.[6] He later married Byrnece Macfadden Muckerman (the daughter of American publisher and bodybuilder Bernarr Macfadden) in 1946.[7]
Towards the end of his life, Metaxa's health declined to such a point he had to turn down roles, notably, the leading role in South Pacific that was being shown in London. Metaxa died suddenly of a heart attack 8 December 1950 at a hotel in Monroe, Louisiana, as he and his wife were on their way to their home in Beverly Hills after returning from a seven-month-long trip around Europe.[8]
Selected performances
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Soundtrack |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Secrets of a Secretary | Frank D'Agnoll | |
| 1931 | The House That Shadows Built | Frank D'Agnoll | Compilation film released by Paramount Pictures to commemorate the studio's 20th anniversary |
| 1933 | Kissing Time (Short film) | Lieutenant Juan Segovia | Performed on the tracks Let's Drink and All My Life I've Waited (For Someone Like You) |
| 1936 | Swing Time | Ricky Romero | Performed on the tracks The Way You Look Tonight and A Fine Romance |
| 1936 | Sheik to Sheik (Short film) | Lieutenant Georges | Performed on the tracks The Song of the Sand and What Makes the Night So Beautiful? |
| 1940 | The Doctor Takes a Wife | Jean Rovere | |
| 1941 | Paris Calling | Waiter | |
| 1943 | Background to Danger | L.V. Bastaki (uncredited) | |
| 1943 | Submarine Base | Nazi Agent Anton Kroll | |
| 1943 | Hi Diddle Diddle | Tony Spinelli | |
| 1943 | West Side Kid | Dr. Kenton | |
| 1944 | The Mask of Dimitrios | Hans Werner | |
| 1945 | Scotland Yard Investigator | Henri | |
Stage
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1929-1930 | Bitter Sweet | Carl Linden | |
| 1931-1932 | The Cat and the Fiddle | Victor Florescu | 395 Performances |
| 1933 | Twenty-five Dollars an Hour | Claude de Rozay | |
| 1934-1935 | Revenge with Music | Carlos | 158 performances |
References
- https://www.myheritage.com/names/george_metaxa
- "ON THIS DAY IN JAZZ AGE MUSIC!: SEPTEMBER 11TH".
- "George Metaxa – Ideale / Mandrulita (1927, Shellac)". discogs.com. 1927.
- Dietz, Dan (2018). The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 161. ISBN 9781538102770.
- "MARGARET STAFFORD TO MARRY WEDNESDAY; Will Become Bride of Georges Metaxa, the Actor, in Civil Ceremony at Greenwich". The New York Times. 4 September 1933.
- "The Evening Independent – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- "Georges Metaxa". IMDb.
- "Obituary for actor Georges Metaxa, d. 8 Dec 1950, Monroe, Louisiana". The Monroe News-Star. 11 December 1950. p. 2 – via newspapers.com.
External links
- Georges Metaxa at the Internet Broadway Database
- Georges Metaxa at IMDb
- Georges Metaxa at the TCM Movie Database
- George-Metaxa discography at Discogs