Marion Mill Preminger

Marion Mill Preminger (August 3, 1903 – April 16, 1972),[1] born Josa Magda Deutsch[2] or Magda Deuth,[3] was a Hungarian-born socialite and philanthropist, best known for her work with Albert Schweitzer, and her marriage to director Otto Preminger.

Marion Mill Preminger
A smiling blond white woman wearing a dark coat and a dark pillbox hat
Marion Mill Preminger from a 1966 publication of the President's Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped
Born
Josa Magda Deutsch

August 3, 1903
Percosova, Hungary
DiedApril 16, 1972 (aged 68)
New York City
Other namesJosa Magda Mueller, Marion Mill Mayer, Marion Hill Preminger
Occupation(s)Socialite, philanthropist
Spouse(s)Otto Preminger
Albert Mayer

Early life and education

Josa Magda Deutsch was born in Percosova, Hungary (now in Romania).[3][4] She told many stories of her background, including an aristocratic family, a castle as her birthplace, and a doctorate earned at the University of Vienna or the Sorbonne;[3][5][6] but she was considered a "charming fabulist", and her accounts were not always consistent or verifiable.[7]

Career

Mill worked as a model, actress, and nightclub performer in Vienna as a young woman. From 1950 to 1965, Preminger "renounced the glitter and the gloss" of her Hollywood social life[8] and spent several months a year in Africa with Albert Schweitzer, assisting in his work at a hospital in the Congo.[9][10] She had a collection of African art and artifacts from her travels there.[5] Preminger was decorated by the governments of Gabon and France for her philanthropic work.[4][11] She toured as a speaker to promote her memoir's publication in 1957.[12]

Preminger's efforts in Africa were sometimes described as well-meaning and generous, but not serious. "Schweitzer openly admires the bigness of her heart," reported the Sunday Mirror in 1963. "Privately, however, he laments her liking for low-cut, figure-hugging dresses."[13]

In the 1960s in the United States, Preminger raised funds for Schweitzer's work and for other philanthropic causes.[14] She served as vice-chair of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, and supported the committee's work by donating money for contest prizes.[11] She served as honorary Consul-General at the Gabonese embassy in New York.[4] She received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Edgecliff College in Ohio in 1970.[15][16]

Publications
  • All I Want is Everything (1957, memoir)[17]
  • The Sands of Tamanrasset: The Story of Charles de Foucauld (1961, biography)[18]
  • "He Follows in Footsteps of Albert Schweitzer" (1961)[19]

Personal life and legacy

Mill's divorced her first husband, Mueller, to marry director Otto Preminger in Vienna in 1931.[1] They were estranged for much of their marriage and finally divorced in 1949.[2] She hoped to marry Swedish entrepreneur Axel Wenner-Gren in 1946, but their plans fell through. She married architect Albert Mayer as her third husband in 1961. She continued to use Preminger as her surname after her third marriage, despite her ex-husband's protestations.[7] She died from a heart attack at her home on Park Avenue in 1972, probably in her 60s (though the New York Times gave her age at death as 58).[4]

After her death, the Marion Mill Preminger Award and Medallion were named and given in her memory, by the Women's Committee of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped; Gini Laurie was one of the award's first recipients.[20] There is a collection of papers concerning Preminger's work with Schweitzer in the collection of Xavier University Library.[21]

References
  1. The New York Times gave Preminger's birth year as 1913 in her obituary; but some biographical dictionaries give the 1903 date instead, and the earlier date agrees with her 1936 declaration of intention to become a United States citizen, her 1943 petition for naturalization, and with several other legal and travel documents, via Ancestry.
  2. Fujiwara, Chris (2015-07-14). The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-4668-9423-5.
  3. Vierhaus, Rudolf (2005). Deutsche biographische Enzyklopädie: (DBE) (in German). Walter de Gruyter. p. 67. ISBN 978-3-598-25038-5.
  4. "Marion Preminger, a Disciple And Aide of Schweitzer, Dead". The New York Times. 1972-04-18. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  5. Stewart, Lloyd (1964-01-14). "Decor Traces Story of a Colorful Life". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Biographer, Friend Lauds Schweitzer; Says He Administered 'Potent Medicine' of Kindness". The Baltimore Sun. 1965-09-06. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. Hirsch, Foster (2011-06-22). Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-48921-0.
  8. Wilcove, Raymond (1957-04-25). "Dr. Schweitzer Today; Ex-Hollywoodite Pays Warm Tribute". The News-Messenger. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Leeds, Claire (1956-11-29). "Meet Marion Preminger, A 'Living Saints Helper". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 24. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. Miller, Hannah (1961-08-12). "She Makes Exodus to Africa to Help Albert Schweitzer". The Charlotte Observer. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Preminger, Marion Mill. "First Arts and Crafts Contest a Success" Performance: The Story of the Handicapped 17(3)(September 1966): 14.
  12. "Marion Mill Preminger First Town Hall Speaker". Tulsa World. 1957-09-18. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. McKnight, Gerald (1963-04-14). "They come with the idea of charity but they're in love with him". Sunday Mirror and Sunday Pictorial. pp. 20, 21. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. Wilson, Jean Sprain (1964-08-08). "Marion Preminger Finds Nothing Dark about Africa". The Times Record. p. 18. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Edgecliffe Honors 3". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 1970-05-28. p. 21. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Scweitzer Collection Given to Edgecliff". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 1975-02-02. p. 29. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. Marion Mill Preminger (1957). All i want is everything. Internet Archive. Funk & wagnalls company.
  18. Preminger, Marion Mill (2002). The Sands of Tamanrasset: The Story of Charles de Foucauld. Linden Publishing Company, Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-941936-75-0.
  19. Preminger, Marion (1961-10-04). "He Follows in Footsteps of Albert Schweitzer". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Marion Mill Preminger Awards". Communications: A Key to Understanding: Report of the Annual Meeting of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped: 14. 1979.
  21. "Collection: Edgecliff College Schweitzer-Preminger Collection". University Archives and Special Collections, Xavier University Library. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
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