Nora Gregor
Who Is Nora Gregor?
Nora Gregor was born in Gorizia on February 3, 1901. She grew up in the Placuta district, surrounded by the sounds of various languages, dreaming of a career in acting. In 1915, her family fled to Carinthia to escape the horrors of war, first to Klagenfurt and then to Graz. Nora carried her dreams with her, dreams that would eventually lead her to stardom in film and theater.
She entered the world of cinema during the silent film era, with a breakthrough role in Michael by Carl Th. Dreyer in 1924, marking a pivotal moment in her career. The advent of sound film drew her to Hollywood, where she worked with legendary figures of the time. Her Hollywood fame peaked alongside her performances at Vienna's Burgtheater, the pinnacle of European theater. During this period, she also starred in Was Frauen träumen (What Women Dream), based on a screenplay by Billy Wilder.
The annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany forced Nora, her husband Prince Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, and their son Heinrich into exile. Their journey eventually took them to Chile, but not before she delivered a memorable performance in Paris in Jean Renoir's La règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game) in 1939, portraying the film's leading female role. Nora Gregor passed away on January 20, 1949, in Santiago, Chile.
As Nora Gregor fled from history, the foreign façades she encountered no longer offered the comfort once found in the reassuring houses of her native Placuta. At each stop in her exile, the voices around her changed. Wherever she went, she remained an actress with a German accent. In La règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game), considered one of the greatest films of all time, Jean Renoir embraces her and whispers in her native tongue, “Du bist ein Engel” (“You are an angel”). These words, meant for Nora rather than her character Christine, reveal her roots and the mark of her displacement. She was a woman outside of time and space, both Cinderella and Antigone—imbued with the splendor and charm of a world that no longer existed. The nationalist fervor that destroyed it continues to serve as a poignant reminder today.
