Eddie Constantine

Israel Constantine (born Edward Israel Constantinowsky; October 29, 1913 – February 25, 1993), known as Eddie Constantine, 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), Agnès Varda, Rosa von Praunheim, Lars von Trier, William Klein and Mika Kaurismäki.

Early life Constantine was born Edward Israel Constantinowsky

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).

He was hired by the Rank Organisation to play the lead in SOS Pacific but it was not a big success.

When not playing Lemmy Caution, Constantine often played a character that was still typically 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 married 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.

Dan Leyton Jesus Franco Cousin Lemmy Raoul André À tout casser Ric John Berry

Eddie Raymond Leboursier Lions Love Himself Agnès Varda

Beware of a Holy Whore Himself Rainer Werner Fassbinder Professor Ulli Lommel 1973 Geen paniek Bill Silkstocking Ko Koedijk 1974 Eddie Jacques Bral

Souvenir of Gibraltar Father Jo Henri Xhonneux Frank Cabot Ulli Lommel

Bloedverwanten Priest Wim Lindner Le Couple témoin Dr. Goldberg William Klein 1978 It Lives Again Dr. Forrest Larry Cohen

The Third Generation Peter Lurz Rainer Werner Fassbinder Ticket of No Return (Bildnis einer Trinkerin) Küstler Ulrike Ottinger

Exit... nur keine Panik Poigrard Franz Novotny Panic Time Lemmy Caution Udo Lindenberg Car-napping police officer Laroux Wigbert Wicker The Long Good Friday Charlie John Mackenzie

Die Alptraumfrau Lothar Lambert Tango durch Deutschland Eddie Lutz Mommartz Neige Pierrot Juliet Berto et Jean-Henri Roger Freak Orlando Säulenheiliger Ulrike Ottinger

Red Love Pawel Pawlowitsch Rosa von Praunheim Boxoffice Hugh Barren Josef Bogdanovitch

Gregori Ustinov Ottokar Runze the bar proprietor Patrick Chaput Beppo Bourbon Torsten Emrich

Flight to Berlin Himself Christopher Petit Sammy Mariano Laurenti Lemmy Caution Peter Patzak Seifenblasen Alfred Ninaus

Seifenblasen cameo appearance Boy Pappa Pim de la Parra 1986 Lemmy Caution Bela Csepesanyi

Freckled Max and the Spooks Alojz Juraj Jakubisko Helsinki Napoli All Night Long Old Gangster Mika Kaurismäki 1989 Europa, abends Mr. Hardayle Claudia Schröder

Europa Colonel Harris Lars von Trier Germany Year 90 Nine Zero Lemmy Caution Jean-Luc Godard William Wright Naoki Nagao 1993 Don Fabrizzi Andy Bausch 2010 Dimension N/A Lars von Trier Unfinished; filmed between 1990-97

Television