Teuvo Tulio

Theodor Antonius Tugai (23 August 1912 – 8 June 2000), better known as Teuvo Tulio, was a Finnish film director and actor. Beginning his career as an actor at the end of the silent era, Tulio turned to directing and producing in the 1930s. His films are noted for their extremely melodramatic style.

Biography

Tulio was born as Theodor Antonius Tugai to a Turkish-Polish father named Aleksander Tugai and a Persian-Latvian mother named Helena Garschin in Rēzekne, in the Vitebsk Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Latvia). His mother was an 18-year-old aspiring ballerina when he was born. His parents' marriage was brief, and he spent the early part of his childhood in rural Latvia with his grandparents while his mother pursued a career as a ballerina in St. Petersburg. After his mother married a Finnish man named Alarik Rönnqvist, she sent for him to move to Helsinki in 1922, when he was ten years old.

The family settled in the Katajanokka neighborhood of Helsinki. The move was not easy, however, for a boy accustomed to rural life. Theodor spoke Latvian, Russian and German, but was unable to speak Finnish and Swedish, which were spoken in Helsinki. Other children taunted him for his appearance, due to his mixed-ethnic heritage, and he later recalled that he was involved in many physical altercations.

Later influence and reputation

Tulio's films were an influence on the Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki, whose admiration brought the filmmaker international attention later in his life. (Fight over the Heikkila Mansion, 1936), a part of a copy found in 2007 (Silja – Fallen Asleep When Young, 1937), a part of a copy found in the archives of La Cinémathèque Franҫaise in 2015 (Temptation, 1938), all copies destroyed in fire in 1959 The Song of the Scarlet Flower (Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta, 1938) Vihtori ja Klaara (Victor and Clara, based on the comic strip "Bringing up Father", 1939) In the Fields of Dreams (Unelma karjamajalla, 1940) (Sellaisena kuin sinä minut halusit, 1944) and its Swedish-language version Sådan du ville ha mig (1944) Cross of Love (Rakkauden risti, 1946) and its Swedish-language version Kärlekens kors (1946) Restless Bood (Levoton veri, 1946) and its Swedish-language version Oroligt blod (1946) (In the Grip of Passion, 1947) and its Swedish-language version Olof – forsfararen (1947) (The Rapids of Hell, 1949) and its Swedish-language version Forsfararna (1949); co-directed with Roland af Hällström (The Crooked Woman, 1952) Mustasukkaisuus (Jealousy, 1953) and its Swedish-language version Två kvinnor (alternatively Kvinnorna på forsgården, 1953) (You've Gone into My Blood, 1956) (In the Beginning Was an Apple, 1962) Sensuela (1973)

Actor Mustat silmät (1929) as Mustalaispäällikkö Eb-Anzio Mustalaishurmaaja (1929) as Manjardo Laveata tietä (1931) as Antti Larto alias Anton Lardozo Erämaan turvissa (1931) as Lappalainen Sininen varjo (1933) as Joel Orma, 'Sininen overall' Fredløs (1935) as Paavo (final film role)