Anton Walbrook's Language Coach

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23145, 17 September 1938, Page 20 (Supplement)

Anton Walbrook's Language Coach

HOLLYWOOD PRECEDENT [from oub own correspondent] LONDON, August 29 Anton Walbrook, the brilliant romantic actor of "Sixty Glorious Years," created a precedent in Hollywood which he claims has had much to do with his subsequent success. When making his debut he insisted upon always having a teacher with him on the set to correct tho slightest fault in speech. This practice has now become general with Continental stars. When he came to England to star opposite Anna Neagle in "Victoria The Great" ho sent for the teacher who, while in Vienna, had given him his first English lessons—Mrs. Edith Williams. Since then Mrs. Williams has never been absent from the sot during tho filming of his scenes in "Victoria Tho Great "The Rat," and "Sixty Glorious Years," and has been chiefly responsible for his English developing

into a marked asset to his screen personality. Mrs. Williams is an Englishwoman born in Paris, who speaks German and French like a native and who was a lecturer at Cologne University and in Vienna. Professional people came to her for assistance with their English and among them a number of film stars, including Conrad Voidt. With Anton Walbrook, whom she considers her "star" pupil, she hhs concentrated on two things—true English intonation and the eradication of anything in his speech which might fall disagreeably on the English ear. As a result Anton Walbrook, is, sho claims, a model of the Continental actor from the linguist point of view.