Rameau, Hans. MGM screenwriter, possibly from Germany; Isherwood met him at the studio, probably in 1940. Rameau had an affair with Marlene Dietrich that August, and Isherwood mentions him again in 1955 upon Rameau’s return from a trip to Germany.
Ram, Ram, Ram, Jaya, Ram. Ram Chandra Datta was Ramakrishna’s first householder disciple, and the first to proclaim Ramakrishna as an avatar. This chant repeats his name combined with the Sanskrit word for “Hail” or “Glory to.”
Rassine, Alexis (b. 1919). Ballet dancer. Alexis Rays or Raysman was born in Lithuania of Russian parents and was brought up in South Africa. He studied ballet there and in Paris, joined the Ballet Rambert in 1938, and danced with several other companies before joining the Sadler’s Wells Ballet in 1942, where he became a principal and a star. He shared John Lehmann’s house for many years, living in his own self-contained flat.
Rattigan, Terence (1911–1977). British playwright. Rattigan wrote mostly comedy at the start of his career, including French Without Tears (1936). After the war he also turned to social and psychological drama, achieving repeated acclaim with The Winslow Boy (1946), The Browning Version (1948), and Separate Tables (1954). He also wrote many successful screenplays, most based on his plays. Isherwood and Bachardy were introduced to Rattigan in London in 1956 and saw him again when Rattigan visited Hollywood.
Reinhardt, Gottfried (1911–199[5]). Austrian-born film producer. Reinhardt emigrated to the United States with his father, Max Reinhardt, and became assistant to Walter Wanger. Afterwards he worked as a producer for MGM from 1940 to 1954 and later directed his own films in the United States and Europe; his name is attached to many well-known films, including Garbo’s Two Faced Woman which he produced in 1941 and The Red Badge of Courage which he produced in 1951. He was Salka Viertel’s lover for nearly a decade before his marriage to his wife, Silvia, in 1944. Through Salka and Berthold Viertel, Reinhardt gave Isherwood his second Hollywood film job in 1940, and he remained Isherwood’s favorite Hollywood boss. During the war, he enlisted and wrote scenarios for films on building latrines, preventing V.D., cleaning rifles, etc. Many years later, Reinhardt and his wife returned to Germany and settled near Salzburg.
Reinhardt, Max (1873–1943). Austrian theatrical producer. Originally called Max Goldman, Reinhardt became world-famous as the director of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin with his 1905 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is remembered for his extravagant showmanship, though his work included serious classical theater from the Greeks to Shakespeare, Molière, Ibsen, and Shaw. He directed a few films in Germany and one later in Hollywood. Reinhardt’s European empire ended when Hitler annexed Austria. He eventually opened an acting and theater school on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood—the Workshop for Stage, Screen, and Radio—with his second wife, the German actress Helene Thimig.
Reinhardt, Wolfgang. Film producer; son of Max Reinhardt, brother of Gottfried. Isherwood probably met Wolfgang Reinhardt through Gottfried soon after arriving in Hollywood. In 1944, Isherwood met with him and Aldous Huxley to discuss working on The Miracle—a film version of the play produced by Max Reinhardt in the 1920s—but nothing came of it. During this period, Wolfgang was employed as a producer at Warner’s, and in 1945, he hired Isherwood to work on Maugham’s 1941 novel, Up at the Villa. The film was never made. Much later, in 1960, Reinhardt approached Isherwood to write a screenplay based on Felix Dahn’s four volume 1876 novel, Ein Kampf um Rom (A Struggle for Rome), about the decline and fall of the Ostrogoth empire in Italy in the sixth century, but Isherwood turned the project down. Wolfgang’s wife was called Lally.
Renaldo, Tito. Mexican actor. Isherwood first met Renaldo sometime before leaving California in 1947, apparently through Bill Caskey. When Caskey first met him, Renaldo was a companion of Cole Porter. Renaldo took up Vedanta as a disciple of Swami Prabhavananda, and for a time lived at Trabuco as a monk. In the early 1950s he left Vedanta and moved to Mexico City, but he returned to Los Angeles and to Swami before the end of the decade. He suffered from severe asthma.
Richard. See Isherwood, Richard Graham Bradshaw and Thom, Richard, a different person.
Richardson, Tony (1928–1991). British stage and film director. Richardson is admired for his work in the theater, especially at the Royal Court in London during the 1950s, and he made movies from many of these productions. His films include Look Back in Anger (1958), The Entertainer (1960), Sanctuary (1961), A Taste of Honey (1961), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), and Tom Jones (1963), for which he won an Academy Award. He was married for a time to Vanessa Redgrave with whom he had two daughters during the early 1960s, and he had affairs with other women and men. In 1960, when Isherwood first mentions him, Richardson was involved with Wyatt Cooper, a young actor, and he was directing for screen and stage virtually simultaneously. He was filming Sanctuary—amalgamated from Faulkner’s Sanctuary (1931) and its sequel, Requiem for a Nun (1951), which Richardson had already directed separately as a play at the Royal Court in London in 1957—and he was also staging Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey with a mostly English cast brought over from London.
rishi. Saint or seer; one of the ancient Hindu seers to whom the knowledge of the Vedas was revealed.
Ritajananda, Swami. Hindu monk. Ritajananda was the chief assistant to Swami Prabhavananda at the Hollywood Vedanta Center from 1958 to 1961 and then went to France to run the Vedanta Center at Gretz, near Paris, until his death in 1994. As his own assistant at Gretz, he took Prema (John Yale), who was by then called Swami Vidyatmananda.
Repton, near Derby. Isherwood’s public school.
Robinson, Bill. A young man with whom Isherwood became friendly during 1958. Robinson was then in analysis, and soon settled into a successful longterm relationship.
Robson-Scott, William. An Englishman who was a close friend of Isherwood in the 1930s. Robson-Scott was lecturing in English at Berlin University in 1932 when Isherwood first met him. He summered at Ruegen Island that year with Isherwood, Heinz Neddermeyer, Stephen Spender, and others. Later he stayed with Isherwood during the agonizing period after Heinz’s arrest, and Isherwood dedicated Lions and Shadows to him in gratitude. By 1947 he had married, and he fell out of touch with his old friends.
Rodakiewicz, Henwar. Polish documentary filmmaker; second husband of Peggy Kiskadden. Rodakiewicz worked on Pare Lorentz’s outline for an important film about urban crisis, The City (1939), which was directed by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke with commentary by Lewis Mumford and music by Aaron Copland. The City, shown at the 1939 World’s Fair, was notable for its technical innovations and experiments and its satire and humor. Rodakiewicz’s film unit was called Film Associates.
Rodakiewicz, Peggy. See Kiskadden, Peggy.
Rodd, Marcel. English bookseller and publisher living in Hollywood. Isherwood met Rodd through Vernon Old and, at the suggestion of Denny Fouts, introduced him to Swami Prabhavananda as a publisher for the Vedanta Society. Rodd published Prabhavananda and Isherwood’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta for the Western World as well as the magazine, The Voice of India (later Vedanta and the West). Some years afterwards, he was prosecuted for dealing in pornography, and fell out with the Vedanta Society when he would neither republish nor to give up his rights to their books.
Roder, Hellmut. A Berlin friend of Isherwood and Stephen Spender during the early 1930s; originally called Hellmut Schroeder. He emigrated to America with his friend Fritz Mosel by way of France, Spain, and Mexico.
Rod. See Owens, Rod.
Roerick, Bill. American actor. Isherwood met Roerick in 1943 when John van Druten brought him to a lecture at the Vedanta Center. Roerick was in England as a G.I. during the war and became friends there with E. M. Forster, J. R. Ackerley, and others. His companion for many years was Tom Coley. In 1944, Roerick contributed a short piece to Horizon, defending Isherwood’s new way of life in America after Tony Bower had made fun of it in a previous number; Roerick’s piece, “‘Where Shall John Go?
’ A Reply to Antony Bourne” appeared in March 1944, 9.1, pp. 204–207, signed (in a different spelling of his name) William Roehrich, Corporal U.S. Army.
Rory. See Harrity, Rory.
Ross, Alan (b. 1922). English poet and journalist; editor of John Lehmann’s The London Magazine from 1961 onwards. Isherwood probably first met Ross on a trip to England after the war.
Ross, Jean (d. 1973). The original of Isherwood’s character Sally Bowles in Goodbye to Berlin. Isherwood met Jean Ross in Berlin, possibly in October 1930, but certainly by the start of 1931. She was then occasionally singing in a night club, and they shared lodgings for a time in Fräulein Thurau’s flat. Ross’s father was a Scottish cotton merchant, and she had been raised in Egypt in lavish circumstances. After Berlin, she returned to England where she became close friends with Olive Mangeot, staying in her house for a time. She joined the Communist Party and had a daughter, Sarah (later a crime novelist under the name Sarah Caudwell), with Claud Cockburn, though they never married.
Roth, Sanford (Sandy). American photographer; known for his pictures of actors and actresses, and especially of James Dean. Isherwood first met Roth with Julie Harris when Roth photographed Isherwood and Harris together (Harris arrived dressed as Sally Bowles). Roth and Isherwood later collaborated on a 1952 piece for Harper’s Bazaar, “California Story” (reprinted in Exhumations as “The Shore”).
Russell, Bertrand Arthur William, 3rd Earl Russell (1872–1970). English philosopher and mathematician, social critic, writer. Russell was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and was a Cambridge Apostle; afterwards he worked as a diplomat and an academic. He published countless books and is one of the most widely read philosophers of the twentieth century. Chief among his awards and honors was the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Throughout his life Russell expressed his convictions in social and political activism, and he frequently changed his position. When he opposed British entry into World War I and joined the No-Conscription Fellowship, he lost his first job at Trinity, and he was fined and imprisoned more than once for his role in public demonstrations as a pacifist. Partly as a result, he became a visiting professor and lecturer in America and returned to Trinity as a fellow only in 1944. Isherwood first met Russell through Aldous and Maria Huxley in late 1939 in Hollywood. At the Huxleys’ Christmas party in December 1939, Isherwood records Berthold Viertel’s surprise at Russell’s enthusiasm for British successes in the war—Russell had renounced pacifism because of the evils of fascism. Later, in 1949 Russell began to champion nuclear disarmament.
In January 1941, Russell accepted a $6,000 a year position with the Philadelphia pharmaceutical millionaire and art collector, Dr. Alfred Barnes, lecturing at the Barnes Foundation, not far from where Isherwood was working in Haverford. The arrangement with Barnes fell apart after Barnes criticized Russell for being a snob and barred Lady Russell from the foundation. Russell sued and won most of his fees before leaving the country. Isherwood records that his own Haverford landlady, Mrs. Yarnall, thought Russell rather shocking company, especially in his attitude to marriage. Russell’s relationships with women reflect his approbation, stated in his writings, of the concept of companionate marriage—first discussed by others during the 1920s—which would permit birth control and divorce by mutual consent to childless couples, holding neither partner legally responsible to the other. He was married four times; he had two children during the 1920s by his second wife, Dora Black, and one in 1937 by his third wife, Patricia Spense, known as “Peter.” The latter also collaborated with Russell on Freedom in Organization 1814–1914 (1934).
St. Edmund’s School, Hindhead, Surrey. Isherwood’s preparatory school, run by Cyril Morgan Brown, a cousin of Isherwood’s father.
St. Joseph, Ellis. Screenwriter and playwright. Author of the play, Passenger to Bali. Isherwood met him soon after arriving in Hollywood. In the 1940s he worked on Vincent Sherman’s In Our Time and in the 1950s on John Huston’s The Barbarian and the Geisha, for which he wrote the story about the historical figure Townsend Harris on which the script was based.
Salka. See Viertel, Sara Salomé Steuermann.
sannyas. The second and final vows of renunciation taken in the Ramakrishna order, at least four or five years after the brahmacharya vows. The sannyasin undergoes a spiritual rebirth and, as part of the preparation for this, renounces all caste distinctions. Isherwood’s diary for March 13, 1958, refers to the way in which Krishna (George Fitts) had first to join the Brahmin caste in order to have a caste to renounce. Then Krishna had to imagine himself as dead, and to become a ghost in preparation for being reborn. At sannyas, the spiritual aspirant becomes a swami and takes a new Sanskrit name, ending with “ananda,” bliss. Thus, the new name implies “he who has the bliss of” whatever the first element in the name specifies, as in Vivekananda, “he who has the bliss of discrimination.” A woman sannyasin becomes a pravrajika (woman ascetic), and her new name ends in “prana,” meaning “whose life is in” whatever is designated by the first element of the name.
samadhi. The state of superconsciousness in which an individual can know the highest spiritual experience; absolute oneness with the ultimate reality; transcendental consciousness.
Samuels, Lesser. American screenwriter. In 1940 Isherwood was hired to polish dialogue on Samuels’s script for a remake of A Woman’s Face; not long afterwards, Samuels asked Isherwood to help him on Maugham’s The Hour Before Dawn. Like Isherwood, Samuels had worked for Gaumont-British during the 1930s. In subsequent years they often worked together, sometimes on their own ideas, including Judgement Day in Pittsburgh for which they were paid $50,000 (their story was later scripted by Lionel Houser and released as Adventure in Baltimore, 1949); The Easiest Thing in the World, completed August 1949; and The Vacant Room, a ghost story set in Los Angeles which they had trouble selling. Samuels was married and had a daughter.
Sankarananda, Swami. A disciple of Brahmananda and his secretary for a time; later president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission from 1951 to 1962.
Sarada. “Sarada” Foiling was a young nun at the Vedanta Center when Isherwood arrived in Hollywood in 1939. (Sarada was the Sanskrit name given her by Swami Prabhavananda; Folling was her own original surname.) She was of Norwegian descent, had studied music and dance, and while at the center learned a fair amount of Sanskrit. Her father lived in New Mexico. Sarada later moved to the convent at Santa Barbara where Isherwood occasionally saw her. She was a favorite of Prabhavananda, but eventually left the convent rather suddenly after becoming interested in men. Thereafter, Prabhavananda forbade her name to be mentioned to him.
Sarada Convent, Montecito (also called Sarada Math). In 1944, Spencer Kellogg gave his house at Montecito, near Santa Barbara, to the Vedanta Society of Southern California. The house was called “Ananda Bavan,” Sanskrit for Home of Peace. Kellogg, a devotee, died the same year, and the house became a Vedanta center and eventually a convent housing about a dozen nuns. During the early 1950s, a temple was also built in the grounds.
Sarada Devi (1855–1920). Bengali wife of Ramakrishna whom he married by arrangement when she was five years old. After the marriage, she returned to her family and he to his temple, and their relationship was always chaste although she later spent long periods of time living intimately with him. She became known as a saint in her own right and was worshipped as Holy Mother, the living embodiment of Mahamaya, of the Great Mother, of the Goddess Sarasvati, and of Kali herself. Isherwood was initiated on Holy Mother’s birthday, November 8, 1940.
Saradananda, Swami (1865–1927). A direct disciple of Ramakrishna; originally called Sharat Chandra Chakravarti. He had a vocation for nursing, was a medical student for a time, and nursed Ramakrishna in his last illness. After Ramakrishna’s death, Saradananda joined the Baranagore monastery, travelled to London and New York to lecture on Vedanta during the 1890s, edited Vivekananda’s magazine, Udbodhan (Awakening), and built a house in Calcutta that served as the office of the magazine and also as a
residence for Sarada Devi whose countless devotees Saradananda monitored while he worked. Saradananda also wrote a biography of Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master, which Isherwood read carefully in 1956 before beginning work on his own book.
sattva. Purity, clarity, calm. See guna.
Saunders, Brad. American air force pilot. Bradley Saunders had distinguished himself as a pilot in World War II, and afterwards became an Air Force Reserve officer. He also served in the Korean war. Isherwood met him around November 19, 1948; Saunders was then friendly with Jay de Laval, and went with de Laval to the Virgin islands to open a new restaurant before the pair parted ways. Later Saunders had a long and serious relationship with Jim Charlton. Saunders wrote poetry for fun, and he had been a roommate of James Dean before Dean came to prominence as an actor.
Saville, Victor (1897–1979). British producer and director. During the 1930s, Saville had a successful career in England with Gaumont-British, Alexander Korda’s London Films, and MGM British Studios before coming to Hollywood for MGM in 1939. He directed some films for MGM in Hollywood, occasionally returning to England to produce, and also worked independently. He was a producer both before and after he directed and was perhaps more successful as a producer than as a director. Isherwood was hired by Saville several times during his first years in Hollywood; they had in common their friendship with Berthold Viertel and Salka Viertel. Saville was a model for “Chatsworth” in Prater Violet.
Schary, Dore (1905–1980). American writer and film producer. Schary was an actor and a journalist as well as writing plays and screenplays and directing. He worked for several studios before achieving success at MGM in the early 1940s, then he moved to RKO and later went back to MGM, ousting Louis B. Mayer in 1951. Schary was ousted in his turn just a few years later, and formed his own production company. He wrote an award winning play about Roosevelt—Sunrise at Campobello—which he filmed in 1960, and he adapted the screenplay for his 1958 film Lonelyhearts from Nathanael West’s novella, Miss Lonelyhearts. Schary had a reputation as a staunch liberal who tried to resist Hollywood’s blacklist. Isherwood met him in the early 1950s at MGM (he first mentions Schary in his diary in 1953), and in 1955 Schary read Isherwood’s script on Buddha, The Wayfarer.
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