Disastrous Facts About Karl Dane, A Victim Of The Talkies
For the first years of Karl Dane’s rise to stardom, movies were silent. When they started making films with sound, Dane’s thick Danish accent was near impossible to understand.
The invention of talkies sparked the actor's epic and devastating downward spiral. Take a look at these facts about Karl Dane, and watch in horror as it all came tumbling down.
1. His Name Was a Mouthful
Born in 1886, Karl Dane did not have a name tailor-made for the movies—Rasmus Karl Therkelsen Gottlieb—and yet, that was exactly where he was headed. Unfortunately, before his rise to stardom, Dane faced a turbulent childhood. His parents were always at one another's throats, and before long, his entire family fell apart.
2. He Performed
When he was 17, Dane watched his parent's marriage come undone. His mother blamed it on her husband’s problems with two things: money management and drinking. However, there was one crucial thing his father did provide. He’d built a tiny toy theater, and Dane and his two brothers used it as an excuse to perform puppet shows for small audiences.
This early love of performing foreshadowed Dane's destiny—but fame and fortune didn't come easy.
3. He Needed A Real Job
Dane and his brothers loved playing with their father’s toy theater, but they needed to make some actual money. There weren’t many options for a life in show business, so the three brothers did an apprenticeship as machinists. But fate had another plan in store for them. Eventually, the government tapped on their shoulders: It was time for the three brothers to begin their compulsory service in the Danish armed forces.
Dane had no clue just how much it would alter the course of his life.
4. His Happiness Was Cut Short
By the time Dane finished his service, he had a special lady on his arm. He married Carla Dagmar Hagen, a dressmaker, on September 10, 1910.
The young couple got right down to business and produced two baby boys—one in 1911, and the other a year later. Dane really took to married life and fatherhood, but the outbreak of WW1 put an end to his familial bliss.
Lucky for Dane, his service didn’t take him into battle, and he rode it out in Copenhagen. Even though he didn’t actually fight, the end of the war spurred Dane into making the most drastic decision imaginable.
