Percy Adlon

After almost 15 years of marriage, he met a hotel guest, the German-American Hedwig Leythen (1889–1967), called Hedda, at a New Year's Eve party in the Hotel Adlon, left his wife and children, and in 1922 he married her.

It was one of the biggest scandals of Berlin in the 1920s.

Tilly moved with her daughter Elisabeth, then two, to the south of Germany, while the other children Susanne Adlon-Meyerhöfer (mother of Percy), Lorenz, and twins Carl and Louis (junior) were sent to boarding school and later all four emigrated to America.

Adlon's father was opera tenor Rudolf Laubenthal.

He grew up in the Bavarian countryside with his mother Susanne and attributes the strong, often unconventional, women's roles in his films to his being brought up in this manner.

His son, Felix, also a film director, is the former husband of American actress Pamela Adlon and the father of her three daughters, including actresses Odessa and Gideon Adlon.

Percy and Eleonore Adlon lived in Pacific Palisades, California.

Percy Adlon died there on 10 March 2024, at the age of 88.

Thomas Meyerhöfer is a half-brother of Percy, 15 years younger and son of Emil Meyerhöfer.

Paul Rudolf Parsifal "Percy" Adlon (1 June 1935 – 10 March 2024) was a German director, screenwriter, and producer.

He is best known for his film Bagdad Cafe.

He is associated with the New German Cinema movement (ca. 1965–1985), and is known for his strong female characters and positive portrayals of lesbian relationships.

Adlon was born in Munich, Germany.

He grew up in Ammerland/Starnberger See.

He studied art, theater history, and German literature at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian University; took acting and singing classes; and was a member of a student theater group.

Adlon's films were shown in competition regularly at international film festivals, such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, and others.

Adlon started his professional career as an actor, became interested in radio work, was a narrator and editor of literature series and a presenter and voice-over actor in television for 10 years.

In 1970, he made his first short film for Bavarian television, followed by more than 150 documentary films about art and the human condition.

His first one-hour portrait Tomi Ungerer's Landleben started a very successful co-operation with Benigna von Keyserlingk who became Adlon's television producer of documentaries and feature films.

Marianne Sägebrecht whom Percy Adlon discovered in 1979 became a cult figure, and he developed songs with Tony, Oscar, and Grammy award nominated Bob Telson on such songs as "Calling You" a classic.

Percy and Eleonore Adlon won numerous awards, including top honors in Rio de Janeiro for Bagdad Cafe, and in Montreal for Salmonberries, two Césars, the Ernst Lubitsch Award, a Norwegian Amanda Award, the Swedish and the Danish Academy awards, the Prix Humanum, Belgium, prizes in Venice, Chicago, Valladolid, Brussels, Tokyo as well as Bavarian and German Federal Film Awards, among others.

Percy Adlon was the recipient of the Officer's Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany, and a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Percy Adlon was the great-grandson of Lorenz Adlon, the founder of the Hotel Adlon.

He was also the grandson of Louis Adlon Sr., who had five children with his first wife Tilly.

Their first feature film Céleste, drew international attention at Cannes in 1981.

Bagdad Cafe (1987) started their co-operation with Dietrich v. Watzdorf (Bayerischer Rundfunk).

The story of Jasmin Münchgstettner and the Café owner Brenda was an international hit.