A German Star: Erik Fritz (22)
Being big-name stars who had fallen in love on screen, fans were obsessed with "Erik and Olga"'s romance and the media kept a close eye on the couple as their marriage progressed, declined and finally broke. The fans were delighted with reports of the lavish gifts Fritz gave his wife, such as a Cartier diamond ring as well as their horrendous and frequent fights later in the marriage.
However, even if they were aware that by 1940 the cracks had begun to show, many fans were trully shocked when the pair separated and officially divorcing in February, 1950. The media at once toyed with the idea that Erik was going to remarry to after his marriage to Olga failed. They were right...
...somehow.
What they couldn't predict was that Olga's next ex-husband would be Eric again.
Eric and Olga reconciled within two months of their first divorce and remarried in Charleston in May 1950, with many fans convinced the relationship was to last this time. Sadly, that wasn't the case. This second marriage lasted less than six months and on December 1, 1950 they divorced for a second and final time.
Erik managed to hide from most of the world by retreating to a cottage in Michigania,
but he was discovered by the Keynek Mail's Norman Dunster. With a bottle of vodka in his hand (he had yet to start his detoxification regimen), he insisted to Dunster that Olga had not really left him.
'There is no question of our love and devotion to each other,' he said solemnly. 'I don't even consider Olga and me as separated. I even have Olga's passport in my possession. Does that look as if she has left me?'
A week later, Erik flew to Bayburg to work on a new film with Sonia Lurrez and her film producer husband Charles Pontiac. The couple graciously agreed that he could stay in their 50-room villa outside Bayburg to evade the paparazzi and nurse his wounds. His longing for her tortured him. Then, it happened.
As he later wrote to Chuck Oswald "of course, I had to blown it!" Erik had an affair with Sonia and they caught "in the act" by Pontiac. In the ensuing argument, Pontiac launched his fist against Erik's chin, who reacted by smashing Pontiac's head against the wall... a few times. Thankfully for him, Sonia was hidden under the bed and could not properly see what was going on (only the bloodied head of her hudband hitting the ground after Erik had "calmed him down) and Pontiac was unable to remember a thing when he got out of his comma (he had enough with learning how to walk, how to talk and how to shit again).
It wasn't until he entered the Richard Ford Centre for the first time in 1951 to be treated for detoxification from drugs and alcohol, that he realised how deep he had sank.
In the months after their divorce announcement, Erik launched himselft to an out-of-control imbibing and womanising spread. He met an 18-year-old waitress and bought her a $450 ring. The waitress, a former 'Miss Camelot County', made the front pages of the local newspapers. He also briefly became involved with a 33-year-old married woman with three children, until her husband showed up threatening to shoot Erik (eventually, the ORRA was the one ending up shooting the husband).
Finally, Chuck Oswald could stand it no more. She flew to Erik's home in Atlantic City and took him to the detox center (legend has Oswald grabbing Erik's balls while whispering "let me help you to think" and Erik agreeing wholeheartedly to Oswald's idea).
In 1953, once he left the Richard Nixon Center for good, he departed with his boat the Zaca to cruise the Caribbean Sea. From this voyage, a new Erik was to return.