PORTFOLIO

Prinz Frédéric von Anhalt: the man is always good for a headline. He loves to be in the limelight, adores glamour. He makes his entrances in stylish uniforms, complete with limousine, chauffeur, and bodyguards, and always surrounded by as many cameras as possible. He procured his title decades ago, but has remained in Hollywood thanks to his marriage to Zsa Zsa Gabor, one of Hollywood’s brightest stars during an earlier era. As Zsa Zsa’s eighth husband, Prinz Frédéric was enveloped in a realm of glitz he had long dreamed of entering. The quirky pair was tailor-made for Hollywood; while leading lives of ostentatious luxury, they supplied the town with scandal and eye-catching headlines. But much has transpired since the old days. The 97-year-old Hollywood diva is gravely ill, bedridden, and requires 24-hour care, and the prince has served as her nighttime caretaker for the past 10 years. Today, Prinz Frédéric von Anhalt divides his time between the red carpet, award ceremonies, and his wife’s sickbed. But who is this man, known to most people only as a celebrity prince? What moves him, what preoccupies him, what is his life behind me scenes really like? "Each time, I'm on the red carpet for half an hour, and that's it. Then I go home. But I do it because it makes good pictures, and it's a nice diversion."

Together with the Prince and his biography, the documentary "Prince Hollywood" immerses viewers in Hollywood, a world suspended between reality and illusion. We are guests on the red carpet, meet the Prince and his entourage, chaperone him around his adopted hometown. For the sake of the film, the Prince opens his private archives, sharing photographs from the glory days of Hollywood glamour, recounts his experiences by the side of a great diva, but also relates details of his life before he became a member of the Hollywood family.

When Hans-Robert Lichtenberg – alias Prinz Frédéric von Anhalt – arrived in Hollywood, one thing was clear to him: "You need a good story and a strong image that makes an impact on people." This documentary strives to answer the question: What did Hollywood make of this young man from the Palatinate region of Germany? What happens when the finitude of life intrudes into the world of appearances, when glamour slowly loses its sheen? And what does it truly mean, in the end, for Hans-Robert Lichtenberg as a human being?