A Dramatic True Story
While in Berlin, Isherwood lived together with Ross. She was an aspiring cabaret singer and actress, and at one point, she unexpectedly became pregnant with the child of Peter van Eyck, a German-born actor and pianist. Eyck later left Germany without warning, leaving Ross alone. She decided to get an abortion, and Isherwood helped out, pretending to be the unborn child’s father in order to give his approval for the abortion.
Julie Harris and Laurence Harvey in ‘I Am A Camera,’ 1955. Photo by Romulus Films / Park Circus / Shutterstock
As time went by and the situation in Germany began to degrade, Isherwood, Ross, and their friends knew they had to flee. They ended up in England, and Isherwood decided to write about his and his friends’ lives in The Berlin Stories, which served as the inspiration for a play called I Am a Camera.