In 2005, she celebrated her twin passions of opera and fi lm by organizing “Opera Goes to the Movies;” great movies of great operas screened at the AFI Silver Theatre with receptions at the embassies of Germany, France, Spain and Italy. “My dream has always been to bring Europe and the U.S. closer together. Billions are spent on public diplomacy but sometimes the small ways can be very effective,” she remarked. In Los Angeles for the 40th anniversary of the AFI, I asked Ina, an AFI trustee, if the odd mix of stars and political power ever led to any unusual confrontations... A surprise visit from Liv Ullman hours before an AFI screening and party for her latest fi lm, came to mind. “Liv demanded to know if Henry Kissinger, then Secretary of State, was coming. When I hesitated she told me she absolutely wouldn’t appear unless he came,” Ina recalled. “I had read they’d gone out together so I took her seriously,” she continued. “Henry was a friend and would come to the screening room alone, with his big dog, and watch a fi lm privately when he needed time off. So I phoned the State Department, pleaded gently, and he agreed to attend. This was four o’clock in the afternoon! He was very human and approachable, and quite generous. That evening when he walked in, he looked at me sternly and said, ‘You’ve got nerve, Ina!’”

Then there was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fi rst entrance on the Washington stage. Ina was asked to do a private VIP screening for Pumping Iron, long before anyone really knew who Arnold was. At fi rst she demurred. “Bobby Zarem, the famous PR honcho representing the fi lm, sort of reproached me by saying that, as a fellow Austrian, I should help Arnold; but I insisted on meeting him first,” she recalled. Arnold flew in from California to have lunch with Ina at Sans Souci, the Washington restaurant at the time where one went to see and be seen. “I arrived a couple of minutes early and saw him walk in,” she recounted. All eyes followed Schwarzenegger to her table. “After ten minutes I decided he was more than okay; his manners were very good, and hewas bright,” she added. “We spoke openly, in German, as two Austrians. He said to me very directly, ‘My plan is to become a major film star, and I will.’” He stayed for three days, and Ina introduced him to a number of people. “We became friends, and some time later I took him to the AFI Life Achievement Awards in Los Angeles; he still wasn’t a major star – the foreign press reacted when we walked down the red carpet, but not so much the U.S. press. When he decided to run for governor, I was convinced he’d win. He will not allow himself to fail – which is proving to be true now. He’s very competent.” Mr. Schwarzenegger may well have eyes on Washington once again.