The 50 Greatest Actresses Of German Expressionism
First the boys and now the girls. This fifty women shines bright and made the german expressionist movement one of the most beautiful ever.
And like the list before,I'll add one great film of their filmography.
And like the list before,I'll add one great film of their filmography.
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- Actress
Born in Germany to American parents, dark-haired Betty Amann (born Philippine Amann) grew up in the US. She began her screen career as Bee Amann in the mid-'20s, but returned to Germany after appearing in a 'Tom Tyler' Western for low-budget FBO Pictures. Arriving in the wake of Louise Brooks, she was awarded a screen test by producer Erich Pommer and went on to star or co-star in such German productions as Joe May's silent Asphalt (1929) and the talkies Der weiße Teufel (1930)-- opposite Lil Dagover and Ivan Mozzhukhin--and Die kleine Schwindlerin (1933), opposite Dolly Haas. She later did Daughters of Today (1933) in England, but was back in Hollywood by the mid-'30s, where she mainly appeared in "Poverty Row" productions. Her final appearance came in Edgar G. Ulmer's bizarre Isle of Forgotten Sins (1943) for rock-bottom PRC Pictures as one of Gale Sondergaard's "hostesses."Asphalt- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Fern Andre's show-business career started as an aerialist with a troupe that toured the U.S. and Europe. In Vienna she became a student of famed director/teacher Max Reinhardt and appeared in several of his plays and films. She soon settled in Berlin, where she starred in several productions for UFA Studios, some of which she also produced and directed. She also appeared in British and French films. In the sound era she returned to the United States, but after making only two films, she retired.Genuine- Lissy Arna was born on 20 December 1900 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Der Zinker (1931), Ein Unsichtbarer geht durch die Stadt (1933) and Unter der Laterne (1928). She was married to Hanns Schwarz. She died on 22 January 1964 in Berlin, Germany.Der Katzensteg
- Anita Berber was born on 10 June 1899 in Dresden, Germany. She was an actress, known for Around the World in 80 Days (1919), The Story of Dida Ibsen (1918) and Eerie Tales (1919). She was married to Henri Châtin Hofmann, Sebastian Droste and Eberhard von Nathusius. She died on 10 November 1928 in Berlin, Germany.Anders Als Die Andern
- Grete Berger was born on 11 February 1883 in Jägerndorf, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Krnov, Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), The Student of Prague (1913) and Ein Sommernachtstraum in unserer Zeit (1914). She was married to Hanns Heinz Ewers. She died on 23 May 1944 in KZ Auschwitz, Germany.Phantom
- Actress
- Producer
Elisabeth Bergner was the daughter of the merchant Emil Ettel and his wife Anna Rosa Wagner. She grew up in Vienna, and she made her theatre debut in Innsbruck in 1915. In 1916 she obtained a contract in Zürich, where she played Ophelia next to the famous Alexander Moissi, who fell in love with her. The next stage in her career was Vienna, where she posed as a model for the talented but deeply unhappy sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck. He fell in love with her, but she rejected him; his suicide soon afterwards shocked her. After performing in Vienna and Munich she came to Berlin in 1921. There she played in productions by Max Reinhardt and became a very popular actress.
During her early years as an actress, she was often helped by the poet and critic Albert Ehrenstein, whom she called Xaverl. Ehrenstein was also in love with her. At one time she promised him a child but changed her mind. Ehrenstein wrote numerous poems for her, but often she kept him at a distance. However, their friendship lasted and they continued to exchange letters.
She made her film debut in Der Evangelimann (1924). In 1924, director Paul Czinner gave her a part in Husbands or Lovers (1924). This was the beginning of their successful professional collaboration as well as their personal relationship. Her most successful silent movie was Fräulein Else (1929).
Bergner and Czinner were both Jews, and after the Nazis came to power, they emigrated to Vienna and then London, where they were married. She learned English and was able to continue her career. In London, she became friendly with G.B. Shaw and J.M. Barrie, who after a long hiatus from writing drafted a play for her; the result, The Boy David (1936), unfortunately was not successful. She also appeared as Gemma Jones in the movie version of Escape Me Never (1935) by Margaret Kennedy, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Her movie The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) was forbidden in Germany.
During her London years, she sent much of her money to relatives and friends in need, among them Ehrenstein. Bergner's only Hollywood movie, Paris Calling (1941), failed to attract attention. On Broadway, she fared better and was very successful in The Two Mrs. Carrolls. While appearing in it, she encountered a young aspiring actress who stood in the alley outside the theater every night and claimed to have seen every performance; Bergner befriended and later hired her but broke with her after the young actress -- who called herself Martina Lawrence, the name of one of Bergner's twin characters in Stolen Life (1939) -- became over-interested in all aspects of Bergner's life. Bergner later recounted this story to her friend Mary Orr, a writer, who turned it into the short story "The Wisdom of Eve" -- which was the basis for the movie All About Eve (1950).
After the war, Bergner worked in New York for a few years; in 1950, she returned to England. She gave acclaimed Bible readings in Israel in English, German and Hebrew. In Germany, she resumed her stage career, and in 1959 she stunned audiences and critics in Berlin with her performance in Geliebter Lügner, a German version of Jerome Kilty's Dear Liar, a play based on the letters exchanged between G.B. Shaw and actress Stella Campbell. In 1961, she returned to the movies, and in 1970 she made her directorial debut. Her last stage appearance took place in 1973 (Her husband had died in 1972).
In 1978, a volume of her memoirs was published, in which she shared some of her secrets with the public, such as Lehmbruck's obsession with her. In 1979 she received the Ernst Lubitsch Prize and in 1982 the Eleonora Duse Prize. She discussed a possible return to Vienna with Bruno Kreisky, but she died from cancer at her home in London in 1986. In Seglitz (Berlin), a city park was named after her.Nju - Eine Unverstandene Frau- Renate Brausewetter was born on 1 October 1905 in Málaga, Málaga, Andalucía, Spain. She was an actress, known for Adventures of a Ten Mark Note (1926), Menschen untereinander (1926) and Schwere Jungs - leichte Mädchen (1927). She was married to Hubert Wagner. She died on 19 August 2006 in Linz am Rhein, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.Geheimnisse Einer Seele
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mady Christians was born in Vienna, Austria. Destined to be in films in both Germany and the US, she started out as a stage actress but soon found new challenges in the world of cinema. Her first film was at the age of 24 when she appeared in Audrey (1916). She remained in German films for the next 17years before coming to the US and starring in The Only Girl (1933). Mady left the film industry in 1948 after finishing All My Sons (1948).
She died on October 28, 1951, in Norwalk, CT, from a cerebral hemorrhage.Die Finanzen Des Grossherzogs- María Corda was born on 4 May 1898 in Deva, Hungary. She was an actress, known for The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1927), Samson und Delila (1922) and Tragödie im Hause Habsburg (1924). She was married to Alexander Korda. She died on 2 February 1976 in Thonex, Switzerland.Tragödie Im Hause Habsburg
- Actress
- Soundtrack
A prominent German film actress born on 30 September 1887 at Madiven, Java, the daughter of a forest ranger in the service of the Dutch authorities. Sent at the age of ten to Baden-Baden to study, she later entered the cinema thanks to her marriage in 1917 to the actor Fritz Dagover who was 25 years her senior. They divorced in 1919 but not before he had introduced her to director Robert Wiene and other notables of German cinema. She made her screen debut in Fritz Lang's Harakiri (1919). Immediately after she appeared in Wiene's classic expressionist film, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (aka The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)). Apart from three trips -- one to Sweden in 1927, another to France in 1928-9 and one to Hollywood in 1931 -- most of Lil Dagover's career and fate was linked to that of the German cinema, where her role was usually that of the frail, menaced heroine. She continued to star in a great number of films during the Nazi era. Among her best performances were her roles in Congress Dances (1931), in Gerhard Lamprecht's The Higher Command (1935) and in Veit Harlan's The Kreutzer Sonata (1937). She also acted in the Deutsches Theatre Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, at forces shows and at war theaters. At one time, she was reported to have been a close friend of Adolf Hitler. In 1944, she received the War Merits Cross. Dagover continued her career in post-war Germany, playing many supporting parts until the late 1970s.Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari- Dutch actress Lien Deyers was discovered by the great German director Fritz Lang, who gave her a part in his film Spies (1928). After that she became a big star in Germany and appeared in many successful films in the 1930s. She married director Alfred Zeisler. When the Nazis came to power, she and her Jewish husband left Germany for England. There she couldn't find work in the film business, so she and her husband went to the US to try their luck.
In the US things went from bad to worse. Unable to find work in Hollywood, she was forced to take jobs outside the business. Her marriage to Zeisler eventually failed, and she took to the bottle to solve her problems. She soon became an alcoholic and had numerous run-ins with the law. She married and divorced a few times, but soon completely vanished from the public view. The last time she was heard from was in 1964, when she was in a Las Vegas (NV) jail. It is thought that she died shortly after that.Spione - Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Her father was a police lieutenant and imbued in her a military attitude to life. Marlene was known in school for her "bedroom eyes" and her first affairs were at this stage in her life - a professor at the school was terminated. She entered the cabaret scene in 1920s Germany, first as a spectator then as a cabaret singer. In 1923, she married and, although she and Rudolf Sieber lived together only 5 years, they remained married until his death. She was in over a dozen silent films in increasingly important roles. In 1929, she was seen in a Berlin cabaret by Josef von Sternberg and, after a screen test, captured the role of the cabaret singer in The Blue Angel (1930) (and became von Sternberg's lover). With the success of this film, von Sternberg immediately took her to Hollywood, introducing her to the world in Morocco (1930), and signing an agreement to produce all her films. A series of successes followed, and Marlene became the highest paid actress of her time, but her later films in the mid-part of the decade were critical and popular failures. She returned to Europe at the end of the decade, with a series of affairs with former leading men (she had a reputation of romancing her co-stars), as well as other prominent artistic figures. In 1939, an offer came to star with James Stewart in a western and, after initial hesitation, she accepted. The film was Destry Rides Again (1939) - the siren of film could also be a comedienne and a remarkable comeback was reality. She toured extensively for the allied effort in WW II (she had become a United States citizen) and, after the war, limited her cinematic life. But a new career as a singer and performer appeared, with reviews and shows in Las Vegas, touring theatricals, and even Broadway. New success was accompanied by a too close acquaintance with alcohol, until falls in her performance eventually resulted in a compound fracture of the leg. Although the last 13 years of her life were spent in seclusion in her apartment in Paris, with the last 12 years in bed, she had withdrawn only from public life and maintained active telephone and correspondence contact with friends and associates.So Sind Die Männer- Ágnes Eszterházy was born on 21 January 1902 in Kolozsvár, Austria-Hungary [now Cluj-Napoca, Romania]. She was an actress, known for The Student of Prague (1926), Marquis d'Eon, der Spion der Pompadour (1928) and The Beggar Student (1927). She was married to Fritz Schulz. She died on 4 April 1956 in Munich, West Germany.Liebe
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Liane Haid was a prima ballerina, dancer, singer, stage and film actress. As a child, she studied voice and dancing and played at the Viennese Open Ballet. She worked in Budapest and Vienna as a dancer. On stage, she was in Berlin and Vienna. She also made close to a hundred movies - silents and talkies. She was the first female star of Austria. She was married three times. The last one was Swiss Dr. Carl Spycher, with which she had one son, the jazz musician, Pierre Spycher. She lived with her family near Bern, Switzerland, where she died at the age of 105 years young.Lady Hamilton- Else Heller was born on 4 February 1884 in Vienna, Austria. She was an actress, known for Westfront 1918 (1930), Asphalt (1929) and Tropennächte (1931). She died on 12 February 1951 in Munich, Germany.Der Märtyrer Seines Herzens
- Born in Berlin, Germany. After her role in Metropolis (1927) she made a string of movies in which she almost always had the starring role, easily making the transition to sound films. Her last film was An Ideal Spouse (1935) which was released in 1935. She died on June 11th 1996 of heart failure in Ascona, Switzerland.Metropolis
- Lucie Höflich was born on 20 February 1883 in Hannover, Germany. She was an actress, known for Anastasia: The Czar's Last Daughter (1956), Tartuffe (1925) and Sky Without Stars (1955). She was married to Georg Anton Mayer and Emil Jannings. She died on 9 October 1956 in Berlin, Germany.Katharina Die Grosse
- Evelyn Holt was born on 3 October 1908 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Die Waise von Lowood (1926), Marriage in Name Only (1930) and Eine Stunde Glück (1931). She was married to Felix Guggenheim. She died on 22 February 2001 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Die Elf Teufel
- Actress
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
The daughter of a railroad official, Camilla Horn was educated in Germany and Switzerland. She initially trained as a dressmaker and received her first job experience in a fashion salon in Erfurt. This was merely a stepping stone for a performing career which began with dance lessons in Berlin and subsequent acting studies under Lucie Höflich. The lithe, blond and strikingly beautiful Camilla soon appeared in cabaret revues staged by Rudolf Nelson. By 1926, she was employed as an extra at Ufa, where she was spotted by the director F.W. Murnau, who found in her the ideal representation of Gretchen for his seminal production of Faust (1926) . The role catapulted Camilla to instant stardom. Within a year, she was signed by United Artists in Hollywood, befriending Charles Chaplin and, more importantly, studio chairman Joseph M. Schenck. The friendship with Schenck may, or may not, have led to an affair -- depending on which story one is to believe -- but it did result in two high profile starring roles opposite John Barrymore in the torrid melodramas Tempest (1928) and Eternal Love (1929), both produced by Schenck. Neither film was a commercial success.
With the coming of sound, Camilla returned to Europe, briefly appearing on stage in London and Paris, before resuming her screen career in Germany. As the 1930's went on, she rarely turned down a role, playing anything from baronesses and fashion models, to vamps and 'fallen women'. The quality of her films was variable, but there were several noteworthy standouts, such as Hans in allen Gassen (1930) (opposite Hans Albers), The Last Waltz (1934) and Fahrendes Volk (1938) (as a circus artiste, again with Albers).
During this tumultuous decade, Camilla conducted a lengthy affair with the singer Louis Graveure, fifteen years her senior. This came to an end in 1938, when Graveure was suspected of espionage by the Gestapo and fled to England, via the Cote d'Azure. After her luxury villa in Berlin was ransacked in search for non-existent clues, Camilla's outspoken criticism of the Nazi regime reached a point where it got her into serious trouble. She saw out the first half of her career with a trio of long forgotten films made in Italy. Having failed in an attempt to flee to Switzerland, she kept a low profile and even tried her hand at farming. After the war, she had a stint as an interpreter for the occupying U.S. forces in Germany. Camilla made a successful return to the stage in a 1948 Frankfurt production of Jean Cocteau's "L'Aigle a Deux Tetes" (aka 'The Eagle Has Two Heads'). She spent the latter half of her acting career playing grand dames, matriarchs and worldly ladies with colourful backgrounds, in both films and on television. In 1974, she was awarded the 'Filmband in Gold' (also known as 'Lola') for lifetime achievement in the German film industry. In her 1985 autobiography, "Verliebt in die Liebe" ('In Love with Love'), she happily recounted her marriages and liaisons.Faust - Eine Deutsche Volkssage- Édith Jéhanne was born on 9 February 1899 in Châteauroux, Indre, France. She was an actress, known for The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927), Tarakanova (1930) and The Chess Player (1927). She died on 14 June 1949 in Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, Ille-et-Vilaine, France.Die Liebe Der Jeanne Ney
- Actress
- Writer
Lucie Mannheim was born on 30 April 1899 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress and writer, known for The 39 Steps (1935), Der Ball (1931) and Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965). She was married to Marius Goring. She died on 18 July 1976 in Braunlage, Lower Saxony, Germany.Der Schatz- Rina Marsa was born on 18 January 1904 in Caucasus, Russia. She is known for Poor as a Church Mouse (1931), Nie wieder Liebe! (1931) and Auf Leben und Tod (1930). She was previously married to Emilio Genís Varela.Die Yacht Der Sieben Sünden
- Gertrud Pfiel was born in present day Croatia, the daughter of an engineer and inventor. A strikingly beautiful blonde with high cheekbones and expressive blue eyes, she grew up in Vienna where she was trained as a singer and dancer, embarking on a theatrical career by the age of fifteen. Until 1944, 'Gertraud' regularly performed at various theatres in Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna. During a performance, she came to the attention of the director Fritz Lang, who became instantly enamored with her. Without an audition, Lang gave her a starring role as a defecting Russian spy in Spies (1928), the success of which led to further back-to-back leads in Woman in the Moon (1929) and Hochverrat (1929).
Lang eventually left his wife and long-time collaborator, the screenwriter Thea von Harbou, while Gerda Maurus went onto marry another prolific director, Robert A. Stemmle, who directed her in Daphne und der Diplomat (1937). During the sound era, Gerda was intermittently given further opportunities to shine, including opposite Hans Albers (Dope (1932)) and Paul Hörbiger (Prinzessin Sissy (1939)), but she seemed somehow unable to repeat the success of her earlier (silent) films. Her association, however tenuous, with Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels tainted her career during the immediate post-war period. While her acting ban was eventually lifted, she rarely again graced the screen, but for several more years continued on as a stage actress in Munich and Düsseldorf.Frau Im Mond - Eva May was born Eva Maria Mandel on May 29, 1902 in Vienna, Austria. Her mother was actress Mia May and her father was producer and director Joe May. Eva made her film debut in her father's 1914 German film The Black Triangle. At the age of sixteen she married director Erik Lund. The couple worked together in numerous films including The Foolish Heart, Black Pearls, and The Bride Of The Incapacitated. She was directed by her father again in the 1920 drama The Legend Of Holly Simplicity,. The press called her "The German Mary Pickford". Unfortunately Eva developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. The young actress was also jealous of her mother's beauty and greater success. She divorced Erik in 1922 and married director Lothar Mendes. They split up a year later.
In 1923 she costarred with Lya De Putti in Die Fledermaus and with Conrad Veidt in Paganini. Her third marriage, to director Manfred Noa, only lasted a few months. Eva started dating producer Rudolf Sieber. When he left her for Marlene Dietrich she slashed her wrists. It was one of several suicide attempts she had made. Then she fell in love with director Fritz Mandl (who was also her second cousin). She was devastated when he refused to marry her. On September 10, 1924 the twenty-two year old committed suicide by shooting herself in the head. In her hand she clutched a photo of Fritz Mandl. Eva left a note that said "Fritz family object - always there is something to mar my happiness - Life is not worth living". Thousands of friends and fans attended her funeral in Vienna. She was cremated and her ashes were given to her parents.Die Fledermaus - Actress
- Writer
Mia May was a minor film actress in Germany who was born in 1884 with the birth name of Maria Pfleger. Her film career didn't start until she was 34 years old when she appeared in the production of HILDE WARREN UND DER TOD in 1917.Das Wandernde Bild- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Erna Morena was born on 24 April 1885 in Wörth am Main, Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress and writer, known for Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen (1918), Colomba (1918) and Lulu (1917). She was married to Wilhelm Herzog. She died on 20 July 1962 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.Der Gang In Die Nacht- Actress
- Soundtrack
Pola Negri was born in Lipno, Poland, and moved to Warsaw as a child. Living in poverty with her mother, a teenage Pola auditioned and was accepted to the Imperial Ballet. Due to an illness that ended her dancing career, she soon switched to the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and became an actress. By 17 she was a star on the Warsaw stage, but World War I would soon change the theater scene. Without the theater, Pola turned to films. With her new career in pictures and her stage success in "Sumurun", she went to Berlin and was teamed with German director Ernst Lubitsch. The Lubitsch-Negri combination was very successful and the roles that Pola played were earthy, exotic, strong women. One of her films, Passion (1919), was optioned and retitled "Passion" for exhibition in America. The film was such a success that by 1922 she and Lubitsch were both given contracts to work in Hollywood. While her first few films showed some success, they were overshadowed by her reported romances with such stars as Charles Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino. Forbidden Paradise (1924), made with Lubitsch, and Hotel Imperial (1927) were two of her more successful films. However, three things conspired to end her career in Hollywood: (1) The perception that her mourning for Rudolph Valentino was insincere, though Negri did describe him as the love of her life; (2) The Hays Office codes that would not allow her to show the very traits that made her a sex-siren in Europe; (3) Her thick Polish accent would not play in the sound pictures that were coming into vogue.
Pola Negri returned to Europe and eventually made films for UFA, which was under Nazi management. In 1941 she returned to America penniless. She made Hi Diddle Diddle (1943) and became an American citizen in 1951. Her next and last movie was The Moon-Spinners (1964).
She died of pneumonia in San Antonio, TX, in 1987.Carmen- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Danish leading woman of German films who became one of the greatest stars of the silent era. A native of the Copenhagen suburb of Vesterbro, Nielsen was the daughter of a coppersmith and a washerwoman, both of whom died before Nielsen was fifteen. Her stage debut came as a child in the chorus of the Kongelige Teater's production of Boito's opera "Mephistopheles." She studied at the Royal Theatre School of Copenhagen and embarked upon a stage career in her late teens. She toured Scandinavia and became one of the highest-paid and most popular stage actresses of her time and place. In 1909, director Urban Gad suggested that the silent screen would allow her to transcend her Danish language barrier, and she agreed appear in his film 'Afgrunden (1910)'. The film was successful and Nielsen was encouraged to continue in this new art form. A German distributor, Paul Davidson, invited Nielsen to Germany, where he was building a film studio which would eventually become Europe's largest--the Universum Film Union A.-G. (or Ufa). Nielsen and her director, Gad, whom she had married, went to Germany and spent the next quarter century there. She became one of the true superstars of the silent screen, a tragic heroine whose photograph during the First World War accompanied German and also British and French troops into battle. Among her notable films after the war was a version of "Hamlet, " which was not so much a Shakespearean film as it was an exploration of a then-current theory that the real Hamlet had been, in fact, a woman. Nielsen played the title role. She continued to play a wide variety of roles in Germany and occasionally in Denmark and Norway, never losing the respect and popularity she had maintained almost from the beginning of her career. She abandoned her film work just as sound was taking over the industry. Aside from one or two brief forays in talkies, her acting was thereafter confined to the stage. She died in 1972 at the age of 89, shortly after her fifth marriage.Engelein- Actress
- Producer
- Production Manager
Aud Egede-Nissen was born on 30 May 1893 in Bergen, Norway. She was an actress and producer, known for Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), Das Phantom der Oper (1916) and Deception (1920). She was married to Paul Richter and Georg Alexander. She died on 6 November 1974 in Oslo, Norway.Die Verrufenen- Hardly remembered today, the dark-haired, wide-eyed Ressel Orla came to stardom quickly in the 1910s in Germany after her first major role in The Perfect Thirty-Six (1914) (released in America as The Perfect Thirty-Six). With no offers coming in for stage work, her original vocational pursuit, she continued film work with much success. An expressive and beautiful woman with a dramatic Madonna-like face, she was a star for several years but fell out of popularity in the twenties. At the time of her death, she had fallen on hard times, was no longer acting, and was barely forty. She is undoubtedly remembered best for her performance as the treacherous Lio Sha in Fritz Lang's two part film series The Spiders (1919-20), one of her few performances that are widely available for viewing today.Die Spinnen
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Ossi Oswalda was born Oswalda Staglich on February 2, 1899 in Berlin, Germany. She trained to be a ballerina and worked in chorus lines when she was a teenager. Director Ernst Lubitsch discovered her and cast her in his 1916 film The Shoe Palace. Over the next five years she appeared in many of Lubitsch's comedies including The Doll, The Oyster Princess, and I Don't Want To Be A Man. She usually played spoiled, child-like characters and even appeared in drag. Ossi became one of Europe's most bankable stars earning her the nickname "The German Mary Pickford". She and Ernst Lubitsch became very close friends but their relationship was never romantic. In 1919 she married Hungarian Baron Gustav Von Koczian. Ossi and her husband started their own production company but they only made five films together.
Their marriage ended in 1925 and Ossi began a high profile romance with Crown Prince Willhelm. She signed a contract with an American producer in 1926 and tried to change her image by playing more glamorous characters. Unfortunately her career suffered with the arrival of sound films. Her last role was in the 1933 drama The Star Of Valencia. Ossi continued to work on the stage appearing in operettas in Germany and Vienna. Eventually she moved to Czechoslovakia with her boyfriend Julius Aussenberg, a former producer. In 1943 she wrote the story for the film Fourteen At The Table. Sadly by the Spring of 1947 Ossi was bankrupt and suffering from numerous health problems. She died on July 17, 1947 in Prague. Ossi was only forty-eight years old. She is buried in Olsany Cemetery in in the Czech Republic.Die Austernprinzessin- Elizza La Porta was born on 1 March 1902 in Craiova, Romania. She was an actress, known for The Student of Prague (1926), Engel im Séparée (1929) and Laster der Menschheit (1927). She died on 15 November 1997 in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.Der Student Von Prag
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Henny Porten was born January 7, 1890, in Magdeburg, Germany. She had one of the longest careers of any German actress and was highly sought after because of her wonderful thespian skills. Henny's career would stretch over six decades, from 1906 to 1955. Her first film was in Apachentanz (1906), making her one of the earliest film actresses anywhere in the world. At the age of 65, Henny filmed her last production entitled Die Schätze des Teufels (Das Fräulein von Scuderi (1955)). Henny died in Berlin, Germany, on October 15, 1960, at the age of 70.Anna Boleyn- Edith Posca was born on 4 November 1892 in Germany. She was an actress, known for Das Achtgroschenmädel, Teil 1 (1921), Grausige Nächte (1921) and The Ladies' Paradise (1922). She was married to Lupu Pick. She died on 28 June 1931 in Berlin, Germany.Scherben
- The daughter of a Hungarian baroness and a military officer, Lya De Putti went on to perform classical ballet in Berlin, Germany, after a brief stint in Hungarian vaudeville. She later made several films at the German UFA studios, most notably Variety (1925), before going to Hollywood in 1926. While in America she starred in several movies, mostly in vamp roles.Manon Lescaut
- Born in Bad Kissingen, Germany, in 1885, Hanna Ralph made her stage debut in 1913 and her film debut in 1917. She was quite active in silent films, and worked for such directors as Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau, and at one point was married to Emil Jannings (they later divorced). She made her final film, The Unholy Intruders (1952), in 1952. She died in Berlin, Germany, in 1978.Algol - Tragödie Der Macht
- Producer
- Director
- Actress
Leni Riefenstahl's show-biz experience began with an experiment: she wanted to know what it felt like to dance on the stage. Success as a dancer gave way to film acting when she attracted the attention of film director Arnold Fanck, subsequently starring in some of his mountaineering pictures. With Fanck as her mentor, Riefenstahl began directing films.
Her penchant for artistic work earned her acclaim and awards for her films across Europe. It was her work on Triumph of the Will (1935), a documentary commissioned by the Nazi government about Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, that would come back to haunt her after the atrocities of World War II. Despite her protests to the contrary, Riefenstahl was considered an intricate part of the Third Reich's propaganda machine. Condemned by the international community, she did not make another movie for over 50 years.Der Heilige Berg- Lyda Salmonova was born on 14 July 1889 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for The Student of Prague (1913), Evinrude (1913) and Monna Vanna (1922). She was married to Paul Wegener. She died on 18 November 1968 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].Der Golem
- Adele Sandrock was born on 19 August 1863 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. She was an actress, known for Helen of Troy (1924), Op hoop van zegen (1924) and Die Försterchristl (1931). She died on 30 August 1937 in Berlin, Germany.Verlogene Moral
- Margarete Schlegel was born on 31 December 1899 in Bromberg, West Prussia, Germany. She was an actress, known for Berlin-Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf (1931), Der Schuß im Pavillon (1925) and Hanneles Himmelfahrt (1922). She died in 1987 in England.Sehnsucht
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Born in 1895 in Magdeburg, Germany, Margarete Schön made her stage debut in 1912. She was a member of the Deutschen Theater in Hannover from 1915-18 and Berlin's Staatstheater from 1918-45. She had a few roles in silent films, notably as Kriemhild in Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924) and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924), but with the coming of sound she went from starring roles to supporting parts as mothers and wives. After World War II she was under contract to the East German film company Defa, from 1948-50. She later worked on radio doing plays and narrating documentaries, as well as plays for children. She died in Berlin in 1985.Die Nibelungen- Actress
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Greta Schröder was a German actress. She is best known for the role of Thomas Hutter's wife in the 1922 silent film Nosferatu. In the fictionalized 2000 film, Shadow of the Vampire, she is portrayed as having been a famous actress during the making of Nosferatu, but in fact she was little known.
The peak of her career was during the 1920s, and she continued to act well into the 1950s, but by the 1930s her roles had diminished to only occasional appearances.
Greta Schröder died on 8 June 1980 at the age of 87.Nosferatu- Alexandra Sorina was born on 17 September 1899 in Baranowicze, Poland, Russian Empire [now Baranovichi, Belarus]. She was an actress, known for The Hands of Orlac (1924), Rasputin, Demon with Women (1932) and Die malayische Dschonke (1924). She died on 31 May 1973 in San Rafael, California, USA.Orlacs Hände
- Carola Toelle was born on 2 April 1893 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Hazard (1921), Die Insel der Glücklichen (1919) and Die Geächteten (1917). She was married to Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur. She died on 28 January 1958 in West Berlin, West Germany.Vier Um Die Frau
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Olga Chekhova (also Olga Tschechova in German), one of the most popular stars of the silent film era, remained a mysterious person throughout her life and was accused of being a Russian agent in Nazi Germany.
She was born Olga Konstantinovna von Knipper on April 26, 1897, in Aleksandropol, Transcaucasia, Russian Empire (now Gyumri, Armenia). She was the second of 3 children in a bilingual Russian-German family. Her father, Konstantin Leonardovich Knipper, a Lutheran of German descent. He made a military career in Russia as a railroad engineer. Young Olga studied art and literature at an art school in St. Petersburg. Later as an immigrant in Germany she claimed friendship with the family of Tsar Nicholas II--who also was of German origin--and that she had encountered the notorious Russian mystic and monk, Grigory Rasputin. In reality, she was sent from St. Petersburg to Moscow to her aunt, actress Olga Knipper-Chekhova, to study acting at Moscow Art Theatre. In 1914, at age 17, she eloped with Russian-Jewish actor Michael Chekhov, nephew of Anton Chekhov.
Olga adored her husband, Michael Chekhov, a rising star of stage and film. But he met another beauty, Xenia Zimmer, and became involved in extramarital affair while Olga was pregnant with their child. Their daughter, Ada Tschechowa, was born in 1916. Olga separated from Michael Chekhov during the tragic time of the Russian Revolution in 1917. That same year she made her film debut in a Russian silent film, Anya Kraeva (1918).
Olga claimed that she fled Russia disguised as a peasant woman and posed as a mute while carrying a diamond ring in her mouth. In reality she married an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, Friedrich Jaroshi, and took a train from the Moscow Belorussky station to Vienna, Austria, having travel documents from the Russian Commissar of Culture (and she was also helped by the Russian intelligence agency in exchange for her cooperation). She was later invited to the Soviet Embassy in Berlin for meetings with Soviet officials. In Germany she was introduced to film producer Erich Pommer and renowned director F.W. Murnau, who gave her a leading role in his film, The Haunted Castle (1921). She quickly became a huge star in Europe and played in more than 40 silent films during the decade. Olga was joined by ex-husband Michael Chekhov in several films, including Der Narr seiner Liebe (1929) (aka "The Fool of Love"), which she also directed.
Future Nazi leader Adolf Hitler reportedly fell for Olga upon seeing her cold and beautiful face in several films in the 1920s. She was famous for her movie image as a baroness and was courted in the 1930s by Luftwaffe boss Hermann Göring and by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Some wives of high-ranking Nazi officials were jealous of and hated the beautiful Olga. Goebbels was known to have visited her home on several occasions when he wanted to be away from his Nazi "activities". He invited Olga to several Nazi receptions and introduced her to Adolf Hitler in April 1933. Olga became a personal friend of Hitler and was photographed sitting next to "Der Fuhrer" at official events of the Nazi Party. She also received valuable Christmas gifts from Hitler, and regular birthday presents and other tokens of his attention.
In 1936 Olga was honored with the title of "State Actress" of the Third Reich and was made a German citizen. She married a wealthy Belgian businessman, Marcel Robyns. One day prior to the wedding she had a private reception with Hitler, who gave her permission to retain her German citizenship. Two years later she divorced Robyns and returned to her high-society life in Berlin. Her famous 1939 photo-op with Hitler was thoroughly analyzed in Moscow.
She was invited by Soviet officials to join Hermann Göring and Joachim von Ribbentrop at the meeting with Vyacheslav Molotov and Gen. V. N. Merkulov at the Soviet Embassy in Berlin in 1940. At that time Olga was associated with her agent-brother Lev Knipper, who was sent from Moscow to Germany on a secret mission to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The plan was to use one of Olga's visits with Hitler for a suicide attack on the Fuhrer. Olga was kept oblivious of the plan, which was aborted by an order from Joseph Stalin, who became paranoid about the possibility of Germany's alliance with Britain if Hitler was killed. Interestingly, Stalin and Hitler were both amateur film directors in the 1920s, but as dictators they now directed the course of history.
Olga was invited by Josef Goebbels to the official reception in Berlin in July of 1941, only a month after the Nazis invaded Russia and Luftwaffe bombings caused massive devastation to Russian cities. Goebbels announced the planned occupation of Moscow.
She was being investigated by the SS on orders from SS leader Heinrich Himmler. She was constantly under surveillance by both Nazi and Soviet agents in her Berlin home. As the war progressed and conditions got progressively worse for the Nazi regime, party bosses became increasingly paranoid. Himmler was planning to arrest her in January of 1945. One early morning she was informed of Himmler's move. She immediately called him directly with a request for a favor--to let her finish her morning cup of coffee comfortably. When SS commandos surrounded her home Himmler opened her door and was met by an angry Adolf Hitler, who in no uncertain terms informed Himmler that he had made a mistake.
Olga was a beautiful pawn in a dangerous game between the two most destructive powers in the Second World War. She survived through acting, cheating, lying and disguise. She protected her daughter Ada from Nazi anti-Semitism by hiding the fact that her ex-husband, Michael Chekhov, was Jewish. Her brother Lev Knipper was held in a Nazi concentration camp and managed to survive because of his perfect German (and probably with her help). During the savage battle for Berlin just before the war's end, Olga hid in a bomb shelter and was eventually taken prisoner by the Red Army. She was flown to Moscow in April of 1945, for debriefing at the offices of Soviet secret police officials Viktor Abakumov and Lavrenti Beria. She discreetly attended the Moscow Art Theatre performance of "The Cherry Orchard" starring her aunt Olga Knipper-Chekhova in May of 1945. They were not allowed to talk and her aunt Olga fainted backstage.
After two months of interrogations in Moscow, on June 26, 1945, Olga was flown back to Berlin, where she was assisted by the Soviet Army. She was given money and moved in to a Soviet-supervised house on Spree Strasse in the Soviet sector of East Berlin. Several articles in the French and British presses stated that she was a clandestine agent and secretly decorated by the Soviet government. She praised the Russian victory over the Nazis in a private letter to her aunt Olga Knipper-Chekhova. Meanwhile, the film she made in Hollywood turned out to be a flop in the US market, mainly because of her heavy Russian accent.
She continued a film career in Europe and ran her own film production company, Venus-Film Olga Tschechowa. In 1950 she moved to Munich and starred in several films. In 1955 she used her star power to launch a successful cosmetics company, "Olga Tscheschowa Kosmetik Geselschaft." Her remarkable acting career, spanning almost 60 years, ended in 1978, with a small film role as a grandmother.
Her personal file was temporarily available for viewing at the KGB archives in Moscow. One report on her was prepared and signed by the notoriously brutal KGB chief Viktor S. Abakumov. On that report a handwritten question was left by a reader in Kremlin: "What do you suggest to be done with Ms. Chekhova?", the handwriting was by Joseph Stalin. Stalin was quoted as having said, "The actress Olga Chekhova will be very useful in the post-war years", and she probably was. One of her films was titled Der Mann, der zweimal leben wollte (1950), or "The Man Who Wanted to Live Two Lives"--and that was exactly what she did.
In 1955, Olga was saddened by the death of Michael Chekhov. In 1966, Olga suffered from another tragedy: her only daughter Ada died in an airplane crash. Devastated by the painful loss, Olga suffered from bouts of depression and turned to alcohol, but she survived thanks to her strong will and lust for life. She lived for another fifteen years, played a few more roles in the movies, and saw her great-grandchildren grow. Moments before she died, sensing the end was near, she ordered a glass of champagne from her granddaughter Vera Tschechowa. That was March 9, 1980, in Munich, Germany.
Her last words were, "Life is beautiful!"Schloss Vogelöd- Actress
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Rosa Valetti was born Rosa Alice Vallentin, the daughter of industrialist Felix Vallentin and his wife, Bertha. Her brother was actor Hermann Vallentin, who emigrated to Mandatory Palestine. She first appeared on the Berlin stage and later also in Paris, Brussells and Vienna. During the First World War, she worked with Ludwig Roth, her first husband, at the Residenz-Theater in Berlin. She also worked as a director and acted in many theaters. A meeting with Kurt Tucholsky gave her an opportunity to work in cabaret, firstly in "Schall und Rauch." Valetti produced her own cabaret show "Café Grössenwahn" in 1920, then "Die Rampe" in 1922, and "Comedia Valetti" in 1923.
Valetti played in many cabarets around Europe and appeared in the premiere of "Die Dreigroschenoper" ("The Three Penny Opera"). In all, she appeared in more than 40 films, including in 1930 's "Der Blaue Engel" (The Blue Angel) with Marlene Dietrich. In 1933, she left Nazi Germany for Vienna and worked until 1935 at the Theater at der Josefstadt, also making guest appearances in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1934, she moved back to Berlin and then in 1936 to Palestine. She died the following year in Vienna. Her only child, her daughter Elisabeth, an actress known as Lisl Valetti, emigrated to the USA.Herr Tartuff- Actress
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The actress Hertha von Walther was born as Hertha Stern und Walther von Monbary in Hildesheim. At the age of 17 she ran away from the boarding school and went to an acting school in Leipzig. There she made first experiences as an extra at the theater and at the opera. She went to Max Reinhardt in Berlin one year later and with it she managed her breakthrough on the stage. Because she couldn't earn a fortune at the theater she also took on small well paid parts for movies. To her earliest performances belong "Destinée", "Herzog Ferrantes Ende, "Am Rande der Grossstadt" and "Tragödie der Liebe", where she played together with Marlene Dietrich as an extra.
Her first great movie success came in 1924 with "Der Berg des Schicksals", at Luis Trenker's side. She played for the first time for director Georg Wilhelm Pabst in the international successful production "Die freudlose Gasse". In the following years she acted under his direction time and again, so in the well-known movies "Geheimnisse einer Seele, "Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney" and "Abwege".
But also other directors like Friedrich Zelnik, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Richard Oswald, Paul Czinner and Fritz Lang esteemed the actress who was often called on for dubious roles. To her other well-known silent movies belong the worldwide success "Faust", "Die Weber", "Svengali", "Dr. Bessels Verwandlung", "Spione" and "Die Ehe".
In the sound film era joined many other great movies her filmographie, among them "Der Greifer", Alfred Hitchcock's "Murder - Mary/Sir John greift ein", the classic "M", directed by Fritz Lang, "Die Koffer des Herrn O.F." and "Der Tiger von Eschnapur". Her family insisted on not to play in movies during her short-lasting marriage with director Paul May. Therefore she only appeared again on the screen in 1938 with "Sergeant Berry" and "Ich verweigere die Aussage".
In the war time she went on tour for troops care. When the Gestapo tried to sign her on as an agent she fled to Portugal, later to Brazil. There she lived together with her second husband in a mine area.
She went back to Germany in 1960 and played at the theater at the present, later she also appeared in movies again. Her last movies were "Jonathan" , "Das Schlangenei" and "Satan ist auf Gottes Seite".Die Weber- Gertrude Welcker was born on 16 July 1896 in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. She was an actress, known for Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), Die Dame in Schwarz (1920) and Dämon Zirkus (1923). She died on 1 August 1988 in Danderyd, Stockholms län, Sweden.Dr. Mabuse - Der Spieler
- Actress
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Ruth Weyher was born on 28 May 1901 in Neumark in Westpreußen, East Prussia, Germany [now Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Poland]. She was an actress and producer, known for This Ancient Law (1923), Ein Sommernachtstraum (1925) and Warning Shadows (1923). She died on 27 January 1983 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.Schatten- Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein was born on 16 October 1866 in Breslau, Silesia, Germany. She was an actress, known for Deception (1920), Der Bastard (1925) and Die Sippschaft (1920). She was married to Eduard von Winterstein. She died on 22 August 1965.Ludwig Der Zweiter - König Von Bayern