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- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Zazie Beetz (born c. 1991) is a German-American actress known for the role of Vanessa on Atlanta (2016), as well as for starring in Deadpool 2 (2018), Joker (2019), and Nine Days (2020).
Born in Berlin to a German father and an African-American mother, Beetz was raised in New York speaking both German and English at home. Performing in community theaters and local stages since childhood, Zazie found her joy in grade school and grew up acting. She attended LaGuardia Arts High school, where she continued to engage her love for performing arts, but decided to not pursue a conservatory program afterward. Instead, she went to Skidmore College, where she received a bachelor's degree in French. Beetz currently resides in her hometown, New York.- Peri Baumeister was born in 1986 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for Blood Red Sky (2021), Neuland (2022) and Irre sind männlich (2014).
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Nastassja Kinski was born Nastassja Aglaia Nakszynski on January 24, 1961 in Berlin, Germany, the daughter of German actor Klaus Kinski. In 1976, she met director Roman Polanski, who urged her to study method acting with Lee Strasberg in the United States. Kinski starred in the Italian romantic drama Stay as You Are (1978) with Marcello Mastroianni, gaining her recognition in the United States after the film's release on December 21, 1979. She played the title character in Polanski's romantic drama Tess (1979), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" (1891).
Kinski starred in Francis Ford Coppola's romantic musical One from the Heart (1981), her first film made in the United States. The film became a box office bomb and was a major loss for Coppola's production company Zoetrope Studios. She also starred in the erotic horror movie Cat People (1982) with Malcolm McDowell, a remake of the 1942 classic of the same name. She appeared in Wim Wenders' drama movie Paris, Texas (1984) with Harry Dean Stanton and Dean Stockwell. One of her most acclaimed films, the film won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival.
During the 1990s, Kinski appeared in a number of American films, including the action movie Terminal Velocity (1994) opposite Charlie Sheen, One Night Stand (1997), Your Friends and Neighbors (1998), John Landis' Susan's Plan (1998), and The Lost Son (1999). She has appeared in more than 60 films in Europe and the United States.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Dominic Monaghan is best known for his role in the movie adaptations of
"Lord of the Rings". Before that, he became known in England for his
role in the British television drama
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996).
Monaghan was born in Berlin, West Germany, to British parents Maureen, a nurse, and Austin Monaghan, a science teacher. His family moved back to England when he was eleven. He was studying English Literature, Drama and Geography at Sixth Form
College when he was offered the co-starring role in the series, which
ran for four seasons. His other television credits include
This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (2000)
and a leading role in
Monsignor Renard (2000), a
series starring John Thaw.
On the stage Monaghan has performed in the world premiere UK production
of The Resurrectionists, Whale and Annie and Fanny from Bolton to Rome.
Since watching Star Wars when he was six years old, Dominic has been
consumed by films. His other obsessions include writing, music,
fashion, playing/watching soccer and surfing. Utilizing his writing
skills, he and LOTR co-star
Billy Boyd are collaborating on a
script.
Born and raised in Berlin, Monaghan and his family moved to England
when he was twelve. In addition to speaking fluent German, he has a
knack at impersonations and accents. He frequently returns to his
hometown of Manchester, England.- Actress
- Producer
A native of Berlin, Maryland, Linda Harrison was Miss Berlin at 16,
then a model in New York's Garment Center. Homesickness brought her
back to Maryland, where she entered and won the state beauty pageant.
During the finals in the Miss International contest (held in Long
Beach, California), she was "spotted" by talent scout Mike Medavoy and
presented at 20th Century-Fox. Throughout her acting years at Fox, and
amidst movie roles in Planet of the Apes (1968), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and others, she dated studio
boss Richard D. Zanuck and married him in 1968. They were divorced in 1978, but
she's appeared in three of his movies since then.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Jürgen Prochnow is the son of a telecommunications engineer. He has an older brother, Dieter Prochnow, who is also in the acting profession. Jürgen's parents encouraged him initially to study the banking trade. However, their son had other ideas and began working on the side as an extra and a gaffer at a theater in Düsseldorf. He eventually commenced acting studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen in 1963. His graduation three years later was followed by a first theatrical engagement in Osnabrück. Between 1971 and 1975, Prochnow was a member of the ensemble of the Schauspielhaus Bochum under the direction of Peter Zadek.
On screen from 1971, he made his debut on the big screen in (what was also Wolfgang Petersen's first film) the thriller One or the Other (1974). Prochnow commanded the lead as a struggling student who blackmails his sociology professor (Klaus Schwarzkopf) after discovering that the academic had attained his credentials by means of a plagiarised doctoral thesis. Dire consequences ensue. That same year, Petersen also directed Prochnow in an episode of the hit police series Tatort (1970). In the New German Cinema of the 1970s, the charismatic Prochnow was given ample opportunities to shine, as he did in the title role of the prison drama The Brutalization of Franz Blum (1974) and in Volker Schlöndorffs political drama The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975) as a deserter wanted by the police and whose flight sparks a series of fateful events. During this period, the actor's stock-in-trade screen personae were laconic, taciturn types, often loners, yet men of integrity and strong emotional centres.
Prochnow's breakthrough to international stardom came via Wolfgang Petersen's brilliant maritime war drama Das Boot (1981). Prochnow took the nominal lead and was top-billed as the cool-headed, sympathetic veteran U-boat commander Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, a kind of father figure to his crew and affectionately known as 'the old man'. A contemporary New York Times reviewer commented "The captain of the U-boat is played by Jurgen Prochnow, a remarkable actor who has also worked with Mr. Petersen on four other films. Mr. Prochnow's sad, solemn face rarely changes, but his pale eyes are extraordinarily alive. As the captain, he becomes a source of spiritual strength for his crewmen, even though his own cynicism is readily apparent". While the story of Das Boot was fictionalized, it was in part based on the exploits of a real Lehmann-Willenbrock, who did, in fact, captain U-96 (as one of four commands). He was decorated with the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves (one of the highest honours bestowed) and survived the war to become captain of Germany's nuclear freighter Otto Hahn.
In the wake of Das Boot, Prochnow received many offers from Hollywood, his craggy features and military bearing getting him frequently typecast as callous villains in action films: he was Eddie Murphy's nemesis Maxwell Dent in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), a brutal Norman knight in Robin Hood (1991), vicious gangster Charlie Dowd in Hurricane Smith (1992), the unhinged author of horror novels Sutter Cane in John Carpenter 's supernatural thriller In the Mouth of Madness (1994) and Judge Griffin, the chief villain of the piece who frames Sylvester Stallone for murder in Judge Dredd (1995). Prochnow also reunited with Wolfgang Petersen who directed him again in the box-office blockbuster Air Force One (1997) in the role of a rogue eastern European dictator bent on reigniting the Cold War. In season eight of the TV series 24 (2001), Prochnow featured as Jack Bauer's elusive antagonist Sergei Bazhaev, leader of a secret Russian crime syndicate.
On the side of the white hats, Prochnow has portrayed the ambitious banker André Vernet in The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the poorly received biographical drama See Arnold Run (2005) (Prochnow had once even been under consideration to play Arnie's iconic Terminator role). He has also been active in German films and television, including a role as an unscrupulous businessman attempting to market a pharmaceutical product with known harmful side-effects in The Dark Side of the Moon (2015). On stage, he has essayed Etzel, king of the Huns in Siegfried's Erben at the 2018 Nibelungen Festival in Worms.
As a voice-over actor, Prochnow has been the German voice for Sylvester Stallone in several films (including Rocky (1976) and Rocky II (1979). He has also dubbed most of his own English-language roles into German. His awards include a Bambi in 1988 for his messianic role in The Seventh Sign (1988), a Golden Kamera as Best German Actor for Das Boot and a Jupiter Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
Prochnow adopted American citizenship in 2004, regularly commuting between Los Angeles and Munich. The actor's first wife was Isabel Goslar (daughter of Jürgen Goslar) who worked on Das Boot as a script supervisor and continuity manager. His second wife was the actress Birgit Stein who died in a motorcycle crash in Utah four years after her divorce from Prochnow in 2018. Since March 2015, Prochnow has been married to the Austrian actress Verena Wengler.- Wilhelm Von Homburg (A.K.A. Norbert Grupe) was born in Berlin, Germany. He started out his career as a wrestler during the fifties in Germany where he earned his fame. He also toured the States. Homburg's stage name was Prinz Wilhelm Von Homburg. In the early sixties, he shifted from wrestling to boxing. Between 1962 and 1970, he was in the light heavyweight and the heavyweight class.
In Hollywood, he made his debut on the popular television show "Gunsmoke", as "Otto". The director Andrew V. McLaglen, had writer John Meston write the episode inspired by Wilhelm's life as a boxer. The production flew Wilhelm in from Germany to the U.S. for a special appearance of the "Gunsmoke" episode "The Promoter". Later, Wilhelm had a recurring role on Television show "The Wild Wild West".
Wilhelm is best known for playing "Vigo the Carpathian" in the big hit movie "Ghostbusters ll". His other movies includes, to name a few, "Die Hard", "Diggstown", "The Package", "Eye of The Storm", "In The Mouth of Madness", "The Devil's Brigade", "The Wrecking Crew", and "Stroszek".
Wilhelm made headlines after his controversial appearance on German T.V. at the Z.D.F. Sport Studio, after the reporter Rainer Günzler had made some rude, snide remarks about his boxing career and his private life.
In 2000, German film-maker Gerd Kroske produced a prize-winning documentary on Wilhelm's life called Der Boxprinz (2002).
In his later years, Wilhelm lived in the beautiful Malibu/Santa Monica Mountains, together with his dog 'Kiss'. Wilhelm Von Homburg died of prostate cancer in March, 2004 on the Villa Estate of his close friend in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. - Actress
- Soundtrack
This gorgeous Teutonic temptress was one of Hollywood's most
captivating imports of the 1960s. Blonde and beautiful, Berlin-born
Elke Sommer, with her trademark pouty lips, high cheekbones and
sky-high bouffant hairdos, proved irresistible to American audiences,
whether adorned in lace or leather, or donning lingerie or lederhosen
.
She was born in Berlin-Spandau on November 5, 1940 with the unlikely
name of Else Schletz-Ho to a Lutheran minister and his wife. The family
was forced to evacuate to Erlangen, during World War II in 1942, a
small university town in the southern region of Germany. It was here
that her parents first introduced her to water colors and her lifelong
passion for painting was ignited. Her father's death in 1955, when she
was only 14, interrupted her education and she relocated to Great
Britain, where she learned English and made ends meet as an au pair.
She eventually attended college back in Germany and entertained plans
to become a diplomatic translator but, instead, decided to try
modeling.
After winning a beauty title ("Miss Viareggio Turistica") while on
vacation in Italy, she caught the attention of renowned film
actor/director Vittorio De Sica and
began performing on screen. Her debut film was in the Italian feature,
Uomini e nobiluomini (1959),
which starred DeSica and was directed by
Giorgio Bianchi. Following a few more
Italian pictures, which included her first starring role in
Love, the Italian Way (1960), also
directed by Bianchi, Elke began making a name for herself in German
films, as well, and gradually upgraded her status to European sex
symbol. A pin-up favorite, she appeared fetchingly in both dramas and
comedies, with such continental features as
Daniella by Night (1961),
Sweet Violence (1962) and her
first English-speaking picture,
Why Bother to Knock (1961),
to her credit.
Hollywood naturally became intrigued and she moved there in the early
1960s to try and tap into the American market. Her sexy innocence
made a vivid impression in the all-star, war-themed drama,
The Victors (1963), the
Hitchcock-like thriller,
The Prize (1963), for which she won a
"Best Newcomer" Golden Globe Award, and, especially,
A Shot in the Dark (1964), the
classic bumbling comedy where she proved a shady and sexy foil to
Peter Sellers' Inspector
Clousseau. She grew in celebrity, which was certainly helped after
showing off her physical assets, posing for spreads in Playboy
Magazine. In the meantime, she was appearing opposite the hunkiest of
Hollywood actors including
Paul Newman,
James Garner,
Glenn Ford and
Stephen Boyd.
Always a diverting attraction in spy intrigue or breezy comedy, she was
too often misused and setbacks began to occur when the quality of her
films began to deteriorate. The tacky Hollywood entry,
The Oscar (1966), the
Bob Hope misfire,
Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966),
the tired Dean Martin "Matt Helm"
spy spoof,
The Wrecking Crew (1968), and
her title role in the tasteless Cold War comedy,
The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (1968),
starring Hogan's Heroes (1965)
alumnus, Bob Crane,
Werner Klemperer and
Leon Askin, proved her undoing.
The multilingual actress, whose career took her to scores of different
countries over time and benefited from speaking seven languages
fluently, resorted to a number of low-budget features in Europe,
including two Italian horror movies directed by
Mario Bava that have now gone on to become
cult classics:
Baron Blood (1972)
and The Exorcist (1973) rip-off,
Lisa and the Devil (1973). The
latter movie actually was a guilty pleasure. "Lisa" was re-released in
1975 as "The House of Exorcism" and added more footage of a demonic
Elke, Linda Blair style, spewing
frogs, insects, green pea soup and a slew of cuss words! In England,
she good-naturedly appeared in the "comedy" films,
Percy (1971), and its equally cheeky
sequel, It's Not the Size That Counts (1974),
which starred Hywel Bennett (later
Leigh Lawson) as the first man to
have a penis transplant(!). She also showed up in one of the later
"Carry On" farces, entitled
Carry on Behind (1975).
Elke fared better on television, where she appeared in the television
pilot, Probe (1972), opposite
Hugh O'Brian, as well as the well-made
1980s miniseries,
Inside the Third Reich (1982),
Jenny's War (1985),
Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986)
and Peter the Great (1986). In addition, she made a few TV guest appearances on such popular shows as "Fantasy Island," "The Love Boat" and "St. Elsewhere."
A delightful personality on the talk show circuit, the lovely Elke also
made appearances as a cabaret singer and, in time, put out several
albums. She found a creative outlet on stage too with such vehicles as
"Irma la Douce", "Born Yesterday", "Cactus Flower", "Woman of the Year"
and "Same Time, Next Year".
Dividing her time between here and in Germany in later years, she added her usual charm to films both here (Lily in Love (1984), Severed Ties (1992)), and in Germany (Himmelsheim (1988), Flashback (2000), Life Is Too Long (2010)).
The veteran actress has since focused more time on book writing and
painting than she has on acting. Holding her first one-woman art show
at the McKenzie Galleries in Beverly Hills in 1965, her artwork bears
an exceptionally strong influence to
Marc Chagall and she, at one point, hosted
a mid-1980s PBS series ("Painting with Elke"), that centered on her
artwork, which has now exhibited and sold for more than 40 years.
Nevertheless, on occasion, she tackles an acting role, often in her
native Germany. Divorced from writer and journalist
Joe Hyams, whom she met when he interviewed
her for a Hollywood article (he recently died in November 2008), she
has been married since 1993 to hotelier Wolf Walther.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Audra McDonald was born on July 3, 1970 in Berlin, Germany as Audra Ann McDonald. She's an actress and singer, best known for her many roles on Broadway. Her mother was a university administrator and her father was a high school principal stationed in West Berlin with the U.S. Army. She has a younger sister and grew up in Fresno, California. She graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and went on to study classical singing at Julliard, from which she graduated in 1993. A year later, she won her first Tony Award for her role in Carousel. In 1998, she released her first solo album Way Back to Paradise. She was nominated for her first Emmy Award in 2001 for her role in Wit (2001). In 2006, she debuted as an opera singer in a production of a one-act opera La Voix humaine at the Houston Grand Opera. By 2014, she had won 6 Tonys, becoming the first person to win the award in all 4 acting categories. She planned to make her West End debut in 2016 but postponed it in order to go on maternity leave, eventually debuting at the Wyndham's Theater in the West End in June 2017. She has made many TV and movie appearances, most notably in 4 seasons of Private Practice (2007) & in Disney's remake of Beauty and the Beast (2017). She also performs at concerts throughout the U.S. She was married to Peter Donovan from 2000 to 2009, they have a daughter, Zoe Madeline. Since 2012 she's been married to Will Swenson, they have a daughter, Sally James.- 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.- Actress
- Script and Continuity Department
Nilam Farooq was born on 26 September 1989 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for Contra (2020), Leipzig Homicide (2001) and SOKO: Der Prozess (2013).- Christiane Paul, an Emmy-Award-winning actress known for "In July," "Counterpart," "Parliament," and "FBI International" was born behind the Berlin wall in East Berlin. At the age of 28, she already was a medical doctor, had a little daughter and had starred in more than 20 movies including the national top-sellers "In July" and "Life is all you get." As the only daughter of a surgeon and a anesthetist, she was initially headed for an academic life. Acting caught her when she had already developed a successful modeling career. In order to unfold her full potential she decided to dedicate herself completely to acting. Since she has starred in more than 80 movie and television productions and is one of the most celebrated and sought-after actresses in Germany. She has won a number of awards including the international Emmy Award in 2016 and was nominated for numerous awards including the Germany Academy Award in 2017. Recently she has worked in English and French productions along side J.K. Simmons, Olivia Williams and Olivier Marchall. Christiane is married to an internationally renown physicist since 2017.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
August Diehl was born on 4 January 1976 in Berlin, Germany. He is an actor and writer, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), A Hidden Life (2019) and The King's Man (2021). He has been married to Julia Malik since 1999. They have two children.- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Lars Eidinger, born in Berlin, studied at the prestigious Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Art in Berlin.
Since 1999 he has been an ensemble member at the Berliner Schaubühne. His portrayals of Hamlet and Richard III. in the productions of Thomas Ostermeier were internationally acclaimed and made him into a formative actor of the Schaubühne.
Next to his theater work, Lars Eidinger is featured in numerous national and international cinema and television productions, amongst others in Alle Anderen (directed by Maren Ade, 2008), Goltzius & The Pelican Company (directed by Peter Greenaway, 2011), Was bleibt (directed by Hans-Christian Schmid, 2011), Tatort - Borowski und der stille Gast (directed by Christian Alvart, 2012), Clouds of Sils Maria (directed by Olivier Assayas, 2013), Familienfest (directed by Lars Kraume, 2014), Personal Shopper (directed by Olivier Assayas, 2015), SS-GB (BBC, directed by Philipp Kadelbach, 2015), Mathilda (directed by Alexey Uchitel, 2014-15), Die Blumen von gestern (directed by Chris Kraus, 2015), Terror (directed by Lars Kraume, 2016), Werk ohne Autor (directed by F. H. v. Donnersmarck), Babylon Berlin (directed by Tom Tykwer, Hendrik Handloegten, Achim von Borries), Sense 8 (directed by Lana and Lilli Wachowski), Twins (directed by Lamberto Bava, 2016), Maryline (directed by Guillaume Gallienne, 2016), Dumbo (directed by Tim Burton, 2017), High Life (directed by Claire Denis, 2017).
Alle Anderen by Maren Ade, in which Lars Eidinger plays the male lead role alongside Birgit Minichmayr, was awarded the Silver Bear of the Berlinale in 2009.
He was nominated for the German TV Prize as Best Actor in 2010 for Verhältnisse and 2013 for Polizeiruf - Der Tod macht Engel aus uns allen.
In 2013, Lars Eidinger received the German Film Critics' Prize as Best Actor and in 2014 the Grimme Award. In 2017, Lars Eidinger was again nominated fort he German TV Prize as Best Actor for Terror and Familienfest, which won the prize as Best Film.
In addition to acting, Lars Eidinger is a musician and DJ. He lives in Berlin.- Director
- Producer
- Additional Crew
He, along with the other members of the "Compass Players" including
Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne Piven, Joyce Hiller Piven and Edward Asner helped start the famed
"Second City Improv" company. They used the games taught to them by
fellow cast mate, Paul Sills 's mother, Viola Spolin. He later worked in
legitimate theater as an actor before entering into a very successful
comedy duo with Elaine May. The two were known as "the world's fastest
humans".- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
The daughter of a noted surgeon, Dana Wynter was born Dagmar Winter in Berlin, Germany, and grew up in England. When she was 16 her father went to Morocco, reportedly to operate on a woman who wouldn't allow anyone else to attend her; he visited friends in Southern Rhodesia, fell in love with it and brought his daughter and her stepmother to live with him there. Wynter later enrolled as a pre-med student at Rhodes University (the only girl in a class of 150 boys) and also dabbled in theatrics, playing the blind girl in a school production of "Through a Glass Darkly", in which she says she was "terrible."
After a year-plus of studies, she returned to England and shifted gears, dropping her medical studies and turning to an acting career. She was appearing in a play in Hammersmith when an American agent told her he wanted to represent her. She left for New York on November 5, 1953, "Guy Fawkes Day," a holiday commemorating a 1605 attempt to blow up the Parliament building. "There were all sorts of fireworks going off," she later told an interviewer, "and I couldn't help thinking it was a fitting send-off for my departure to the New World."
Wynter had more success in New York than in London, acting on TV (Robert Montgomery Presents (1950), Suspense (1949), Studio One (1948), among others) and the stage before "going Hollywood" a short time later. The willowy, dark-eyed actress appeared in over a dozen films, worked in "Golden Age" television (such as Playhouse 90 (1956)) and even co-starred in her own short-lived TV series, the globe-trotting The Man Who Never Was (1966). Married and divorced from well-known Hollywood lawyer Greg Bautzer, Wynter, once called Hollywood's "oasis of elegance", divided her time between homes in California and County Wicklow, Ireland until her death.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Max Riemelt was born on 7 January 1984 in Berlin, Germany. He is an actor, known for Before the Fall (2004), Free Fall (2013) and Berlin Syndrome (2017).- Actor
- Additional Crew
On the cast list of
The Magnificent Seven (1960),
you will find several names that doubtless you know well:
Charles Bronson,
Steve McQueen, and
Yul Brynner. But there is one name that you
will have difficulty pronouncing, let alone identifying as an actor you
have seen before. That man is
Horst Buchholz, and he was one of the few
German actors to have a considerable success in both Hollywood and in
Europe. One would hardly guess that he was sought out to act in one of
the most famous films of all time, only to have to turn it down.
Horst Buchholz was born in Berlin, Germany, in the year 1933. His
father was a German shoemaker, while his mother was born to Danish
parents. Buccholz was put in a foster home in Czechoslovakia when World
War II broke out in Europe, but he returned to Berlin the moment he had
the chance. Realizing his talent in acting, Buchholz dropped out of
school to perfect his acting skills. After moving from East Berlin to
West Berlin, he became well-known for his work in theatre and on the
radio. In 1952 he turned to film, and after a series of small roles, he
found a larger one in the
Julien Duvivier film
Marianne of My Youth (1955).
He was praised for his role in the romantic/drama
film Sky Without Stars (1955)
by Helmut Käutner, but it was the
lead role in the comedic
Confessions of Felix Krull (1957)
that made him an established German actor.
He followed this breakthrough role with the romantic film
Two Worlds (1958) and the
thriller Wet Asphalt (1958),
where the handsome young actor plays a former criminal who associates
himself with a journalist. Now a familiar face in his country, Buchholz
pursued making foreign films. His first non-German film was the British
film Tiger Bay (1959). The film is
about a girl who witnesses a seaman named Korchinsky (Buchholz) murder
his girlfriend. The film won praise in both Germany and Britain, but it
was Buchholz' next foreign film that secured his name in the history of
classic films. This film was the epic western
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
directed by John Sturges. Buchholz played
Chico, the inexperienced Mexican youth that wants to be a gunman and
abandon his past. Buchholz starred alongside such legends as
Charles Bronson and
Yul Brynner. both of whom had strong
European roots. The film was a hit, first in Europe, then was
re-distributed in the States to a much higher profit. The film gained
massive popularity, and even now is treasured as a classic.
Buchholz could now find good and steady work nationally and
internationally, which is something few actors could do at the time. He
worked on the romantic film Fanny (1961),
which is based on a trilogy of plays written by legendary writer
Marcel Pagnol. Buchholz plays the role of
Marius, a passionate but unsure youth who must choose between the girl
he loves, and the life at sea he has always wanted. The film was a fine
success, nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best
Actor for Charles Boyer (who plays
Buchholz' onscreen father).
It was at this point in his film career where he was sought as the
first choice to play the role of Sherif Ali in
David Lean's legendary film
Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
However, Buchholz had to turn it down, as he had already signed up for
another film, which turned out to be the Oscar-nominated comedy
One, Two, Three (1961) (directed
by Billy Wilder). The film was once again a
fine success to add to Buchholz' career, but ultimately gained nowhere
near as much of a status as
David Lean's film. Buchholz also made
the Italian film The Empty Canvas (1963) in which
he plays an untalented artist who begins a love affair with a young
model. Throughout his in the early 60s, Buchholz had made a name for
himself, acting in one Oscar-nominated film after another and showing
off his talent as an actor. However, the success he had reached was not
to last.
Buchholz continued with film, including the James Bond spoof
That Man in Istanbul (1965) and the crime film
Johnny Banco (1967). He starred in
the B-movie failure that was
The Young Rebel (1967). Buchholz rebounded
with the fiery film The Saviour (1971)
in which he plays a man who claims to be organizing resistance against
the Nazis. He also played Johann Strauss in the Golden Globe-nominated
musical The Great Waltz (1972).
which was sadly another failure.
The rest of the 1970s and the early 1980s were spent mostly on
television and movies released for television, whether it be foreign
(Dead of Night (1977), Return to Fantasy Island (1978)) or German
(Derrick). Buchholz found mild success again when he returned to the
big screen with the WW II espionage film
Code Name: Emerald (1985) in
which he plays alongside such stars as
Ed Harris and
Max von Sydow. After this film,
Buchholz returned to European movies, such as
And the Violins Stopped Playing (1988)
in which a group of gypsies flee Nazi persecutors. After taking a
supporting role in the fantasy film
Faraway, So Close! (1993),
Buchholz acted in one of his most well known films: the Oscar-winning
Italian film
Life Is Beautiful (1997) which was
directed by and starred Roberto Benigni.
Buchholz played the role of a doctor who befriends Benigni's character
and frequently duels with him in riddles. This choice of role proved to
be an echo of Buchholz' taste in choosing his projects in earlier
years; the film won best foreign film that year, and was also nominated
for Best Picture. Thanks to his gift for languages, Buchholz was able
to dub himself in the foreign releases of the film.
Buchholz continued making films and television appearances until 2002,
by which time he was sixty-eight years old. He died the next year, in
Berlin, of pneumonia. Berlin had been the city of his heart, and was
buried there in honour of that fact. Horst Buchholz had been a renowned
German actor, and had gained credibility in the United States and other
countries. He was a varied performer, acting all kinds of roles in his
life, but was always a proud German to the last.- Liv Lisa Fries (born 1990) is a German actress. In 2017, she gained an international following as the female lead Charlotte Ritter in the German TV series Babylon Berlin.
Born in Berlin, Fries wanted to become an actress when she was 14 years old after watching Léon: The Professional because she was impressed by Natalie Portman's performance. Her first role in Atomised (2005) (German: Elementarteilchen) was cut. Her debut occurred in 2006 with an episode of Schimanski, in which she played the female lead role.
Her performance in the German made-for-television film Sie hat es verdient as an aggressive, frustrated teenager named Linda who tortures one of her peers was praised by critics and audiences alike. Fries said that during filming, she started feeling lonely and isolated, just like her character.
In 2013, she starred in the German tragicomedy Zurich (original title Und morgen Mittag bin ich tot). She received wide critical acclaim for her performance as Lea, a young woman with cystic fibrosis. According to Fries, she prepared for the role by meeting with a patient with the disease, in addition to running up stairs while breathing through a straw.
Fries also plays a recurring role in the 2017 TV series Counterpart.
Fries studied abroad as an exchange student in Beijing. In addition to her native tongue German, she speaks English, French and Mandarin. After receiving her Abitur in 2010, she enrolled to study philosophy and literary science, but dropped out as her career as an actress progressed. - 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. - Actress
- Director
- Additional Crew
Katharina Thalbach was born on 19 January 1954 in East Berlin, East Germany. She is an actress and director, known for The Tin Drum (1979), Der Minister (2013) and I've Never Been to New York (2019). She is married to Uwe Hamacher.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Marc Rissmann is a German actor. He has appeared in films like Overlord, and TV series like The Last Kingdom, Game of Thrones, and The Man in the High Castle. Marc Rissmann studied at the College of Dramatic Arts "Ernst Busch" Berlin. On stage, Rissmann performed at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin in Danton's Death In 2009, under the direction of Kay Voges, he played Lysander in the Shakespeare comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. From 2009 to 2011, he was a permanent member of the Theater Magdeburg ensemble.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Emilio Sakraya started his career at the age of nine with several appearances in film productions. In his childhood years, he discovered his passion for music, karate, kung fu and parkour. He won the German Championship in "Full-Contact Karate" twice.
2010 he had his cinema debut in the film "Zeiten ändern dich", produced by Bernd Eichinger. This was followed by numerous film and television productions like "V8- Du willst der Beste sein", "Mitten in Deutschland: NSU - Die Opfer" and "Die 7. Stunde".
Since 2014 he plays "Tarik Schmüll" in the very successful German cinema series "Bibi and Tina". At the end of 2016 he played the role of the Indian "Neke Bah" in the RTL short series "Winnetou". In the same year, he was filming the international series "4 Blocks" with Frederick Lau and Kida Ramadan for TNT-Series and the film "Rock my Heart".
At the beginning of 2017 he played the leading role in the TV episode "Tatort - Söhne und Väter". Since the 23rd of February the fourth and last part of "Bibi und Tina" has been showing in cinemas. In March 2017 the actor was shooting the German horror film "Heilstätten", which aired at German cinemas in October 2017.
The leading role in the TV movie "Tatort - Söhne und Väter" followed 2017. Also the fourth and the last part of "Bibi und Tina" was showed in cinemas. In the same year Emilio Sakraya was shooting the German horror film "Heilstätten" and the cinema film "Meine teuflisch gute Freundin". This was followed by a leading role in the TV movie "Der Schweinhirt".
Emilio Sakraya also shot the TV movie "Tatort: Das verschwundene Kind" together with Maria Furtwängler and Florence Kasumba. The film with the actor in the episode lead role was shown on ARD at the beginning of February 2019. For his performance he was nominated for the Studio Hamburg Nachwuchspreis.
At the beginning of 2018 Emilio Sakraya took over the leading role in the film "Cold Feet" directed by Wolfgang Groos. He appeared alongside Heiner Lauterbach and Sonja Gerhardt. The film was showed in cinemas at January 2019.
In the first half of 2019 Emilio Sakraya stood as JC with Alba Baptista for the new international Netflix's drama series "Warrior Nun" based on the manga novels by creator Simon Barry (Ghost Wars, Continuum) in front of the camera.
The release of his first songs like "Bisschen allein", "Berlin an der Spree" and "Drauf bist" followed in spring 2019.- Actress
- Producer
Cynthia Kaye McWilliams was born in Berlin, Germany, grew up primarily in Kansas City, Kansas and graduated from the prestigious Theater School of DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Just out of college, Cynthia booked a supporting role in Warner Brothers' The Lake House, followed by a recurring role on FOX's Prison Break. She then landed a lead role in the pilot, Family Practice and later, another FOX series, Chicago Code.
She moved from Chicago to Los Angeles for a dream job to play sitcom wife to Damon Wayans in a CBS pilot. Though the pilot didn't go, a few months later she would land a series regular on NAACP award winning comedy, The Real Husbands of Hollywood opposite the hilarious Kevin Hart. Cynthia filmed 5 seasons of RHOH and meanwhile had recurring roles on Survivors Remorse on Starz, ABC's Nashville, Bosch on Amazon and booked the lead in the NBC drama pilot, Love is a Four Letter Word.
Switching gears, Cynthia took on the role of sitcom mom Regina in the Netflix's Prince of Peoria taped in front of a live studio audience at famous Sunset/Gower studios. She associate produced and starred in the holiday comedy, Twas the Chaos before Christmas, returned to the stage in Inda Craig Galvan's, Black Super Hero Magic Mama at the Geffen Playhouse and joined the cast of Disney Channel original Upside Down Magic, streaming on Disney+
Cynthia filmed gritty drama series, Coyote starting Michael Chiklis which aired on CBS All Access (later Paramout+). After the pandemic cut this series short, she. returned to work with an incredible role opposite Samuel L. Jackson in The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey for AppleTV. She followed this up with an unexpected opportunity to reprise her role as Trina Shaw for a 6th season of RHOH on BET+. Staying in the BET+ family, but joining with Daelight Media and McG's Wonderland, Cynthia stars as Cathy Montgomery on Average Joe opposite Deon Cole and Malcolm Barrett.
Cynthia also thoroughly enjoys her voiceover career having voiced Gamora on What If for Disney+, multiple characters and shows on Cartoon Network, animated feature film, Bilal and several video games including narrating Valorant, playing Hadrian in Starfield, Senna in League of Legends, T-Bug in CyberPunk 2077, Spartan Tanaka in Halo 5, Disintegration, Far Cry 5 & 6, State of Decay 2, Tell Me Why and more.
Cynthia champions women & minorities creating their own content, supports arts education and loves all things food, wine and travel.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Laura Berlin was born in 1990 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for Sapphire Blue (2014), Ruby Red (2013) and UFO: It Is Here (2016).- Actor
- Additional Crew
Born and raised in West Berlin, Rudolf moved with his family from
Berlin to Paris to Italy, arriving in the United States a short time
after his high school graduation from the Universite de Paris. While
studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, he landed his first
professional role in the Susan Seidelman short film The Dutch Master,
which was nominated for a 1994 Academy Award. He went on to appear in
the off-Broadway plays Murder In Disguise, The Dumb Waiter, and Front
Page.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jördis Triebel was born on 30 October 1977 in East-Berlin, German Democratic Republic. She is an actress, known for West (2013), Emmas Glück (2006) and One Breath (2015).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Karoline Herfurth was born on 22 May 1984 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress and director, known for Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), Text for You (2016) and The Reader (2008).- Actress
- Producer
Jella Haase was born on 27 October 1992 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress and producer, known for Suck Me Shakespeer (2013), Kleo (2022) and Suck Me Shakespeer 2 (2015).- Tijan Marei was born on 20 November 1996 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for Who Am I (2014), Six Minutes to Midnight (2020) and Die Eifelpraxis (2016).
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Conrad Veidt attended the Sophiengymnasium (secondary school) in the
Schoeneberg district of Berlin, and graduated without a diploma in
1912, last in his class of 13. Conrad liked animals, theater, cinema,
fast cars, pastries, thunderstorms, gardening, swimming and golfing. He
disliked heights, flying, the number 17, wearing ties, pudding and
interviews. A star of early German cinema, he became a sensation in
1920 with his role as the murderous somnambulist Cesare in
Robert Wiene's masterpiece
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920).
Other prominent roles in German silent films included
Different from the Others (1919)
and
Waxworks (1924).
His third wife, Ilona (nicknamed Lily), was Jewish, although he himself
wasn't. However, whenever he had to state his ethnic background on
forms to get a job, he wrote: "Jude" (Jew). He and Lily fled Germany in
1933 after the rise to power of
Adolf Hitler, and he became a British
citizen in 1939. Universal Pictures head
Carl Laemmle personally chose Veidt to play
Dracula in a film to be directed by Paul Leni
based on a successful New York stage play: "Dracula". Ultimately,
Bela Lugosi got the role, and
Tod Browning directed the film,
Dracula (1931). In his last German film,
F.P.1 Doesn't Answer (1932),
Veidt sang a song called "Where the Lighthouse Shines Across the Bay."
Although the record was considered a flop in 1933, the song became a
hit almost 50 years later, when, in 1980, DJ
Terry Wogan played it as a request on the
Radio 2 breakfast show. That single playing generated numerous phone
calls, and shortly thereafter the song appeared on a British
compilation album called "Movie Star Memories" - a collection of songs
from 1930s-era films compiled from EMI archives. The album was released
by World Records Ltd., and is now out of print but can still be ordered
online ("Where the Lighthouse Shines Across the Bay" is track 4 on side
2). Veidt appeared in Germany's first talking picture,
Bride 68 (1929),
and made only one color picture,
The Thief of Bagdad (1940),
filmed in England and Hollywood. His most famous role was as Gestapo
Maj. Strasser in the classic
Casablanca (1942); although he was not
the star of the picture, he was the highest paid actor. He died while
playing golf, and on the death certificate his name is misspelled as
"Hanz Walter Conrad Veidt". Because he had been blacklisted in Nazi
Germany, there was no official announcement there of his death. His
ex-wife, Felicitas, and daughter Viola, in Switzerland, heard about it
on the radio.- Actor
- Producer
Kiowa Gordon was born on March 25, 1990 in Berlin, Germany as Kiowa Joseph Gordon. Moved to the States shortly after to live on the Hualapai Indian Reservation in Peach Springs, AZ and moved around quite a bit growing up until settling down in Phoenix, AZ where he landed the role of Embry Call in The Twilight Saga. He recently won best supporting actor at the 2013 American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco for his role in the indie film, The Lesser Blessed. Ki was also a series regular on a Sundance original series called The Red Road, starring Jason Momoa, Julianne Nicholson and Martin Henderson. Starting in 2021, became a series regular on AMC's hit drama, Dark Winds, an adaptation of Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee novels. Kiowa's mother, Camille, is from the Hualapai Nation and his father, Tom, is Scottish, Jewish and Choctaw. He has 7 siblings; Cheyenne, Josh, Lakota, MacGregor, Aaron, Sean and Sariah.- Helena Zengel was born on 10 June 2008 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for News of the World (2020), System Crasher (2019) and Dark Blue Girl (2017).
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Alexander Fehling was born on 29 March 1981 in Berlin, Germany. He is an actor and director, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Labyrinth of Lies (2014) and Homeland (2011).- Actor
- Director
Andreas Wisniewski was born on 3 July 1959 in West Berlin, West Germany. He is an actor and director, known for Die Hard (1988), The Living Daylights (1987) and Mission: Impossible (1996).- Jana Pallaske was born on 20 May 1979 in East Berlin, German Democratic Republic. She is an actress, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Palermo Shooting (2008) and Speed Racer (2008).
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Max Schreck was born in Berlin. He worked in an apprenticeship until
his father's death before enrolling into a school for acting. He toured
the country with his peers and was a member of several theaters until
he became a part of Max Reinhardt's group of innovative German actors.
He played mostly out of the norm characters, the elderly and the
grotesque, because of his talent and passion for make-up and costume
fabrication. Although film was a challenge in
which he excitedly and hopefully participated, he had small roles in
films that are scarcely available, and his real career was in German
theatre. He played hundreds of roles in his lifetime. He was married to
Fanny Normann, a fellow performer whom he met a short time after his
actor's education and shared many times with on stage. They had no
children. He died on the morning of February 20th, 1936 from a heart
attack.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Ilker Çatak was born on 11 January 1984 in Berlin, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for The Teachers' Lounge (2023), I Was, I Am, I Will Be (2019) and Fidelity (2014).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Arón Piper was born on 29 March 1997 in Berlin, Germany. He is an actor, known for 15 Years and One Day (2013), Elite (2018) and The Broken Crown (2016).- Emily Kusche was born on 15 January 2002 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for The Island (2020), The Perfect Secret (2019) and Dogs of Berlin (2018).
- Actor
- Producer
- Stunts
Dennis Andres (born 23 June 1987) is a German-Canadian actor and stuntman. He is best known for playing one of the lead roles of Ian Matthews on the CBC and Netflix hit show Workin' Moms.
After working a few theatre productions backstage, Andres took on a role as an actor in a theatre production at the Players Guild, performing the role of Jacob in the play Salt Water Moon.[4] Soon after, he sought out his first agent through a close friend, and began booking roles in TV and film.[5] He was cast in his first leading film role in Lady Psycho Killer in 2015.[6]
In 2016, Andres was cast as Ian Matthews, one of the fathers in Workin' Moms, a half-hour episodic written by the show's creator and lead actress, Catherine Reitman. He later reprised his role in seasons 2, 3, and 4.[7][8][9][10]
In 2018, he booked a supporting role as Justin Hayes opposite Hannah Simone in the pilot episode of The Greatest American Hero.[11] He has since appeared in a variety of television roles on shows including The Strain, The Good Witch, Star Trek: Discovery[12] and Diggstown.
In June 2020,[13] Andres starred alongside Sofia Carson and Enrico Colantoni in the Elissa Down-directed Netflix Original Feel the Beat.[14][15] He played the lead role in TV movies' Blueprint to the Heart as Brooks (2020), and Hint of Love, as Will Fryer (2020).
His latest project is the upcoming Colors of Love, where he plays the supportive big brother, Craig Harris, to Taylor, played by Jessica Lowndes. Also starring Chad Michael Murray, the film will be released in 2021.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Tomer Sisley was born on 14 August 1974 in Berlin, Germany. He is an actor and writer, known for The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch (2008), We're the Millers (2013) and Don't Look Up (2021).- Actor
- Producer
- Cinematographer
Tom Schilling was born on 10 February 1982 in Berlin, Germany. He is an actor and producer, known for A Coffee in Berlin (2012), Before the Fall (2004) and Who Am I (2014).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Hardy Kruger was born Eberhard August Franz Ewald Krüger in Wedding, Berlin, thee son of Auguste (Meier) and Max Krüger. At thirteen years, he became a member of the "Hitler Jugend" (Hitler Youth), as did all 13-year-old boys in Germany then. The purpose of the organization was to prepare the boys for military service. At age 15, Hardy made his film debut in a German picture (Junge Adler (1944)), but his acting career was interrupted when he was drafted into the German army in 1944 at age 16 and posted to an infantry regiment.
Years later, Hardy related how he "hated that [Nazi] uniform." During the filming of A Bridge Too Far (1977) in which he portrayed a Nazi general, he wore a top-coat over his S.S. uniform between takes so as "not to remind myself of my childhood in Germany during W.W.II." It is said, that during his war years, Hardy was captured and taken prisoner by U.S. forces but attempted to escape thrice, the third time successfully.
After the war, Hardy returned to acting, and eight years later was "discovered" by foreign film distributor J. Arthur Rank who promptly cast him in three British pictures, practically filmed back-to-back: The One That Got Away (1957), Bachelor of Hearts (1958) and Chance Meeting (1959), in which he appeared simply as a foreigner and not a German, as was usually the case. Following the release of these films, Hardy's career took off. Despite anti-German sentiment that still prevailed in postwar Europe, Hardy, described as "ruggedly handsome" and a "blond heartthrob," became an international favorite, paving the way to his first American role as co-star with John Wayne in the Tanganyika-shot wildlife adventure Hatari! (1962).
Hardy was so taken aback by the beauty of the land, that he bought the film's location ("Momilla Farm") and built a small home for himself and a small bungalow hotel for tourists to see the animals. Hunting was forbidden on the property, and, later, a cattle farm was started with the meat being sold to local hotels. Hardy described his home there as "a sort of African Walden where I can get away from the world from time to time."
In 1979, due to the dissolution of the alliance of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika), the border with Kenya was closed and remained so for half a decade which caused a serious decline in tourism. The business aspects of his property were shut down for a period of time, but eventually things picked up and the place was transformed into a proper tourist hotel, known (fittingly) as Hatari Lodge.
Fluent in English, French and German, Hardy found himself in much demand by British, French, American and German producers and became more selective in his scripts. "I'd rather sit out a picture than take a role I don't think is right for me" he would later say. He died in January 2022, in Palm Springs, California, 11 years after his last film credit.- Barbara Rütting was born Waltraut Irmgard Goltz in Wietstock (Brandenburg), the daughter of teachers. She grew up and went to school in Berlin and Luckenwalde in Brandenburg. After matriculating, she moved to Denmark where she sought employment and worked variously as a maid, as a librarian and as a translator. Following the end of World War II, Barbara returned to Berlin to study drama (abandoning her dream of becoming a medical doctor). In 1952, she made her screen debut in Postlagernd: 'Turteltaube' (1952) (promoted at the time as 'a comedy against fear') followed four years later by appearances on the German and Austrian stage. During this phase of her career, she came to specialise in women wrestling with difficult sociopolitical situations or affairs of the heart. Her roles ranged from naive heroines in Heimat films to self-assured ladies in more demanding fare. The latter included Helmut Käutner's The Last Bridge (1954). Her role as a Serbian student and member of a group of wartime partisans won her critical plaudits and the film itself was described as 'international masterclass' by a reviewer of the Welt publication.
Barbara subsequently starred as the eponymous heroine in the second remake of the perennial Heimat-film classic Die Geierwally (1956) (though not surpassing the definitive 1940 performance by Heidemarie Hatheyer). She co-starred as an aggressive reporter investigating a case of gang rape by a quartet of G.I.'s in Town Without Pity (1961), an American, Swiss, and West German international co-production, headlining Kirk Douglas and E.G. Marshall as opposing councils. Her later filmography encompassed diverse characters in films of widely varying genres and quality: Deadly Decision (1954) (as double agent Irene von Harbeck), Operation Crossbow (1965) (a supporting role, as German aviatrix Hanna Reitsch), River of Evil (1963) (a leading role, as a girl trying to solve the mystery of her father's death in the Amazon jungle), Der Zinker (1963), Das Phantom von Soho (1964) and Again the Ringer (1965) (a trio of Edgar Wallace-based crime thrillers with Rütting as the nominal female lead), plus heroines from the classics and historical figures including Lysistrata, Turandot and Madame Caillaux. On the stage she echoed the latter with roles in plays by Schiller, Ibsen and Strindberg.
Rütting retired from acting in 1984 and devoted her life to philanthropic environmental and animal-related causes (she was a vocal opponent of animal testing by pharmaceutical companies). Beginning in 1970, she pursued a secondary career as an author of novels, books for children and cookbooks and by the following decade made regular contributions to the weekly Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche. She was married and divorced twice, taking the surname of her first husband. Her second spouse was the German journalist, socialist politician and ex-wartime fighter ace Heinrich von Einsiedel. - Flora Li Thiemann was born in 2002 in Berlin. She is an actress, known for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), Nelly's Adventure (2016) and Sputnik (2013).
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school)
theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a
career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the
account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets
and music halls at night. In 1911 he joined the Deutsches Theater of
famous director/producer/impresario
Max Reinhardt, and was able to move up to
leading acting roles in a short time. He took an extra job as a
handyman while learning silent film acting at Berlin's Bioscope film
studios. The next year he launched his own film career by appearing in
a series of comedies showcasing traditional ethnic Jewish slice-of-life
fare. Finding great success in these character roles, Lubitsch turned
to broader comedy, then beginning in 1914 started writing and directing
his own films.
His breakthrough film came in 1918 with
The Eyes of the Mummy (1918)
("The Eyes of the Mummy"), a tragedy starring future Hollywood star
Pola Negri. Also that year he made
Carmen (1918), again with Negri, a film
that was commercially successful on the international level. His work
already showed his genius for catching the eye as well as the ear in
not only comedy but historical drama. The year 1919 found Lubitsch
directing seven films, the two standouts being his lavish
Passion (1919) with two of
his favorite actors--Negri (yet again) and
Emil Jannings. His other standout was the
witty parody of the American upper crust,
The Oyster Princess (1919)
("The Oyster Princess"). This film was a perfect example of what became
known as the Lubitsch style, or the "Lubitsch Touch", as it became
known--sophisticated humor combined with inspired staging that
economically presented a visual synopsis of storyline, scenes and
characters.
His success in Europe brought him to the shores of America to promote
The Loves of Pharaoh (1922)
("The Loves of Pharaoh") and he become acquainted with the thriving US
film industry. He soon returned to Europe, but came back to the US for
good to direct new friend and influential star
Mary Pickford in his first American hit,
Rosita (1923).
The Marriage Circle (1924)
began Lubitsch's unprecedented run of sophisticated films that mirrored
the American scene (though always relocated to foreign or imaginary
lands) and all its skewed panorama of the human condition. There was a
smooth transition between his silent films for Warner Bros. and the
sound movies--usually at Paramount--now embellished with the flow of
speech of Hollywood's greats lending personal nuances to continually
heighten the popularity at the box office and the fame of Lubitsch's
first-rate versatility in crafting a smart film. There was a mix of
pioneering musical films and some drama also through the 1930s. The of
those films resulted in Paramount making him its production chief in
1935, so he could produce his own films and supervise production of
others. In 1938 he signed a three-year contract with Twentieth
Century-Fox.
Certainly two of his most beloved films near the end of his career
dealt with the political landscape of the World War II era. He moved to
MGM, where he directed Greta Garbo and
Melvyn Douglas in
Ninotchka (1939), a fast-paced comedy
of "decadent" Westerners meeting Soviet "comrades" who were seeking
more of life than the mother country could--or would--offer. During the
war he directed perhaps his most beloved comedy--controversial to say
the least, dark in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way--but certainly a
razor-sharp tour de force in smart, precise dialog, staging and story:
To Be or Not to Be (1942),
produced by his own company, Romaine Film Corp. It was a biting satire
of Nazi tyranny that also poked fun at Lubitsch's own theater roots
with the problems and bickering--but also the triumph--of a somewhat
raggedy acting troupe in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation.
Jack Benny's perfect deadpan humor worked
well with the zany vivaciousness of
Carole Lombard, and a cast of
veteran character actors from both Hollywood and Lubitsch's native
Germany provided all the chemistry needed to make this a classic
comedy, as well as a fierce statement against the perpetrators of war.
The most poignant scene was profoundly so, with
Felix Bressart--another of Reinhardt's
students--as the only Jewish bit player in the company. His supreme
hope is a chance to someday play Shylock. He gets his chance as part of
a ruse in front of Adolf Hitler's SS
bodyguards. The famous soliloquy was a bold declaration to the world of
the Axis' brutal inhumanity to man, as in its treatment of and plans
for the Jewry of Europe.
Lubitsch had a massive heart attack in 1943 after having signed a
producer/director's contract with 20th Century-Fox earlier that year,
but completed
Heaven Can Wait (1943). His
continued efforts in film were severely stymied but he worked as he
could. In late 1944 Otto Preminger,
another disciple of Reinhardt's Viennese theater work, took over the
direction of
A Royal Scandal (1945), with
Lubitsch credited as nominal producer. March of 1947, the year of his
passing, brought a special Academy Award (he was nominated three times)
to the fading producer/director for his "25-year contribution to motion
pictures." At his funeral, two of his fellow directorial émigrés from
Germany put his epitaph succinctly as they left.
Billy Wilder noted, "No more Lubitsch."
William Wyler answered, "Worse than that -
no more Lubitsch films."- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Alexander Scheer, born in the GDR 1976 in East-Berlin is considered one of the most daring actors of his generation. His passion for film and music was sparked during his camera debut in kids musical "Bill of the Black Hand" in 1988. Ten years later his first lead in "Sun Alley" (which turned out to be the first box office smash about life behind the iron curtain) made Scheer popular in reunified Germany overnight. He joined the ensemble of Europe's most influential theater at the time; the Volksbühne Berlin, improved his craft for a decade and was honored "Actor of the Year" in 2009.
On the big screen his portrait of a top terrorist in Golden Globe winning "Carlos" (2010) was a kick-off for several portrayals of world famous personalities: among others Scheer played the iconic characters Keith Richards, Friedrich Nietzsche, Andy Warhol and David Bowie.
For his fascinating portrait of east German coal miner and songwriter "Gundermann" ( 8 German Film Awards including "Best Director" and "Best Picture 2019" ) Alexander Scheer performed all songs himself and was awarded "Best Actor in a Leading Role".- Henriette Confurius was born on 5 February 1991 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for Die Wölfe (2009), Mein erstes Wunder (2002) and Police Call 110 (1971).
- 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.