Agnes Kraus

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Irmgard Friederike Agnes Krause (born February 16, 1911 in Friedenau ; † May 2, 1995 in Berlin-Lichtenberg ) was a German actress . Her enormous success earned her the title of “ People's Actress ”.

Act

Agnes Kraus received her artistic training in the late 1920s from Leopold Jessner at the Prussian State Theater in Berlin , who mistakenly saw her as a future tragedy. In Annaberg-Buchholz , her first engagement, she got a tragic role: she played the leading role in Schiller's Maria Stuart and Helena from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night 's Dream . From 1936 she was seen in small roles at the Berliner Volksbühne under Eugen Klöpfer . During the Second World War she worked at the Münchner Kammerspiele before she left the stage and switched to the Main Franconian puppet theater . From then on, Agnes Kraus devoted herself to puppetry for a few years. After the war, she ran her own puppet theater together with her sister and performed at events and in schools with homemade puppets. At the same time she continued her acting career at the Brandenburger Theater in Brandenburg (Havel) . Later she was engaged at the theater in Potsdam , where she had little success as an actress in classics. Here she was noticed by Bertolt Brecht , who brought her to the Berliner Ensemble in 1951 . She was part of the ensemble for over 20 years. She played the leading role in a performance in Paris. Brecht himself often gave them worker roles. Agnes Kraus' favorite role was that of the widow Queck from Brecht's fragmentary play The Bread Shop , which tells a story from the life of workers in Berlin in the 1920s.

  • Agnes Kraus Way

  • Memorial stone

  • Stone inscription

Agnes Kraus made an early film appearance, then under the name Irmgard Krause, in the 1930s: She first appeared in front of the camera for the UFA production Eskapade (1936). The Second World War ended her dream of film for the time being. In the 1950s the artist returned to the Babelsberg studio and initially took on small roles in DEFA strips. From now on, your films and roles read like a hodgepodge of DEFA history: Slatan Dudow's Frauenschicksale (1952), Martin Hellberg's Thomas Müntzer (1954), Kurt Maetzig's Don't Forget Me My Traudel , Sister Hedwig's in Professor Mamlock (1961). Finally, she starred in the important post-war film Carbide and Sorrel in 1963 . Other important DEFA roles were the wife of a disciplined brigadier in Konrad Wolf's Der teilte Himmel (1964), an old woman in Ralf Karstens Barlach's drama The Lost Angel . There were also short appearances in crime novels ( Pension Boulanka , Zernik corpse case ), the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty and the musical Wedding Night in the Rain .

It was not until the late 1960s, when she was already 58 years old, that she achieved particularly great popularity through cheerful TV roles in Dolles Familienalbum (TV series, 1969) or Florentiner 73 (TV, 1972), in which she met Aunt Minna and mother “Klucke “Embodied. Her great comedic talent, which began tentatively with Werner Bernhardt's multi-part Dolles family album, really blossomed in Florentiner 73 under the direction of Klaus Gendries . After the great success of the film, the sequel Neues aus der Florentiner 73 was made two years later by popular request . With her dry sense of humor, Agnes Kraus repeatedly played the lovable Berlin landlady.

In the years that followed, she starred in numerous GDR television films in the lead roles of characters who, through their sympathetic, resolute, quirky demeanor, combined with their inimitable tone of voice, became the “ Berlin original with heart and soul”. There was always a lot of wisdom and softness in the women she played, who could reprove in such a rascally and sympathetic way. Alongside Winfried Glatzeder , she appeared in the 1972 DEFA hit The Man Who Came After Grandma . In addition to Rolf Herricht , she provided amusement three times (Die Musterknaben, hands up or I'll shoot , Der Baulöwe).

As a community nurse "Agnes Feurig" or veterinarian widow "Alma", Agnes Kraus played in numerous comedies, comedies and teasing until the mid-1980s. In the popular role of sister Agnes (1975) from Krummbach (Upper Lusatia), she took care of the medical overland care while riding a swallow through the country. As a community nurse, she stands up for the good cause with her own fearlessness and in an unorthodox way. Also in 1975, the film One Hour Stay was made, in which a power failure on the Berlin S-Bahn caused a cheerful, contemplative environment. The film was based on a story by the Berlin author and film critic Renate Holland-Moritz , who was famous in the GDR for her satires and biting reviews. Many audience favorites such as Günter Naumann and Helga Hahnemann played the leading roles in this film . In 1976 she played a character role alongside Erwin Geschonneck in the film An old model , a cheerful and contemplative story. Geschonneck plays the part of Bruno Nakonz, who finds out one morning that his electric coffee grinder is refusing to work. He hopes for an immediate repair, but this turns out to be difficult. He doesn't tell his wife (Agnes Kraus) anything about his experience with the repair.

She also worked a lot and successfully in radio . In the radio play she often got big and tragic roles. In the radio portrait Also ick knows not from Ulrich Griebel , excerpts from the radio plays Frieda and Woyzeck can be heard. There are also interviews and scenes from plays in which Agnes Kraus played, such as in the opera The Condemnation of Lukullus by Bertolt Brecht and Paul Dessau and the Brecht drama fragment Der Brotladen .

In 1986, the artist, who was voted the TV favorite of the " FF here " eight times , largely withdrew from her job due to an allergic disease. In 1993/1994 she made her last guest appearance at the Berliner Ensemble .

Life

Family grave at the Kleinmachnow forest cemetery

Agnes Kraus had an older sister. Her father Albert Krause was a bank clerk, her mother Anna geb. Schulze had an artistic streak. Agnes learned the piano as a child. According to her own statement, she practiced the piano for two to three hours a day.

Her sister Rohtraut Schlicht was the chief proponent at the Berlin Metropoltheater . After the death of her parents, she gave up the job and ran the household.

She met Jürgen Fehling during her early theater work . She lived with him for a few years. Then she came to the Berliner Ensemble zu Brecht.

She lived in Kleinmachnow for many years . Here Agnes Kraus was laid to rest in the forest cemetery at the side of her parents and sister. Her grave is near Karla Runkehl , with whom she shot “ Spring Takes Time ” under director Günter Stahnke in 1965 , which was one of the films that was banned in 1965.

For more than two decades, from 1972 until her death in 1995, she then lived with her sister on Mellenseestrasse in Berlin. She often went for walks on the nearby path along the Kraatzgraben, across the residential area between Sewan and Erich-Kurz-Strasse. In her honor, a memorial stone was therefore unveiled on February 16, 2011, her 100th birthday, at the confluence of the Kraatzgraben / Tränkegraben, near Sewanstrasse 43.

She was very fond of animals. The Tierpark Berlin received more than half a million German marks from her inheritance .

reception

The reasons for the enormous popularity of Agnes Kraus lie in her original game. Bertolt Brecht valued Agnes Kraus highly because, in his opinion, she implemented his alienation effect on her own, so that he did not have to explain it. Her special tone of voice, which she brought into tragic and comic roles, was distinctive for her playing. Agnes Kraus drama was perceived as unique by critics. Her sympathetic directness was characteristic, with which she always appeared respectful and was therefore also considered a grande dame. At the same time, she was perceived as the Berlin original with heart and soul and was considered a popular actress due to her great success . Agnes Kraus was eight times for television favorite of FF it elected five times and the television favorite of the GDR. The best-known moments of her career as a film actress include her appearances in Florentiner 73 and Sister Agnes . Furthermore, she was represented in numerous important and successful films of the UFA and DEFA as a character actress in serious and comic roles. She was also very successful as a theater actress with the Berliner Ensemble and on the radio .

Awards (selection)

Filmography (selection)

theatre

Radio plays

Portraits of the popular actress (selection)

  • 1983: Portrait by phone with Heinz Florian Oertel - 160th broadcast on June 7, 1983
  • 2006: Man Agnes! The actress Agnes Kraus (RBB)
  • 2006: Jokers ... unpack - Klaus Gendries on Agnes Kraus (MDR)
  • 2009: CVs - Agnes Kraus - People's Actress (MDR)
  • 2011: Radio portrait "So ick don't know" by Ulrich Griebel ( MDR Figaro )
  • 2016: The East - Discover Where You Live - A Village for Sister Agnes (MDR)

literature

Web links

Commons : Agnes Kraus  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hörzitate, 100th birthday of Agnes Kraus Online at www.dra.de, accessed on December 11, 2013.
  2. ↑ a b c Agnes Kraus - People's Actress ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Film by Leonore Brandt. Broadcast in MDR on June 6, 2013. Online at www.mdr.de, accessed on June 22, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mdr.de
  3. ↑ Agnes Kraus - popular actress . Online at www.programm.ard.de, accessed on December 11, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Kraus, Agnes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Krause, Irmgard Friederike Agnes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actress
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin-Friedenau
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 1995
Place of death Berlin