Elisabeth Bergner

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elisabeth Bergner (1935)

Elisabeth Bergner (born Elisabeth Ettel ; born August 22, 1897 in Drohobycz in Galicia , Austria-Hungary , today Ukraine ; †  May 12, 1986 in London ) was an Austro-British theater and film actress .

Life

In the family she met the medical student (and later famous group therapist) Jacob Moreno as a private tutor , whom she later attributed the impetus to go on stage. She received her training at private acting schools and at the Conservatory in Vienna . She made her debut at the theater in Innsbruck in 1915 , later appearances in Zurich , Vienna, Munich and Berlin. In Vienna she also worked as a model for the sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck , who fell in love with her unhappily. She received her first film role in 1922 ( Der Evangelimann ). The big breakthrough came in 1923 under Victor Barnowsky with the Shakespeare -Stück As You Like It at the Lessing Theater in Berlin.

Elisabeth "Lisl" Bergner had numerous relationships with men. The suicide of the Duisburg sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck is said to have been caused by his unrequited love. She had a stormy love affair with the Austrian writer Albert Ehrenstein .

From 1924 she worked exclusively with the director Paul Czinner , who also became her private partner. As Jews , they had to after the " seizure " of the Nazis first to Vienna and then to flee to London, where they were married. She managed both the switch from the silent film era to the sound film and the linguistic adaptation to her new place of work with ease. In 1934 she played Katharina the Great under the direction of her husband. However, the film was banned in Germany. In 1935 she received her only Oscar nomination for her role in Never Leave Me Again .

In 1940 Bergner and Czinner emigrated to Hollywood , but Bergner's only Hollywood film Paris Calling (1941) was not a great success. She shifted the focus of her work back to the stage. After the end of the war, she worked in New York, among other things, at the German-language theater Players from Abroad , until she returned to England in 1950 and to Germany in 1954, where she worked successfully as a theater and film actress.

Her grave is in the Golders Green Crematorium in London.

Honors

Berlin memorial plaque on the house, Faradayweg 15, in Berlin-Dahlem

In 1962 she was awarded the Schiller Prize of the city of Mannheim and in 1982 the Eleonora Duse Cup in Venice .

In 2000 the Elisabeth-Bergner-Weg was named after her in the 23rd district of Liesing in Vienna .

A park on Schildhornstrasse in Berlin-Steglitz is named after her.

On May 12, 2016, a memorial plaque was placed in her honor in Berlin-Dahlem, Faradayweg 15, at the entrance to her former home (1925–1933).

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Autobiography

  • Elisabeth Bergner: "Admires a lot and scolded a lot ..." Elisabeth Bergner's messy memories . Bertelsmann, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-570-01529-7 .

literature

  • Arthur Eloesser : Elisabeth Bergner . Berlin, Williams, 1927.
  • Thomas Blubacher : Elisabeth Bergner . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 168.
  • Siglinde Bolbecher , Konstantin Kaiser (ed.) … Our black rose. Elisabeth Bergner . Catalog for the exhibition in the Historical Museum of the City of Vienna. Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-85202-104-9 .
  • Margret Heymann: Elisabeth Bergner - more than an actress. Vorwerk 8, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-940384-13-3 .
  • Raimund Hoghe: "Yes, they mustn't be afraid". The actress Elisabeth Bergner. In: Ders .: When nobody sings, it's quiet . Portraits, reviews and other texts. Berlin: Verlag Theater der Zeit 2019, pp. 70–77.
  • Susanne Blumesberger, Michael Doppelhofer, Gabriele Mauthe: Handbook of Austrian authors of Jewish origin from the 18th to the 20th century . Volume 1: A-I. Edited by the Austrian National Library. Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-11545-8 , p. 104.
  • Anne Jespersen: Deadly Truth or Subtle Deception. The women in Elisabeth Bergner's films. In: Michael Omasta, Brigitte Mayr, Christian Cargnelli (eds.): Carl Mayer, Scenar [t] is. A script by him was already a film - "A script by Carl Mayer was already a film" . Synema, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-901644-10-5 .
  • Klaus Völker : Elisabeth Bergner - The life of an actress. Whole and yet always unfinished. (Contributions to theater, film and television from the Institute for Theater Studies at the Free University of Berlin 4). Entrich, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-926175-72-9 .
  • Kay Less : 'In life, more is taken from you than given ...'. Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. P. 96 f., ACABUS-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8
  • Conversation with Elisabeth Bergner, Come on, I'll throw you the sun In: Birgit Lahann, Hausbesuche , Stuttgart 1985

Web links

Commons : Elisabeth Bergner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ M. Heymann, Elisabeth Bergner - more than one actress , Berlin 2008, p. 12 f.
  2. ↑ Hansjörg Schneider: Time is out of joint - Dresden's drama in the twenties . Publishing and Publishing House, 2007, ISBN 978-3-9810690-2-0 , p. 10 .
  3. ↑ Géza von Cziffra : The cow in the coffee house Knaur TB 1049, pages 228/229.
  4. ^ Knerger.de: The grave of Elisabeth Bergner
  5. ↑ "All of Berlin was in love with her": Memorial plaque for Elisabeth Bergner unveiled in Dahlem (StadtrandNachrichten, May 12, 2016)
personal data
SURNAME Bergner, Elisabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ettel, Elisabeth (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian theater and film actress
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Drohobycz , Galicia , Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine )
DATE OF DEATH May 12, 1986
Place of death London , England , UK