Else Bassermann

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Else Bassermann (born January 14, 1878 in Leipzig , † May 30, 1961 in Baden-Baden ; born Elisabeth Sara Schiff , also known as Elsa Bassermann ) was a German actress and screenwriter .

Life

Else Bassermann started her first engagement in 1902 at the Cologne Residenztheater. In 1903 she played at the Intimate Theater in Nuremberg and from 1904 at the Lessing Theater in Berlin . She was particularly successful at the Reinhardt Theaters , where she was part of the ensemble from 1908 to 1914 and again from 1924 to 1927 . But she also appeared at the Schauspielhaus , Lustspielhaus , Theater am Kurfürstendamm and the Saltenburg theaters.

Since 1908 she was married to the actor Albert Bassermann , whom she accompanied on numerous guest tours in Germany and abroad. She also worked in some silent films, some of which she had written the script for under the pseudonym Hans Hennings . When in 1934 a guest performance in Leipzig was forbidden by the Reichstheaterkammer because of her Jewish descent, her husband announced his departure from this organization.

The couple were now in Switzerland and also performed in Austria and the Netherlands. In April 1939 they emigrated to the United States. Else Bassermann was able to take part in a few films there.

From 1946 she and her husband gave guest performances in Europe and in 1949 again in Germany for the first time. After Albert Bassermann's death in 1953, she went to the Göttingen City Theater for two years . Her late roles included Frau Alving in Ghosts , Marthe Schwertlein in Goethe's Faust and Mother in García Lorca's Doña Rosita Remains Single . In 1952, her husband Albert died in her arms on a flight from New York City to Zurich . In the 1950s she wrote several articles for Mannheimer Morgen and the features section of the Basler National-Zeitung . She last lived in difficult financial circumstances with her mentally handicapped daughter Carmen, who was born in 1908. Since her husband was an honorary citizen of the city of Mannheim , she received a small pension from the community. Else Bassermann died impoverished in 1961. She is buried in the main cemetery in Baden-Baden. Their daughter died in a traffic accident in 1970.

Filmography

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Grave of Else Bassermann
  2. ^ Death of Carmen and Albert Bassermann