Fita Benkhoff
Frieda Elfriede "Fita" Benkhoff (born November 1, 1901 in Dortmund , † October 26, 1967 in Munich ) was a German stage and film actress .
Life
Fita Benkhoff was born on November 1st, 1901 in Dortmund. She was the seventh of eight children of the innkeeper Christian Alex Gustav Benkhoff and his wife Maria Bernardine Marcus. The parents ran the Walhalla, one of the largest entertainment establishments in Dortmund. Fita Benkhoff first attended the girls' lyceum , then worked in the Grafenhof of her brother Paul, became a dental assistant and was then a telephone operator in a trading company. During this time she secretly took acting lessons from Emil Bender. In 1924 she became a volunteer at the Dortmund City Theater and was seen in the role of the page in Don Carlos . This was followed by appearances as the doll queen in Suse Schmutzfink's adventure , as Recha in Nathan the Wise and finally as Tschang-Haitang in the Kreidekreis . She moved to Lübeck , where she played Gretchen in Faust , Desdemona in Othello and Saint Johanna in the play of the same name . From Lübeck she went to Düsseldorf to join Louise Dumont's ensemble . Called "our little Madonna with the pure charisma", she was cast in corresponding roles. Further engagements in Wroclaw and Vienna followed .
In 1933 she appeared for the first time in a small role in the flick The pugnacious Mr. Kickel . When a role as a strange old woman in the film Die Medaille was available at UFA , Fita Benkhoff made a quick decision to apply. This role established her reputation as a comedian and she received many similar roles as a result. Her first big appearance in the film was the servant Andria in the film adaptation of Amphitryon , followed by the Opera Ball , Black Hunter Johanna and a number of social comedies. Fita Benkhoff had almost exclusively supporting roles, mostly she played best friend, aunt or the mother of the leading actress. Alongside Grethe Weiser , she was considered one of the funniest supporting actresses in German film. She had one of her few leading roles alongside Karl Schönböck in 1944 in the comedy film I have dreamed of you . Parallel to her work in film, she continued to play roles at the Volksbühne Berlin and the Deutsches Theater . Here she celebrated her greatest stage success as Klara in Hebbel's Maria Magdalena .
After the Second World War, she moved to Hamburg, where she first appeared at the Schauspielhaus . She also got roles in film again, for example in 1949 as Mother Wolffen in the DEFA film adaptation of Biberfurz ' . But she returned to the comic subject and was seen in a leading role in Three Girls from the Rhine in 1955 . She had other roles in, among others, In Munich there is a Hofbräuhaus , The thief of Baghdad , The women of Mr S. , Pension Schöller , When the heath dreams in the evening , On the Reeperbahn at half past twelve , the robbery of the Sabine women and When the father comes along the son . In addition, she also appeared at the theater, including in Berlin at the Hebbel Theater .
Unusually for an actress, Fita Benkhoff signed a petition in the 1950s against the rearmament, which was planned and later carried out, but which polarized the population of Germany . After the death of her husband, the businessman Wilhelm Strom, in 1957, she almost completely withdrew from public life. She moved from her house in Berg to an apartment in Munich . She started to paint.
She played her last role in 1967 at the Theater an der Leopoldstrasse in the black comedy Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen .
Fita Benkhoff appeared in a total of 113 films. She often stood at the side of famous colleagues, including Heinz Rühmann and Hans Albers . In 1967 she was awarded a Bambi .
Fita Benkhoff died on October 26, 1967 at the age of 65 in Munich after a brief, serious illness. She was buried in the family crypt in the south-west cemetery in Dortmund .
Filmography (selection)
- 1933: The belligerent Mr. Kickel
- 1933: A girl whirls around the world
- 1933: mother and child
- 1934: gold
- 1934: Checkmate
- 1934: Lottchen's birthday
- 1934: The rose-colored glasses
- 1934: a child, a dog, a vagabond
- 1934: The little relatives
- 1934: Black hunter Johanna
- 1935: The shipyard for the gray pike
- 1935: Amphitryon - happiness comes from the clouds
- 1935: executioners, women and soldiers
- 1935: The Nurse King
- 1936: Boccaccio
- 1937: Petermann is against it
- 1937: Capers
- 1937: marriage fraud
- 1938: Discretion - a matter of honor
- 1938: Lots of lies
- 1939: The golden mask
- 1939: Opera Ball
- 1940: Casanova marries
- 1940: your private secretary
- 1941: Always only you
- 1941: Mrs. Luna
- 1942: My friend Josefine
- 1944: I dreamed of you
- 1945: the stake
- 1949: A row in the Secret Annex
- 1949: The beaver fur
- 1950: Taxi Kitty
- 1950: Melody of Fate
- 1951: There is a Hofbräuhaus in Munich
- 1951: The wives of Mr. S.
- 1951: Through thick and thin
- 1952: The thief of Baghdad
- 1952: Pension Schöller
- 1952: When the heather dreams in the evening
- 1952: Dancing stars
- 1953: We'll talk about love later
- 1953: Marriage fanfare
- 1953: Do you have to get a divorce right away?
- 1953: The singing hotel
- 1954: On the Reeperbahn at half past twelve
- 1954: Maxie
- 1954: Robbery of the Sabine women
- 1955: Three girls from the Rhine
- 1955: Heaven is never sold out
- 1955: When the father with the son
- 1955: a heart full of music
- 1956: Opera Ball
- 1956: Dany, please write
- 1956: If we were all angels
- 1956: The beggar student
- 1957: When women cheat
- 1957: ... and love laughs at it
- 1957: Schimek family
- 1958: Majesty goes astray
- 1958: isn't mom fabulous?
- 1959: The time has come ( Durbridge six-part )
- 1959: love, air and lots of lies
- 1959: a summer you will never forget
- 1959: Always the girls
- 1960: Ingeborg
- 1961: At Pichler the cash register is not right
- 1961: do you remember?
- 1963: love has to be learned
- 1964: An angel named Schmitt
- 1965: Ghost comedy
- 1966: The robbery of the Sabine women
- 1967: Spring in Baden-Baden
Radio plays
- 1945: The Captain von Köpenick (based on Carl Zuckmayer ) - Director: Helmut Käutner
- 1946: Urfaust (after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ) - Director: Ludwig Cremer
- 1948: The Ithaca Purge - Directed by Hans Quest
- 1952: The enjoyable life of Doctor Löhnefink - Director: Eduard Hermann
- 1952: Faust (after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) - Director: Wilhelm Semmelroth
- 1958: Lauter Engel around Monsieur Jacques - Director: Heinz-Günter Stamm
- 1959: The Robbery of the Sabine Women - Director: Heinz-Günter Stamm
- 1959: The German Small Towns or A Man Comes to the City (after August von Kotzebue ) - Director: Heinz-Günter Stamm
- 1960: Romeo and Juliet (based on William Shakespeare ) - Director: Friedhelm Ortmann
- 1965: The good part - Director: Heinz Dieter Köhler
literature
- Hanne Hieber: Benkhoff, Frieda Elfriede (Fita) . In: Hans Bohrmann (Ed.): Biographies of important Dortmunders. People in, from and for Dortmund . tape 3 . Klartext, Essen 2001, ISBN 3-88474-954-4 , p. 17th ff .
- Volker Jakob: Fita Benkhoff: star of the supporting role. Memories of the UFA idol from Dortmund . In: Westfälischer Heimatbund, Landesverkehrsverband Westfalen (Hrsg.): Westfalenspiegel . tape 55 , no. 5 . Ardey, October 2006, ISSN 0508-5942 , p. 58 .
Web links
- Fita Benkhoff in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Fita Benkhoff at filmportal.de (with photo gallery)
- Fita Benkhoff biography at the DEFA Foundation
- Fita Benkhoff at cyranos.ch
- Pictures by Fita Benkhoff In: Virtual History
- Portrait of Fita Benkhoff in the Westfalenspiegel
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans-Michael Körner (Ed.) Large Bavarian Biographical Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, KS Saur Munich 2005, p. 143
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Benkhoff, Fita |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Benkhoff, Frieda Elfriede |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German stage and film actress |
DATE OF BIRTH | November 1, 1901 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Dortmund |
DATE OF DEATH | October 26, 1967 |
Place of death | Munich |