Marika Rökk

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Marika Rökk 1963
Marika Rökk, 1940

Marie Karoline "Marika" Rökk (born November 3, 1913 in Cairo ; † May 16, 2004 in Baden , Lower Austria ) was a German- Austrian film actress , singer and dancer of Hungarian descent.

Life

Childhood and early successes

She was born as Marie Karoline Rökk, daughter of the Hungarian-German architect and building contractor Eduard Rökk and his wife Maria Karoline Charlotte born. Karoly was born in Cairo and grew up in Budapest .

Marika Rökk in the mid-1920s

Rökk received dance lessons very early. In 1924 her family moved to Paris . Here she continued her dance training with the exiled Russian Rudkowska and appeared for the first time as a dancer in the ballet group Hoffmann Girls at the Moulin Rouge . In the next year further engagements followed on Broadway in New York and several cities in the USA. At the end of 1929 she returned to Europe and performed as a dancer and singer in Monte Carlo , Cannes , London , Paris and Hungary. After successful appearances as a revue dancer, she shot her first film in England in 1930.

Breakthrough as a movie star

In 1934 Universum Film (Ufa) took Rökk under contract. Her first German feature film was Leichte Kavallerie (1935; based on the operetta of the same name Franz von Suppés ) with Heinz von Cleve , the “beautiful man from Ufa”. In Der Bettelstudent (1936), Gasparone (1937) and Hallo Janine (1939) she formed the new dream couple in German revue film with the popular actor Johannes Heesters . She became one of the greatest movie stars of her era through films like It Was a Rauschende Ballnacht (1939; with Zarah Leander ) or Kora Terry (1940).

Ufa deliberately built her into a star in order to set her against the famous actors of American cinema. The Film-Kurier wrote in 1939: "She has something ahead of the American competition: the boyish mischief on the neck, the bubbling charm and not to forget: paprika in the blood." In 1941 she played the leading role in the first German color film Women are but better diplomats and thus consolidated her status as one of the leading celebrities in German film. Her film hits like I don't need a million (from Hallo Janine , 1939) or In the Night People Don't Like To Be Alone ( The Woman of My Dreams , 1944) have become evergreens .

Often her films followed a uniform storyline , which became Rökk's trademark: Again and again she played the initially unrecognized talent who prevailed against all possible adversities and finally celebrated a triumph on stage in a grand finale . The climax of many of her films were these great dance scenes, which were often daring for their time. In Kora Terry she dances in a tight two-parter with a snake on her shoulders - a rare exception in the otherwise rather staid-looking cinema of the Nazi era. The director was mostly her later husband Georg Jacoby .

Role in the Third Reich

Marika Rökk openly came to terms with the Nazi rulers. She gave the Reichsfilmintendanten and SS leader Hans Hinkel a duel and admired Adolf Hitler , as can be seen from a letter to the dictator:

" If I could cheer you up for a few moments, my Führer, and distract you a little from your responsible work, then I am infinitely proud and happy ."

After the Jewish film producer and director Alfred Zeisler fled abroad with his wife Lien Deyers due to imminent arrest, Marika Rökk acquired his villa in Potsdam-Babelsberg, which was confiscated by the National Socialists, and moved in with her husband. Zeisler, who died in 1985, said he had not received “a penny” for the villa. After the fall of the Wall, Rökk applied for restitution and hired a lawyer to prevent the villa from being awarded to the Jewish Claims Conference .

Because of her work in propaganda films such as Wunschkonzert (1940) and alleged espionage for the National Socialists, Marika Rökk was temporarily banned from appearing in Germany and Austria after the Second World War . At that time she was only able to organize entertainment evenings for the American troops. In 1947 she was rehabilitated by the Court of Honor of the Austrian Actors' Association.

Post-war career

After 1948 Rökk made other feature films such as Die Csardasfürstin or Bühne frei für Marika , again following the tried and tested recipe of her Ufa film successes. In the two films mentioned, her dream partner Johannes Heesters stood by her side again. However, Rökk was unable to build on the heyday of the Ufa cinema.

With great success she appeared in revues and musicals in Vienna, Hamburg, Munich and especially Berlin. Especially in the title role of the musical Hello, Dolly! (1968) and in the comedy Die Gräfin vom Naschmarkt (1978) she celebrated later successes. Until 1986 she was active as an actress, operetta singer and dancer. She played her last leading role in 1986/87 in the tabloid comedy Das Kuckucksei .

In 1970 she had her own TV show with A Woman in Our Dreams on ZDF . In 1975 Marika Rökk appeared in the first ZDF gala in favor of the German Cancer Aid with the title Meeting Point Heart . In the same year she also appeared in the then largest ZDF show Musik ist Trumpf , which was hosted by Peter Frankenfeld from 1975 to 1978.

She had her last appearances in 1996 at the Spring Festival of Folk Music with Carmen Nebel , where she presented a musical medley of her great successes, and two years later in 1998 at the Bambi Awards, when Burda Verlag awarded her the honorary Bambi for her 85th birthday.

After the collapse of the communist regime in Hungary, she appeared in a Hungarian television production of "Countess Mariza" in 1996.

Rökk received several awards for her achievements. She was the first Bambi prize winner .

She also became known to a wide audience through commercials for the skin cream Hormocenta , which were broadcast on television from 1968 to 1972.

Private life

She was married since 1940 to the director Georg Jacoby , with whom she had a daughter, Gabriele Jacoby , and after his death since 1968 to the actor and director Fred Raul (1910–1985). She died of a heart attack on May 16, 2004.

A street was named in her honor in Baden near Vienna . Marika Rökk was founded in 1995 by the organization “BühnenReif - International Society for the Promotion of Theater, Music and Art e. V. ”(division: entertainment & music) in Berlin as an honorary member.

Marika Rökk and her husband Fred Raul are buried in the Helenenfriedhof in Baden near Vienna.

Gravesite of Marika Rökk and Fred Raul

After her death

Its importance in the time of National Socialism was dealt with in 2010 by ORF in the eleventh episode of the fifteen-part series The Second World War . The ORF Zeitgeschichte editorial team received the Special Euro Media Award for the series .

For the artist's 100th birthday, the world's only anniversary gala took place on November 3, 2013 in the Budapest Operetta Theater in front of a sold-out house with international star guests (including Gabriele Jacoby , Johannes von Duisburg , Heiko Reissig , Mario Zeffiri ), a soloist ensemble, choir, ballet and orchestra .

Filmography

movie theater

Television (selection)

  • 1972: The Schöngrubers (TV series in 13 episodes)
  • 1973: The Last Waltz (TV movie)
  • 1980: The Countess of Naschmarkt (TV film)

Discography (selection)

  • 1938: An island of dreams was born (Peter Kreuder / Hans Fritz Beckmann) from the sound film In One Night in May , with an accompanying orchestra, Telefunken
  • 1939: Tell me quickly “Good night” (Willi Kollo) from the film Visit in the evening , with an accompanying orchestra under the direction of Michael Jary, Telefunken No. A 2920
  • 1939: I don't need millions (Peter Kreuder / Hans Fritz Beckmann) from the revue film Hallo Janine , with accompanying orchestra, Telefunken
  • 1941: When a young man ... (Franz Grothe / Willi Dehmel) from the sound film Women are better diplomats , large dance orchestra under the direction of Michael Jary, vocals: Marika Rökk, Telefunken No. A 10066
  • 1940: For a blissful night (Peter Kreuder / Günther Schwenn) from the sound film Kora Terry , with orchestra Frank Fux, Telefunken No. A 10260
  • 1941: Spring in Vienna (Franz Grothe) from the sound film Tanz mit dem Kaiser , with orchestra under the direction of Franz Grothe, Telefunken No. A 10394
  • 1944: Man doesn't like to be alone at night (Franz Grothe / Willi Dehmel) from the sound film The Woman of My Dreams , accompanying orchestra: Theo Nordhorn and his soloists, Austroton No. W 6028

Stage productions

operetta

musical

  • 1968: Hello, Dolly!
  • 1978: The Countess from Naschmarkt
  • The clever mom (musical comedy)

Tabloid comedy

  • 1986: The cuckoo's egg

Awards

Fonts

  • with Elvira Reitze: heart with paprika. Memories. Universitas, Berlin 1974. New edition: Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-548-22543-8 .
  • with Ursula Meyer: Marika Rökk. Edition Art-Wings, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-00-004678-X (illustrated book).

literature

  • Kevin Clarke: We make music, our hats go off. For film operettas and operettas in films from the Nazi era. In: Christoph Henze (Hrsg.): Music in the entertainment cinema of the Third Reich. Königshausen & Neumann , Würzburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8260-4756-5 .

Web links

Commons : Marika Rökk  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Real Estate: Villas fight in Babelsberg . In: Der Spiegel . No. 4 , 1996 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Hormocenta ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hormocenta-kosmetik.de
  3. ↑ ORF: “Marika Rökk - A Star for All Seasons”: Part 3 of the World War II three-part series “Idole of the Nazis” ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 3, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / programm.orf.at
  4. ↑ ORF-Shop: DVD edition of the series ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 3, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / shop.orf.at
  5. ↑ Der 2.Warden (documentary (series)) by ORF Redaktion Zeitgeschichte, Austria receiving the Special Award Education and Ethics, accessed on November 3, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Rökk, Marika
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rökk, Marie Karoline (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Austrian film actress, singer and dancer
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Cairo
DATE OF DEATH May 16, 2004
Place of death Baden , Lower Austria , Austria