Wolfgang Liebeneiner

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Wolfgang Georg Louis Liebeneiner (born October 6, 1905 in Liebau , Province of Silesia , † November 28, 1987 in Vienna ) was a German actor and director .

Life

The son of a textile manufacturer was promoted to head of the Academic Spielschar in Munich while studying philosophy, German and history. In 1928 he received acting and directing lessons from Otto Falckenberg , the director of the Münchner Kammerspiele . In the same year he made his debut in Wedekind's Spring Awakening and from now on devoted himself entirely to the art of acting.

In 1931 he made his debut as a theater director and in the same year received his first film role in The Other Side , in which he played an English lieutenant. He subscribed to subtle and often tragic lovers. In 1936 he became a member of the Berlin State Theater and in 1938 artistic director of the German Film Academy Babelsberg . In 1937 he made his first film as a director. In 1939 he became head of the film department of the Reich Film Chamber . After a few entertainment films, Goebbels soon entrusted him with politically important projects: with Bismarck he created a film memorial to the “Iron Chancellor” in 1940. In 1941, in close collaboration with the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, he directed the film I Accuse, which deals with the killing at the request of a multiple sclerosis patient. This film is considered to be a “euthanasia film”, not least because of its manipulative opinion-forming pro killing on request, which was intended to justify the patient murders of Action T4 . The film The Discharge (1942) again focused on Bismarck . In 1942, Liebener became head of production at Ufa and a member of the Presidential Council of the Reich Theater Chamber . In 1943 Goebbels awarded him the title of professor.

Despite his controversial productions for Nazi propaganda, Liebeneiner was able to resume his theater work in autumn 1945 when the culture committee issued him a work permit, which was confirmed by a denazification commission in 1947. The British occupation authorities classified him as "harmless" because he was exonerated by statements from Jewish employees who confirmed that he had helped them quietly and discreetly. The Jewish theater director Ida Ehre also mentions in her memoir that he helped colleagues who were banned from practicing their profession during the dictatorship . Honor brought him to their Hamburger Kammerspiele , where in 1947 he staged the world premiere of Wolfgang Borchert's Outside Front Door , which he also filmed under the title Love 47 . During the Adenauer era , Liebeneiner directed several films in which Ruth Leuwerik repeatedly played the leading role, such as The Trapp Family and Queen Luise . In the 1960s he turned more and more to television, for which he mainly filmed plays, novels and short stories. So in 1966 for the ZDF the Christmas Vierteiler Treasure Island on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson . Outside of television, he particularly focused on staging operas and operettas at various opera houses.

Liebeneiner was married twice, from 1934 to the actress Ruth Hellberg and from 1944 to the actress Hilde Krahl . The daughter Johanna Liebeneiner from his last marriage became a well-known actress herself. After a long and serious illness, Wolfgang Liebeneiner died on November 28, 1987 in Vienna and was buried in the Sieveringer Friedhof in the 19th district of Vienna . The grave has already been abandoned.

His written estate is in the archive of the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

Filmography

actor

Director

Radio plays

In 1965 he directed an adaptation of the novel Die Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann for HR, consisting of eight parts , in which he also played one of the main roles (Thomas Buddenbrook). The other main speakers included a. Gert Westphal (narrator), Hans Tügel (Johann Buddenbrook the Elder), Dieter Borsche (consul Johann Buddenbrook), Lil Dagover (consul Elisabeth Buddenbrook) and Horst Tappert (Christian Buddenbrook).

Two years earlier he had also directed the radio play Reineke Fuchs based on the epic poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at HR . Here, too, he could be heard as a speaker (narrator) himself. His partners were here u. a. Hans Georg Laubenthal , Volker von Collande , Eric Schildkraut , Hanns Ernst Jäger and Hans Korte .

Awards

  • 1938 appointment as state actor
  • 1942 German film's ring of honor for The Discharge
  • 1943 appointed professor
  • 1951 Sascha Cup for Der Weibsteufel
  • 1952 Sascha Cup for April 1, 2000
  • 1958 Bambi (1957 most successful business film) for The Trapp Family
  • 1967 Perla-TV of the Milan International Film and Television Fair for Treasure Island
  • 1968 Perla TV for Tom Sawyers and Huckleberry Finn's Adventures

literature

  • Jonathan Schilling: Prussia again in the film. On images of Prussia in films with Ruth Leuwerik, in: Research on Brandenburg and Prussian History , NF, 29th vol., 2019, H. 1–2, pp. 201–221. (Essay on several films by Liebeneiner)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Film portal, short biography of Wolfgang Liebeneiner [1]
  2. ↑ WDR deadline November 28, 2007 - 20 years ago: Wolfgang Liebeneiner dies in Vienna [2]
  3. ↑ Ulrike Weckel: Types of coming to terms with the past. In: Institute for German History University of Tel Aviv (Ed.): Tel Aviver Yearbook for German History 2003. Wallstein-Verlag Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-89244-657-1 , p. 151 f.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Liebeneiner Archive Inventory overview on the website of the Academy of the Arts in Berlin.


personal data
SURNAME Dear one, Wolfgang
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Liebeneiner, Wolfgang Georg Louis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor and director
DATE OF BIRTH October 6, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Liebau , Lower Silesia
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1987
Place of death Vienna