TOP AUSTRIAN ACTORS / ACTRESSES
The best from Austria and formerly Austria/Hungary (Monarchy)!
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Christoph Waltz is an Austrian-German actor. He is known for his work with American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, receiving acclaim for portraying SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009) and bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained (2012). For each performance, he won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally, he received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Landa.
Christoph Waltz was born in Vienna, Austria, into a theatrical family, his mother Elisabeth Urbancic, an Austrian-born costume designer, and Johannes Waltz, a German-born stage builder. He has three siblings. His maternal grandmother was Viennese Burgtheater actress Maria Mayen, and his step-grandfather was fellow Burgtheater actor Emmerich Reimers. His maternal grandfather, Rudolf von Urban, was a psychologist and psychiatrist who wrote the 1949 book "Sex Perfection and Marital Happiness".
Waltz attended the Theresianium and Billrothstrasse in Vienna. Upon graduation, he attended the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar before going to New York to the Lee Strasberg Institute. While in New York, Christoph met his first wife, and moved back to Vienna, then to London.
During the 80s, Christoph worked primarily in theatre, commuting from his home in London to Germany. Slowly Waltz began to work in TV, taking one-off roles in series, and TV movies. Film roles soon followed. Attempts to break into English-speaking film and TV were, however, unsuccessful. Waltz has expressed his gratitude to have been able to make a living and support his family through acting. For thirty years he worked steadily, tirelessly, in this manner.
It was not until he met Quentin Tarantino that his career in Hollywood took off. The role of Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009) catapulted Waltz from a lifetime working in German TV/film to the new life of an international superstar and Academy Award-winning actor. He won 27 awards for his performance as Hans Landa, including the Cannes prix d'interpretation Masculin for 2009, the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, the BAFTA Best Supporting Actor award, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (which he won again for 2012's Django Unchained (2012)).
He also has portrayed computer genius Qohen Leth in the film The Zero Theorem (2013), American plagiarist Walter Keane in the biographical film _Big Eyes (2014), and 007's nemesis and head of SPECTRE Ernst Stavro Blofeld in _Spectre (2015)_. In Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, Waltz portrayed SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa, aka "The Jew Hunter". Clever, courteous, and multilingual - but also self-serving, cunning, implacable, and murderous. Waltz played gangster Benjamin Chudnofsky in The Green Hornet (2011). That same year, he starred in Water for Elephants (2011), Roman Polanski's Carnage (2011), and a remake of The Three Musketeers (2011). He played German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012), a role Tarantino wrote specifically for Waltz.
Waltz resides in Berlin and Los Angeles. His wife is costume builder Judith Holste.Trust me!
I've already liked him many years before his huge international success!
AWESOME ACTOR!
For instance:
Tag der Abrechnung - Der Amokläufer von Euskirchen
(TV Movie) (1994)
Jennerwein (TV Movie) (2003)- Actor
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Karl Merkatz was born on 17 November 1930 in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria, Austria. He was an actor and writer, known for Der Bockerer (1981), Der Bockerer 2 (1996) and Der Bockerer IV - Prager Frühling (2003). He was married to Martha Metz. He died on 4 December 2022 in Straßwalchen, Salzburg, Austria.AUSTRIAN LEGEND!!!
Ein echter Wiener geht nicht unter (TV Series) (1975 - 1979)
Der Bockerer I - IV (1981, 1996, 2000, 2003)
Drei Herren (1998)
Easy Radler (1981)
Anfang 80 (2011)
Echte Wiener - Die Sackbauer-Saga (2008)- Actor
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With an almost unpronounceable surname and a thick Austrian accent, who would have ever believed that a brash, quick talking bodybuilder from a small European village would become one of Hollywood's biggest stars, marry into the prestigious Kennedy family, amass a fortune via shrewd investments and one day be the Governor of California!?
The amazing story of megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger is a true "rags to riches" tale of a penniless immigrant making it in the land of opportunity, the United States of America. Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born July 30, 1947, in the town of Thal, Styria, Austria, to Aurelia Schwarzenegger (born Jadrny) and Gustav Schwarzenegger, the local police chief. From a young age, he took a keen interest in physical fitness and bodybuilding, going on to compete in several minor contests in Europe. However, it was when he emigrated to the United States in 1968 at the tender age of 21 that his star began to rise.
Up until the early 1970s, bodybuilding had been viewed as a rather oddball sport, or even a mis-understood "freak show" by the general public, however two entrepreneurial Canadian brothers Ben Weider and Joe Weider set about broadening the appeal of "pumping iron" and getting the sport respect, and what better poster boy could they have to lead the charge, then the incredible "Austrian Oak", Arnold Schwarzenegger. Over roughly the next decade, beginning in 1970, Schwarzenegger dominated the sport of competitive bodybuilding winning five Mr. Universe titles and seven Mr. Olympia titles and, with it, he made himself a major sports icon, he generated a new international audience for bodybuilding, gym memberships worldwide swelled by the tens of thousands and the Weider sports business empire flourished beyond belief and reached out to all corners of the globe. However, Schwarzenegger's horizons were bigger than just the landscape of bodybuilding and he debuted on screen as "Arnold Strong" in the low budget Hercules in New York (1970), then director Bob Rafelson cast Arnold in Stay Hungry (1976) alongside Jeff Bridges and Sally Field, for which Arnold won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture". The mesmerizing Pumping Iron (1977) covering the 1975 Mr Olympia contest in South Africa has since gone on to become one of the key sports documentaries of the 20th century, plus Arnold landed other acting roles in the comedy The Villain (1979) opposite Kirk Douglas, and he portrayed Mickey Hargitay in the well- received TV movie The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980).
What Arnold really needed was a super hero / warrior style role in a lavish production that utilized his chiseled physique, and gave him room to show off his growing acting talents and quirky humor. Conan the Barbarian (1982) was just that role. Inspired by the Robert E. Howard short stories of the "Hyborean Age" and directed by gung ho director John Milius, and with a largely unknown cast, save Max von Sydow and James Earl Jones, "Conan" was a smash hit worldwide and an inferior, although still enjoyable sequel titled Conan the Destroyer (1984) quickly followed. If "Conan" was the kick start to Arnold's movie career, then his next role was to put the pedal to the floor and accelerate his star status into overdrive. Director James Cameron had until that time only previously directed one earlier feature film titled Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), which stank of rotten fish from start to finish. However, Cameron had penned a fast paced, science fiction themed film script that called for an actor to play an unstoppable, ruthless predator - The Terminator (1984). Made on a relatively modest budget, the high voltage action / science fiction thriller The Terminator (1984) was incredibly successful worldwide, and began one of the most profitable film franchises in history. The dead pan phrase "I'll be back" quickly became part of popular culture across the globe. Schwarzenegger was in vogue with action movie fans, and the next few years were to see Arnold reap box office gold in roles portraying tough, no-nonsense individuals who used their fists, guns and witty one-liners to get the job done. The testosterone laden Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), Predator (1987), The Running Man (1987) and Red Heat (1988) were all box office hits and Arnold could seemingly could no wrong when it came to picking winning scripts. The tongue-in-cheek comedy Twins (1988) with co-star Danny DeVito was a smash and won Arnold new fans who saw a more comedic side to the muscle- bound actor once described by Australian author / TV host Clive James as "a condom stuffed with walnuts". The spectacular Total Recall (1990) and "feel good" Kindergarten Cop (1990) were both solid box office performers for Arnold, plus he was about to return to familiar territory with director James Cameron in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). The second time around for the futuristic robot, the production budget had grown from the initial film's $6.5 million to an alleged $100 million for the sequel, and it clearly showed as the stunning sequel bristled with amazing special effects, bone-crunching chases & stunt sequences, plus state of the art computer-generated imagery. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) was arguably the zenith of Arnold's film career to date and he was voted "International Star of the Decade" by the National Association of Theatre Owners.
Remarkably, his next film Last Action Hero (1993) brought Arnold back to Earth with a hard thud as the self-satirizing, but confusing plot line of a young boy entering into a mythical Hollywood action film confused movie fans even more and they stayed away in droves making the film an initial financial disaster. Arnold turned back to good friend, director James Cameron and the chemistry was definitely still there as the "James Bond" style spy thriller True Lies (1994) co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Arnold was the surprise hit of 1994! Following the broad audience appeal of True Lies (1994), Schwarzenegger decided to lean towards more family-themed entertainment with Junior (1994) and Jingle All the Way (1996), but he still found time to satisfy his hard-core fan base with Eraser (1996), as the chilling "Mr. Freeze" in Batman & Robin (1997) and battling dark forces in the supernatural action of End of Days (1999). The science fiction / conspiracy tale The 6th Day (2000) played to only mediocre fan interest, and Collateral Damage (2002) had its theatrical release held over for nearly a year after the tragic events of Sept 11th 2001, but it still only received a lukewarm reception.
It was time again to resurrect Arnold's most successful franchise and, in 2003, Schwarzenegger pulled on the biker leathers for the third time for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). Unfortunately, directorial duties passed from James Cameron to Jonathan Mostow and the deletion of the character of "Sarah Connor" aka Linda Hamilton and a change in the actor playing "John Connor" - Nick Stahl took over from Edward Furlong - making the third entry in the "Terminator" series the weakest to date.
Schwarzenegger married TV journalist Maria Shriver in April, 1986 and the couple have four children.
In October of 2003 Schwarzenegger, running as a Republican, was elected Governor of California in a special recall election of then governor Gray Davis. The "Governator," as Schwarzenegger came to be called, held the office until 2011. Upon leaving the Governor's mansion it was revealed that he had fathered a child with the family's live-in maid and Shriver filed for divorce.
Schwarzenegger contributed cameo roles to The Rundown (2003), Around the World in 80 Days (2004) and The Kid & I (2005). Recently, he starred in The Expendables 2 (2012), The Last Stand (2013), Escape Plan (2013), The Expendables 3 (2014), and Terminator Genisys (2015).Nothing is/was impossible for him!!! RESPECT!!!- Actor
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Helmut Qualtinger was born on 8 October 1928 in Vienna, Austria. He was an actor and writer, known for The Name of the Rose (1986), Der Paukenspieler (1971) and End of the Game (1975). He was married to Vera Borek and Seidler, Leomare. He died on 29 September 1986 in Vienna, Austria.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Romy Schneider was born on 23 September 1938 in Vienna, Austria into a family of actors. Making her film debut at the age of 15, her breakthrough came two years later in the very popular trilogy Sissi (1955). Her mother, supervising her daughter's career, immediately approved Romy's participation in Christine (1958), the remake of Max Ophüls's Playing at Love (1933), where Magda Schneider once starred herself. During the shooting, she fell in love with her co-star Alain Delon and eventually moved with him to Paris. At that time, she started her international career collaborating with famous directors such as Luchino Visconti and Orson Welles. After Delon had broken up with her in 1964, she married Harry Meyen shortly after. Although she gave birth to a boy, David-Christopher, their relationship was difficult, so they divorced in 1975. Being unsatisfied with her personal life, she turned to alcohol and drugs, but her cinematic career -especially in France- remained intact. She was the first actress, receiving the new created César Award as "Best Actress" for her role in That Most Important Thing: Love (1975). Three years later, she was awarded again for A Simple Story (1978). After a short marriage to her former secretary Daniel Biasini, being the father of her daughter Sarah Biasini, she suffered the hardest blow of her life when her son was impaled on a fence in 1981. She never managed to recover from this loss and died on 29 May 1982 in Paris. Although it was suggested she committed suicide caused by an overdose of sleeping pills, she was declared to have died from cardiac arrest.- Actor
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Karl Markovics was born on 29 August 1963 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor and director, known for The Counterfeiters (2007), Breathing (2011) and Superwelt (2015). He is married to Stephanie Taussig. They have two children.- Actor
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Klaus Maria Brandauer was a music student and studied drama at Stuttgarter Hochschule. He was a true stage actor and therefore didn't like to work in movies except for two small parts in The Salzburg Connection (1972) and Októberi vasárnap (1979). This changed when Hungarian director István Szabó gave him a leading part in Mephisto (1981). Brandauer received the actors award in Cannes and that opened door to international films. Together with the movies Colonel Redl (1985) and Hanussen (1988), all directed by István Szabó, these three movies formed the 'German trilogy' of Brandauer. He received a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for his role of Bror Blixen in Out of Africa (1985). The first movie he directed himself was Georg Elser - Einer aus Deutschland (1989). He also played the leading role in this movie.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Adele Neuhauser was born on 17 January 1959 in Athens, Greece. She is an actress, known for Four Women and a Funeral (2005), Tatort (1970) and 15 Jahre (2023). She was previously married to Zoltan Paul.Vier Frauen und ein Todesfall- Actor
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Remote, somewhat morose and, as a result, intriguing, Viennese talent Oskar Werner was born in 1922, not far from the birthplace of "Waltz King" Johann Strauss, and christened Oskar Josef Bschließmayer. His parents divorced when he was fairly young.
While growing up, Oskar found performing in school plays helped draw out a deep yearning to act. As a teenager, Oskar was further tempted when his uncle managed to find him some un-credited roles in a couple of German and Austrian war-era films.
Oskar dropped out of high school in order to pursue acting. Not long after, he became the youngest actor ever, up until that point, to be offered membership to the Burgtheater.
His name was changed to 'Oskar Werner', and he made his official debut in 1941. His career, however, was almost immediately interrupted by World War II. An avowed pacifist and fervent loathing of the Nazi regime, Werner eventually was forced to wear the German Axis army uniform, but finagled his way into KP duty feigning incompetence. Moreover, he married Elizabeth Kallina, a half-Jewish actress, which further endangered his life. Their daughter, Elinore, was born in 1944. The young family spent much of their time in the Vienna woods, hiding from both the Russians and Germans after the city was shelled.
In post-war years, Oskar returned to the Burgtheater and widened his range of classics on the stage. Performing in such productions as "The Misanthrope", "I Remember Mama", "Julius Caesar" and "Danton's Death", he also played a diverse range of character roles and "older men" parts.
He did not make any kind of dent in films until appearing in both the German (1948) and English versions of The Angel with the Trumpet (1950) as one of the more dissolute members of a family of piano makers.
An aloof, handsome blond with wide-set, hooded eyes and quietly solemn features, Werner showed extreme promise in just a few Austrian/German films, including the role of composer Beethoven's manipulative young nephew 'Karl' in the Austrian-made Eroica (1949).
Less than 2 years later, Oskar would have a resounding hit starring in his very first English-language film, Decision Before Dawn (1951), as the German prisoner of war protagonist in the Fox feature.
Though ready for film-stardom, Werner's experience with the film studios quickly soured him on Hollywood, as it failed on its promise to develop him into a Hollywood commodity. As a result, he returned to Europe and his theatre roots, determined only to come back to films when it suitably piqued his interest.
He fulfilled that promise, perhaps to his career detriment.
Having become one of the most esteemed young actor found on Western European stages, he hit international celebrity with his definitive portrayal of "Hamlet" in 1952, a role he would return to frequently. He returned to filming a few years later; four of his features were released in 1955. He played a German captain in the film The Last Ten Days (1955) [released in the States as The Last Ten Days of Hitler]; Lieutenant Baumgarten in the historical thriller Spionage (1955) [aka: Colonel Redl]; the title role in the romanticized biopic The Life and Loves of Mozart (1955); and the student in the Max Ophüls drama Lola Montès (1955).
In 1957, he founded the Theatre Ensemble Oskar Werne, with which he performed in such productions as "Bacchus." He would also return on occasion to the Burgtheater where he played "Henry V" and "Prince Hal" in "Henry IV".
His interest in filming was not piqued again until 1962, when he became an international sensation alongside French star Jeanne Moreau, in François Truffaut's 'New Wave' cinematic masterpiece Jules and Jim (1962) as the highly romantic and intellectual "Jules". He stood firm, however, despite the rash of critical kudos, and did not make a film again until four years later, earning an Oscar nomination for his tortured shipboard romance with Simone Signoret (also nominated) in the glossy high seas drama Ship of Fools (1965). Notable for his roles of almost unbearable but restrained intensity, Werner furthered his film reputation by co-starring with Richard Burton and Claire Bloomin the now- classic Cold War spy film, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965). Truffaut blessed him as well with another sterling role, in the futuristic classic Fahrenheit 451 (1966), but the relationship between both of the men was irreparably damaged over artistic differences during filming.
The unhappy experience Werner had during filming, triggered an already burgeoning drinking problem, and marked the start of decline of his career.
Werner made only three films following the Truffaut affair, but the roles, as usual, were performed superbly. He played the suave and very-married symphony conductor who has an illicit affair with a reporter (Barbara Ferris) in the tender remake of the June Allyson/Rossano Brazzi tearjerker Interlude (1968); he appeared as an unorthodox Jesuit priest in the all-star epic The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968); and boarded another WW II-era ship as German Faye Dunaway's Jewish husband in the all-star feature, Voyage of the Damned (1976).
Sadly, his longstanding problem with drink turned Oskar into a virtual recluse. Twice divorced (his second wife being Anne Power, the adopted daughter of father, Tyrone Power) and mother, Annabella, Werner later had a son, Felix, from a 1966 liaison with American model Diane Anderson.
His later years were spent traveling internationally, committing to poetry/pacifist readings, and occasionally performing on the stage. In 1967, he presented his one-man show 'An After-Dinner Evening with Oskar Werner', which was comprised of readings from the works of Schiller, Goethe and others. In 1970, he once-again toured with 'Hamlet'. His final stage appearance was in a 1983 production of 'The Prince of Homburg'.
On the night of Monday, 22 October, 1984, Werner canceled a concert reading at a German drama club due to illness. The following day - 23 October, 1984 Werner was found dead by heart attack, at the age of 61. He was laid to rest in his adopted country of Liechtenstein. He passed away only two days after Truffaut.- At first she wanted to become a dancer. Sonja Kirchberger took classical ballet lessons for 10 years and was part of the ballet ensemble at the Vienna Opera from 1974 to 1978. Then Sonja Kirchberger left the spotlight and became a dental assistant. She also worked as a model. At the age of 21, she came to the attention of director Robert van Ackeren, who first saw Sonja Kirchberger in a furniture catalog. He also discovered her talent and hired her for the lead role in the film "The Venus Trap", which also marked her breakthrough as an actress.
After the big screen success with which she is still identified today, the Viennese took acting, speaking and singing lessons. In 1990 she played the role of Nene in the film "Sissi" directed by Christoph Böll. In the same year she filmed again with Robert von Ackeren, "The True Story of Men and Women". She starred with Hollywood star Anthony Quinn in the 1995 film "Seven Servants" directed by Daryush Shokof and also appeared in international TV productions, such as "Alerte Rouge" in France in 1991, "Padre Papa" and "Fratello Mio" in 1996 " and in 1998 in "Il fondo al Cuore".
Sonja Kirchberger's important productions also include "Peanuts - the bank pays everything" directed by Carlo Rola and "Our Man" directed by Rainer Bär, both from 1995, as well as "Dance on the Volcano" in 1996 and "Gigolo" in 1998. . She also played the dancer Lajana in Dieter Wedel's highly acclaimed multi-part film "The King of St. Pauli" (1997/98). In 1999 she impressed as Inspector Anna Göllner in "Kill me softly", in the role of a single mother in the melodrama "The Lover" and as an unscrupulous businesswoman active in the human organ trade in the science fiction thriller "The Runner" by director Michael Rowitz.
In addition to the successful film adaptation of Utta Danella's novel "The Black Mirror" from 2000 and the second Anna Göllner film adaptation, which was shown on RTL in autumn 2001, Kirchberger played in the RTL fantasy/adventure TV movie "Lenya - The Greatest Warrior of all time" the black magician Kundrie. This film was also broadcast in autumn 2001. She also appeared in a guest role in Dieter Wedel's multi-part series "The Semmeling Affair". She also appeared in a number of stage plays, such as twice as Buhlschaft in "Everyman" in the Berlin Cathedral in 1996/97. In 1995 she went on tour with "Weibsteufel" and from 1997 to 1998 as "Effi Briest". In October 2001, Sonja Kirchberger was seen again in the Berlin Cathedral for the 15th anniversary of the "Everyman Festival".
In 2003 she appeared in front of the camera for the TV productions "Your Hardest Case" and "Savoy with Chopsticks" and again on the theater stage for "Madame Melville". In April 2005, Sonja Kirchberger, Julia Stemberger and Marianne Mendt caused a stir with their reading of "Vagina Monologues" in Vienna. This was followed in September 2005 by the audio book production "Sonja Kirchberger reads Christmas stories". At the 2006 Nibelungen Festival, Kirchberger played in "Siegfried's Women" directed by Dieter Wedel.
In her personal life, Sonja Kirchberger is the mother of two children and lives in Mallorca.Die Venusfalle (1988) - Actress
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Born in Austria in 1965, Marion Mitterhammer was trained at the Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Graz. She set out her stage career at the Theatre in Baden-Baden and the Salzburg Festival; in Salzburg she worked with directors Jürgen Flimm und Thomas Langhoff. A tour production of Tschechows 'Platonov' followed in 1990, her partner was Götz George. In 1990 and 1991 Marion Mitterhammer also played at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna, where she worked under the direction of, among others, Otto Schenk und Harald Clemen. It was director Bernd Fischerauer who discovered Marion Mitterhammer for television in 1992. She starred as Lotti von Mitzko in the Austrian TV feature 'Der Salzbaron' under Fischerauer's direction, and she received the Austrian Motion Picture Award as best upcoming artist for this performance in 1994. Numerous appearances in popular German and Austrian feature films and TV movies have followed since, e.g. in 'Die Strassen von Berlin', 'Tatort', 'Wie eine Spinne im Netz', 'Schmutzige Wahrheit', 'Kommissar Rex', 'Eine Sünde zuviel', 'Julia (Die Bezirksrichterin)', 'Quintett komplett', 'Die Callboys' and 'Klinik unter Palmen'. In 1999 Marion Mitterhammer performed in two TV features: 'Das Mädchen aus der Torte', directed by Peter Weck, and 'Verbotenes Verlangen', directed by Soltan Spirandelli, where she played the main part. In 2000 she played the lead in Rosamunde Pilcher's 'Zerrissene Herzen' and 'Das Traumschiff' (both directed by Michael Steinke). In 2001 she appeared in the three-part TV feature 'Liebe, Lüge, Leidenschaft' (Regie: Marco Serafini) and in the cinema production 'Verrückt nach Paris'. Her major productions in 2002 were: 'Auch erben will gelernt sein', 'Der Mond im See', 'Held der Gladiatoren' (Jorgo Papavassiliou), and an episode of 'Bella Block'. For the cinema feature 'Böse Zellen' Marion Mitterhammer collaborated with director Barbara Albert (Nordrand). The TV drama 'Gefährliche Gefühle' (Martin Enlen) was shown on the occasion of the Munich Film Festival in the summer of 2003. In 2005 she played the lead in two films for Austrian TV ORF: 'Tor zur Hölle' (Max Gruber) and 'Heaven' (David Schalko). The same year Marion also starred in 'PingPong' (script and director Matthias Luthardt), a feature film which won an invitation to the semaine de la critique at the Cannes Film Festival 2006.
After sojourns in Paris, Naples, and Berlin, Marion Mitterhammer is currently living in Vienna.Quintett komplett (TV Movie) (1998)- Actor
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Josef Hader was born on February 14, 1962 in Waldhausen, Austria. After attending grammar school in Melk (Lower Austria) he started studying Germany and History in 1981, but actually he focused on his talent as a comedian. In 1982 he wrote his first cabaret play called "Fort Geschritten". For his second play "Der Witzableiter und das Feuer" (1985) he won the Austrian "Salzburger Stier"-Award. After aborting his study and writing "Biagn und Brechen" (1988) and "Bunter Abend" (1990) he celebrated his breakthrough with the tragicomic play "Indien", which was filmed by Paul Harather in 1993 with Josef Hader himself in the leading role. With India (1993) and his following plays "Im Keller" (1993) and "Privat" (1994) he became one of the most successful and most respected comedians in Austria. In the Austrian thriller Come Sweet Death (2000) ("Come sweet death") Josef Hader came back to the cinemas in a leading role a second time after "Indien". He also wrote the screenplay for this movie.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Georg Friedrich was born on 31 October 1966 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor, known for Great Freedom (2021), Wild Mouse (2017) and Bright Nights (2017)."AUSTRIAN 'KLAUS KINSKI´'" ;-)- Actor
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After his education at the Vienna Conservatory he got his first engagement at Stella Kadmons cabaret in 1937. Little time later he was engaged at the 'Theater an der Josefstadt', where he became one of Austria's most popular artists and where he is still acting and directing in various productions.- Actor
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Manuel Rubey was born on 26 March 1979 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor and producer, known for Falco - Verdammt, wir leben noch! (2008), Fauner Consulting (2011) and Gruber Is Leaving (2015).- Actor
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Tobias Moretti was born on 11 July 1959 in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria. He is an actor, known for Kommissar Rex (1994), A Hidden Life (2019) and The Hard Cops (2004). He has been married to Julia Moretti since 31 August 1997. They have three children.- Goldmann was born into a family of artists. The father was a painter, whilst her mother, who was likely to become a successful concert pianist, resigned to her career in favour of her family. She had piano lessons from age 4-14.
After being trained at Helmut Kraus's Drama School, Erni Mangold performed from 1946 to 1956 at Vienna's Theater in der Josefstadt. From 1955 to 1963, Gustaf Gründgens engaged her for Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, afterwards she appeared at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus under Karl Heinz Stroux. From 1972, she worked at Salzburg Mozarteum, later she taught in the Helmut Kraus's Drama School and at the Max Reinhardt Seminar, and from 1984 to 1995 she was professor at University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.
From 1958 to 1978, she was married to German actor Heinz Reincke. One of her best-known roles was the mistress of Hanussen, in the 1955 film of the same title.
Erni Mangold lives, as of 2011, in Sankt Leonhard am Hornerwald, a little town in Waldviertel, Lower Austria. In 2011 she published her memoirs, titled "Lassen Sie mich in Ruhe" which might be translated by colloquial "Get off my back!". - Actor
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Josef Meinrad was born on 21 April 1913 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was an actor and director, known for Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin (1956), Die Fledermaus (1983) and Dulcinea del Toboso (1964). He was married to Germaine Renée Clement. He died on 18 February 1996 in Großgmain bei Salzburg, Austria.- Actor
- Producer
Simon Schwarz was born on 10 January 1971 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor and producer, known for The Inheritors (1998), Crush My Heart (2018) and Everything Will Be Okay (2015).- Actor
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Maximilian Schell was the most successful German-speaking actor in English-language films since Emil Jannings, the winner of the first Best Actor Academy Award. Like Jannings, Schell won the Oscar, but unlike him, he was a dedicated anti-Nazi. Indeed, with the exception of Maurice Chevalier and Marcello Mastroianni, Schell was undoubtedly the most successful non-anglophone foreign actor in the history of American cinema.
Schell was born in Vienna, Austria on December 8, 1930, but raised in in Zurich, Switzerland. (Austria became part of Germany after the anschluss of 1938), then was occupied by the allies from 1945 until 1955, when it again joined the family of nations.) He learned his craft on the stage beginning in 1952, and made his reputation with appearances in German-language films and television. He was a fine Shakespearean actor, and had a huge success with "Richard III" (he has also appeared in as the eponymous prince in a German-language version of "Hamlet").
Schell made his Hollywood debut in 1958 in the World War II film The Young Lions (1958) quite by accident, as the producers had wanted to hire his sister Maria Schell, but lines of communication got crossed, and he was the one hired. He impressed American producers as his turn as the friend of German soldier Marlon Brando, and subsequently assayed the role of the German defense attorney in the television drama Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) on "Playhouse 90" in 1959. He was also cast in the big screen remake, for which he won the 1961 Academy Award for Best Actor, beating out co-star Spencer Tracy for the Oscar. He also won a Golden Globe and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for the role. Schell ultimately won two more Oscar nominations for acting, in 1976 for Best Actor for The Man in the Glass Booth (1975) and in 1978 as Best Supporting Actor for Julia (1977) (which also brought him the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor). He has twice been nominated for an Emmy for his TV work, and won the 1993 Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a series, mini-series or made-for-TV movie for Stalin (1992).
Schell has also has directed films, and his 1974 film The Pedestrian (1973) ("The Pedestrian"), which Schell wrote, produced, directed, and starred in, was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and won the Golden Globe in the same category. His documentary about Marlene Dietrich, Marlene (1984), was widely hailed as a masterpiece of the non-fiction genre and garnered its producers a Best Documentary Oscar nomination in 1985. In 2002, Schell released Meine Schwester Maria (2002) (My Sister Maria), a documentary about the career of and his relationship with Maria Schell. Since the 1990s, Schell has appeared in many German language made-for-TV films, such as the 2003 film Alles Glück dieser Erde (2003) (All the Luck in the World) and in the mini-series The Hard Cops (2004), which was based on Henning Mankell's novel. He has also continued to appear on stage, appearing in dual roles in the 2000 Broadway production of the stage version of "Judgment at Nuremberg", and most recently in Robert Altman's London production of Arthur Miller's play "Resurrection Blues" in 2006. He died on 31st of January 2014, aged 83, in Innsbruck, Austria.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Cornelius Obonya was born on 29 March 1969 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor, known for Jedermann (2013), Zodiak - Der Horoskop-Mörder (2007) and Maria Theresa (2017). He has been married to Carolin Pienkos since 2005. They have one child.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Hedy Lamarr, the woman many critics and fans alike regard as the most beautiful ever to appear in films, was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria. She was the daughter of Gertrud (Lichtwitz), from Budapest, and Emil Kiesler, a banker from Lemberg (now known as Lviv). Her parents were both from Jewish families. Hedwig had a calm childhood, but it was cinema that fascinated her. By the time she was a teenager, she decided to drop out of school and seek fame as an actress, and was a student of theater director Max Reinhardt in Berlin. Her first role was a bit part in the German film Geld auf der Straße (1930) (aka "Money on the Street") in 1930. She was attractive and talented enough to be in three more German productions in 1931, but it would be her fifth film that catapulted her to worldwide fame. In 1932 she appeared in a Czech film called Ekstase (US title: "Ecstasy") and had made the gutsy move to appear nude. It's the story of a young girl who is married to a gentleman much older than she, but she winds up falling in love with a young soldier. The film's nude scenes created a sensation all over the world. The scenes, very tame by today's standards, caused the film to be banned by the U.S. government at the time.
Hedy soon married Fritz Mandl, a munitions manufacturer and a prominent Austrofascist. He attempted to buy up all the prints of "Ecstasy" he could lay his hands on (Italy's dictator, Benito Mussolini, had a copy but refused to sell it to Mandl), but to no avail (there are prints floating around the world today). The notoriety of the film brought Hollywood to her door. She was brought to the attention of MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer, who signed her to a contract (a notorious prude when it came to his studio's films, Mayer signed her against his better judgment, but the money he knew her notoriety would bring in to the studio overrode any moral concerns he may have had). However, he insisted she change her name and make good, wholesome films.
Hedy starred in a series of exotic adventure epics. She made her American film debut as Gaby in Algiers (1938). This was followed a year later by Lady of the Tropics (1939). In 1942, she played the plum role of Tondelayo in the classic White Cargo (1942). After World War II, her career began to decline, and MGM decided it would be in the interest of all concerned if her contract were not renewed. Unfortunately for Hedy, she turned down the leads in both Gaslight (1940) and Casablanca (1942), both of which would have cemented her standing in the minds of the American public. In 1949, she starred as Delilah opposite Victor Mature's Samson in Cecil B. DeMille's epic Samson and Delilah (1949). This proved to be Paramount Pictures' then most profitable movie to date, bringing in $12 million in rental from theaters. The film's success led to more parts, but it was not enough to ease her financial crunch. She made only six more films between 1949 and 1957, the last being The Female Animal (1958).
Hedy retired to Florida. She died there, in the city of Casselberry, on January 19, 2000.- Actor
- Composer
Johannes Thanheiser was born on 4 December 1925 in Vienna, Austria. He was an actor and composer, known for Revanche (2008), Braunschlag (2012) and North Face (2008). He was married to Mueh. He died on 17 June 2014 in St. Pölten, Lower Austria, Austria.- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
To paraphrase the Beatles, one could say that, like Michelle and Ma Belle, Peter Alexander and Music are words that go together well, for the Austrian entertainer (musician, singer and actor) was associated with music from cradle to tomb. Born in Vienna in 1926, the son of a banker and his wife, Peter Alexander Neumayer (his full name) entered the world of music courtesy of his grandfather who owned a music store in Pilsen. The boy was only five when he joined the Vienna Boys' Choir. And as Peter Alexander had another passion, acting, it is no wonder that he became a... singing actor ! But all in due time: In his early twenties, the young man first started studying medicine. Naturally he soon realized he was on the wrong track and changed for drama studies at the Reinhard-Seminar in Vienna. After graduating he appeared in several plays and even played in a cabaret. At the same period, Peter Alexander's love for music resurfaced and he recorded his first songs in 1951. Success was on the cards as several of his songs became big hits. He even won the German Song Contest in Munich in 1952. From then on, Peter Alexander, who had played in the theater, but never in films, started working for the big screen. Actually, his first appearances were brief and he was always billed as a singer, a dancer, a musician or himself. But his being a star of song gradually implied a star actor status. As a matter of fact, Peter Alexander soon got top-billed, and in dozens of light comedies, which attracted millions of German-speaking spectators. In such films as Ich bin kein Casanova (1959), Die Abenteuer des Grafen Bobby (1961) and nearly all the others, Alexander was not what can be called a character actor embodying a a different role in each of those films, but he was invariably the charming, well-bred, joyful man, fond of "Festlicher Stimmung" (festive mood) and Lust (good laughs), often named Peter, in short, close to the kind of guy he was in real life. Of course, all this had nothing much to do with art and if Peter Alexander's name is still remembered fondly by the older generation in Austria and Germany, it must be recognized that he has not left any imprint in film history. Peter Alexander was synonymous with a joyful time meant for immediate consumption and that was that. An exception though: 'Wolfgang Liebeneiner' qv)'s Schweik's Years of Indiscretion (1964), in which for once he did not play a nice guy close to who he was, but 'Jaroslav Hasek''s well-known "hero", the prototype of the dumb soldier who drives his superiors crazy. Peter Alexander 's portrayal of this archetypal character was just excellent and it makes you regret that the comedian was not offered more demanding roles during the two decades when he was at the top of his career. After 1972, as commercial German cinema was spiraling down into the abyss, Peter Alexander left his film career to devote himself to TV shows and, of course, to songs, songs, songs . He died in early 2011 at the age of 84. History does not record whether.. he sang his last words!- Actor
- Writer
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Nicholas Ofczarek was born on 30 May 1971 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor and writer, known for Pagan Peak (2018), Wir Staatskünstler (2011) and Tatort (1970). He is married to Tamara Metelka. They have one child.- Gerhard Greiner was born on 6 October 1971 in Salzburg, Austria. He is an actor, known for Four Women and a Funeral (2005), North Face (2008) and Tatort (1970). He is married to Sybille. They have two children.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Brigitte Kren was born on 27 January 1954 in Graz, Austria. She is an actress, known for The Debt (2010), Blood Glacier (2013) and Rammbock: Berlin Undead (2010).- Raimund Wallisch was born on 5 March 1969. He is an actor, known for Four Women and a Funeral (2005), Die Steintaler ...von wegen Homo sapiens (2014) and Braunschlag (2012).
- Actor
- Writer
- Costume Designer
Michael Ostrowski was born to two school teachers on January 3, 1973 in Leoben, Austria as Michael Stockinger. During the time he studied English/American Studies and French at the University Graz he started to act in a theater group and instead of writing his dissertation he wrote the script for "Nacktschnecken". His first acting role in a feature film was in Nogo (2002), but his breakthrough was the already mentioned Slugs (2004) which was directed by Michael Glawogger and with Ostrowski in a main role. Further milestones were: Slumming (2006), Contact High (2009) (both also directed by Glawogger) and The Unintentional Kidnapping of Mrs. Elfriede Ott (2010).- Georges Kern was born in 1950 in Salzburg, Austria. He is an actor, known for Schindler's List (1993), Four Women and a Funeral (2005) and Stockinger (1996).
- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Maria Schell studied in a religious institution in Colmar (Haut-Rhin, France). She received a dramatic training in Zurich, Switzerland. To pay her studies, she was a secretary there. Besides being a film star; Maria appeared in plays in Zurich, Basel, in Vienna (Josefstad Theater), Berlin, Munich (Kammerspiel Theater), at the Salzburg Festival and went on provincial tours from 1963. Among the plays she performed there were such classics as William Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Faust" and such modern classics as "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw.- Actor
- Writer
Herbert Fux was born on 25 March 1927 in Hallein, Salzburg, Austria. He was an actor and writer, known for The Three Musketeers (1993), Stockinger (1996) and Der Bergdoktor (1992). He was married to Edith Fux. He died on 13 March 2007 in Zurich, Switzerland.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Michael Schottenberg was born on 10 July 1952 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor and director, known for Caracas (1989), Averills Ankommen (1992) and The Piano Teacher (2001). He is married to Maria Bill. They have one child.- Actor
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- Soundtrack
Hans Moser, whose real name is Jean Juliet, was trained in theater by the court actor Josef Moser. He later took his last name and combined it with the German translation of his first name. In 1897 he had his first engagement in Bohemia. He later took part in a traveling theater that took him through the country. He settled in Josefstadt in 1903 and was hired at the local theater. Four years later he was back on tour with the theater through Austro-Hungarian territory. Moser appeared in revues, cabarets and theaters in Vienna in 1910. He took part in the First World War. Afterwards he worked again as a member of a cabaret. Moser began his film work in 1922.
Three years later he returned to Josefstadt. There he played theater under Max Reinhardt. He favored roles in literary works by Johann Nepomuk, Odön von Horvath and Arthur Schnitzler. He later made a career in television. He particularly shone in comic roles as a small, often odd, studious man with his mumbles and erratic movements, which made him known to a larger audience. His popularity in these comic roles made him famous even after death. In expert circles, Hans Moser is considered one of the most important film comedians. In his roles he often portrayed lower-class men, such as in the melodrama "Masquerade" from 1934, in which he played a gardener. In the Schubert film "Leise beg my songs" from 1934, Moser played a pawnbroker. He could be seen as a waiter, a servant or a maid for everything as well as in many other roles.
With his often quirky, strange manner and mumbling, he became one of the most popular German-speaking film actors of the 1950s. His film partners included Heinz Rühmann and Theo Lingen. In the Erich Neuberg production of "The Stories from the Vienna Woods" from 1964, he was seen in one of his most successful adult roles. This also included the play "The Farmer as a Millionaire" by Ferdinand Reimund, which was staged by Rudolf Steinböck for the Salzburg Festival. He previously appeared alongside Romy Schneider as her grandfather in the film "The Beautiful Liar" by Axel von Ambesser. His other films include "The City without Jews" (1924), "Burgtheater" (1936), "The Thirteen Chairs" (1938), "The Disgust" (1939), "Vienna Stories" (1940) , "Schrammeln" (1943), "Der Hofrat Geiger" (1947), "Der Herr Chancellor" (1948), "Hello Serviceman" (1951) or "Die Fledermaus" (1962).
Hans Moser died on June 19, 1964 in Vienna.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Gregor Bloéb was born on 3 January 1968 in Innsbruck, Austria. He is an actor, known for Arme Millionäre (2005), Chalet Girl (2011) and Im weißen Rössl - Wehe Du singst! (2013). He has been married to Nina Proll since 5 July 2008. They have two children.- Brigitte Jaufenthaler was born on 6 March 1961 in Innsbruck, Austria. She is an actress, known for Four Women and a Funeral (2005), Die Wolke (2006) and Tatort (1970).
- Miriam Stein was born on 10 May 1988 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Four Women and a Funeral (2005), Young Goethe in Love (2010) and Generation War (2013).
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Sabrina Reiter was born on 5 August 1983 in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria. She is an actress and director, known for In 3 Tagen bist du tot (2006), Unsere Zeit wird kommen (2017) and In 3 Tagen bist du tot 2 (2008).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Johannes Krisch was born in 1966 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor, known for Revanche (2008), A Cure for Wellness (2016) and In the Fade (2017).- Actress
- Additional Crew
Susi Stach was born in 1961 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Rush (2013), Woman in Gold (2015) and Murer: Anatomy of a Trial (2018). She is married to Karl Fischer. They have two children.- Gerhard Liebmann was born on 20 April 1970 in Graz, Styria, Austria. He is an actor, known for M - A City Hunts a Murderer (2019), Murer: Anatomy of a Trial (2018) and Wenn du wüsstest, wie schön es hier ist (2015).
- Markus Linder is known for Four Women and a Funeral (2005), Bike Stories Vorarlberg (2021) and Aus die Maus (2021).
- Actor
- Music Department
Johnny Weissmuller was born as Peter Johann Weißmüller in Freidorf, today a district of the city of Timisoara in Romania, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Weissmuller would later claim to have been born in Windber, Pennsylvania, probably to ensure his eligibility to compete as part of the US Olympic team. Weissmüller was one of two boys born to Petrus Weissmuller, a miner, and his wife Elisabeth Kersch, who were both Banat Swabians, an ethnic German population in Southeast Europe. A sickly child, he took up swimming on the advice of a doctor. He grew to be a 6' 3", 190-pound champion athlete - undefeated winner of five Olympic gold medals, 67 world and 52 national titles, holder of every freestyle record from 100 yards to the half-mile. In his first picture, Glorifying the American Girl (1929), he appeared as an Adonis clad only in a fig leaf. After great success with a jungle movie, MGM head Louis B. Mayer, via Irving Thalberg, optioned two of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan stories. Cyril Hume, working on the adaptation of Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), noticed Weissmuller swimming in the pool at his hotel and suggested him for the part of Tarzan. Weissmuller was under contract to BVD to model underwear and swimsuits; MGM got him released by agreeing to pose many of its female stars in BVD swimsuits. The studio billed him as "the only man in Hollywood who's natural in the flesh and can act without clothes". The film was an immediate box-office and critical hit. Seeing that he was wildly popular with girls, the studio told him to divorce his wife and paid her $10,000 to agree to it. After 1942, however, MGM had used up its options; it dropped the Tarzan series and Weissmuller, too. He then moved to RKO and made six more Tarzans. After that he made 13 Jungle Jim (1948) programmers for Columbia. He retired from movies to run a private business in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.- Gabriela Schmoll was born in 1950 in Neunkirchen, Austria. She is an actress, known for Four Women and a Funeral (2005), Hinterland (2021) and Tatort (1970).
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- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Herbert Lom was born on September 11, 1917 as Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru into an aristocratic family living in genteel poverty. His incredibly long surnames led him to select the shortest surname he could find extant ("Lom") and adopt it as his own, professionally. He made his film debut in the Czech film Woman Below the Cross (1937) and played supporting and, occasionally, lead roles. His career picked up in the 1940s and he played, among other roles, Napoleon Bonaparte in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) and in War and Peace (1956). In a rare starring role, Lom played twin trapeze artists in Dual Alibi (1947). He continued into the 1950s with roles opposite Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in The Ladykillers (1955), and Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon and Rita Hayworth in Fire Down Below (1957). His career really took off in the 1960s and he got the title role in Hammer Films' production of The Phantom of the Opera (1962). He also played "Captain Nemo" in Mysterious Island (1961) and landed supporting parts in El Cid (1961) and an especially showy role in Spartacus (1960) as a pirate chieftain contracted to transport Spartacus' army away from Italy.
The 1960s was also the decade in which Lom secured the role for which he will always be remembered: Clouseau/Peter Sellers' long-suffering boss, Commissioner Charles Dreyfus, in the "Pink Panther" films, in which he pulled off the not-inconsiderable feat of stealing almost every scene he and Sellers were in--a real accomplishment, considering what a veteran scene-stealer Sellers was. However, Lom did not concentrate solely on feature films. He became a familiar face to British television viewers when he starred as Dr. Roger Corder in The Human Jungle (1963). He moved into horror films in the 1970s, with parts in Asylum (1972) and And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973). He played Prof. Abraham Van Helsing opposite Christopher Lee in Count Dracula (1970), matching wits against the sinister vampire himself.
Lom appeared as one of the victims in Ten Little Indians (1974), the drunken Dr. Edward Armstrong. His career continued into the 1980s, a standout role being that of Christopher Walken's sympathetic doctor in The Dead Zone (1983). He also played opposite Walter Matthau in Hopscotch (1980) and returned to the murder mystery Ten Little Indians (1989), this time playing The General. Lom has been taking it easy since then, though he returned to his familiar role of Dreyfus in Son of the Pink Panther (1993). He was always a reliable and eminently watchable actor, and unfortunately did not receive the stardom he should have.
Herbert Lom died in his sleep at age 95 on September 27, 2012, in London, England.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Joseph Egger was born on 22 February 1889 in Donawitz, Styria, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was an actor, known for A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and Das alte Försterhaus (1956). He was married to Erna. He died on 29 August 1966 in Gablitz, Lower Austria, Austria.- Ingrid Burkhard was born on 7 June 1931 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Toni Erdmann (2016), The Eremites (2016) and Echte Wiener - Die Sackbauer-Saga (2008). She was previously married to Hannes Siegl.
- Götz Kauffmann was born on 15 January 1949 in Vienna, Austria. He was an actor, known for Ein echter Wiener geht nicht unter (1975), Mozart und Meisel (1987) and Kaisermühlen Blues (1992). He died on 26 January 2010 in Vienna, Austria.
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- Producer
- Actor
Alfred Dorfer is an Austrian actor, stage comedian and script writer. He was studying "Theatre studies" at the University of Vienna when he met the actor Herwig Seeböck, who started to train him in acting. Dorfer discontinued his academic studies for 25 years, but made his Master in 2007, followed by a PhD-title some years later. During his absence at University he started his successful career as a stage comedian and film actor. The first milestone in this career was as a part of the comedian group "Schlabarett", which played two successful live show programs before they split. During that time he met Roland Düringer, who became a longtime partner in many forthcoming projects. One of this cooperation projects was the movie "Mother's Day (1994)". In 1993 he played his first solo program as a stage comedian, which got recognition not just in Austria but also In Germany, and he played one of the main roles in the successful movie "India (1993)", which featured also his friend and comedian colleague Josef Hader. On the smaller screen he is most famous for "Dorfers Donnerstalk (2004)" and "MA 2412 (1998)".- Actor
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- Producer
Roland Düringers grew up in Vienna, Austria, where his father was a cloakroom attendant at the famous Viennese Burgtheater. Düringer, who was at that time pupil of a "Secondary technical college" met (because of father occupation) the actor Herwig Seeböck, who invited him to his theatre workshops and also to be part of his theatre ensemble. The first milestone in his career was with the comedy group "Schlabarett", where he also met Alfred Dorfer, who got a longtime partner in many upcoming projects. The group played two extraordinary successful programs ("Atompilz von links (1985)" and "Kultur gegen alle (1986)") in front of a live audience. Afterwards the group split and Düringer started his first solo program ("Hinterholzacht - 20 Jahre Abrechnung (1994)" as a stage comedian. In the same year he played a lot of different roles in the Austrian cult comedy film "Mother's Day (1994)". 1992 he played his first bigger role in the TV series "Kaisermühlen Blues (1992)", which is still in production and still on air in Austrian television. Maybe even more famous is the TV series "MA 2412 (1998)" in which he played a magistrate at the side of his friend Alfred Dorfer. Düringer reached one of his fever pitches with the feature film "Hinterholz 8 (1998)", which was the second most successful movie in Austrian cinemas that year and which was just beaten by "Titanic (1997)". Düringer used to be a motor sports and car enthusiast, before he concentrated himself on a more sustainable mode of life. 2016 he formed his own Austrian political party.- Actress
- Writer
Elisabeth Lanz was born on 12 June 1971 in Graz, Austria. She is an actress and writer, known for In aller Freundschaft (1998), The Leaving (2003) and Tierärztin Dr. Mertens (2006). She has been married to Jan Batu-Lanz since 2008. They have one child.- Maria Hofstätter was born on 30 March 1964 in Linz, Austria. She is an actress, known for Paradise: Faith (2012), Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005) and Fox in a Hole (2020).
- Actor
- Director
Kurt Weinzierl was born on 15 April 1931 in Innsbruck, Austria. He was an actor and director, known for Kottan ermittelt (1976), Kein Pardon (1993) and Die Einsteiger (1985). He was married to Veronika Faber and Susanne Weinzierl. He died on 10 October 2008 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Paul Hörbiger was born on 29 April 1894 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. He was an actor and producer, known for The Third Man (1949), Three Girls Around Schubert (1936) and The Gypsy Baron (1954). He was married to Josefa Gettke. He died on 5 March 1981 in Vienna, Austria.- Actress
- Soundtrack
- Franz Buchrieser was born on 26 December 1937 in Graz, Austria. He is an actor, known for Kill Cruise (1990), Murer: Anatomy of a Trial (2018) and Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Waltraut Haas (also Waltraud Haas und Waltraute Haas-Strahl) was born in Wien (Vienna) in 1927. She was the daughter of teacher Walther Haas and his wife Stefanie Klager. When she was five, her father died and she grew up at Schloss Schönbrunn, where her mother was a restaurateur. After the war she took acting classes from actress Julia Janssen and studied music at the Konservatorium für darstellende Kunst in Vienna. In 1946, Haas made her stage debut in the Landestheater Linz, and was discovered by Willi Forst for her first film, the Heimat comedy Der Hofrat Geiger/Counsellor Geiger (1947, Hans Wolff) starring Paul Hörbiger and Hans Moser. She played Mariandl Mühlhube, the illegitimate daughter of a woman (Maria Andergast) who runs an inn in the picturesque Wachau valley and the role made her famous. After this success, Haas continued to combine theater and film. From 1948 on she played at the Renaissance Theatre and other Vienna venues. Later she also played in Munich and Berlin. In the cinema she appeared in comedies and operettas, such as Es liegt was in der Luft/There's something in the air (1950, E.W. Emo) with Lucie Englisch, Hallo Dienstmann/Hello Dienstmann (1952, Franz Antel) with Paul Hörbiger, and the fantasy 1. April 2000/April 1, 2000 (1952, Wolfgang Liebeneiner) starring Hilde Krahl. She appeared opposite Heinz Rühmann and Oliver Grimm in the popular dramatic comedy Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne/If the Father and the Son (1955, Hans Quest) and supported ski champion Toni Sailer in Der schwarze Blitz/The Black Stallion (1958, Hans Grimm).
In 1961, Waltraut Haas played Mariandl's single mother in a remake of Der Hofrat Geiger/Counsellor Geiger entitled Mariandl (1961, Werner Jacobs) featuring Conny Froboess. She also played this role in the sequel Mariandls Heimkehr/Mariandl's Homecoming (1962, Werner Jacobs). Another well-known role was that of Josepha Vogelhuber in the remake of Im weißen Rößl/The White Horse Inn (1960, Werner Jacobs) opposite Peter Alexander. Later films included musical comedies like Der 42. Himmel/The 42nd Heaven (1963, Kurt Früh) and Im singenden Rössel am Königssee/In the Singing Knight at Königssee (1963, Franz Antel) with Peter Weck. From 1966 until his death in 2011, Waltraut Haas was married to actor and director Erwin Strahl, with whom she frequently performed both on the stage and in films. Their actual marriage was filmed for the film Happy End am Wolfgangsee/Happy-End in St. Gilgen (1966, Franz Antel) with Hans-Jürgen Bäumler. In the comedy Keine Angst Liebling, ich pass schon auf!/Don't Worry Darling, I'll watch out! (1970, Erwin Strahl), which Strahl both wrote and directed she played five roles. Since then, she has appeared regularly on television and the stage. In 1987 she was honored with the Ehrenmedaille der Stadt Wien in Gold (Gold medal of Vienna) and in 2003 with the Österreichischen Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst (Austrian Medal for Science and the Arts). Since 1990, Haas has a new career as the author of fairytale books, and in 2007 she also published her autobiography, Waltraut Haas - die Biografie. Waltraut Haas lives in Hietzing, Vienna, and is acting on stage. Her son Marcus Strahl (1968) is also an actor and director.- Actor
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Thomas Stipsits was born on 2 August 1983 in Leoben, Styria, Austria. He is an actor and writer, known for Love Machine 2 (2022), Love Machine (2019) and Braunschlag (2012). He is married to Katharina Straßer. They have one child.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Elke Winkens was born on 25 March 1970 in Heinsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. She is an actress, known for Kommissar Rex (1994), Arschkalt (2011) and Die kranken Schwestern (1995).Although she is actually from Germany- Actress
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Ellen Umlauf was born on 17 August 1925 in Vienna, Austria. She was an actress and director, known for Nabuli (1988), Isar 12 (1961) and Salome (1971). She was married to Albert Rueprecht. She died on 19 February 2000 in Rotorua, New Zealand.- Nora began acting in television and film while she was a student at the Berlin Arts University, where she graduated in 2007. She won the Bunte Magazine "New Faces" award for best young German actress in 2009, and received the Max Ophüls Prize for "Most Promising Actress" in January 2010. Nora is a descendant of the famous Martha Elizabeth, Baroness Von Waldstätten, who was Mozart's patroness and protector. The Baroness facilitated Mozart's wedding to his beloved Constanza over his father Leopold's objections, and later became a character in the Austrian musical "Mozart" by Michael Kunze.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Hilde Dalik was born on 13 June 1978 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Sargnagel - Der Film (2021), Tatort (1970) and Vorstadtweiber (2015).- Sissy Höfferer was born on 23 April 1955 in Klagenfurt, Austria. She is an actress, known for Die Verbrechen des Professor Capellari (1998), Via Mala (1985) and Cologne P.D. (2003). She was previously married to Jacques Breuer.
- Brigitte Karner was born on 12 December 1957 in Völkermarkt, Carinthia, Austria. She is an actress, known for Laurin (1989), Game, Set, and Match (1988) and HeliCops - Einsatz über Berlin (1998). She has been married to Peter Simonischek since 26 August 1989. They have two children.
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Tall, lean, austere-looking Austrian character actor, whose chiselled features appeared on screen in small parts from 1945. Friedrich was the younger brother of renowned Viennese stage and film actor and director Leopold von Ledebur, both descended from a distinguished aristocratic family (their forebears included several high-ranking luminaries among the clergy, as well as political and military leaders). As a cavalry officer in an Ulan (Light Cavalry) Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army, he saw action during the First World War. Friedrich was a superb rider, a skill which later stood him in good stead as a trainer of horses for the film industry. After the war, having gained an engineering diploma (which he rarely, if ever, put to use), he spent the next two decades travelling the world, working all manner of odd jobs from gold mining to deep sea diving, to riding and winning prize money at rodeos. Having finally settled down in the United States in 1939, he eventually anglicised his name to 'Frederick'.
A close friendship with a fellow adventurer, the director John Huston, paved the way for more substantial character roles in Hollywood. The first and best of these was as the laconic cannibal Queeqeg, chief harpooneer on the ship "Pequod" in Huston's Moby Dick (1956). This is unquestionably the role for which he is best remembered. Friedrich came to specialise in eccentric character roles, ranging from stoic Indian chiefs to Vikings, from German Field Marshals to imposing Pirate Captains and Spanish aristocrats. Latterly white-maned, he popped up in a wide variety of genres, from historical epics, to spy thrillers and European westerns, even as one of the monastic guardians of the devil in the "The Howling Man" episode of The Twilight Zone (1959).
The actor was first married to English actress, poet and noted wit Iris Tree. His second wife (from 1955) was the Countess Alice Hoyos, who was descended from a titled Spanish dynasty, latterly resident in Austria.- Alex Kristan was born on 24 April 1972 in Mödling, Austria. He is an actor, known for Die Kabarett-WG: Das ORF1-Sonderprogramm (2020), Der weiße Kobold (2022) and Kabarettgipfel (2017).THE 'IMITATOR' of HEINZ PRÜLLER, NIKI LAUDA, HANS KRANKL, TONI POLSTER, ALEXANDER WURZ, HERBERT PROHASKA, FRENKIE SCHINKELS, ANDI HERZOG, FRANK STRONACH,...
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Herwig Seeböck was born on 7 December 1939 in Vienna, Austria. He was an actor and writer, known for Hiob (1978), Strauss Dynasty (1991) and Jesus von Ottakring (1976). He was married to Erika Mottl. He died on 1 March 2011 in Vienna, Austria.- Actor
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John Banner, who achieved television immortality for his portrayal of the Luftwaffe POW camp guard Sergeant Schultz in the TV series Hogan's Heroes (1965), was born on Tuesday, January 28th, 1910 in Vienna., which in 1938 was then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The 28-year-old Banner, who was Jewish, was forced to flee from his homeland to avoid being captured after the Anschluss (union) between Nazi Germany and Austria. This occurred while he was engaged in a tour of Switzerland with an acting company. Unable to return to Austria due to Hitler's anti-Semitic policies of persecution, Banner emigrated to the United States of America as a political refugee.
Soon after reaching the United States, John Banner, who knew nothing of the English language, was hired to be a Master of Ceremonies to a musical revue. He had to learn his lines phonetically. The total immersion paid off in that he rapidly picked up English. His accent and "Nordic" look ironically meant that Banner was typecast in several films as Nazis during the 1940s. He survived the war portraying the same villains who were murdering every member of his family, who had been left behind in Austria. All of them perished in concentration camps; his biological parents and all of his siblings perished.
At the time of his emigration to the US, John Banner weighed a trim 180 pounds. He eventually added another 100 pounds to become the chubby character actor America would come to know and love in regular appearances in movies and on TV. He specialized in foreign-official types, such the his role as Soviet Ambassador in Fred MacMurray's comedy movie, Kisses for My President (1964).
In 1965, Bing Crosby Productions cast Banner as "Sergeant Schultz", in the wartime comedy television sitcom, Hogan's Heroes (1965). The show debuted on Friday evening, September 17th, 1965, on CBS channels. The series was a take-off on Billy Wilder's Stalag 17 (1953), although with much more humor and less drama. The bumbling Dutch uncle who Banner portrayed was a continent apart from the wickedly evil Nazis he had portrayed during World War II. Spectacularly inept as a guard of Allied prisoners of war, Sergeant Schultz was prone to ignoring the irregularities that transpired in the fictional Stalag 13, bellowing firmly, "I know nothing! I see nothing! Nothing!!!"
John Banner enjoyed the role but demurred when accused of portraying a "cuddly" Nazi. He told TV Guide, "I see Schultz as the representative of some kind of goodness in every generation."
Banner and Werner Klemperer (who portrayed the equally comical and bumbling "Colonel Klink", and who, like Banner, was a Jewish refugee who had escaped Hitler's reach), co-starred with the series' leading actor, Bob Crane, in The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (1968), a bizarre movie "comedy" about a defecting East German athlete. The picture bombed and the trio went back to turning out the highly popular series without losing too much pride or momentum.
After the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes (1965) in 1971, Banner was signed for another TV show set in the past. The Chicago Teddy Bears (1971), which was set during the Prohibition era. Banner's "Uncle Latzi" was a close cousin of Schultz, but lightning did not strike twice and the series was canceled after only 13 episodes in a three month season.
John Banner died on his 63rd birthday, Sunday, January 28th, 1973, in his hometown and country of Vienna, Austria. His 63 year (including 16 Leap Days) lifespan consisted of 23,011 total days, equaling 3,287 weeks and 2 days.- Born in Austria in 1883, Ludwig Stossel was an established theater presence (from age 17) in both his homeland and in Germany for decades, performing at one time or another for both Max Reinhardt and Otto Preminger. He made a handful of German silents beginning in 1926 and had moved with ease into sound pictures.
The Nazi invasion of Austria forced Stossel to emigrate to the United Kingdom in 1938. He rekindled his film career there but moved to America within a couple years. Many German and Austrian actors left their countries because of the Nazi takeover and emigrated to the US, winding up in Hollywood where they formed a sort of "colony", often being used in war-themed dramas to play either refugees or Nazi officers and officials. Stossel found a plethora of work that made use of his thick accent and benevolent countenance, his balding characters often accompanied by a monocle and handlebar mustache. He provided secondary but memorable foreign characters in such WWII classics as Casablanca (1942), Kings Row (1942), and the Lou Gehrig biopic The Pride of the Yankees (1942) as Gehrig's (Gary Cooper) father.
Firmly established in Hollywood, the amiable Stossel continued playing sweet and wise old souls throughout the remainder of his career. Particularly outstanding was his role as Albert Einstein in The Beginning or the End (1947). He also worked on TV in the 1950s and is perhaps best remembered for his long series of commercials for Italian Swiss Colony wine in which he played "that little old winemaker, me!" in Swiss costume. Married to actress Eleanore Stossel, he died in 1973 at age 89 in Beverly Hills, California. - Hary Prinz was born in 1965 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor, known for Enfant Terrible (2020), Murder by the Lake (2014) and Cenerentola (2011).
- Branko Samarovski was born on 9 July 1939 in Zemun, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He is an actor, known for The White Ribbon (2009), Fog in August (2016) and Braunschlag (2012).
- Anton Pointecker was born on 16 April 1938 in Wildenau, Aspach, Upper Austria, Austria. He was an actor, known for Schloßhotel Orth (1996), Dahoam is Dahoam (2007) and Die Leute von St. Benedikt (1992). He died on 7 July 2008 in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
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Friedrich von Thun was born on 30 June 1942 in Kwassitz, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia [now Kvasice, Moravia, Czech Republic]. He is an actor and director, known for Schindler's List (1993), Die Verbrechen des Professor Capellari (1998) and Cold Hell (2017). He was previously married to Gabriele (Gaby) Schniewind and Gabriele (Yella) Bleyler.- Ludwig Hirsch was born on 28 February 1946 in Weinberg, Styria, Austria. He was an actor, known for Die Abenteuer des braven Soldaten Schwejk (1972), Initiation (2009) and Hiob (1978). He was married to Cornelia Köndgen. He died on 24 November 2011 in Vienna, Austria.
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Patricia Aulitzky was born on 7 July 1979 in Salzburg, Austria. She is an actress, known for Falco - Verdammt, wir leben noch! (2008), Trakehnerblut (2017) and Lena Lorenz (2015).- Barbara Lanz was born on 31 July 1983 in Wels, Austria. She is an actress, known for SOKO Kitzbühel (2001), Der Ferienarzt (2004) and Rosamunde Pilcher (1993).
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Fritz Karl (born December 21, 1967) is an Austrian film, television and stage actor born in Gmunden, Upper Austria. He is one of the busiest Austrian actors. Karl lives in both Munich and Vienna with his longtime companion Elena Uhlig. The two of them have three children, born in 2007, 2010 and 2015. He has three more children from a previous relationship.- Ernst Konarek was born on 29 June 1945 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor, known for Oben ohne (2007), Kottan ermittelt (1976) and Die Neue - Eine Frau mit Kaliber (1998).
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Karlheinz Hackl was born on 16 May 1949 in Vienna, Austria. He was an actor and director, known for Sophie's Choice (1982), Tatort (1970) and Radetzkymarsch (1994). He was married to Maria Köstlinger and Brigitta Furgler. He died on 1 June 2014 in Vienna, Austria.- Simon Hatzl was born on 2 July 1973 in Eibiswald, Austria. He is an actor, known for Wenn du wüsstest, wie schön es hier ist (2015), The Unintentional Kidnapping of Mrs. Elfriede Ott (2010) and Die Toten von Salzburg - Der Tote vom Untersberg (2016).
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Thomas Mraz was born on 11 October 1975 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor and director, known for Kaiserschmarrndrama (2021), Beckenrand Sheriff (2021) and Side Effects & Risks (2021).- Actress
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Statuesque 5'7" blonde beauty Sybil Danning reigns supreme as one of the sexiest, most dynamic, and commanding actresses to achieve cult B-movie queen status. Born in Austria as daughter of US Army major and Austrian mother she grew up on army bases in New Jersey, Maryland and Sacramento, CA.. Sybil started as a model then film debut as the beautiful tragic Lorelei, German legend who threw herself into the Rhine River in despair over a faithless lover then transformed into a siren who lured fishermen to destruction. As Nibelungen princess Kriemhild, she turns she-devil revenges death of her love Siegfried by her brutal Burgundian King brothers. Sybil studied 3 years with noted German drama coach Anne-Marie Hanschke, multiple mainstream European and American movies followed. When offered lead in prestigious Francis Durbridge play for Germany, Switzerland, and Austria; she chose Hollywood instead. Sybil's (Raid on Entebbe) Oscar nominated Best Foreign Film OPERATION THUNDER BOLT, aka MIVTSA JONATAN with Klaus kinski was her calling card. It was her impressive performance as vivacious Valkyrie warrior "St Exmin" for which she won multiple awards, science-fiction cult movie BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS that introduced Sybil to young and old worldwide. A studio contracted Sybil to produce an action figure based on St Exmin with street date April 2021. Male & female fans love her rare beauty, sexiness, & toughness as tough prison inmate, formidable swanky swordfighter, wicked werewolf queen, cunning femme fatale English professor, Queen of the Moon, wicked warden, alien queen, loyal LAPD officer, brave bounty hunter, etc. Sybil has 2 comics, RUGER(TM) currently in discussion for an action TV series. Away for a while due to personal reasons, Tarantino and Rob Zombie brought her back in GRINDHOUSE as Nazi Villain and HALLOWEEN as nasty nurse! Sybil's back in action!- Actress
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Austrian leading lady Nadja Tiller reached the height of her popularity during the 1950s and 60s. She was the daughter of stage actor and director Anton Tiller and his wife, the opera singer Erika Körner (1902-1979). It seemed that Nadja's career had been marked out for her early on: she was to take over a hairdressing establishment run by her grandparents in Danzig (now Gdansk). However, the war put paid to this. In 1945, having found a new calling, she enrolled at the Max-Reinhardt Seminar to take dance, ballet and drama classes while working part time as a mannequin in a hat salon. She completed her studies four years later at the University of Music and Performing Arts. That same year, Tiller was voted Miss Austria (she won again in 1951) which helped to secure her first theatrical engagement in the Theater in der Josefstadt. Her screen debut, a small part in the Beethoven biopic Eroica (1949) was cut, but she soon after made her first appearance in Märchen vom Glück (1949), a romantic musical comedy starring matinee idol O.W. Fischer. Tiller then played a rival to Hildegard Knef for the affections of Hardy Krüger in the melodrama Illusion in Moll (1952) and proceeded with leading roles in several undemanding lightweight farces like Einmal keine Sorgen haben (1953), Die Kaiserin von China (1953) and Mädchen mit Zukunft (1954). At his point in her career, Tiller's stock-in-trade heroines were most often worldly flirts or fashionable sophisticates.
Her fortunes took an upswing under the director Rolf Thiele who provided her with more challenging material in dramas like Friederike von Barring (1956), Lulu (1962) (both title roles) and, as an Egyptian dancer, in El Hakim (1957). In the repressed and conservative 50s, her breakout role as the titular prostitute in Thiele's socially conscious masterpiece Rosemary (1958) was viewed by some as scandalous and others as sensational, as it exposed the hypocrisy of people and institutions. Rosemary won not only the German Film Critics Award but also a Golden Globe in the U.S. for Best Foreign Language Film. Nadja Tiller emerged from this venture as an international star.
By the late 50s, Tiller featured prominently in many French, Italian, English and American productions, opposite stars like Jean Marais (King on Horseback (1958) and Killer Spy (1965)), Jean Gabin (The Night Affair (1958)), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Tender Scoundrel (1966)), Rod Steiger (The World in My Pocket (1961)) and Yul Brynner (The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)). From the mid-70s, having transitioned to character roles, she alternated appearances on television with theatrical engagements in Lübeck, Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna, often in boulevard dramas.
From 1956 until his death in 2011, Tiller was married to the actor Walter Giller. Dubbed the 'Traumpaar' (dream couple), they appeared in several films together, their last as two feisty pensioners in the comedy Dinosaurier (2009). Tiller passed away in a Hamburg retirement home on February 21 2023 at the age of 93.- Christine Reiler was born on 25 March 1982 in Mödling, Lower Austria, Austria.
- Rainer Wöss was born on 22 May 1962 in Linz, Austria. He is an actor, known for Dogwatch (2019), Murer: Anatomy of a Trial (2018) and The Bathtub (2016). He is married to Verena Berger. They have one child.
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Christopher Schärf was born on 9 January 1979 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor, known for One of Us (2015), Braunschlag (2012) and Warten auf den Mond (2007).- Johannes Zeiler was born on 29 April 1970. He is an actor, known for CopStories (2013), Wackersdorf (2018) and Paul Kemp - Alles kein Problem (2013).
- Karin Lischka was born on 16 June 1979 in Vienna. She is an actress, known for Tatort (1970), Spuren des Bösen (2010) and Vienna Blood (2019).
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Herbert Feuerstein was born on 15 June 1937 in Zell am See, Austria. He was an actor and writer, known for Schmidteinander (1990), Die ProSieben Märchenstunde (2006) and Wickie und die starken Männer (2009). He was married to Pearl Higa, Grit Bergmann and ???. He died on 6 October 2020 in Erftstadt, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.- Fanny Stavjanik was born on 13 April 1966 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Tatort (1970), Hades - Eine (fast) wahre Geschichte aus der Unterwelt (2023) and Beautiful Girl (2015). She is married to Thomas Herrmann. They have one child.
- Gabriela Benesch was born on 29 July 1965 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Frühlingserwachen (1989), Leas Hochzeit (1992) and Ainoa (2005).
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Barbara Valentin was born on 15 December 1940 in Vienna, Austria. She was an actress, known for World on a Wire (1973), Our Man in Jamaica (1965) and Horrors of Spider Island (1960). She was married to Helmut Dietl, Rald Lüders and Ernst Reichardt. She died on 22 February 2002 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.- Actor
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Florian Teichtmeister was born on 4 November 1979 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor, known for Sommer der Gaukler (2011), Polly Adler (2008) and Die Chefin (2012).- Actor
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Erich von Stroheim was born Erich Oswald Stroheim in 1885, in Vienna, Austria, to Johanna (Bondy), from Prague, and Benno Stroheim, a hatter from Gleiwitz, Germany (now Gliwice, Poland). His family was Jewish.
After spending some time working in his father's hat factory, he emigrated to America around 1909. Working in various jobs he arrived in Hollywood in 1914 and got work in D.W. Griffiths' company as a bit player. America's entry into WW1 enabled him to play sadistic monocled German officers but these roles dried up when the war ended. He turned to writing and directing but his passion for unnecessary detail such as Austrian guards wearing correct and expensively acquired regulation underwear which was never seen in 'Foolish Wives' caused the budget to reach a reported $1 million. Although the film became a hit the final edit was given to others resulting in a third of his footage being cut. Irving Thalberg fired him from 'Merry Go Round' which was completed by Rupert Julien. He then started on 'Greed', which when completed was unreleasable being 42 reels with a running time of 7 hours. It was eventually cut down to 10 reels which still had a striking effect on audiences. 'The Wedding March' was so long that even in it's unfinished state it was released as two separate films in Europe. Gloria Swanson fired him from her production of 'Queen Kelly' when with no sign of the film nearing completion the costs had risen to twice the budget partly due to him re-shooting scenes that had already been passed by the Hays office. She then had to spend a further $200,000 putting the footage into releasable state. It was the end for him as a director, but he made a reasonable success as an actor in the talkies.- Ulli Maier was born on 2 June 1957 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Die Steintaler ...von wegen Homo sapiens (2014), Tatort (1970) and Spuren des Bösen (2010).
- William Berger was born on 20 June 1928 in Innsbruck, Austria. He was an actor, known for Hercules (1983), Keoma (1976) and Devil Fish (1984). He was married to Hanja Kochansky, Carol Lobravico and Dörte Völz-Mammarella. He died on 2 October 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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An imposing Austrian import-turned-matinée idol on the silent screen, Hollywood actor Joseph Schildkraut went on to conquer talking films as well -- with Oscar-winning results. Inclined towards smooth, cunning villainy, his Oscar came instead for his sympathetic portrayal of Captain Alfred Dreyfus in The Life of Emile Zola (1937). His most touching role on both stage and screen would come as the Jewish father-in-hiding, Otto Frank, in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959).
Born on March 22, 1895, in Vienna, Austria, Joseph was the son of famed European/Yiddish stage actor Rudolph Schildkraut and his wife, the former Erna Weinstein. Nicknamed "Pepi" as a boy, the affectionate tag remained with him throughout his life. The family moved to Hamburg, Germany, when Joseph was 4. Joseph studied the piano and violin and grew inspired with his father's profession. On stage (with his father) from age 6, the family again relocated to Berlin where his father built a strong association with famed theatrical director Max Reinhardt.
Following Joseph's graduation from Berlin's Royal Academy of Music in 1911, the family migrated to America and settled in New York in 1912. His father continued making his mark in America's Yiddish theater while Joseph was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Offered lucrative theatre work back in Germany, Rudolf and family returned to Europe where Joseph began to grow in stature on the stage with the help of mentor Albert Bassermann. Joseph, like his father, would become well known not only for his prodigious talents on stage, but his marriage-threatening, Lothario-like behavior off-stage.
World War I and a call to the Austrian Army could have interrupted his career but his theatrical connections helped exempt him from duty. A thriving member of the Deutsches Volkstheatre (1913-1920), work became difficult to find in the post-war years so once again the family returned to America in 1920. Now an established stage player, Joseph was handed the title role in the Guild Theatre production (and American premiere) of "Liliom" opposite his leading lady of choice Eva Le Gallienne. It made stars out of both actors and both revisited their parts together on stage many years later in 1932.
Having appeared in a few silent pictures in Germany and Austria, Joseph was handed a prime role in the silent screen classic Orphans of the Storm (1921) starring the Gish sisters. This alone established him as an exotic matinée figure along the lines of a Valentino and Navarro. Preferring the stage, he nevertheless continued making films while conquering (on screen) Hollywood's loveliest of actresses, including Norma Talmadge in The Song of Love (1923), Seena Owen in Shipwrecked (1926), Marguerite De La Motte in Meet the Prince (1926), Bessie Love in Young April (1926) (which also co-starred father Rudolf), Lya De Putti in The Heart Thief (1927), and Jetta Goudal in The Forbidden Woman (1927). Most notable was his participation in the Cecil B. DeMille epics The Road to Yesterday (1925) and The King of Kings (1927), the latter co-starring as Judas Iscariot, with father Rudolf playing the high priest Caiaphas.
Joseph met his first wife, aspiring actress Elise Bartlett, during a herald run as "Peer Gynt" (1923) on Broadway. The impulsive romantic swept her off her feet, proposed to her on the day he met her, and married her the following week. The couple separated a few years later and his first wife fell to drink, dying at a fairly young age of an alcohol-related illness. His second marriage to Marie McKay was much happier and lasted almost three decades.
The actor's sturdy voice and strong command of the stage led to an easy transition into talking films. Among others, Joseph won the role of Gaylord Ravenal in the Kern and Hammerstein musical Show Boat (1929) opposite Laura La Plante as Magnolia. Despite his preference for the theater, Depression-era finances forced him to relocate to Los Angeles for more job security. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Joseph evolved into one of Hollywood's most distinctive character actors.
He played Wallace Beery's nemesis, General Pascal in MGM's Viva Villa! (1934), King Herod opposite Claudette Colbert in DeMille's Cleopatra (1934), and stole scenes as the cunning and underhanded Conrad, Marquis of Montferratin, in DeMille's The Crusades (1935). Joseph received his Oscar for his portrayal of Captain Dreyfus, a proud and robust French Jew wrongly convicted of treason and subsequently exiled to Devil's Island, in the biopic The Life of Emile Zola (1937). He soon became a Hollywood fixture appearing in everything from sumptuous costumers (Marie Antoinette (1938), The Three Musketeers (1939), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), Monsieur Beaucaire (1946)), to action adventure (Lancer Spy (1937), Suez (1938)) to potent drama (The Rains Came (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940)). His film output slowed down considerably at the outbreak of WWII in 1941, however; nevertheless he continued to show vitality on the stage with notable successes in "Clash by Night" (1941) with Tallulah Bankhead, "Uncle Harry" (1942) and "The Cherry Orchard" (1944) (again with Eva Le Gallienne).
His Hollywood downfall happened when he signed his career away to the low budget Republic Pictures studio...for financial reasons. The films were unworthy of his participation and his roles secondary in nature to the storyline. His final Broadway appearance and greatest stage triumph would occur in 1955 as Otto Frank and he repeated his role on film but The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). In one of Hollywood's bigger missteps, he was not even nominated for an Academy Award. Sporadic appearances followed on stage and film -- his last movie role wasted on the trivial role of Nicodemus in the epic failure The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). The film was released posthumously. On TV, however, he played Claudius to Maurice Evans' Hamlet in 1953 and filmed a memorable "Twilight Zone" episode in 1961.
Following his beloved second wife's death in 1961, he married one more time, in 1963, to a much younger woman named Leonora Rogers. Joseph died of a heart attack only months later at his New York City home on January 21, 1964, He was 68, almost the exact same age his father Rudolf was when he too suffered a fatal heart attack. Joseph was interred in the Beth Olam Mausoleum of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.