Elisabeth Bergner Films
| Elisabeth Bergner | |
|---|---|
Elisabeth Bergner, 1935
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| Born |
Elisabeth Ettel 22 August 1897 Drohobych, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Drohobych, Ukraine) |
| Died | 12 May 1986 (aged 88) London, England |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1924-1984 |
| Spouse(s) | Paul Czinner (1933-1972) (his death) |
Elisabeth Bergner (22 August 1897 – 12 May 1986) was a European actress.
Primarily a stage actress, her career flourished in Berlin and Paris, before she moved to London to work in films. Her signature role was Gemma Jones in Escape Me Never, a play written for her by Margaret Kennedy. Bergner, known in Europe as La Bergner, played Gemma first in London, and then made her Broadway debut with the role in 1935. She later repeated it in a film version, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1943, Bergner returned to Broadway in the play The Two Mrs. Carrolls, for which she was awarded the Distinguished Performance Medal by the Drama League.
She was born Elisabeth Ettel in Drohobych, Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day Ukraine) to Anna Rosa (née Wagner) and Emil Ettel, a merchant. She grew up in a secular Jewish home. The Hebrew she heard in her childhood was associated with Yom Kippur and Pesach, and on her visits to Israel, she apologized for not knowing the language.
She first acted onstage at age 14, and appeared in Innsbruck a year later. In Vienna at age 16, she toured Austrian and German provinces with a Shakespearean company. She worked as an artist's model, posing for sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck, who fell in love with her. She eventually moved to Munich and later Berlin.
In 1923, she made her film debut in Der Evangelimann. With the rise of Nazism, Bergner moved to London with director Paul Czinner, and they married in 1933. Her stage work in London included The Boy David (1936) by J.M. Barrie, his last play, which he wrote especially for her, and Escape Me Never by Margaret Kennedy. Catherine the Great was banned in Germany because of the government's racial policies, reported Time on March 26, 1934.
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