Gretl Schörg

Gretl Schörg (17 January 1914 – 4 January 2006) was an Austrian operatic soprano and actress. She was particularly known for her performances in operettas. Her signature roles included Dodo in Hochzeitsnacht im Paradies, Josepha Vogelhuber in The White Horse Inn, Juliette in Der Graf von Luxemburg, Julischka in Maske in Blau, Laura in Der Bettelstudent, and Pepi in Wiener Blut. She made several operetta recordings for Telefunken, Columbia Records, and Polydor Records. She was also active as a dramatic actress on the stage and in films. In April 2004 she was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class.

Born in Vienna, Schörg first trained for the profession of typist. In 1937, at the age of 23, she won a beauty contest and became " Queen of Danube ". That same year she made her stage debut in Ostrava at the Antonín Dvořák Theatre in the world premiere of Ödön von Horváth's play Der jüngste Tag. She spent the next two years performing at that theatre, and at theatres in Karlovy Vary, Ostrava, Marienbad, and Vienna (Theater in der Josefstadt). In 1939 she joined the opera house in Aussig (now Usti nad Labem) where she became popular as a performer in operettas. She made her professional opera debut at that house as Hannerl in Heinrich Berté's arrangement of Franz Schubert's Das Dreimäderlhaus.