Hertha Natzler
| Hertha Natzler | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
February 18, 1911 Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | August 5, 1985 (aged 74) Culver City, California, United States |
| Burial place | Holy Cross Cemetery |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Other names | Herta Natzler |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1928-1936 |
Hertha (‘Hati') Natzler (1911-1985) was a stage and film actress in Austria during 1928-1936.
Hertha Natzler (also Herta Natzler) was born on February 18, 1911 in Vienna as the daughter of actor, opera singer and playwright (1860-1929) and Emilie Franziska Theresia Rachel (‘Emilia' or ‘Lili') Meissner (1873-1957). Her father and mother were both actors, who were well-known in Austria and Germany. Hertha was one of five sisters, two of whom died young.
Like her two surviving sisters, Grete Natzler (1906-1999) and Alice Maria (‘Lizzi') Natzler (1909-1993), Hertha started acting and singing on stage at a young age. She made her debut in Franz Lehár’s operetta ‘Der Tsarewitsch’ at the Johann Strauss Theatre in Vienna in May 1928. That year she also played a minor role in the revue ‘Jetzt oder Nie’, and in the play ‘Weekend im Paradies’, the 1928 rendition of the .
Hertha performed many such roles during 1928-1936 in play and operetta performances in different venues in Vienna, such as in several renditions of the Femina Revue. She also played minor roles in films produced in Vienna and Budapest: ‘Peter’ (1934), ‘Maskerade’ (1934), ‘Nocturno’ (1934) and ‘Salto in die Seligkeit’ (Leap into Bliss, 1935). Nevertheless, Hertha was not as well-known as her sisters Grete and Lizzi, and did not follow them to Germany to in pursuit of an international career.
The Natzler family was of Jewish origin. Following Hitler seizing absolute power in Germany in March 1933 and the start of anti-Semitic legislation, Grete and Lizzi were offered increasingly fewer roles in films and stage performances in Germany.
Grete had renounced her Jewish faith in 1930. She moved to the UK in 1934 and went to Hollywood on a one-year contract with Paramount in 1935. By 1937 she had achieved minor celebrity as a film star and singer, had taken the stage name Della Lind, and was better known to an American audience as ‘MGM’s exotic Viennese singing actress’.
Lizzi left Berlin to return to Vienna in 1933, but Austria experienced a similar political radicalization as Germany. Particularly during 1936-1937, which in 1938 resulted in Austria’s ‘Anschluss’ with Germany. Jewish people were increasingly barred from the positions they held in Austria’s society. Lizzi’s last film role was in ‘Heut’ ist der schönste Tag in meinem Leben’, which was shot in 1935 and released in May 1936.
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