Hildegard Neff
| Hildegard Knef | |
|---|---|
Knef in 1951
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| Born |
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef 28 December 1925 Ulm, Germany |
| Died | 1 February 2002 (aged 76) Berlin, Germany |
| Occupation | Actress, singer, writer |
| Years active | 1944–2001 |
| Spouse(s) | Kurt Hirsch (1947–52) (divorced) David Cameron (1962–76) (divorced) 1 child Paul von Schell (1977–2002) (her death) |
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (28 December 1925 – 1 February 2002) was a German actress, singer and writer. She was billed in some English language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.
Hildegard Knef was born in Ulm. Her parents were Hans Theodor and Friede Augustine Knef. Her father, who was a decorated First World War veteran, died of syphilis when she was only six months old. Then her mother moved to Berlin and worked in a factory. Knef began studying acting at the age of 14, in 1940. She left school at 15 to become an apprentice animator with Universum Film AG. After she had a successful screen test, she went to the State Film School at Babelsberg, Berlin, where she studied acting, ballet and elocution. Josef Goebbels, who was Hitler's propaganda minister, wrote to her and asked to meet her, but Knef's friends wanted her to stay away from him.
Knef appeared in several films before the fall of the Third Reich, but most were released only afterward. During the Battle of Berlin, Knef dressed as a soldier in order to stay with her lover Ewald von Demandowsky, and joined him in the defence of Schmargendorf. The Soviets captured her and sent her to a prison camp. Her fellow prisoners helped her to escape and return to Berlin. Von Demandowsky was executed by the Russians on October 7, 1946, but before that, he secured for Knef the protection of the well-known character actor Viktor de Kowa in Berlin. De Kowa gave her the opportunity to be a mistress of ceremonies in the theatre that he had opened. Knef also got a part in Marcel Pagnol's "Marius," which was directed by Boleslaw Barlog and proved one of the German theatre's great plays. De Kowa also directed Knef in other plays by Shakespeare, Pagnol, and George Abbott.
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