Truus van Aalten
| Truus van Aalten | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Geertruida Everdina Wilhelmina van Aalten August 2, 1910 Arnhem, Netherlands |
| Died | June 27, 1999 (aged 88) Warmond, Netherlands |
| Years active | 1926 - 1939 |
Geertruida Everdina Wilhelmina van Aalten (August 2, 1910 in Arnhem – June 27, 1999 in Warmond) was a Dutch actress who appeared in many German films in the 1920s and 1930s.
Truus found a job with a milliner after school, then trained as a salesgirl at a fashion store in Amsterdam. She passionately wanted to be a movie actress, but very few films were made in the Netherlands at the time.
In 1926, Truus entered a beauty competition in a Dutch magazine - if she won she'd have the chance to audition for a part in a real movie in Berlin. Not long after, she was summoned to the German capital for an audition - along with two hundred other girls. Truus had never had an acting lesson in her life, and was certain she'd be sent home at once One after the other, the girls were filmed. They were all older than Truus, and she could see she hadn't a hope.
When the director watched the tests, one girl stood out - where everyone else had gazed into the lens with expressions of the deepest sincerity, this one hadn't been able to repress a laugh. She was funny, it shone through, and she got the job.
Like its counterparts in California, Rome and New York, Ufa was a factory - scripts were being written, scenes were being shot in big, barn-like studios, editors assembled printed footage in cuttingrooms. There were plasterers' workshops, carpentry shops, prop stores, hair and wardrobe departments, and publicity offices planning the release of completed movies (Ufa ran 3,000 cinemas, admitting nearly a million people a day). Truus met the other members of the cast - her six "sisters" (including English actress Betty Balfour) and Willy Fritsch as Count Horkay. Fritsch was very well known and handsome, and Truus fell in love with him on the spot.
Truus had to quickly get used to being made up and going through wardrobe, then finding her place on the sets. She watched cameraman Carl Hoffmann (who had lit big hits like Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and Die Nibelungen) and all the grips, riggers, plasterers, cable bashers, and set dressers bustling about their jobs. She learned that acting didn't just mean showing emotions and moving about, but demanded that she concentrate on staying within chalk marks on the floor so as not to stray outside the range of the lights or the camera's focus. Despite it all (and perhaps because of one particular scene in which Willy Fritsch kissed her), Truus loved the work.
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Wikipedia