Fembio Special: Famous Women from Hanover, Germany
Lucie Höflich
(eigentlich Helene Lucie von Holwede)
Born 20 February 1883 in Hannover
Died 9 October 1956 in Berlin
German actress, teacher and professor of acting, head of the Staatliche Schauspielschule (State Acting School) in Berlin
125th birthday on 20 February 2008
Biography • Literature & Sources
Biography
Lucie Höflich made her acting début at sixteen at the Bromberg City Theater, moved in 1901 to the Intime Theater in Nürnberg, and was hired the following year by the Raimund-Theater in Vienna, where she quickly made a name for herself. In 1903 the famous Max Reinhardt called Höflich to his Deutsches Theater in Berlin.
Höflich’s first marriage (1910 – 1917) produced a daughter, Ursula (*1911).
Höflich appeared in many European countries on her tours with Reinhardt. In 1913 she acted in a film for the first time. Before 1933 her shifting engagements brought her to various Berlin theaters (Preußisches Staatstheater, Reinhardt’s Theaters).
For a time she was married to Emil Jannings. In 1932/33 Lucie Höflich worked in Hamburg. With Ilka Grüning she headed the Staatliche Schauspielschule (State Acting Academy) in Berlin in 1933/34, and from 1936 on had her own studio for training young actors and actresses at the Volksbühne.
In 1937 Höflich was named a Staatschauspielerin and temporarily ended her active stage career. Her biographies claim that she refused to appear on a German stage after the Nazi seizure of power. But a conflict with her growing film career seems more likely than a protest motivated by conscience: in the years 1934 to 1943 alone she acted in eighteen films, among them the National Socialist propaganda film Ohm Krüger.
From 1946 to 1950 Höflich was theater director, actress, play director and head of the acting school at the Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater in Schwerin. In the acting school young talent was groomed for study at national acting academies. Many of these young actors and actresses would later become internationally known. In 1946 Lucie Höflich became an honorary member of the Deutsches Theater, and in 1947 a professor.
After 1950 she resided in Berlin, where she acted on the stage and taught at the acting academy. But she suffered greatly from age-related afflictions which hindered her in her work. In 1953 she was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Medal of Honor, Germany’s only order of merit). Höflich died, presumably from the after-effects of a heart attack, at age 73.
Lucie Höflich was an important pillar of the Reinhardt-Theater and attained the high point of her fame around 1920 as a great realistic character actress. Her acting artistry was marked by naturalness and high intensity despite minimal physical gestures and a restrained vitality with sudden outbursts. Many prominent actors and actresses were successfully trained by Höflich, among them Marianne Hoppe, Otto and Eberhard Mellies, Inge Meysel, Lilli Palmer and Annemarie Wendl.
transl. Joey Horsley
Literature & Sources
Angrick, Dieter W. (14.10.2004): Wer war eigentlich … Lucie Höflich.
Burgmer, Rolf (1972): Höflich (eigtl. von Holwede), Lucie. In: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften. (Hg.): Neue deutsche Biographie. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot (9), S. 316.
Deutsches Filminstitut (DIF) (26.01.2007)
Ehrenkrook, Hans Friedrich von: Die Familie von Holwede. Eine niedersächsische Beamtenfamilie. In: Familiengeschichtliche Blätter, Jg. 29, S. 129–140.
Erinnerung an Lucie Höflich. In: Der Reiter. Wochenzeitung in der Landeshauptstadt Schwerin, Ausgabe 3/1996, S. 11.
Grewolls, Günter: Lucie Höflich. 110. Geburtstag. In: Impuls. Zeitung des Mecklenburgischen Staatstheaters Schwerin, Ausgabe 1/1993, S. 8.
Kulturportal Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Hg.) (26.01.2007): Historische Personen. Lucie Höflich. MVweb GmbH & Co. KG.
May, Gisela (1976): Lucie Höflich. In: May, Gisela: Mit meinen Augen. Begegnungen und Impressionen. Berlin: Buchverlag Der Morgen, S. 34–40.
NDB (1997): Höflich, Lucie. In: Killy, Walther; Engelhardt, Dietrich von; Vierhaus, Rudolf (Hg.): Hesselbach - Kofler. München: Saur (Deutsche biographische Enzyklopädie, Bd. 5), S. 91.
Schellmann, Brigitte. “Lucie Höflich”
Staedeli, Thomas (25.02.2005): Porträt der Schauspielerin Lucie Höflich.
Zänger, Horst (2005): Lucie Höflich gründete eine Schauspielschule. In: Zänger, Horst: 170 Jahre Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin. Aus dem Theaterleben. Schwerin: Selbstverlag, S. 103–109.
Acting students of Lucie Höflich (selection) Dieter Dorn (*1935), director Irmgard Düren (1930 – 2004), GDR TV-host (Wünsch dir was, Wunschbriefkasten) Marianne Hoppe (1909 – 2002), actress Claus Jurichs (1935 – 2005), actor Evelyn Künneke (1921– 2001), singer, actress, entertainer Günter Lamprecht (* 1930), actor Gisela May (*1924), actress Eberhard Mellies (*1929), actor Otto Mellies (* 1931), actor Inge Meysel (1910 – 2004), actress Lilli Palmer (1914 – 1986), actress Annemarie Wendl (1914 – 2006), actress (u. a. Lindenstraße)
Filmography 1913 Gendarm Möbius 1919 Freie Liebe 1919 Maria Magdalene 1920 Der langsame Tod. Die nach Liebe schmachten 1920 Katharina die Große 1920/1921 Die Bestie im Menschen 1921 Die Erbin von Tordis 1921 Die Ratten 1921 Seefahrt ist Not 1922/1923 Ein Glas Wasser 1922/1923 Nora 1923 Der verlorene Schuh 1923 Die Straße 1923/1924 Der geheime Agent 1923/1924 Kaddisch 1925 Das Haus der Lüge 1925 Ein Walzertraum 1925 Götz von Berlichingen zubenannt mit der eisernen Hand 1925 Tartüff 1926 Bara en danserska 1927 Das gefährliche Alter 1927 Manege 1927/1928 Der Biberpelz 1930 “1914”. Die letzten Tage vor dem Weltbrand 1932 Der weiße Dämon 1932 Kampf 1932 Strafsache van Geldern. Willi Vogel, der Ausbrecherkönig 1932/1933 Brennendes Geheimnis 1934 Peer Gynt 1935 Der Kurier des Zaren 1935/1936 Der Raub der Sabinerinnen 1936 Fridericus 1936 Schatten der Vergangenheit 1937 Der Berg ruft 1937 Die Warschauer Zitadelle 1937 Manege 1937 Starke Herzen 1938 War es der im 3. Stock? 1939 Robert Koch, der Bekämpfer des Todes 1939 Wir tanzen um die Welt 1939/1940 Der Fuchs von Glenarvon 1941 Ohm Krüger 1941/1942 Das große Spiel 1942 Weiße Wäsche 1942/1943 Altes Herz wird wieder jung 1942/1943 Lache Bajazzo 1955 Himmel ohne Sterne 1956/1957 Anastasia, die letzte Zarentochter
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