Television interview with the actress Elisabeth Bergner
Television interview with the actress Elisabeth Bergner
Hans Otto kam am Tag der Premiere in meine Garderobe und sagte: „Elisabeth, hau ab!“ Er hat nichts anderes gesagt. Da hab ich ihn rausgeschmissen aus der Garderobe.
[Hans Otto came into my dressing room on the day of the première and said, “Elisabeth, get out of here!” That was all he said. I threw him out of my dressing room. (ed. trans.)]
Elisabeth Bergner, 1975
The actress Elisabeth Bergner, at the height of her fame in 1932, was looking forward to a film contract in London: from August of that year, she was to star in a bi-lingual film for producer Alexander Korda under the direction of Paul Czinner. At the urging of Werner Krauß, however, she took on the role of Hanna Elias in Gerhart Hauptmann’s Gabriel Schillings Flucht (première 15/11/1932) and went to Berlin for two weeks of rehearsals and seven shows. Krauß wanted an extension of her engagement there, but the changed political conditions, which Elisabeth Bergner had noticed but not taken seriously – she thought the whole fuss would be over after a few weeks –, had already altered the equation.
Gabriel Schillings Flucht would be Berger’s last theatre role in Germany for 21 years. In 1938 she took British citizenship and only returned to Berlin briefly for a guest performance in 1954. She acted in Tiefe blaue See at the Berliner Komödie.
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