As I was preparing my introduction for Max Ophüls’ LIEBELEI as part of TIFF's stunning retrospective (we'll post it here next week if you missed it or are not in Toronto), I became curious about what happened to the actors after director Ophüls, a Jew, saw the writing on the wall early on and fled Germany weeks after Hitler came to power. Opposing his production company’s wish for big stars, Ophüls had largely cast newcomers in his hit film LIEBELEI that was shot in late 1932 to early 1933. The four young protagonists are played by Magda Schneider, Luise Ullrich, Willy Eichberger and Wolfgang Liebeneiner, who became stars with this film, and most resumed their roles for the French remake that the productive Ophüls himself shot months later. From there, their lives took very different turns. Some notes, not doing their fates or misdeeds justice:
Magda Schneider (LIEBELEI's heroine Christine, who was originally cast as Mitzi while Luise Ullrich was meant to be Christine -- Ophüls switched them in rehearsal) launched a great career as a musical actor, with a film each year until the late 1960s. Her heirs legally fought claims she was close to Hitler. Her daughter Romy Schneider starred in the LIEBELEI adaptation CHRISTINE with Alain Delon at the beginning of her own stellar international career.
Willy Eichberger (Theo) as of 1933 worked as Carl Esmond in London, then Hollywood, having to turn down roles after the SS threatened his family in Vienna. He reluctantly played Nazis in US films, as in Lang’s 1944 MINISTRY OF FEAR. He appears in the Oscar-nominated docu-drama RESISTING ENEMY INTERROGATION for the US air force. In post-war Germany, he only appeared in Ophüls’ 1955 LOLA MONTEZ. He returned to the US, where he appeared in the 1962 film biography HITLER.
Luise Ullrich (Mizzi) married Count zu Castell-Rüdenhausen and continued to act in films until the 1980s, among others in Fassbinder’s EIGHT HOURS DON'T MAKE A DAY (1972).
Gustaf Gründgens (Baron Eggerdorf) is considered the greatest and most ambiguous German actor-director of the 20th century (M; FAUST): Made “state actor” by the Nazis while allegedly delivering Nazi-critical undertones as Hamlet. Avoided military service in WWI but volunteered in WWII. Married Thomas Mann’s daughter, while alluding to Goering that he was gay. Died in 1963 after a great theatre career. Klaus Maria Brandauer portrayed the controversial artist in István Szabó’s Gründgens drama MEPHISTO (1981).
Olga Tschechowa (Eggerdorf’s wife, the Baroness) was a Russian-born actor-director-producer. She became the Grande Dame of German film under Nazis, and often Hitler’s dinner partner, with 140 films to her name. She died in 1980. In this photo, she is presenting her autobiography "My Clocks Are Ticking Differently" in a German department store in 1971.
Paul Hörbiger (Christine’s father) was a veteran theatre actor. Initially he collaborated, then became critical of the Nazis and helped Jewish colleagues escape. At the same time as he was put on Goebbels’ list of “Untouchable Artists,” he joined the resistance, was caught and sentenced to death, narrowly saved by the end of the regime (after the BBC had already wrongly reported his death). He continued his career until his death in 1981.
