27 November 2013

Hilde Krahl

Austrian actress Hilde Krahl (1917-1999) was one of the most demanded stars of the German cinema of the 1940s and 1950s. She could shine in nearly all genres.

Hilde Krahl
German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 177, 1941-1944. Photo: Wesel / Berlin Film.

Hilde Krahl
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3386/2, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz / Tobis.

Hilde Krahl
German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 202, 1941-1944. Photo: Berlin Film.

Der Postmeister


Hilde Krahl was born as Hildegard Kolacný in Brod in former Austria-Hungary (now Slavonski Brod, Croatia) in 1917. She was the daughter of railway engineer Alois Kolacny and his wife Paula née Kolb.

She grew up in Vienna and after finishing her acting studies Hilde made her stage debut in 1936 at the Cabaret Literatur am Naschmarkt in Vienna. Eventually followed an engagement at the Theater in der Josefstadt where she would play till 1966.

Her film career also began in 1936. She made her film debut with Die Puppenfee/The Fairy Doll (E. W. Emo, 1936) and was convincing in her next role in Mädchenpensionat/Girls' Boarding School (Géza von Bolváry, 1936).

Soon she got bigger roles and was successful starring in films like Serenade (Willi Forst, 1937) with Albert Matterstock, Gastspiel im Paradies/Guest Performance in Paradise (Karl Hartl, 1938) and Der Weg zu Isabel/The Road to Isabel (Erich Engel, 1940) with Ewald Balser.

Her great breakthrough was the Alexander Pushkin adaptation Der Postmeister/The Stationmaster (Gustav Ucicky, 1940). She played Dunja, the daughter of stationmaster Heinrich George. From then on she belonged to the most demanded stars of the German language cinema.

Hilde Krahl
German postcard by Argenta. Photo: publicity still for Der Postmeister/The Stationmaster (Gustav Ucicky, 1940).

Hilde Krahl
Spanish card by Cifesa.

Hilde Krahl
German postcard by Verlag und Druckerei Erwin Preuss, Dresden-Freital, serie 1, no. 16. Photo: Charlott Serda.

Hilde Krahl
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9922/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Styria-Film.

Clara Schumann


Till the end of the war Hilde Krahl appeared in films like Komödianten/The Comedians (1941, Georg Wilhelm Pabst) opposite Käthe Dorsch, and Anuschka (Helmut Käutner, 1942) with Siegfried Breuer.

She played Clara Wieck Schumann in Träumerei/Daydream (Harald Braun, 1944) with Mathias Wieman as her husband, composer Robert Schumann.

From 1938 till 1944 Hilde also worked for the Deutschen Theater (German Theater) in Berlin under Heinz Hilpert.

In 1944 she married director Ufa head of production, Wolfgang Liebeneiner, with whom she had worked before on Das Andere Ich/The Other Me (1941) and Grossstadtmelodie/Melody of a Great City (1943).

Hilde Krahl
Belgian postcard by Tobis, Brussel. Photo: Tobis. Hilde Krahl in Der Weg zu Isabel/The way to Isabel (Erich Engel, 1940).

Hilde Krahl
German postcard by Ross Verlag. Photo: Tobis / Haenchen.

Hilde Krahl
German postcard by Ross Verlag, enclosed in Das Programm von Heute, Zeitschrift für Film und Theater G.m.b.H., Berlin. Photo: Tobis / Haenchen.

Hilde Krahl
Vintage postcard. Hilde Krahl in Das andere Ich/The other me (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1941).

Versatile


After the war Hilde Krahl became a versatile actress who could play in nearly all genres. At the theater as well as in films she got demanding roles which she always fulfilled.

In Liebe 47/Love' 47 (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1949) she played the companion of a physically and emotionally torn soldier returning from war captivity.

To her well-known films of the 1950s belong Schatten der Nacht/Night Shadows (Eugen York, 1950), Weiße Schatten/White Shadows (Helmut Käutner, 1951), and Der Weibsteufel/A Devil of a Woman (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1951).

In Herz der Welt/No Greater Love (Harald Braun, 1952) she appeared as the courageous writer and first Nobel Peace Prize winner Bertha von Suttner.

Other films were 1. April 2000 (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1952), Die Mücke/The Mosquito (Walter Reisch, 1954), Kinder, Mütter und ein General/Children, Mother, and the General (Laslo Benedek, 1955) and Das Glas Wasser/A Glass of Water (Helmut Käutner, 1960), for which she won the Filmband im Gold award.

In the following decades she worked mainly for television. In 1989 she won again the Filmband im Gold, a German honorary award for her contributions to the German film.

Her last part was in the TV series Bruder Esel/Brother Donkey (1996).

Hilde Krahl died in 1999, in Vienna, Austria. Her daughter Johanna Liebeneiner is also a well known actress.

Hilde Krahl
German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3633/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz / Tobis.

Hilde Krahl
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2.048, 1964. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: Progress.

Bernhard Wicki, Hilde Krahl, Ewiger Walzer
German postcard by DLF. Promotion card for Ewiger Walzer/The Eternal Waltz (Paul Verhoeven, 1954) with Bernhard Wicki.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Flixter, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

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