During the 1930s and 1940s, German actress Ruth Hellberg (1906-2001) appeared in several films of her husband Wolfgang Liebeneiner. After their divorce, she focused on her stage career.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2971/1, 1939-1940.
Ruth Hellberg was born Ruth Holl in 1906 in Berlin. She was the daughter of the director and theatre director Fritz Holl and the actress and drama teacher Margit Hellberg.
After attending drama school she made her debut at the State Theatre Meiningen in 1923. Then she joined the theatre troupe Holtorf, where she first appeared as Viola in William Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'.
That same year she became a member of the cooperative German Stage Workers (GDBA). Next, she worked for Erich Ziegel at the Hamburger Kammerspielen, where she met Gustaf Gründgens.
From 1938 to 1945 Ruth Hellberg played under the direction of Gustaf Gründgens at the Berliner Staatstheater (Berlin State Theatre).
She was first married to publisher Fritz Landshoff. The Jewish Landshoff went in 1933 in exile in Amsterdam, where he published for Querido many works of exile authors. One of his most famous publications was Klaus Mann's novel 'Mephisto' in which Mann portrayed his ex-brother-in-law, Gustaf Gründgens.
German postcard by Ross. Photo: Bavaria.
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: Meteor / Tobis.
Ruth Hellberg made her film debut in Was wissen denn Männer/What Do Men Know (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1933) with Toni van Eyck. That same year she married actor and director Wolfgang Liebeneiner. Under her husband’s direction, she would have her greatest success in the title role of Yvette (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1938) based on the oft-filmed Guy de Maupassant story of the same name.
Ruth Hellberg plays a convent-educated girl who is unaware that her mother Oktavia (Käthe Dorsch) is a prostitute. Hal Erickson wrote on a now-defunct page of AllMovie: “Reviewers in 1938 were pleasantly surprised that De Maupassant's tender fable was so well realized by director Wolfgang Liebeneiner, hardly a master of subtlety.”
In subsequent years, she starred with Zarah Leander in Heimat/Homeland (Carl Froelich, 1938), Heinrich George in Der Postmeister/The Postmaster (Gustav Ucicky, 1940), and Paul Hartmann in the biography Bismarck (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1940). In 1941 she and Liebeneiner were among the few courageous colleagues who attended the funeral of film star Joachim Gottschalk and his Jewish wife and son. The family had committed suicide to avoid transportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp.
In 1943 Hellberg and Liebeneiner divorced, and Liebeneiner soon married actress Hilde Krahl. From then on, Hellberg’s film appearances became rare. After the Second World War, she mainly worked as a stage actress. In addition, she worked since 1948 in synchronisation. She lent her voice to such internationally known colleagues as Vivien Leigh for Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) and Anna Karenina (1948), Elisabeth Bergner for The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) and Stolen Life (1939), and Jeanne Moreau for Secrets d'alcôve/The Bed (1954).
From the 1960s on she incidentally appeared in TV films. In the cinema, she made a comeback in Volker Schlöndorff’s Strohfeuer/A Free Woman (1972) as the mother of the central character, played by Margarethe von Trotta. Her last film role was opposite Karin Baal in Im Kreis der Lieben/In the Circle of Love (Hermine Huntgeburth, 1991). Ruth Hellberg died in 2001 in Feldafing, Germany. She was 94. Her son, Andreas Landshoff, also became a publisher. He married the Dutch actress, Yoka Berretty. They had two children, Yolante Berretty, and director Benjamin Landshoff.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3059/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Haenchen / Tobis.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie - page now defunct), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.
This page was last updated on 4 September 2024.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2971/1, 1939-1940.
Mephisto
Ruth Hellberg was born Ruth Holl in 1906 in Berlin. She was the daughter of the director and theatre director Fritz Holl and the actress and drama teacher Margit Hellberg.
After attending drama school she made her debut at the State Theatre Meiningen in 1923. Then she joined the theatre troupe Holtorf, where she first appeared as Viola in William Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'.
That same year she became a member of the cooperative German Stage Workers (GDBA). Next, she worked for Erich Ziegel at the Hamburger Kammerspielen, where she met Gustaf Gründgens.
From 1938 to 1945 Ruth Hellberg played under the direction of Gustaf Gründgens at the Berliner Staatstheater (Berlin State Theatre).
She was first married to publisher Fritz Landshoff. The Jewish Landshoff went in 1933 in exile in Amsterdam, where he published for Querido many works of exile authors. One of his most famous publications was Klaus Mann's novel 'Mephisto' in which Mann portrayed his ex-brother-in-law, Gustaf Gründgens.
German postcard by Ross. Photo: Bavaria.
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: Meteor / Tobis.
Tender fable
Ruth Hellberg made her film debut in Was wissen denn Männer/What Do Men Know (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1933) with Toni van Eyck. That same year she married actor and director Wolfgang Liebeneiner. Under her husband’s direction, she would have her greatest success in the title role of Yvette (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1938) based on the oft-filmed Guy de Maupassant story of the same name.
Ruth Hellberg plays a convent-educated girl who is unaware that her mother Oktavia (Käthe Dorsch) is a prostitute. Hal Erickson wrote on a now-defunct page of AllMovie: “Reviewers in 1938 were pleasantly surprised that De Maupassant's tender fable was so well realized by director Wolfgang Liebeneiner, hardly a master of subtlety.”
In subsequent years, she starred with Zarah Leander in Heimat/Homeland (Carl Froelich, 1938), Heinrich George in Der Postmeister/The Postmaster (Gustav Ucicky, 1940), and Paul Hartmann in the biography Bismarck (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1940). In 1941 she and Liebeneiner were among the few courageous colleagues who attended the funeral of film star Joachim Gottschalk and his Jewish wife and son. The family had committed suicide to avoid transportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp.
In 1943 Hellberg and Liebeneiner divorced, and Liebeneiner soon married actress Hilde Krahl. From then on, Hellberg’s film appearances became rare. After the Second World War, she mainly worked as a stage actress. In addition, she worked since 1948 in synchronisation. She lent her voice to such internationally known colleagues as Vivien Leigh for Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) and Anna Karenina (1948), Elisabeth Bergner for The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) and Stolen Life (1939), and Jeanne Moreau for Secrets d'alcôve/The Bed (1954).
From the 1960s on she incidentally appeared in TV films. In the cinema, she made a comeback in Volker Schlöndorff’s Strohfeuer/A Free Woman (1972) as the mother of the central character, played by Margarethe von Trotta. Her last film role was opposite Karin Baal in Im Kreis der Lieben/In the Circle of Love (Hermine Huntgeburth, 1991). Ruth Hellberg died in 2001 in Feldafing, Germany. She was 94. Her son, Andreas Landshoff, also became a publisher. He married the Dutch actress, Yoka Berretty. They had two children, Yolante Berretty, and director Benjamin Landshoff.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3059/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Haenchen / Tobis.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie - page now defunct), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.
This page was last updated on 4 September 2024.
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