Johanna Matz

On 21 April 2025, Austrian actress Johanna Matz (1932) passed away at the age of 92. In the 1950s, she made a blitz career as the natural 'Wiener Mädel' (the Viennese Gal). Matz acted in more than forty films and TV films, but she considered herself primarily a theatre actress.


West German promotion card by Lux.


German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 40. Photo: Niczky.


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin, no. CK-118. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Ufa.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 5. Photo: Cosmos-Neusser / Gloria / Appelt.


West German promotion card for Lux. Photo: Lux-Foto.

Clean and spontaneous

Johanna Maria Emilie Dorothea Matz was born in Vienna in 1932. When 'Hannerl' was just four years old, she began taking ballet lessons at the Vienna Academy.

Later she had a stage training at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar. At the final presentation in 1950 she was discovered by Berthold Viertel and engaged for the prestigious Burgtheater, where she would be a contract player until 1993.

In 1951, she made her film debut in Asphalt (Harald Röbbeling, 1951) as a girl who becomes a prostitute. In the comedies Der alte Sünder / The Old Sinner (Franz Antel, 1951) and Zwei in einem Auto / Two in a car (Ernst Marischka, 1951), she played her typical character, the clean and spontaneous girl from Vienna.

She became a film star with her sweet and charming role in the operetta Die Försterchristl / The Forester's Daughter (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1952) opposite Will Quadflieg.

Director Otto Preminger then invited her to Hollywood, where she played the lead in the German language version of the controversial comedy The Moon is Blue (Otto Preminger, 1953). In Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach (Otto Preminger, 1953), she starred with Hardy Krüger and Johannes Heesters. Krüger and Matz also played brief roles as tourists in the Empire State Building sequence in the English language version, while the stars of that version, William Holden and Maggie McNamara, played the same roles in the German version.


West German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 328. Photo: Carlton / Brünjes / Panorama. Johanna Matz in Die Förstelchristel / The Forester's Daughter (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1952).


West German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 747. Photo: Wien Film / Schorcht Film. Johanna Matz in Ich tanze mit Dir in den Himmel hinein / I Dance With YouIinto Heaven (Ernst Marischka, 1952).


West German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 409. Photo: Wien-Film / Schorcht. Johanna Matz in Ich tanze mit Dir in den Himmel hinein / I Dance With You into Heaven (Ernst Marischka, 1952).


West German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 412. Photo: Como / Royal / Allianz-Film. Jan Hendriks and Johanna Matz in Der große Zapfenstreich / The Sergeant's Daughter (Georg Hurdalek, 1952).


West German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 236. Photo: Deutsche London Rotary-Film / Hämmerer / Klughardt. Johanna Matz in Arlette erobert Paris / Arlette Conquers Paris (Viktor Tourjansky, 1953).


West German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 626. Photo: United Artists. Johanna Matz and Hardy Krüger in Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach / The Moon is Blue (Otto Preminger, 1953).


West German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 598. Photo: Donau / Papageno / Meroth / Union Film.


German collector card.


German postcard by Rüdel Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1242. Photo: Filmaufbau / Schorchtfilm. Johanna Matz in Ingrid - die Geschichte eines Fotomodells / Ingrid, the Story of a Model (Géza von Radványi, 1955).

Operettas and classic dramas

In 1954 Johanna Matz also made Mannequins für Rio (Kurt Neumann, 1954), a melodrama about white slavery co-starring Scott Brady and Raymond Burr. This film was also made in an English language with the same stars as They Were So Young.

That year, she returned to the stage because she considered herself primarily a theatre actress. She became a popular performer of the heroines of the classic dramas by Arthur Schnitzler, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, but she also starred in operettas.

Occasionally she played in films like Mozart / The Life and Loves of Mozart (Karl Hartl, 1955) opposite Oskar Werner, Regine (Harald Braun, 1956) with Horst Buchholz, Frau Warrens Gewerbe / Mrs. Warren's Profession (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1960) with Lilli Palmer, Die Glücklichen Jahre der Thorwalds / The Happy Years of the Thorwalds (John Olden, Wolfgang Staudte, 1962) with Elisabeth Bergner, and the Heimatfilm Ruf der Wälder / Call of the Forests (Franz Antel, 1965) with Mario Girotti (Terence Hill).

Since the end of the 1960s, Johanna Matz has been mainly seen in Austrian TV productions. In the cinema, she was seen in the Heinz Rühmann vehicle Der Kapitän/The Captain (Kurt Hoffmann, 1971) and the Eric Malpass adaptation Als Mutter streikte / When Mother Went on Strike (Eberhard Schröder, 1975) with Peter Hall.

One of her last screen appearances was as herself in Bellaria - So lange wir leben! / Bellaria: As Long as We Live! (Douglas Wolfsperger, 2002), a wonderful documentary about the traditional Viennese cinema Bellaria, which is specialised in German cinema from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, and its regular customers. Johnna Matz was married twice. First to actor Karl Hackenberg (1956-2002) with whom she had a child. After his death, she married Harry von Wutzler. The couple lived retired in Unterach am Attersee in Austria. Johanna Matz died on 21 April 2025 at the age of 92, surrounded by her family.


West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden / Westf., no. 1846. Photo: Europa-Film. Johanna Matz and Erik Schumann in Regine (Harald Braun, 1956).


West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden / Westf., no. 2896. Photo: Arthur Grimm / CCC / Constantin Film. Gerhard Riedmann and Johanna Matz in ...und führe uns nicht in Versuchung / And Lead Us Not Into Temptation (Rolf Hansen, 1957).


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. S 773. Photo: Wesel / Berolina. Publicity still for Es wird alles wieder gut/Everything Is Going to Be All Right (Géza von Bolváry, 1957).


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4157. Photo: K.L. Haenchen / Ufa. Johanna Matz in Man müßte nochmal zwanzig sein / One would have to be twenty again (Hans Quest, 1958).


Austrian postcard by Verlag Hubmann (HDH), Wien, no. 218. Photo: Hämmerer, Wien.


East-German postcard by Progress, no. 1306, 1960. Lilli Palmer and Johanna Matz in Frau Warrens Gewerbe / Mrs. Warren's Profession (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1960).


West German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 4393. Photo: Appelt / Nora. Johanna Matz and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler in Ruf der Wälder / Call of the Forests (Franz Antel, 1965).


West German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 4394. Photo: Appelt / Nora. Johanna Matz and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler in Ruf der Wälder / Call of the Forests (Franz Antel, 1965).


Trailer for Mannequins für Rio / They Were So Young (1954), also with Raymond Burr, Scott Brady and Ingrid Stenn. Source: Rudi Polt (YouTube).


Johanna Matz sings 'Das Gibt's Nur Einmal' in Der Kongress Tanzt / Congress Dances (Franz Antel, 1956), a remake of the classic film operetta of 1931 starring Lilian Harvey. Source: Robert S (YouTube).

Sources: Rudi Polt (IMDb), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line) (German), Wikipedia and IMDb.