15 January 2020

Katharina Mayberg

German actress Katharina Mayberg (1925–2007) was a popular actress in German and Austrian film productions the 1950s and 1960s.

Katharina Mayberg
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 4082/295, 1957. Photo: DEFA / Wunsch. Katharina Mayberg in Mazurka der Liebe/Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Hans Müller, 1957).

Katharina Mayberg in Dr. Crippen lebt (1958)
Belgian collectors card, no. 297. Photo: Europ Film. Katharina Mayberg in Dr. Crippen lebt/Doctor Crippen Lives (Erich Engels, 1958).

Katharina Mayberg
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1514, 1961. Photo: Kurt Wunsch.

The Marriage of Figaro


Katharina Mayberg was born in 1925 in Hamburg, Germany. Mayberg took acting classes with Waldemar Stegemann and initially worked as a stage actress.

She made her film debut with a small part in the drama Die Söhne des Herrn Gaspary/Gaspary's Sons (Rolf Meyer, 1948) starring Lil Dagover and Hans Stüwe.

The following year, she played Barbarina in the East German musical Figaros Hochzeit/The Marriage of Figaro (Georg Wildhagen, 1949) starring Angelika Hauff and Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender. It was based on the opera 'The Marriage of Figaro' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, which was itself based on the play 'The Marriage of Figaro' by Pierre Beaumarchais.

The film was made by DEFA, the state production company of East Germany, in their Babelsberg Studio and the nearby Babelsberg Park. The production used not the original Italian but a German text. The recitatives were replaced with dialogue spoken by the actors. It sold 5,479,427 tickets.

She had a supporting part in the Austrian-German sports comedy Der Theodor im Fußballtor/Theodore the Goalkeeper (E.W. Emo, 1950) starring Theo Lingen and Hans Moser. She had a major role in the drama Hinter Klostermauern/Behind Monastery Walls (Harald Reinl, 1952) starring Olga Tschechowa and Frits van Dongen (Philip Dorn). The film takes place in a priory and is sometimes known by the alternative title of The Unholy Intruders.

Katharina Mayberg in Die Todesarena (1953)
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 891. Photo: DCF. Katharina Mayberg in Die Todesarena/Arena of Death (Kurt Meisel, 1953).

Katharina Mayberg in Die süßesten Früchte (1954)
West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1003. Photo: NF / Ariston GmbH. Katharina Mayberg in Die süssesten Früchte/The Sweetest Fruits (Franz Antel, 1954).

Katharina Mayberg in Die schöne Müllerin (1954)
West-German postcard ny Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1221. Photo: Algefa / Constantin / Wesel. Katharina Mayberg in Die schöne Müllerin/The Beautiful Miller (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1954).

Her own production company


Katharina Mayberg had her first female leading role in the Austrian-German crime film Die Todesarena/Arena of Death (Kurt Meisel, 1953) co-starring Richard Häussler and Friedl Hardt.

A popular success was the drama Rosen-Resli/Rose-Girl Resli (Harald Reinl, 1954) which turned child actress Christine Kaufmann into a star. In this and other films like the romantic drama Die schöne Müllerin/The Beautiful Miller (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1954) featuring Waltraut Haas, Mayberg played supporting parts again.

Throughout the 1950s, her parts became smaller, such as in the Spanish film El batallón de las sombras/The Battalion in the Shadows (Manuel Mur Oti, 1957).

She played again a leading role as Brunilde in the Italian fantasy Sigfrido/The Dragon's Blood (Giacomo Gentilomo, 1957), based on Richard Wagner's 'Der Ring des Nibelungen'. Dragon's Blood giant dragon was one of the earliest creatures created by special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi, who later would be responsible for the special effects on King Kong (John Guillermin, 1976) and E.T. (Steven Spielberg, 1982).

Back in Germany, Mayberg appeared in comedies like Immer die Radfahrer/Cyclists Forever (Hans Deppe, 1958) and Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon/Buy a colourful balloon (Géza von Cziffra, 1961). Later she appeared in the Austrian crime film Mann im Schatten/Man in the Shadow (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1961), the TV film Jan Himp und die kleine Brise/Jan Himp and the little Breeze (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1966) with Ulli Lommel, and the sexploitation Wilder Sex junger Mädchen/Love Times Three (Jürgen Schindler, Nino Casale, 1972).

In the literary adaptation Der Schimmelreiter/Rider of a White Horse (Alfred Weidenmann, 1977), starring John Phillip Law and Gert Fröbe, she played her last role, the maid Ann Grete. The film was produced by her own company Schimmelreiter Albis Film GmbH.

Mayberg was married to film producer Alf Teich from 1956 till 1992 (his death) and they had a son. Katharina Mayberg passed away after a long illness in 2007 at her home in Hamburg-Othmarschen. She was 83.

Katharina Mayberg in Klisura (1956)
West-German postcard . Photo: Studio / Titanus Film / Matador-Film. Katharina Mayberg in Klisura (Bosko Kosanovic, 1956).

Katharina Mayberg in Mazurka der Liebe (1957)
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 4077/294. Photo: DEFA / Wunsch. Katharina Mayberg in Mazurka der Liebe/Love's Mazurka (Hans Müller, 1957).

Katharina Mayberg
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 5093/473, 1957. Photo: Kurt Wunsch.

Sources: Wikipedia (English and German), and IMDb.

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