Colette Brettel

Colette Brettel (1902-1973) was a British silent film actress who moved to Berlin in 1924. There she met her future husband, Ernst Winar, in whose films she often starred. She had a busy film career in German films until sound film drove her back to Britain.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1973/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Suse Byk, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3199/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Suse Byk, Berlin.

Wuthering Heights

Colette Brettel was born Dorothy Nicolette Pettigrew in London in 1902. She made her screen debut as Cathy Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights (A.V. Bramble, 1920), the first screen adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic 1847 novel of destructive love. Milton Rosmer co-starred as Heathcliff and the film was primarily shot in and around Brontë's home village of Haworth. Sadly, this silent version is considered to be a lost film.

Brettel then appeared in several British films of the early 1920s including the British-Dutch crime film Blood Money/Bloedgeld (Fred Goodwins, 1921) with Adelqui Migliar and The Prodigal Son (A. E. Coleby, 1923), shot in Iceland and the Riviera, and starring Henry Victor and Stewart Rome.

The Prodigal Son's original release length was 18,454 feet (280 minutes) which made it the longest commercially made British film. It was shown in two consecutive parts. The film was not a commercial success upon its release and was attacked by critics. It was perhaps the biggest failure of all the films released by Stoll Pictures, the largest British film company of the early 1920s. However, the film was re-released in 1929 with a greatly reduced running time.

The British film industry was losing out to heavy competition from Hollywood, which was helped by its much larger home market. The 'Slump' of 1924 caused many British film studios to close. When the number of British films released sharply declined, Colette Brettel moved to the European film capital at the time, Berlin.

On the set of her first German film, Wettlauf zum Glück/Race for Luck (Bruno Ziener 1924), Brettel met her future husband, the Dutch actor and director Ernst Winar. Wettlauf zum Glück/Race for luck was set in Tibet, but filmed in Europe. Next, she appeared with Winar in Komödie des Herzens/Comedy of the Heart (Rochus Gliese, 1924) starring Lil Dagover and Nigel Barrie. The film was co-scripted by the great director F.W. Murnau and was one of Ufa's major releases of the 1923-1925 boom period.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 51/1. Photo: Koop Film, Berlin. Hans Mierendorff as the industrialist Franz Großmann and Colette Brettel as his daughter in Die Wacht am Rhein/Aus des Rheinlands Schicksalstagen/Watch on the Rhine (Helene Lackner, 1926).

A fruitful career in Germany

Colette Brettel had a fruitful career in Germany and was known for her voluptuous figure, according to IMDb. She was directed by a wide range of directors such as Manfred Noa, Hans Steinhoff, and Fred Sauer. Steinhoff directed her in the silent operetta film Gräfin Mariza/Countess Maritza (Hans Steinhoff, 1925) with Vivian Gibson and Harry Liedtke. It is an adaptation of the operetta of the same title by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán.

The young Marlene Dietrich played her daughter in the drama Der Juxbaron/The Imaginary Baron (Willi Wolff, 1927) starring Reinhold Schünzel as the title figure. Brettel had a supporting role in the romantic comedy Der moderne Casanova/A Modern Casanova (Max Obal, Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1928) starring Harry Liedtke, María Corda and Ernö Verebes.

She acted in several films of her husband Ernst Winar, including his first film as director, the controversial § 182 Minderjährig/Paragraph 182 (Ernst Winar, 1927). She also played in his Der Neffe aus Amerika/The Nephew from America (Ernst Winar, 1927), Das Haus am Krögel/The House on the Krögel (Ernst Winar, 1927), and Der Hafenbaron/The Harbour Baron (Ernst Winar, 1928) with Hans Brausewetter.

Brettel did not master the German language and quit cinema when the sound film set in. Her final German film was Die nicht heiraten dürfen/Who are not allowed to marry (Carl Heinz Rudolph, 1929) with André Mattoni. Colette Brettel moved back to Britain, where she did not make films anymore. Ernst Winar returned to the Netherlands and he would direct several Dutch films and became the film coach for a young student director called Paul Verhoeven.

Colette Brettel died in Sheffield, Great Britain, in 1973. About how and when her marriage with Winar ended, we could not find any information online.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5131. Photo: Kiesel, Berlin.



Belgian postcard by S.A. Cacao et Chocolat Kivou, Vilvoorde / N.V. Cacao en Chocolade Kivou, Vilvoorde. Photo: Artistes Associés (United Artists). Brettel's name is misspelt on this card.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

This post was lkast updated on 9 August 2023.