European Film Star Postcards: Sabine Peters

07 April 2023

Sabine Peters

Sabine Peters (1913-1982) was a fresh-faced German theatre and film actress. During the 1930s, she played supporting and occasional leading roles in several mainstream romances and comedies for the Ufa. For Carl Froelich, she played a young student in two films but she had her breakthrough as the selfish and jealous daughter of Lil Dagover in Das Mädchen Irene/The Girl Irene (1936).

Latvian postcard by JDA, Riga, no. 2635. Photo: Ars Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9838/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3463/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.

Eight school girls in a boat

Sabine Peters was born in 1913 in Berlin. The merchant's daughter studied acting with Ilka Grüning. After her studies, she was accepted directly into the ensemble of Agnes Straub at the Berliner Theater am Kurfürstendamm, where she played ingénue roles until 1938.

In that year she also made her film debut as one of the eight school girls in the musical drama Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932) starring Karin Hardt and Theodor Loos.

In the following year, she already played at the side of important actors of that time as Heinrich George, Hertha Thiele and Albert Lieven in the drama Reifende Jugend/Ripening Youth (Carl Froelich, 1933).

She played one of three girls who start at an elite school in Lübeck. The film was inspired by the earlier German romantic drama and cult classic Madchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, 1931) also with Thiele and with artistic direction from Carl Froelich, who also funded that film.

The actor and director Fritz Kampers then engaged Peters for the Bavarian comedy Konjunkturritter/Knights of the Economy (Fritz Kampers, 1934) with the famous German folk actor Weiß Ferdl.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1788/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Atelier von Bergen, Berlin.

German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: Euphono-Märkische. Sabine Peters in Unter Ausschluß der Öffentlichkeit/In the public eye (Paul Wegener, 1937).

A selfish and jealous young girl

Sabine Peters had her breakthrough with Geraldine Katt and Lil Dagover in the Ufa problem film Das Mädchen Irene/The Girl Irene (Reinhold Schünzel, 1936). She played Irene, a selfish and jealous young girl who tries to prevent the remarriage of her attractive mother by all means.

Familiar with classical roles on the stage, she appeared with Heinrich George, Ida Wüst and Rotraut Richter in Der Biberpelz/The Beaver Coat (Jürgen von Alten, 1937), the film adaptation of Gerhart Hauptmann's stage comedy 'Der Biberpelz'.

In 1938 followed the comedy Rätsel um Beate/Mystery around Beate (Johannes Meyer, 1938), again with Lil Dagover and also with Albrecht Schoenhals. She was again a student in the drama Die vier Gesellen/The Four Companions (Carl Froelich, 1938), starring Ingrid Bergman. The film was intended as a star vehicle to launch Bergman's career in Germany following her success in several Swedish films.

Sabine Peters married the opera singer Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender. From this marriage came their daughter Brigitte Fassbaender, born in 1939, who later became an important mezzo-soprano. After 1945 Sabine Peters performed mainly at the theatre. Her last role was a small part in the television film Die Weber/The Weavers (Fritz Umgelter, 1980, an adaptation of the stage play by Gerhart Hauptmann.

Sabine Peters passed away in 1982 in München (Munich), Germany.