- Original name:
- Elisabeth Ettel
- Born:
- August 22, 1897, Drohobych, Austria-Hungary [now in Ukraine]
- Died:
- May 12, 1986, London (aged 88)
Elisabeth Bergner
Elisabeth Bergner (born August 22, 1897, Drohobych, Austria-Hungary [now in Ukraine]—died May 12, 1986, London) was an Austrian actress who was noted for her stage and motion-picture performances as well as for her beauty.
Bergner began her career in Zürich in 1919 but reached international fame in Berlin under Max Reinhardt’s direction in 1924 of Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw. Although she was highly regarded as a stage actress—and she continued to perform through the 1960s—it was her motion-picture roles in sentimental romances that gained her the most enthusiastic audience.
Bergner made her first motion picture in 1923; Nju (1924), directed by her husband-to-be, Paul Czinner, was an instant success, as were the films that followed. Denounced by the Nazis, Bergner and Czinner, who were both Jewish, moved to England. Her stage debut there as Gemma Jones in Escape Me Never (1933) was met with great enthusiasm, and she repeated the role in New York City (1935) and again for the film version that was directed by Czinner (1935); the latter performance garnered her an Academy Award nomination. Other English-language films of Bergner’s include Catherine the Great (1934), As You Like It (1936), Paris Calling (1942; her only U.S. film), and Cry of the Banshee (1970). Her last motion-picture performance was in 1982.
J.M. Barrie wrote his last play (The Boy David; 1936) especially for Bergner, and she enjoyed a two-season run as Sally in Martin Vale’s The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1943). After the war she returned on tour to Germany and Austria on numerous occasions, and she became the first actress to win the Schiller Prize (1963), given by the city of Mannheim, Germany, for contributions to German cultural life. She also won awards at the Berlin Film festivals of 1963 and 1965.