Marianne Hoppe
Encyclopedia
Marianne Hoppe was a most distinguished German
theatre
and film
actress.
, Marianne Hoppe became a leading lady of stage and films in Germany. She was born into a wealthy land owning family and was initially privately educated on her father's private estate. Later she attended school in Berlin
and in Weimar
, where she began to attend theatre.
Hoppe first performed at 17 as a member of Berlin
's Deutsches Theater
under director Max Reinhardt
. In 1935 she was hired by the controversial German actor and Director of the Prussian State Theatre under the Third Reich, Gustav Gründgens. They were married from 1936-1946. Speaking years after the marriage had ended Hoppe stated, "He was my love, but never my great love, that was work." One of the characters in the film Mephisto
is based on her. Another is based on Gründgens. Hoppe made no secret of her contacts with the Nazi elite in the 1930s and 40's, including being invited to dinner by Hitler. Her role in Der Schimmelreiter (The Rider of the White Horse, 1933) made her famous almost overnight, while her "Aryan" face made her a darling of the Nazi elite. Later Hoppe would label this period of her life as "the black page in my golden book".
During her time acting at the home of the Prussian State Theatre, the Schauspielhaus, Hoppe developed her analytical approach to acting, which she stated consisted in her "taking apart every sentence" and giving the use of language a brilliance. This method was to be associated with Hoppe throughout her working life.
Four years later after her divorce from Gründgens, Hoppe had a great success as Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams
's A Streetcar Named Desire, and increasingly played avant-garde roles, written by authors such as Heiner Muller
(Quartett, 1994) and Thomas Bernhard
, who became her partner in private life as well. She became a favourite of the young and iconoclastic directors Claus Peymann, Robert Wilson
and Frank Castorf
.
Hoppe died in Siegsdorf
, Bavaria
, in 2002 from natural causes, aged 93. "German theater has lost its queen," said Claus Peymann of the Berliner Ensemble
, whose theatre featured Hoppe's last performance, in Bertolt Brecht
's Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, in December 1997. In one of her last interviews Hoppe stated, "I have a go at happiness every day. That takes discipline, a virtue every halfway decent actor should have."
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
actress.
Life and work
Born in RostockRostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
, Marianne Hoppe became a leading lady of stage and films in Germany. She was born into a wealthy land owning family and was initially privately educated on her father's private estate. Later she attended school in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, where she began to attend theatre.
Hoppe first performed at 17 as a member of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
's Deutsches Theater
Deutsches Theater
The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...
under director Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (theatre director)
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
. In 1935 she was hired by the controversial German actor and Director of the Prussian State Theatre under the Third Reich, Gustav Gründgens. They were married from 1936-1946. Speaking years after the marriage had ended Hoppe stated, "He was my love, but never my great love, that was work." One of the characters in the film Mephisto
Mephisto (novel)
Mephisto – Novel of a Career is the sixth novel by Klaus Mann, which was published in 1936 whilst he was in exile in Amsterdam. It was published for the first time in Germany in the East Berlin Aufbau-Verlag in 1956...
is based on her. Another is based on Gründgens. Hoppe made no secret of her contacts with the Nazi elite in the 1930s and 40's, including being invited to dinner by Hitler. Her role in Der Schimmelreiter (The Rider of the White Horse, 1933) made her famous almost overnight, while her "Aryan" face made her a darling of the Nazi elite. Later Hoppe would label this period of her life as "the black page in my golden book".
During her time acting at the home of the Prussian State Theatre, the Schauspielhaus, Hoppe developed her analytical approach to acting, which she stated consisted in her "taking apart every sentence" and giving the use of language a brilliance. This method was to be associated with Hoppe throughout her working life.
Four years later after her divorce from Gründgens, Hoppe had a great success as Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
's A Streetcar Named Desire, and increasingly played avant-garde roles, written by authors such as Heiner Muller
Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller was a German dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. Described as "the theatre's greatest living poet" since Samuel Beckett, Müller is arguably the most important German dramatist of the 20th century after Bertolt Brecht...
(Quartett, 1994) and Thomas Bernhard
Thomas Bernhard
Thomas Bernhard was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet. Bernhard, whose body of work has been called "the most significant literary achievement since World War II," is widely considered to be one of the most important German-speaking authors of the postwar era.- Life :Thomas Bernhard was...
, who became her partner in private life as well. She became a favourite of the young and iconoclastic directors Claus Peymann, Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson (director)
Robert Wilson is an American avant-garde stage director and playwright who has been called "[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theater artist'". Over the course of his wide-ranging career, he has also worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video...
and Frank Castorf
Frank Castorf
Frank Castorf is a German theater director and since 1992 the artistic director of the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz...
.
Hoppe died in Siegsdorf
Siegsdorf
Siegsdorf is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany....
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, in 2002 from natural causes, aged 93. "German theater has lost its queen," said Claus Peymann of the Berliner Ensemble
Berliner Ensemble
The Berliner Ensemble is a German theatre company established by playwright Bertolt Brecht and his wife, Helene Weigel in January 1949 in East Berlin...
, whose theatre featured Hoppe's last performance, in Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
's Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, in December 1997. In one of her last interviews Hoppe stated, "I have a go at happiness every day. That takes discipline, a virtue every halfway decent actor should have."
Awards
- 1987 Bavarian Film AwardsBayerischer FilmpreisThe Bavarian Film Awards have been awarded annually since 1979 by the State Government of Bavaria in Germany for “exceptional achievement in German filmmaking.” Along with the German Film Awards, these are the most highly regarded awards for filmmaking achievement in Germany.The Bavarian Film...
, Best Actress - 1996 Bavarian Film Awards, Honorary Award
Selected filmography
- Der Schimmelreiter (1934)
- Kapriolen (1937)
- Der Schritt von Wege (1939)
- Romanze in Moll (1943)
- The Strange CountessThe Strange CountessThe Strange Countess is a 1961 German crime film directed by Josef von Báky and starring Joachim Fuchsberger based on Edgar Wallace's 1925 book of the same title.-Cast:* Joachim Fuchsberger - Inspektor Michael 'Mike' Dorn...
(1961) - Der Schatz im Silbersee (1962)
- Wrong Move (1975)
- Bei Thea (1988)