German actress, singer and author Hildegard Knef, Germany´s second international star following in the foot steps of Marlene Dietrich and Caterina Valente, died in Berlin on February 1, 2002, aged 76, the night before the Dutch crown gave her hand in marriage with Maxima. Hildegard Knef had not recovered from pneumonia, which she was treated for in the Berlin hospital, Heckeshorn.

Hilde, as she was called by the Berliners with by popular name, is now buried in Zehlendorf. The Berlin authorities showed courage since a long time (remember the Marlene Dietrich legacy) to honour the Berlin-goodwill ambassador with a special grave yard, where she has found final rest on February 7, 2002.

Hildegard Knef was born in Ulm on December 28, 1925. Indeed - she was a close friend with Marlene Dietrich (photo, Knef left).

She was an international star made in Germany. She performed on Broadway in Cole Porter musical "Silk Stockings", a triumph for her in 1955 alongside with Don Ameche, in which she created the role of Ninotschka on stage (photo with Don Ameche and poster, below).

She continued in German, Italian, American and French films before started out to become a well recognised cabaret singer. German star director, Boreslav Barlog was overwhelmed when meeting her first and returned in his typical Berlin humour with the words: "girl you stink for talent!" How right he was. But the many skills she developed sometimes could hinder her, too.

The London Times wrote about her as a "glamorous German actress who brought a riveting presence to her work on screen and stage." Ella Fitzgerald once said about the entertainer: "she is a singer without voice".

Her rough and easy to recognisable art of interpreting a song was best loved in "Für mich soll´s rote Rosen regnen" ("It should rain red roses for me"), a song which became a trade mark for her and her smoke-soaked voice and singing.

Knef's early life has been told in her articulate two-volume autobiography, "Der geschenkte Gaul." The English translations of her two volumes of autobiography, "The Gift Horse" and "The Verdict", were published in London in 1971 and 1976.

She started out at the film school in Berlin-Babelsberg aiming at a job as cartoon artist she fell in love with film director Ewald Demandowsky, a fanatical Nazi and head of Tobis Films, who discovered her talent during the war. The propaganda film company UFA, then under the watchful eye of Joseph Goebbels, thought to have found "an answer to Germany's erstwhile apostate chanteuse", the London Times is writing.

After the war Knef was imprisonment by the Russians and a subsequent perilous flight from captivity. Her autobiographies describe her escape amid chaos and return to Berlin where, as a German film industry reasserted its presence in the ruins. She had her first roles in films as Wolfgang Staudte's "Die Mörder sind unter uns" (1946, "The Murderers Are Among Us"), a gloomily introspective examination of German war guilt, and "Zwischen Gestern und Morgen" (1947, "Between Yesterday and Tomorrow").

Her post-war career, begun in the ruins of Berlin's theatre. German star director, Boreslav Barlog gave her the chance of doing the prologue for the opening of his famous Schlosspark Theatre. She continued with many more appearances on stage, including "Hocuspocus" (Curt Goetz), she played Shakespeare, Eugene O'Neill and many more. The photo below shows a very seductive Knef as staged by Boreslaw Barlog in the German post-war premiere of "Drei Mann auf einem Pferd" ("Three Man on a Horse") by George Abbot and John Cecil Holm in August 1946 in Berlin.

A marriage to a GI took her to America where her Berlin performances had come to the attention of studio boss David O. Selznick already. She has been offered the chance by Twentieth Century Fox to co-star with Montgomery Clift in "The Big Lift", but when her German wartime past was discovered, this opportunity was withheld.

She returned to Germany. She was the first to appear naked on screen in the film "Die Sünderin" ("The Sinner") in 1951. A "first" for of course the German post-war cinema which outraged audiences, moralists and the Roman Catholic Church for its nude scene.

Knef, who eased pronunciation of her name to Hildegarde Neff for American audiences, at least tried hard to launch a promising career with films as "The Snows of Kilimanjar"o, alongside Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner (1952) in America.

She became the first German post-war actress to work in a Paris. After "La Fête à Henriette" in 1953, she went on to make several other French and Franco-German films. Among her Italian films was "Caterina di Russia" (1953), in which she played the title role. In the meantime, Hollywood was still captivated by her, and gave her another chance. Hilde continued with a stint in Hollywood, which then was brought to an end when she refused to pretend to be an Austrian and change her name. But she made periodic return visits to America, notably starring as Ninotchka in the Cole Porter musical Silk Stockings.

In the 1960s she began a second career as a cabaret singer, sometimes writing her own lyrics. Her songs have being notably written by star composers as Hans Hammerschmidt, Les Humphries, Kurt Edelhagen, Werner Müller, Kai Rautenberg (RIAS Berlin) or Harold Faltermeyer. With British actor/director David Cameron she wrote classics as "Von nun an ging's bergab" ("From Here On It Got Rough"), a song which is always reported to tell her life in a song. She release many records and had at least 15 big hits in Germany and performed even in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1968.

On stage her whole appearance evoked Brecht's indomitable Mother Courage (later in 1963 supported by the German film "Die Dreigroschenoper", in which she played a striking Pirate Jenny), as well as that harsh post-war Germany in which young girls offered themselves to soldiers for cigarettes or chocolate. An image that was hard to overcome soon.

She was always popular there, and Hildegarde Neff could doubtless have made many more films than she did. But she preferred Europe and being Hildegard Knef. And being "the Knef" she sang, wrote books and painted, a skill often being forgotten about her other skills.

In the early 1970s cancer was diagnosed, and she underwent a series of painful operations. Nevertheless, she continued to work whenever she could. Problems with her managers forced her to live a simple life, which she enjoyed anyway. Help came from a lot of friends, who never gave up on her - including the director of a Berlin hotel, who gave her free and permanent accommodation. The Berlin theatre land saw her stage comeback in October 1987, where she was perfect as "Fräulein Schneider" in Kander/Ebb´s musical "Cabaret".

She was appearing as recently as 2000 in the documentary "Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song", in which she played herself. Her last TV appearances are dating back to 1997 for the "ARD Fernsehlottery" and and later ZDF interview.

In late 1999 her remarkable voice was captured for the last time on record. German young-star trumpet player and producer, Till Broenner, gave Hildegard Knef confidence enough to record again. In a Berlin studio they cut eleven tracks for the independent label Red Moon (LC 00784, Nucleus/RedMoon: 3984-29736-2, EW851). Title of the CD: 17 millimetre". Her final song: "Für mich soll's rote Rosen regnen". The CD received remarkable reviews - even in jazz circles. Worth mentioning that you will find this record more likely in the jazz department of a very good music store rather than in the show business or World Music Section/Germany. As taster, we do offer here: it's the new collaboration between Til Broenner, composer, and Hildegard Knef, lyrics: "17 millimetre" (drums: Wolfgang Haffner).

Her first two marriages, to the American actor and director Kurt Hirsch, and the British actor and director David Cameron, were dissolved. She is survived by her German husband, actor Paul von Schell, and by two daughters.

Hildegard Knef - as Marlene Dietrich and Caterina Valente has been an good will ambassador of German culture to the world. Hilde never has chosen the easier way and sometimes was treated bad by the media. But she survived everything and became even stronger.

Asked by Euroshowtime about the reasons to change directions so often and why to take upon all the affords in risking a straight image she returned: "You get back a lot from the audience. And that matters". Good-bye Hilde!

It seems to be appropriate to mention that we, in the editorial office of Euroshowtime, re-discovered a re-remake of "Für mich soll´s rote Rosen regnen" ("It should rain red roses fro me") by German rock band Extrabreit featuring Hildegard Knef the very day she had died in Berlin; that day we have played it on several occasions in England. Our interview dated back to her performance in "Cabaret" by John Kander and Fred Ebb in the Berlin Theatre des Westens in 1987.

© 2002