Paula Wessely

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Paula Wessely
Wessely in 1935
Born	Paula Anna Maria Wessely (1907-01-20)20 January 1907 Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died	11 May 2000(2000-05-11) (aged 93) Vienna, Austria
Alma mater	State Academy of Music and Performing Arts Max Reinhardt Seminar
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1924–1987
Spouse	Attila Hörbiger ​ ​ (m. 1935; died 1987)​
Children	3, including Christiane Hörbiger
Relatives	Josephine Wessely (paternal aunt)

Paula Anna Maria Wessely (20 January 1907 – 11 May 2000) was an Austrian theatre and film actress. Die Wessely (literally "The Wessely"), as she was affectionately called by her admirers and fans, was Austria's foremost popular postwar actress.

Biography

She was born in

In 1927, she returned to the Volkstheater, playing in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea and Wedekind's Spring Awakening. After being denied the role of Jenny in Brecht's Threepenny Opera in 1929, she quit and joined the ensemble of the Theater in der Josefstadt under director Max Reinhardt.

Strongly insisting on major roles, she performed in Der Gemeine by Felix Salten, together with Attila Hörbiger and Hans Moser. Supported by Reinhardt, she played in Schiller's Intrigue and Love at the 1930 Salzburg Festival. In 1932, she appeared in Hauptmann's Rose Bernd under director Karlheinz Martin at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, acclaimed by the audience as well as by critics like Alfred Kerr and colleagues like Werner Krauss.

On 23 December 1932, having taken singing lessons, she played the leading role in the premiere of

Wessely, who was not particularly photogenic, was passed over in favor of

Like her brother-in-law Paul Hörbiger, Wessely had publicly acclaimed the Anschluss, after which she smoothly continued her film and theatre career.

Her most notorious movie appearance was in the anti-Polish

After WWII, she was initially under a ban by the Allied authorities. She resumed her career in 1945 at the Innsbruck State Theatre with the role of Christine in Liebelei, and again at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan the next year. She participated in the filming of Ernst Lothar's novel The Angel with the Trumpet in 1947, playing a half-Jewish woman. In 1957 she was again criticized ^{[citation needed]} for her role in the homophobic film Anders als du und ich by Veit Harlan.

She worked mainly as a theatre actress at the Vienna Burgtheater together with her husband for more than 40 years, performing in Raimund's Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind and Der Diamant des Geisterkönigs, again as Gretchen in Goethe's Faust, in Schnitzler's Das weite Land, in Hofmannsthal's Der Unbestechliche with Josef Meinrad and as Ella Rentheim in Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman. When Attila Hörbiger died of a stroke in April 1987, aged 91, Wessely, by then undisputed doyenne of the Burgtheater, retired at the age of 80.

In her last years she lived a very secluded life in her hometown Vienna and suffered from major

Awards and decorations

• 1935:
  Volpi Cup for Best Actress for the film Episode (Venice Biennale
  )
• 1949: Max Reinhardt Ring
• 1960: Kainz Medal
• 1962:
  Bambi Prize
• 1963:
  Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
• 1967: Gold Medal of the capital Vienna
• 1976:
  Grand Silver Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria
• 1979:
  Iffland Ring and donated in 1978 by the Austrian Government to mark the death of Burgtheater-actress Alma Seidler
  (1899–1977); Wessely was the first recipient)
• 1982: Honorary Ring of Vienna
• 1984: Gold German Film Award for many years of excellent work in German films

References

Further reading

• Georg Markus: Die Hörbigers. Biografie einer Familie. Wien: Amalthea Verlag, 2006.
  ISBN 3-85002-565-9
• Edda Fuhrich & Gisela Prossnitz (ed.): Paula Wessely, Attila Hörbiger. Ihr Leben – ihr Spiel. Eine Dokumentation. München: Langen Müller, 1985.
  ISBN 3-7844-2035-4
• André Müller: Entblößungen. München: Goldmann, 1979.
  ISBN 3-442-03887-1
• Elisabeth Orth: Märchen ihres Lebens. Meine Eltern Paula Wessely und Attila Hörbiger. Wien: Molden, 1975.
  ISBN 3-217-05032-0
• Maria Steiner: Paula Wessely. Die verdrängten Jahre. Wien: Verlag für Gesellschaftskritik, 1996.
  ISBN 3-85115-224-7

• Paula Wessely at Find a Grave
• Paula Wessely at
  IMDb
• Photographs and bibliography
• German Disney dubbings