Helene Weigel
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Helene Weigel | |
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Born | Helene Weigel May 12, 1900 |
Died | May 6, 1971 | (aged 70)
Occupations |
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Spouse | Bertolt Brecht |
Children | 2 |
Helene Weigel (12 May 1900 – 6 May 1971)[citation needed] was a distinguished German actress and artistic director. She was the second wife of Bertolt Brecht and married to him from 1930 until his death in 1956. Together they had two children.
Personal life
Weigel was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, the daughter of Leopoldine (née Pollak) and Siegfried Weigel, a lawyer. Her family was Jewish.[1] She and husband Brecht had two children, Stefan Brecht (3 November 1924 – 13 April 2009)[citation needed] and Barbara Brecht-Schall (28 October 1930 – 31 August 2015).[citation needed] She was a Communist party member from 1930.[citation needed]
Career
Weigel became the artistic director of the Berliner Ensemble after Brecht's death in 1956.[citation needed] She is most noted for creating several Brecht roles, including: Pelagea Vlassova, The Mother of 1932; Antigone in Brecht's version of the Greek tragedy; the title role in his civil war play, Señora Carrar's Rifles; and the iconic Mother Courage.[citation needed]
Between 1933 and 1947, as a refugee from Adolf Hitler's Germany, she was seldom able to pursue her acting craft, even during the family's six-year stay in Los Angeles.[citation needed] It was only with the foundation of the Berliner Ensemble in the East Germany in 1949 that Brecht's theatre began to be recognised worldwide.[citation needed] She died in 1971, still at the helm of the company, and many of the roles that she created with Brecht are still in the theatre's repertoire today.[citation needed]
Death
Weigel died in East Berlin on 6 May 1971.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Helene Weigel | Jewish Women's Archive". Jwa.org. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
Notable understudies
- Ingrid Pitt, British-Polish actress
External links
- Berliner Ensemble
- Jennifer Marston Willia, Biography of Helene Weigel, Jewish Women Encyclopedia
- Helene Weigel at IMDb