Mady Rahl(1915-2009)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Beautiful, smoky-voiced platinum blonde Mady Rahl was the 'Sportsmädel'
of the German cinema in the
1930's and 40's. During the war years, she
was touted in Nazi propaganda as an ideal of Germanic femininity. Her association with members of the regime, including the ever roving-eyed Joseph Goebbels,
damaged her career in the aftermath of World War II. Nonetheless, she
would reemerge in the 1950's as a more versatile actress, if not a
bigger star.
Mady Rahl was strong-willed and had a commanding, almost aristocratic
air about her. Most of all, she possessed that quality called pizzazz.
From her early teens, Mady was determined to seek a career in the
performing arts. In the process, she financed her expensive acting (at
the Ilka Grüning School) and dance classes
by doing secretarial work (being an adept typist and stenographer).
Rumour has it, that she got her start on the stage (in Leipzig) without
having to sit for an audition. Her looks and comportment seemed
entirely sufficient. Film work came in due course, after she met a
young director named Detlef Sierck (who later found fame and fortune in
Hollywood as Douglas Sirk). He starred her
in his first film (a short comedy) as, perhaps unsurprisingly, a
secretary. Having signed a four-year contract with Ufa, she found
herself in yet another clerical role for
The Mysterious Mister X (1936).
Her first critical acclaim arrived courtesy of a role in the lavish
circus drama Truxa (1937), in which she
co-starred alongside the dancer La Jana. Then
followed a succession of small roles in big Ufa productions like
To New Shores (1937) and
Hallo Janine (1939) and leads in
lightweight romantic comedies (notably
Fräulein (1939) and
Die lustigen Vagabunden (1940),
opposite Johannes Heesters). By the
mid-1940's, Mady had become one of the most celebrated stars of German
films.
After a post-war hiatus, her screen career was reinvigorated with a
handful of dramatic character roles as mysterious or genteel women in
prestige pictures like
Die Dame in Schwarz (1951),
Haie und kleine Fische (1957)
and Der Greifer (1958). In the early
1960's, Mady returned to the theatre, going on tour with the
Munich-based 'Kleine Komödie'. She also became a popular TV guest star,
seemingly omnipresent in prime time cop shows. She was also busily
doing voice-overs for diverse American actresses, from
Gillian Anderson to
Arlene Francis. By the mid-1990's, the
thrice-married actress had wound down her performing career to
concentrate on her other vocation as a successful painter and exhibitor
of water colours. Almost blind and afflicted by dementia, Mady Rahl
died in August 2009 at the respectable age of 94.
of the German cinema in the
1930's and 40's. During the war years, she
was touted in Nazi propaganda as an ideal of Germanic femininity. Her association with members of the regime, including the ever roving-eyed Joseph Goebbels,
damaged her career in the aftermath of World War II. Nonetheless, she
would reemerge in the 1950's as a more versatile actress, if not a
bigger star.
Mady Rahl was strong-willed and had a commanding, almost aristocratic
air about her. Most of all, she possessed that quality called pizzazz.
From her early teens, Mady was determined to seek a career in the
performing arts. In the process, she financed her expensive acting (at
the Ilka Grüning School) and dance classes
by doing secretarial work (being an adept typist and stenographer).
Rumour has it, that she got her start on the stage (in Leipzig) without
having to sit for an audition. Her looks and comportment seemed
entirely sufficient. Film work came in due course, after she met a
young director named Detlef Sierck (who later found fame and fortune in
Hollywood as Douglas Sirk). He starred her
in his first film (a short comedy) as, perhaps unsurprisingly, a
secretary. Having signed a four-year contract with Ufa, she found
herself in yet another clerical role for
The Mysterious Mister X (1936).
Her first critical acclaim arrived courtesy of a role in the lavish
circus drama Truxa (1937), in which she
co-starred alongside the dancer La Jana. Then
followed a succession of small roles in big Ufa productions like
To New Shores (1937) and
Hallo Janine (1939) and leads in
lightweight romantic comedies (notably
Fräulein (1939) and
Die lustigen Vagabunden (1940),
opposite Johannes Heesters). By the
mid-1940's, Mady had become one of the most celebrated stars of German
films.
After a post-war hiatus, her screen career was reinvigorated with a
handful of dramatic character roles as mysterious or genteel women in
prestige pictures like
Die Dame in Schwarz (1951),
Haie und kleine Fische (1957)
and Der Greifer (1958). In the early
1960's, Mady returned to the theatre, going on tour with the
Munich-based 'Kleine Komödie'. She also became a popular TV guest star,
seemingly omnipresent in prime time cop shows. She was also busily
doing voice-overs for diverse American actresses, from
Gillian Anderson to
Arlene Francis. By the mid-1990's, the
thrice-married actress had wound down her performing career to
concentrate on her other vocation as a successful painter and exhibitor
of water colours. Almost blind and afflicted by dementia, Mady Rahl
died in August 2009 at the respectable age of 94.