Eva von Berne (born Genofeva Plentzner von Scharneck, 8 July 1910 – 9 November 2010) was an Austrian

film actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...

Biography

Eva von Berne was born Genofeva Plentzner von Scharneck in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

which was then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. Her parents were Karl Emil Angelo Plentzner von Scharneck (born 1878), originally from

Komárom Komárom (Hungarian: ; german: Komorn; la, Brigetio, later ; sk, Komárno) is a city in Hungary on the south bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom County. Komárno, Slovakia, is on the northern bank. Komárom was formerly a separate villag ...

, and Franziska von Plentzner von Scharneck (née Silber, born 1886), who was born in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

. She had three siblings. After the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the Pentzner von Scharneck family fled to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. She was working as a dance instructor and model when she was discovered in Vienna by the Hollywood producer

Irving Thalberg Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather productio ...

who was there on his

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...

with

Norma Shearer Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated ingénues. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O'N ...

.Forslund p.226 Convinced she had star potential, Thalberg signed her up for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

. Considered as a "new Garbo" she was heavily promoted by the studio's publicity department. However, after making her debut in the 1928 silent ''

The Masks of the Devil ''The Masks of the Devil'' is a lost 1928 American drama silent film directed by Victor Sjöström and written by Marian Ainslee, Ruth Cummings, Svend Gade and Frances Marion. The film stars John Gilbert, Alma Rubens, Theodore Roberts, Frank ...

'' concerns grew at the studio about her weight and her inability to speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

which was a requirement due to the arrival of

sound film A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

s. She returned to Europe without making another film in America. In Germany she appeared in four productions and then announced her retirement from films in 1930 at the age of twenty. In 1930, a PR consultant of MGM made a mistake when he released the information that Eva von Berne died in 1930 at the age of only 20 years because of excessive diet. This was still accepted as fact in the 1980s, and it wasn't until the 2000s that the public became aware that she was still alive. In a 2006 interview with Toni Schieck, von Berne said, "...It was fortunate that the world thought that I died. So I did not have to deal with autograph hunters". Eva von Berne worked as an executive to display windows in Vienna, and later she fled to Salzburg after the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

where she lived with her family. Von Berne was also successful as a sculptor and had several exhibitions in Austria. She married Helmut Krauss, a former major in the Austrian army. Von Berne died on November 9, 2010 at the age of 100.

Filmography

* ''

'' (1928) *Lost film * ''

Somnambul ''Somnambul'' is a 1929 Cinema of Germany, German silent film, silent horror film directed by Adolf Trotz and starring Fritz Kortner, Erna Morena and Veit Harlan. The film is set against the backdrop of spiritualism. The Berlin clairvoyant Elsb ...

'' (1929) * '' Trust of Thieves'' (1929) * '' Escape to the Foreign Legion'' (1929) * '' The Call of the North'' (1929) *'' Hollywood (1980)

References

Bibliography

* Bengt Forslund. ''Victor Sjöström: his life and his work''. New York Zoetrope, 1988.

External links

* 1910 births 2010 deaths Austrian film actresses Austrian female dancers Austrian dancers Actresses from Sarajevo Austrian centenarians Women centenarians Austrian expatriates in the United States {{Austria-bio-stub