Hanna Ralph (born Johanna Antonia Adelheid Günther; 25 September 1888 – 25 March 1978) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

stage and film actress whose career began on the stage and in silent film in the 1910s and continued through the early 1950s.

Career

Hanna Ralph was born in

Bad Kissingen Bad Kissingen is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is one of the health resorts, which be ...

, Germany, she made her stage debut in 1913 at the Schauspielhaus in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. From 1914 to 1915 she was encaged at the at Staatstheater Mainz and in 1916 at the City Theater in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In 1917 she began working on various stages in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Hanna Ralph made her screen debut in the 1917

Ludwig Beck Ludwig August Theodor Beck (; 29 June 1880 – 20 July 1944) was a German general and Chief of the German General Staff during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II. Although Beck never became a member of the Na ...

-directed short ''Die entschleierte Maja'', opposite actor

Walter Janssen Walter Janssen (7 February 1887 – 1 January 1976) was a German film actor and director. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1917 and 1970. Selected filmography * '' The Dancer'' (1919) * ''Destiny'' (1921) * ''Wandering Souls'' (1 ...

and the following year had a starring role in director

Georg Jacoby Georg Jacoby (23 July 1882 – 21 February 1964) was a German film director and screenwriter.Profile
, bfi.org.uk; accessed ...

's ''Keimendes Leben, Teil 1'', opposite

Emil Jannings Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' The L ...

. The film serial was followed by ''Keimendes Leben, Teil 2'' in 1919. One of her most popular roles during her early years in films was that of the role of Katarina in

Carl Froelich Carl August Hugo Froelich (5 September 1875 – 12 February 1953) was a German film pioneer and film director. He was born and died in Berlin. Biography Apparatus builder and cameraman From 1903 Froelich was a colleague of Oskar Messter, one of ...

's 1921 film adaptation of

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

's novel ''Die Brüder Karamasoff'' (''

The Brothers Karamazov ''The Brothers Karamazov'' (russian: Братья Карамазовы, ''Brat'ya Karamazovy'', ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing '' ...

''), with actors

Fritz Kortner Fritz Kortner (born Fritz Nathan Kohn; 12 May 1892 – 22 July 1970) was an Austrian stage and film actor and theatre director. Life and career Kortner was born in Vienna as Fritz Nathan Kohn into a Jewish family. He studied at the Vienna A ...

and

Bernhard Goetzke Bernhard Goetzke (5 June 1884 – 7 October 1964) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in 130 films between 1917 and 1961. Selected filmography * ''Fear'' (1917) * ''The Last Sun Son'' (1919) * ''The Japanese Woman'' (1919) * ''The P ...

. In 1924 she appeared in the

Herbert Wilcox Herbert Sydney Wilcox Order of the British Empire, CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and film director, director. He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best know ...

-directed romantic drama ''

Decameron Nights ''Decameron Nights'' is a 1953 anthology Technicolor film based on three tales from ''The Decameron'' by Giovanni Boccaccio, specifically the ninth and tenth tales of the second day and the ninth tale of the third. It stars Joan Fontaine and, a ...

'' opposite American stage and screen actor

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...

, and in

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

's silent fantasy film ''

Die Nibelungen ''Die Nibelungen'' ("The Nibelungs") is a two-part series of silent fantasy films created by Austrian director Fritz Lang in 1924, consisting of ''Die Nibelungen: Siegfried'' and ''Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge''. The scenarios for bot ...

'', based on the epic poem ''

Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poetry, epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition ...

'', as

Brunhild Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild ( non, Brynhildr , gmh, Brünhilt, german: Brünhild , label=Modern German or ), is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda o ...

. In 1926 she appeared in the internationally successful F.W. Murnau-directed,

Universum Film AG UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA (), is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. Its name derives from Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (normally abbreviated as ...

(UFA) distributed ''

Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage ''Faust – A German Folktale'' (German: ) is a 1926 silent film produced by Ufa, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Gösta Ekman as Faust, Emil Jannings as Mephisto, Camilla Horn as Gretchen/Marguerite, Frida Richard as her mother, Wilhelm D ...

'' opposite

Gösta Ekman Hans Gösta Gustaf Ekman (; 28 July 1939 – 1 April 2017) was a Swedish actor, comedian, and director. Career Ekman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and was the son of the director Hasse Ekman and Agneta (née Wrangel). Ekman represented t ...

Camilla Horn Camilla Martha Horn (25 April 1903 – 14 August 1996) was a German dancer and a film star of the silent and sound era. She starred in several Hollywood films of the late 1920s and in a few British and Italian productions. Biography The daught ...

and husband Emil Jannings. Hanna Ralph's career withstood the transition to

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 ...

, however she appeared in only three films of the 1930s; instead, she spent much of the decade in theatre. By the

Second World War 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 ...

she retired from acting. After the war's end, she briefly returned to film in the early 1950s; appearing in small roles in director

Wolfgang Liebeneiner Wolfgang Georg Louis Liebeneiner (6 October 1905 – 28 November 1987) was a German actor, film director and theatre director. Beginnings He was born in Lubawka, Liebau in Prussian Silesia. In 1928, he was taught by Otto Falckenberg, the directo ...

's 1951 crime drama ''

The Blue Star of the South ''The Blue Star of the South'' (German: ''Der blaue Stern des Südens'') is a 1951 Austrian comedy film directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner and starring Viktor de Kowa, Gustav Knuth and Gretl Schörg.Fritsche p.241 It was shot at the Bavaria Studios ...

'' and

Harald Reinl Harald Reinl (8 July 1908 in Bad Ischl, Austria – 9 October 1986 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) was an Austrian film director. He is known for the films he made based on Edgar Wallace and Karl May books (see Karl May movies and Edgar Walla ...

's 1952 drama '' Behind Monastery Walls'' before retiring from acting altogether. Friedrich August Kaulbach (1850-1920) - Portrait of the actress Hanna Ralph (1885-1978)

Friedrich August Kaulbach (1850-1920) - Portrait of the actress Hanna Ralph (1885-1978)

Personal life

Hanna Ralph was married to the German actor

in 1919, however the marriage ended in divorce in 1921. She was later briefly married to director

Fritz Wendhausen Fritz Wendhausen(7 August 1890, Wendhausen – 5 January 1962, Königstein im Taunus) was a German actor, screenwriter and film director. He is also credited as Frederick Wendhausen and F.R. Wendhausen. In 1938 he emigrated to Britain from Nazi ...

. She died in 1978 in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

at the age of 89.

Awards

In 1968 she was awarded the

Bundesfilmpreis The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous co ...

for her legacy as an actress in German cinema.Profile
, deutsche-filmakademie.de; accessed 26 October 2014.

Partial filmography

* ''Die entschleierte Maja'' (1917) - Naela * ''

Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Lassalle (; 11 April 1825 – 31 August 1864) was a Prussian-German jurist, philosopher, socialist and political activist best remembered as the initiator of the social democratic movement in Germany. "Lassalle was the first man in Ger ...

'' (1918) - Gräfin Hatzfeld * ''

The Seeds of Life The Seeds of Life is the 20th co-production of MediaCorp TV and ntv7. It was scheduled to air every Monday to Thursday at 10:00pm on Malaysia's ntv7. It was shown on Mediacorp Channel 8 on weekdays at 7pm. It stars Melvin Sia , Shaun Chen ...

'' (1918-1919, part 1, 2) - Marietta Fraenkel, Fabrikbesitzer * ''Tausend und eine Frau. Aus dem Tagebuch eines Junggesellen'' (1918) * ''Das Geheimnis der Cecilienhütte'' (1918) * ''

Opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

'' (1919) - Maria Geselius * '' The Man of Action'' (1919) - Henrica van Looy * ''Moral und Sinnlichkeit'' (1919) - Marietta Gerstner * ''

Prince Cuckoo ''Prince Cuckoo'' (german: Prinz Kuckuck) is a 1919 German silent drama film directed by Paul Leni and starring Conrad Veidt, Olga Limburg, and Magnus Stifter. It premiered at the Marmorhaus. It is now considered a lost film. It was shot at the ...

'' (1919) * ''Das große Licht'' (1920) * ''

Algol ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...

'' (1920) - Maria Obal * ''

'' (1920) - Katarina * ''

The Skull of Pharaoh's Daughter ''The Skull of Pharaoh's Daughter'' (German: ''Der Schädel der Pharaonentochter'') is a 1920 German silent film directed by Otz Tollen and starring Emil Jannings, Erna Morena and Kurt Vespermann Kurt Vespermann (1 May 1887 – 13 July 195 ...

'' (1920) * ''

The Bull of Olivera ''The Bull of Olivera'' (german: Der Stier von Olivera) is a 1921 German silent historical drama film directed by Erich Schönfelder and starring Emil Jannings. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. The film's art direction was by ...

'' (1921) - Donna Juana * '' The Sins of the Mother'' (1921) - Harriet Kellogg - Schauspielerin * ''Ein Fest auf Haderslevhuus'' (1921) - Wulfhild * ''Oberst Rokschanin'' (1922) * '' William Ratcliff'' (1922) * ''Homo sum'' (1922) * ''

The Favourite of the Queen ''The Favourite of the Queen'' (German: ''Der Favorit der Königin'') is a 1922 German silent historical film directed by Franz Seitz and starring Erich Kaiser-Titz, Hanna Ralph and Willy Kaiser-Heyl.Bock & Bergfelder p.366 It is based on a pla ...

'' (1922) - Königin Elisabeth * '' Helena'' (1924) - Andromache * ''

'' (1924) - Brunhild * ''

'' (1924) - Lady Violante * ''Muß die Frau Mutter werden?'' (1924) - Frau Derstner * '' The Tower of Silence'' (1925) - Liane * '' The Director General'' (1925) - Gerda * ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

'' (1926) - Herzogin von Parma / Duchess of Parma * ''Det sovende Hus'' (1926) - Elisabeth * ''Das edle Blut'' (1927) - Thea von Lingen * ''

Restless Hearts ''Restless Hearts'' (german: Herzen ohne Ziel, es, Corazones sin rumbo) is a 1928 Cinema of Germany, German-Cinema of Spain, Spanish silent film directed by Benito Perojo and Gustav Ucicky and starring Betty Bird, Hanna Ralph and Livio Pavanelli ...

'' (1928) - Dolores Heredia * ''

Napoleon at Saint Helena ''Napoleon at Saint Helena'' (german: Napoleon auf Sankt Helena) is a 1929 German silent historical film directed by Lupu Pick and starring Werner Krauss, Hanna Ralph, and Albert Bassermann. It was shot at the EFA Studios in Berlin with lo ...

'' (1929) - Madame Bertrand * '' The King of Paris'' (1930) - Duchess of Marsignac * ''Der sündige Hof'' (1933) - Lona, seine Frau * ''Martha'' (1936) - Königin von England * ''

'' (1951) - Oberin Madeleine * '' Behind Monastery Walls'' (1952) - Generaloberin (final film role)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralph, Hanna 1888 births 1978 deaths German stage actresses German film actresses German silent film actresses People from Bad Kissingen 20th-century German actresses