Margot Walter, also known as Margot Landa (4 October 1903 in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

– April 1994 in

Camden Town Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...

, London, England), was a German actress.

Life and career

Born in Potsdam near

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 ...

Walter became a regular member of the cast at the Hamburg Stadttheater in 1923. After a season at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg she moved to Berlin in 1925 after being contracted by the ''Deutsches Künstlertheater Berlin'' (German Artist Theatre Berlin), one of the several Berlin theatres run by successful Jewish

theatrical producer A theatrical producer is a person who oversees all aspects of mounting a theatre Stagecraft, production. The producer is responsible for the overall financial and managerial functions of a production or venue, raises or provides financial backin ...

. Her usual characters were the ingenue and the

soubrette A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy". Theatre In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...

. The following year (1926) her film career started when she was discovered by

Reinhold Schünzel Reinhold Schünzel (7 November 1888 – 11 November 1954) was a German actor and director, active in both Germany and the United States. The son of a German father and a Jewish mother, he was born in St. Pauli, the poorest part of Hamburg. Despite ...

. Margot Walter played mainly happy-go-lucky teenage girls in comedies, romantic comedies and

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

s which were constantly on an insignificant artistic level. Those were topics popular with the audience during the period of radical change from silent to sound movies. Margot Walter contracted leading and main supporting roles. Married to Jewish silent movie star

Max Landa Max Landa ( be, Макс Ландаў; 24 April 1873 – 8 November 1933; born Max Landau) was a Russian-born Austrian silent film and stage actor. Career Landa attended the Handelsakademie (commercial academy) in Vienna and took classes with a ...

, 30 years her elder, her career came to a sudden end in January 1933 when the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

took over the government in Germany. The couple went into exile where her husband committed suicide the same year. As Margot Landa the young widow settled down in England, where she had worked already in 1928. Her last film appearance was in the British production ''

Night Alone ''Night Alone'' is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Emlyn Williams, Leonora Corbett and Lesley Brook. The film was shot at the Welwyn Studios of Associated British.Wood p.99 It was based on a play by Jeffrey De ...

'' in 1938.

Warwick Ward Warwick Ward (3 December 1891 – 9 December 1967) was an English actor of the stage and screen, and a film producer. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1919 and 1933. He also produced 19 films between 1931 and 1958. He was born in ...

, the producer of ''Night Alone'', knew her from Berlin where he had worked as an actor. In spring 1994 Margot Landa died in Camden Town. A different Margot Walter (born 1924) worked exclusively as stage actress, e.g. in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

}, Germany in the 1950s.

Filmography

* 1926: ''

We'll Meet Again in the Heimat ''We'll Meet Again at Home'' (German: ''In der Heimat, da gibt's ein Wiedersehn!'') is a 1926 German silent film directed by Leo Mittler and Reinhold Schünzel.Ashkenazi p.135 It shares its name with a popular song title. The film's art directio ...

'' * 1927: ''

Babette Bomberling ''Babette Bomberling'' (german: Die Bräutigame der Babette Bomberling) is a 1927 German silent film, silent comedy film directed by Victor Janson and starring Xenia Desni, Karl Elzer and Ferdinand Hart.Bock & Bergfelder p. 197 The film's art di ...

'' * 1927: ''

Always Be True and Faithful ''Always Be True and Faithful'' (german: Üb' immer Treu' und Redlichkeit ) is a 1927 German silent film directed by Reinhold Schünzel and starring Reinhold Schünzel, Rosa Valetti and Julius E. Herrmann.Bock & Bergfelder p. 524 The film's set ...

'' * 1928: '' Endangered Girls'' * 1928: ''

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 ...

'' * 1928: ''

Ringing the Changes ''Ringing the Changes'' is a 1929 British silent comedy film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Henry Edwards, Charles Cantley, James Fenton and Margot Landa. It was based on a novel by Raleigh King. The screenplay concerns an aris ...

'' * 1929: Möblierte Zimmer * 1929: ''

Do You Know That Little House on Lake Michigan? ''Do You Know That Little House on Lake Michigan?'' (german: Kennst du das kleine Haus am Michigansee?) is a 1929 Czech-German silent film directed by Max W. Kimmich and starring Margot Landa, Václav Norman, and Sasa Dobrovolná. The film's act ...

'' * 1929: ''

Ship of Girls ''Ship of Girls'' or ''Living Goods'' (German: ''Lebende Ware'' or '' Das Mädchenschiff'') is a 1929 Austrian-German silent drama film directed by Robert Wohlmuth and starring Margot Landa, Luigi Serventi and Attila Hörbiger.Gandert p.405 Its ...

'' * 1930: '' The Copper'' * 1930: Bockfierfest * 1930: 1000 Worte Deutsch * 1931: ''

The True Jacob ''The True Jacob'' (german: Der wahre Jakob) is a 1960 West German comedy film directed by Rudolf Schündler and starring Willy Millowitsch, Renate Ewert and Jane Tilden.Goble p.1008 It is a remake of a German film from 1931. Cast * Willy Millow ...

'' * 1931: Der Geheimnis der roten Katze * 1931: ''

Shooting Festival in Schilda ''Shooting Festival in Schilda'' (German: ''Schützenfest in Schilda'') is a 1931 German comedy film directed by Adolf Trotz and starring Sig Arno, Fritz Kampers and Eugen Rex. It was shot at the Halensee Studios in Berlin.Klaus p.257 Cast * Si ...

'' * 1931: Schön ist die Manöverzeit * 1931: ''

The Office Manager ''The Office Manager'' (german: Der Herr Bürovorsteher) is a 1931 German comedy film directed by Hans Behrendt and starring Felix Bressart, Hermann Thimig and Maria Meissner.Bock & Bergfelder p. 63 The film's sets were designed by the art direc ...

'' * 1931: ''

A Night at the Grand Hotel ''A Night at the Grand Hotel'' (german: Eine Nacht im Grandhotel) is a 1931 German drama film directed by Max Neufeld and starring Mártha Eggerth, Ulrich Bettac, and Kurt Gerron.Bock & Bergfelder p. 156 It was shot at the Johannisthal Studios i ...

'' * 1931: Zu Befehl, Herr Unteroffizier * 1932: ''

The Dancer of Sanssouci ''The Dancer of Sanssouci'' (german: Die Tänzerin von Sans Souci) is a 1932 German historical drama film directed by Frederic Zelnik and starring Otto Gebühr, Lil Dagover, and Rosa Valetti. Set at the court of Frederick the Great, the film is p ...

'' * 1932: Spione im Savoy-Hotel * 1932: ''

Thea Roland ''Thea Roland'' or ''The Adventure of Thea Roland'' (German: ''Das Abenteuer der Thea Roland'') is a 1932 German comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Lil Dagover, Hans Rehmann and Margarete Kupfer. The film marked the directorial deb ...

'' * 1933: ''

Two Good Comrades ''Two Good Comrades'' (german: Zwei gute Kameraden) is a 1933 German war comedy film directed by Max Obal and starring Paul Hörbiger, Fritz Kampers, and Jessie Vihrog. The film's art direction was by Robert A. Dietrich Robert A. Dietrich ...

'' * 1938: ''

Bibliography

Kay Weniger Kay Weniger (born in Berlin in 1966) is an Austrian writer of books on media issues. He published an eight-volume encyclopaedia on international film people. Biography Weniger is the son of the German stage and film actress and the Austria ...

: 'Es wird im Leben dir mehr genommen als gegeben …'. Lexikon der aus Deutschland und Österreich emigrierten Filmschaffenden 1933 bis 1945. Eine Gesamtübersicht. p. 526, ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011,

External links

* —shows false birthplace and birth year
Photographs and literature
��shows false birthplace and birth year * —shows false birthplace {{DEFAULTSORT:Walter, Margot 1903 births 1994 deaths German film actresses German silent film actresses German stage actresses Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom 20th-century German actresses