Maria Matray (born Maria Charlotte Stern; 14 July 1907 – 30 October 1993) was a German screenwriter and film actress. Matray became a

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

of late

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

cinema.

Biography

Following the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

takeover in 1933, Matray, who was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, went into exile – initially in France and Britain before moving to the United States. She developed a new career as a choreographer and writer. She later returned to Germany after 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 ...

, where she died in 1993. Maria Matray was born in Niederschönhausen. She was the daughter of engineer and later director of

AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

Georg Stern and his wife Lisbeth (''née'' Schmidt), who was the younger sister of artist

Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born as Schmidt; 8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' and ''T ...

. Matray's older sisters were actress

Johanna Hofer Johanna Hofer (born Johanna Therese Stern; 30 July 1896 – 30 June 1988) was a German film actress. She appeared in 34 films between 1926 and 1982. Biography Hofer was born in Berlin. She was the daughter of engineer and later director of ...

and dancer Katta Sterna. Hofer's father was

and her mother was

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Selected filmography

Actress

* ''

The Master of Nuremberg ''The Master of Nuremberg'' (german: Der Meister von Nürnberg) is a 1927 German silent historical comedy film directed by Ludwig Berger and starring Rudolf Rittner, Max Gülstorff and Gustav Fröhlich. It is based on the 1868 opera ''Die Meist ...

'' (1927) * ''

Linden Lady on the Rhine ''Linden Lady on the Rhine'' (German:''Lindenwirtin am Rhein'') is a 1927 German silent film directed by Rolf Randolf and starring Maly Delschaft, Carl de Vogt and Alfred Solm.Thomas p.103 The film's art direction was by Gustav A. Knauer. Cas ...

'' (1927) * ''

Inherited Passions ''Inherited Passions'' (german: Vererbte Triebe) is a 1929 German silent drama film directed by Gustav Ucicky and starring Walter Rilla, Fritz Alberti Fritz Alberti (born Friedrich Wilhelm Alberti; 22 October 1877 – 15 September 1954) was a ...

'' (1929) * ''

The Son of the White Mountain ''The Son of the White Mountain'' (German: ''Der Sohn der weißen Berge'') is a 1930 German mystery romance film directed by Mario Bonnard and Luis Trenker and starring Trenker, Maria Matray and Renate Müller. It was part of the popular serie ...

'' (1930) * ''

Never Trust a Woman ''Never Trust a Woman'' (german: Ich glaub nie mehr an eine Frau) is a 1930 German musical film directed by Max Reichmann and starring Richard Tauber, Paul Hörbiger and Werner Fuetterer. It premiered on 3 February 1930.Grange p. 328 No prints o ...

'' (1930) * ''

Retreat on the Rhine ''Retreat on the Rhine'' (german: Zapfenstreich am Rhein) is a 1930 German musical comedy film directed by Jaap Speyer and starring Charlotte Susa, Hans Stüwe, and Hermann Böttcher. It was made as an operetta film which emerged as a popular gen ...

'' (1930) * '' Elisabeth of Austria'' (1931) * '' Road to Rio'' (1931) * '' The Ringer'' (1932) * '' Secret Agent'' (1932) * ''

Distorting at the Resort ''Distorting at the Resort'' (german: Lügen auf Rügen) is a 1932 German comedy film directed by Victor Janson and starring Maria Matray, Paul Hörbiger, and Otto Wallburg. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were de ...

'' (1932) * ''

A Man with Heart ''A Man with Heart'' (german: Ein Mann mit Herz) is a 1932 German drama film directed by Géza von Bolváry and starring Gustav Fröhlich, Maria Matray, and Gustav Waldau Gustav Waldau (27 February 1871 – 25 May 1958) was a German actor ...

'' (1933)

Screenwriter

* ''

Murder in the Music Hall ''Murder in the Music Hall'' is a 1946 American musical mystery film directed by John English and starring Vera Ralston, William Marshall and Helen Walker.McCarty p.464 The film involves a murder in Radio City Music Hall with The Rockettes as ...

'' (dir. John English, 1946) * '' Invitation Playhouse: Mind Over Murder: The Last Act'' (dir. William Asher, 1952, TV series episode) * ''Der König mit dem Regenschirm'' (dir. , 1954, TV film) — based on an operetta by

Ralph Benatzky Ralph Benatzky (5 June 1884 – 16 October 1957), born in Mährisch Budwitz (Moravské Budějovice) as Rudolph Franz rantišekJosef Benatzky, was an Austrian composer of Moravian origin. He composed operas and operettas, such as ''Casanova'' ( ...

* ''Abschiedsvorstellung'' (dir. , 1955, TV film) * ''

My Father, the Actor ''My Father, the Actor'' (German: ''Mein Vater, der Schauspieler'') is a 1956 West German drama film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring O.W. Fischer, Hilde Krahl and Susanne von Almassy.Alpi p.229 The film's sets were designed by the art dire ...

'' (dir. Robert Siodmak, 1956) * ''

The Night of the Storm ''The Night of the Storm'' or ''Tempestuous Love'' (german: Wie ein Sturmwind) is a 1957 West German drama film directed by Falk Harnack and starring Lilli Palmer, Ivan Desny and Willy A. Kleinau.Bock & Bergfelder p. 357 It was made at the Span ...

'' (dir. Falk Harnack, 1957) — based on a novel by Klaus Hellmer * ' (dir. Erik Ode, 1958) * ' (dir.

Axel von Ambesser Axel Eugen Alexander von Oesterreich (22 June 1910 – 6 September 1988), better known as Axel von Ambesser, was a German playwright, actor and film director. Ambesser's father was Alexander Constantin von Oesterreich. Ambesser was born in Hambur ...

, 1959) * ''

The Night Before the Premiere ''The Night Before the Premiere'' (german: Die Nacht vor der Premiere) is a 1959 West German musical comedy film directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Marika Rökk, Theo Lingen and Wolfgang Lukschy.Koepnick, Lutz Peter. ''The Cosmopolitan Screen: ...

'' (dir.

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

, 1959) * ' (dir.

, 1959) — based on a play by and * ''Waldhausstraße 20'' (dir. , 1960, TV film) * '' The Happy Years of the Thorwalds'' (dir.

Wolfgang Staudte Wolfgang Staudte (9 October 1906 – 19 January 1984), born Georg Friedrich Staudte, was a German film director, script writer and actor. He was born in Saarbrücken. After 1945, Staudte also looked at German guilt in the cinema. Alongside He ...

, , 1962) — based on ''

Time and the Conways ''Time and the Conways'' is a British play written by J. B. Priestley in 1937 illustrating J. W. Dunne's Theory of Time through the experience of a moneyed Yorkshire family, the Conways, over a period of nineteen years from 1919 to 1937. Wide ...

'' by J. B. Priestley * ''

Das Kriminalmuseum ''Das Kriminalmuseum'' was a German television series. It ran from 1963 to 1970 on ZDF and was one of its first programs. Each episode began with a tracking shot through an unspecified crime museum, stopping at one of the displays, whose story w ...

'' (1963–1968, TV series, 4 episodes) * '': Der Fall Krantz'' (dir.

Georg Tressler Georg Tressler (January 25, 1917 – January 6, 2007) was a Vienna-born German film actor and film director. Also known as George Tressler, Hans Tressler, Hans Dressler, Hans Georg Keil and Hans Sternbeck (per IMDb). The son of actor Otto Tr ...

, 1964, TV series episode) * ''Der Prozeß Carl von O.'' (dir. , 1964, TV film) — (

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

about the Weltbühne-Prozess) * ' (1964–1965, TV series, 3 episodes) * ''Ein langer Tag'' (dir. Lothar Kompatzki, 1964, TV film) * ''Der Fall Harry Domela'' (dir. Wolfgang Schleif, 1965, TV film) — (docudrama about Harry Domela) * ''Klaus Fuchs: Geschichte eines Atomverrats'' (dir. , 1965, TV film) — (docudrama about

Klaus Fuchs Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who supplied information from the American, British and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly aft ...

) * ' (dir.

Peter Beauvais Peter Beauvais (September 9, 1916, Weißenstadt, Germany – December 17, 1986, Baden-Baden, Germany) was a German television film director and scriptwriter. As a director for three decades, he helped pioneer and significantly influenced the devel ...

, 1965, TV film) — (docudrama about

Bernhard Lichtenberg Bernhard Lichtenberg (; 3 December 1875 – 5 November 1943) was a German Catholic priest who became known for repeatedly speaking out, after the rise of Adolf Hitler and during the Holocaust, against the persecution and deportation of the Jews ...

) * ''Oberst Wennerström'' (dir. Helmut Ashley, 1965, TV film) — (docudrama about Stig Wennerström) * ''Der Mann, der sich Abel nannte'' (dir. , 1966, TV film) — (docudrama about Rudolf Abel) * ''Standgericht'' (dir. Rolf Busch, 1966, TV film) * ' (dir. August Everding, 1966, TV film) — (docudrama about the

Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

) * ''Der Fall Lothar Malskat'' (dir. Günter Meincke, 1966, TV film) — (docudrama about

Lothar Malskat Lothar Malskat (May 3, 1913 – February 10, 1988) was a German painter and art restorer who repainted medieval frescoes of the Marienkirche in Lübeck, critically damaged during WWII. Life and career Malskat was a painter from Königsber ...

) * ''Das Millionending'' (dir. Helmut Ashley, 1966, TV film) — based on a story by * ''Der Panamaskandal'' (dir.

Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, producer and screenwriter, active in the Netherlands, France and the United States. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his dram ...

, 1967, TV film) — (docudrama about the

Panama scandals Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cost ...

) * ''Affäre Dreyfus'' (dir. , 1968, TV film) — (docudrama about the

Dreyfus affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

) * ''Der Senator'' (dir. , 1968, TV film) — (docudrama about

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...

) * ' (dir. Wolfgang Becker, 1969, TV film) * ''

Maximilian von Mexiko ''Maximilian von Mexiko'' is a 1970 German-Austrian historical television miniseries depicting the events of the French Intervention in Mexico which placed Emperor Maximilian on the throne of Mexico. It consisted of two parts totalling 185 min ...

'' (dir. , 1970, TV film) — (docudrama about the Second French intervention in Mexico) * ''Millionen nach Maß'' (dir. , 1970, TV film) * ''Der Hitler/Ludendorff-Prozeß'' (dir.

, 1971, TV film) — (docudrama about the trial after the

Beer Hall Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and othe ...

1923) * ''Manolescu – Die fast wahre Biographie eines Gauners'' (dir.

Hans Quest Hans Quest (1915–1997) was a German actor and film director. Selected filmography Director *''Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne'' (1955) *''The Happy Wanderer'' (1955) *''Charley's Aunt'' (1956) *'' Wenn Poldi ins Manöver zieht'' (1956) *'' Ein Man ...

, 1972, TV film) — (docudrama about ) * ''Doppelspiel in Paris'' (dir.

Wolfgang Glück Wolfgang Glück (born 29 September 1929, Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian film director and screenwriter. His film '' '38 – Vienna Before the Fall'' (1987) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 59th Academy Awa ...

, 1972, TV film) — (docudrama about

Mathilde Carré Mathilde Carré (30 June 1908 –30 May 2007), née Mathilde Lucie Bélard and known as "La Chatte", was a French Resistance agent during World War II who betrayed and turned double agent. Early life Carré was born in Le Creusot, Saône-et- ...

) * ''

Sonderdezernat K1 ''Sonderdezernat K1'' is a German television series. See also *List of German television series The following is a list of television series produced in Germany: Current Drama * '' 4 Blocks'' ( TNT Serie, 2017–2019) * '' Alarm für Co ...

'' (1972–1975, TV series, 12 episodes) * ''Agent aus der Retorte'' (dir.

, 1972, TV film) — (docudrama about Operation Mincemeat) * '': Reise nach Stockholm'' (dir. , 1974, TV series episode) * ''Wie starb Dag Hammerskjöld?'' (dir. , 1975, TV film) — (docudrama about the

1961 Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash On 18 September 1961, a DC-6 passenger aircraft of Transair Sweden, operating for the United Nations, crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia). The crash resulted in the deaths of all people onboard including Dag Hammarskjöld ...

) * ''Als wär's ein Stück von mir'' (dir. August Everding, 1976, TV film) — based on the autobiography of Carl Zuckmayer * ' (dir.

, 1978, anthology film, TV film) — based on short stories by

O. Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the M ...

, P. G. Wodehouse and

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

* ''

The Old Fox ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

: Der schöne Alex'' (dir. , 1978, TV series episode) * ''Auf Schusters Rappen'' (dir. Manfred Seide, 1981, TV film) * ''

Sun, Wine and Hard Nuts ''Sun, Wine and Hard Nuts'' (German: ''Sonne, Wein und harte Nüsse'') is a West German crime (genre), crime television series broadcast on ARD (broadcaster), ARD.Bock & Bergfelder p.347 A retired German police inspector goes to live on the French ...

'' (1981, TV series, 2 episodes) * ''Ein Winter auf Mallorca'' (dir. , 1982, TV film) * ''Gauner im Paradies'' (dir.

Thomas Fantl Thomas Fantl (9 December 1928 – 20 July 2001) was a German film director and screenwriter. He directed 23 films between 1964 and 1986. His 1964 film ''Time of the Innocent'' was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival. Fi ...

, 1985, TV film) * ''Im Schatten von Gestern'' (dir. , 1985, TV film) — screenplay with

Nathaniel Gutman Nathaniel Gutman (born December 15, 1954) is an Israeli-American filmmaker, best known for directing ''Deadline'', starring Christopher Walken, and the TV movie ''Linda'', starring Virginia Madsen. Early life and education Gutman was born in Jer ...

* ''Wie das Leben so spielt'' (dir.

Hermann Leitner Hermann Leitner (3 September 1927–22 February 2013) was an Austrian film editor and film director. His 1962 documentary film ''Mediterranean Holiday'' was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival. Selected filmography Editor * ''V ...

, 1986, TV film) * ''Jungbrunnen'' (dir.

Dušan Rapoš Dušan Rapoš (born 20 June 1953) is a Slovak film director, screenwriter, and composer who works under the name Sui Generis. He began his career as a journalist and radio editor. The founder of the production company Welcome Film, he is best ...

, 1992, TV film)

References

Bibliography

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

External links

* 1907 births 1993 deaths German people of Jewish descent Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Mass media people from Berlin German film actresses German silent film actresses German women screenwriters German women choreographers Actresses from Berlin 20th-century German actresses Burials at Munich Waldfriedhof {{Germany-film-actor-stub