Frau Greta Farbissina is a fictional character played by

Mindy Sterling Mindy Lee Sterling (born July 11, 1953) is an American television, film and voice actress. She portrayed Frau Farbissina in the ''Austin Powers'' film series and starred in the web series ''Con Man'', the latter of which earned her a Primetime ...

in the ''

Austin Powers ''Austin Powers'' is a series of American spy action comedy films: '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997), '' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' (1999) and '' Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (2002). The films were produced ...

'' film series.. Retrieved 12 September 2011. Farbissina is a German attack and defense specialist and the founder of "the militant wing of the Salvation Army". She is also

Dr. Evil Douglas Powers, commonly known as Dr. Evil, is a fictional character portrayed by Mike Myers in the ''Austin Powers'' film series. He is the main antagonist and Austin Powers' nemesis (and secret twin brother). He is a parody of James Bond vill ...

's henchwoman and tries to help in his schemes to terrorize and take over the world. She has a heavy German accent and is well known for a

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

in which she shouts her orders needlessly loud and screeching, often startling Dr. Evil. For her performances, Sterling was nominated for Favorite Supporting Actress in a Comedy at the

BMI Film & TV Awards The BMI Film & TV Awards are accolades presented annually by Broadcast Music, Inc., honoring songwriters, composers, and music publishers in various genres. Based in the United States, the awards include the BMI Christian Awards, BMI Country Award ...

Biography

Characterization

Frau Farbissina's look and demeanour are

parodies A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

of several female villains from early

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

films, namely '' From Russia with Love'''s

Rosa Klebb Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) * Rosa (surname) *Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places *223 Rosa, an asteroid *Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States *Rosa, Germany, in Thuringia, Ge ...

(played by

Lotte Lenya Lotte Lenya (born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer; 18 October 1898 – 27 November 1981) was an Austrian-American singer, diseuse, and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is best ...

), '' On Her Majesty's Secret Service''s Irma Bunt (played by

Ilse Steppat Ilse Paula Steppat (30 November 1917 – 21 December 1969) was a German actress. Her husband was noted actor and director Max Nosseck. Biography She began her cinematic career at the age of 15 playing Joan of Arc. Steppat appeared regularly on ...

), and particularly the character of Frau Hoffner (played by

Anna Quayle Anne Veronica Maria Quayle (6 October 1932 – 16 August 2019), known professionally as Anna Quayle, was an English actress. In 1963, she received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in the original product ...

) in the 1967 Bond spoof '' Casino Royale''. In

Mike Myers Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywoo ...

' book ''Canada'', he states that Frau Farbissina was a mixture of Rosa Klebb and Lotta Hitschmanova, who appeared in commercials for the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada on late-night television. Farbissina asserts that she would eventually like to get out of the criminal mastermind business and open a boarding school for girls. This is another reference to Quayle's "Frau Hoffner" role in ''Casino Royale'' in which Hoffner heads an international spy school in East Berlin known as the "

Mata Hari Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed ...

School of Dancing", where she boards and trains young women to be agents for both sides of the Cold War.

Surname

Her surname derives from the

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

word ( in German), meaning "embittered"; a is an angry, bitter, vocal (male) person, while is the corresponding female form.

Background

She has a heavy

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 **Ge ...

accent; in the German dubbed versions of the films, she speaks with an

Upper Saxon Upper Saxon (german: Obersächsisch, ; ) is an East Central German language spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it's mostl ...

dialect, suggesting coming from

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. In

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

's ''Canned Ham: The Doctor Evil Story'', a half-hour-long preview special of ''The Spy Who Shagged Me'', Dr. Evil states that he met Farbissina "at gymnasia in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

at a street corner next to the

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

." Out of all his henchmen and assistants, Farbissina is perhaps closest to Dr. Evil. In praising Dr. Evil, Farbissina commented, "Dr. Evil is a man of great intelligence - able to step on a bug and say 'too bad!'"

'' International Man of Mystery''

Farbissina participates in helping Dr. Evil hijack a nuclear warhead and hold the world hostage. It is revealed that Farbissina used a sample of Evil's

semen Semen, also known as seminal fluid, is an organic bodily fluid created to contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads (sexual glands) and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize the female ovum. Sem ...

just a couple of years after

's cryostasis to artificially create his son, Scott Evil (played by Seth Green), now a

Generation Y Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s ...

young adult. Scott is resentful of his father, but close to Farbissina, the only one who cares about his wellbeing. In the first film, Dr. Evil is about to press a button that would kill Scott for his insolence by burning him alive, but Farbissina swats his hand away, then winks at Scott.

''
The Spy Who Shagged Me ''Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' is a 1999 American spy comedy film directed by Jay Roach. It is the second installment in the ''Austin Powers'' film series, after ''International Man of Mystery''. It stars franchise co-producer and wr ...
''

The second film jumps from the 1990s to the 1960s due to time travel. Inexplicably, Frau Farbissina looks exactly the same in the 1960s as she did in the 1990s, which was used for comedic effect in the film. In the present, she states that she is homosexual and is in a relationship with Una Brau, a woman she met on a LPGA tour. However, when Dr. Evil goes back in time, after imbibing some of

' mojo, he has sex with Frau. This leads to an uncomfortable morning-after encounter (even though Dr. Evil told her things wouldn't "get weird") and Farbissina swearing she will never love another man. It is also revealed that Scott was not the result of artificial creation from Dr. Evil's frozen sperm, but rather was naturally conceived as a result of the sexual encounter. In the closing credits, Farbissina and Scott Evil go on ''

The Jerry Springer Show ''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...

'', in which she reveals herself to be Scott's mother and that Scott wasn't artificially created. She also reveals she never told him because she didn't want him to be hurt; he forgives her and they embrace.

'' Goldmember''

Frau Farbissina is still helping Dr. Evil with his evil schemes. Farbissina and Dr. Evil also kiss while he is in prison; although the two enjoy it (despite her having been established as a lesbian in the previous movie), the purpose was to transfer a key to Dr. Evil so that he could escape. Once her son Scott begins to become evil, she shows that she is very proud.

References

External links

{{Austin Powers movies Farbissina, Frau Fictional bisexual females LGBT supervillains Fictional German people Film characters introduced in 1997 Female characters in film Female film villains Fictional LGBT characters in film