Else Lehmann (27 June 1866 – 6 March 1940) was a German stage actress.

Early life

The daughter of an insurance director, Lehmann attended a convent school and then took acting lessons with director Franz Kirschner. Her debut was in 1885 at the Bremer Stadttheater as Page in ''

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolf ...

''.

Career

In 1888 she arrived at the

Wallner Theater Wallner is a surname. It is common in Austria, on its own or in longer names, for example "Haubenwallner". Sometimes it is referred to as a variant of the German name "Waldner". Notable people with the surname include: * Anna Wallner (born 1969), C ...

in Berlin.

Otto Brahm Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded ...

gave her the role of Helene Krause in the (matinee) world premiere of ''Before Sunrise'' on October 20, 1889, by the Freie Bühne in the Berlin rented Lessingtheater for this purpose. This performance helped her to make a breakthrough, but she also already presented her as an interpreter of German naturalism, especially the pieces by

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He recei ...

, fixed. One of her acting peculiarities was natural, gaining sympathy "in tears can laugh", for which even the contemporary theatre criticism paid tribute. In 1891 she received a commitment at the Deutsches Theater. At the world premiere of ''

Die Weber ''The Weavers'' (german: Die Weber, Silesian German: ) is a play in five acts written by the German playwright Gerhart Hauptmann in 1892. The play, probably Hauptmann's most important drama, sympathetically portrays a group of Silesian weavers wh ...

'' in 1893, she impressed Luise Hilse and even more so in the same year as Ms Wolff in '' Der Biberpelz''. In 1898 she played Hanne Schäl in '' Fuhrmann Henschel'', 1903 she took over the title role of ''

Rose Bernd ''Rose Bernd'' is a stage drama in five acts by Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalis ...

''. In 1905 she followed Intendant Otto Brahm to the Lessingtheater. In 1911 she portrayed the first "Mrs John" in '' The Rats'' and in 1920 "Frau Vockerath" in '' Lonely People''. Except in Hauptmann's estate was seen Else Lehmann, for example, Karl Schönherrs people in need (1917), as "Ella Rentheim" in Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman (1917) and "Mrs Alving" in its ghosts as well as in Kabale und Liebe (1924 in

Theater in der Josefstadt The Theater in der Josefstadt is a theater in Vienna in the eighth district of Josefstadt. It was founded in 1788 and is the oldest still performing theater in Vienna. It is often referred to colloquially as simply ''Die Josefstadt''. Following ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehmann, Else 1866 births 1940 deaths Actresses from Berlin German stage actresses