Biography for
Hildegard Knef More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

28 December 1925, Ulm, Germany

Date of Death

1 February 2002, Berlin, Germany (lung infection)

Birth Name

Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef

Height

5' 6¼" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

Hildegard Knef was born in 1925 in the South German city of Ulm. In 1940, she began studying acting. Even before the fall of the Third Reich she appeared in several films, but most of them were only released after the war. To avoid being raped by Soviet soldiers she dressed like a young man and was sent to a camp for prisoners of war. She escaped and returned to war-shattered Berlin where she played her first parts on stage. The first German movie after WW II, Die Mörder sind unter uns (1946) (The Murderers Are Among Us), made her a star. David O. Selznick invited her to Hollywood and offered her a contract - with two conditions: Hildegard Knef should change her name into Gilda Christian and should pretend to be Austrian instead of German. She refused both and returned to Germany. In 1951 she provoked one of the greatest scandals in German film history when she appeared naked on the screen in the movie Die Sünderin (1951) . The Catholic Church protested vehemently against that film but Hildegard just commented: "I can't understand all that tumult - five years after Auschwitz!"

With the support of her first husband, the American Kurt Hirsch , she tried a second time to launch a Hollywood career, changed her family name from Knef to Neff (because Americans couldn't pronounce Knef), but the only worthwhile part she got was a supporting role in the Hemingway adaptation of The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952). She became a leading lady in German, French and British films. Finally America offered her another chance, this time on the stage.

She achieved a kind of stardom as Ninotchka in the very popular Broadway play, "Silk Stockings". In 1963, she began a new career as a singer and surprised the audience with her typical, deep, smoky voice and the fact that many lyrics of her songs were written by herself. In 1970, she wrote the autobiographical bestseller Der Geschenkte Gaul. She got sympathy from all over the world for her fight against cancer, which she defeated several times. After the German reunification, she moved back to Berlin.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Yancey

Spouse

Paul von Schell	(1977 - 1 February 2002) (her death)
David Cameron	(1962 - 4 June 1976) (divorced) 1 child
Kurt Hirsch	(1947 - 1952) (divorced)

Trivia

Known in the US as Hildegard Neff, but she used her real name when performing back home in Germany.

Knef launched a career as a singer in the 1960s and wrote a best-selling 1970 autobiography.

Close personal friend of Marlene Dietrich, despite being in the legend's international shadow for much her career.

Was the cover girl for Modern Man Magazine August 1956.

Sister-in-law of Catherine Schell.

Knef launched a career as a singer in the 1960s and wrote her bestselling autobiography "Der geschenkte Gaul - Bericht aus meinem Leben" ("The Gift Horse - Report from my life") in 1970.

Her nude scene as "Marina" in Die Sünderin (1951), the first in German filmmaking, drew the criticism of the Roman Catholic Church.

Ella Fitzgerald called her "the best singer without voice".

Became a natural citizen of the United States in 1950.

Gave birth to her daughter Christina on 16 May 1968.

Hildegard trusted her clothing and gowns to one person who was based in New York. It was Irish born Thomas Starr, grandfather of fashion designer Karen Starr-DelloIacono.

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