Lída Baarová
Encyclopedia
Lída Baarová was a Czech
actress and mistress of Joseph Goebbels
, Hitler's propaganda minister.
and got her first movie role in a Czech
film at the age of 17. Her mother appeared in several theatre plays and her younger sister, Zorka Janů
, also was a movie actress. After being discovered by talent scouts for the German movie studios, Baarova left Prague for Berlin
.
, a German actor, and starred in several films with him. In 1935, following her successful appearance in the German film Barcarole, she received several job offers from Hollywood studios. She turned them down, but later regretted it and claimed to her biographer, Josef Škvorecký
: "I could have been as famous as Marlene Dietrich
."
After her engagement to Fröhlich, they moved to Schwanenwerder
on the outskirts of Berlin, where their house on the (later named) Karl-Marx-Straße 8 was close to the residence of Joseph Goebbels
on Inselstraße 8. Goebbels was the propaganda
minister in Adolf Hitler
's regime, with a decisive voice in German movie production. Baarová met Goebbels while working for Ufa
films.
In 1941, Baarová received a call from the German police that she was persona non grata
and was given consilium abeundi to leave Germany. She went to Prague and, in 1941, to Italy
, where she starred in such movies as Grazia (1943), La Fornarina (1944), Vivere ancora (1945), and others. After American troops occupied Italy, she returned to Prague, where she dated her old friend Hans Albers
, another of Germany's movie idols. In April 1945, Lída Baarová left Prague for Germany, to join Albers in his country house on the shores of Lake Starnberg
. On the way, she was taken into custody by the American military police, imprisoned in Munich
, and later extradited to Czechoslovakia
.
In Austria, Lída attempted a comeback, but Anton Walbrook
withdrew from a film where he was cast with her. To escape the resulting negative media, she left for Argentina
, where she lived in extreme poverty. She decided to return to Italy. Her husband stayed in Argentina and they were divorced in 1956. Back in Italy, she appeared in several films, including Fellini's
I Vitelloni
(1953), where she played the wife of a rich merchant. In 1958, she moved to Salzburg
, where she performed in a theater. The same year she married Swedish physician Kurt Lundwall (d. 1980).
, Slovakia
.
Lída Baarová suffered from Parkinson's disease
and died in 2000 in Salzburg
, while living alone on the estate she inherited after the death of her second husband, Dr. Lundwall. If she ever felt guilt about her past, she rigorously suppressed it. "There's no doubt that Goebbels
was an interesting character," she observed in 1997, "a charming and intelligent man and a very good storyteller. You could guarantee that he would keep a party going with his little asides and jokes."
Her ashes were interred in Prague's Strašnice cemetery, where she rests with her parents and sister Zorka Janů.
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
actress and mistress of Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
, Hitler's propaganda minister.
Biography
Born Ludmila Babková, she studied acting at Prague ConservatoryPrague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory, sometimes also Prague Conservatoire, in Czech Pražská konzervatoř, is a Czech secondary school in Prague dedicated to teaching the arts of music and theater acting.- Instruction :...
and got her first movie role in a Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
film at the age of 17. Her mother appeared in several theatre plays and her younger sister, Zorka Janů
Zorka Janu
Zorka Janů , a Czech film actress, was the younger sister of the legendary cinema star Lída Baarová. When she was 12 years old, she appeared in the movie Madla z cihelny alongside her sister who played the principal role...
, also was a movie actress. After being discovered by talent scouts for the German movie studios, Baarova left Prague for Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Career
In Berlin she met Gustav FröhlichGustav Fröhlich
Gustav Fröhlich was a German actor. He landed secondary roles in a number of films and plays before landing his breakthrough role of Freder Fredersen in Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis.-Biography:...
, a German actor, and starred in several films with him. In 1935, following her successful appearance in the German film Barcarole, she received several job offers from Hollywood studios. She turned them down, but later regretted it and claimed to her biographer, Josef Škvorecký
Josef Škvorecký
Josef Škvorecký, CM is a leading contemporary Czech writer and publisher who has spent much of his life in Canada. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country...
: "I could have been as famous as Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
."
After her engagement to Fröhlich, they moved to Schwanenwerder
Schwanenwerder
Schwanenwerder is an island in the Havel river in Berlin, Germany. It is in the locality of Nikolassee in the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, and is located in a wider stretch of the river, close to the eastern shore...
on the outskirts of Berlin, where their house on the (later named) Karl-Marx-Straße 8 was close to the residence of Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
on Inselstraße 8. Goebbels was the propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
minister in Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's regime, with a decisive voice in German movie production. Baarová met Goebbels while working for Ufa
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
films.
In 1941, Baarová received a call from the German police that she was persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
and was given consilium abeundi to leave Germany. She went to Prague and, in 1941, to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where she starred in such movies as Grazia (1943), La Fornarina (1944), Vivere ancora (1945), and others. After American troops occupied Italy, she returned to Prague, where she dated her old friend Hans Albers
Hans Albers
Hans Philipp August Albers was a German actor and singer. He was the single biggest male movie star in Germany between 1930 and 1945 and one of the most popular German actors of the twentieth century.- Life and work :...
, another of Germany's movie idols. In April 1945, Lída Baarová left Prague for Germany, to join Albers in his country house on the shores of Lake Starnberg
Lake Starnberg
Lake Starnberg , 25 kilometers southwest of Munich in southern Bavaria, is Germany's fifth largest freshwater lake and, due to its large average depth, the second richest in water...
. On the way, she was taken into custody by the American military police, imprisoned in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and later extradited to Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
The post-war years
In Czechoslovakia, Baarová faced a death sentence for her work with the Germans during the war, but she was able to prove that she worked in Germany before the war and received only a prison sentence. In prison, she was often visited by Jan Kopecký who, like many others, was infatuated with her. Kopecký was a close relative of a prominent politician in the post-war government of Czechoslovakia who arranged Lída's release from prison. Jan Kopecký and Lída Baarová were married in 1949 and formed an itinerant troupe playing marionettes before they escaped to Austria. From there, Kopecký immigrated to Argentina, leaving Lída behind to recuperate in the sanatorium of Dr. Lundwall.In Austria, Lída attempted a comeback, but Anton Walbrook
Anton Walbrook
Anton Walbrook, born was an Austrian actor who settled in the United Kingdom.- Life :...
withdrew from a film where he was cast with her. To escape the resulting negative media, she left for Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, where she lived in extreme poverty. She decided to return to Italy. Her husband stayed in Argentina and they were divorced in 1956. Back in Italy, she appeared in several films, including Fellini's
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
I Vitelloni
I Vitelloni
I vitelloni is an Italian comedy drama film directed by Federico Fellini. Recognized as a pivotal work in the director's artistic evolution, the film has distinct autobiographical elements that mirror important societal changes in 1950s Italy....
(1953), where she played the wife of a rich merchant. In 1958, she moved to Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, where she performed in a theater. The same year she married Swedish physician Kurt Lundwall (d. 1980).
After the fall of the Berlin wall
In the 1990s Baarová reappeared on the cultural scene of the Czech Republic. She published her autobiography and a movie, Lída Baarová's Bittersweet Memories, appeared in 1995 and won an award at the 1996 Art Film Festival in Trenčianske TepliceTrencianske Teplice
Trenčianske Teplice is a health resort and small spa town in western Slovakia, in the valley of the river Teplička, at the foothills of the Strážovské vrchy mountains.-Characteristics:...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
.
Lída Baarová suffered from Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
and died in 2000 in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, while living alone on the estate she inherited after the death of her second husband, Dr. Lundwall. If she ever felt guilt about her past, she rigorously suppressed it. "There's no doubt that Goebbels
Goebbels
Goebbels, alternatively Göbbels, is a common surname in the western areas of Germany. It is probably derived from the Old Low German word gibbler, meaning brewer...
was an interesting character," she observed in 1997, "a charming and intelligent man and a very good storyteller. You could guarantee that he would keep a party going with his little asides and jokes."
Her ashes were interred in Prague's Strašnice cemetery, where she rests with her parents and sister Zorka Janů.
Filmography
- Života sladké hořkosti Lídy Baarové (Lída Baarová's Bittersweet Memories, 1995)
- Il Cielo brucia (The Sky Burns, 1957)
- Retorno a la verdad (The Truth Will Set You Free, 1957)
- El Batallón de las sombras (The Forgotten Ones, 1957)
- Rapsodia de sangre (Ecstasy, 1957)
- Todos somos necesarios (We All Matter, 1956)
- Viaje de novios (Honeymoon, 1956)
- La Mestiza (The Mestiza, 1956)
- Miedo (The Fear, 1956)
- Gli innocenti pagano (What Price Innocence? 1953)
- Pietà per chi cade (Compassion, 1953)
- I VitelloniI VitelloniI vitelloni is an Italian comedy drama film directed by Federico Fellini. Recognized as a pivotal work in the director's artistic evolution, the film has distinct autobiographical elements that mirror important societal changes in 1950s Italy....
(The Loafers, 1953) - La vendetta di una pazza (Revenge of a Crazy Girl, 1952)
- Carne inquieta (Restless, 1952)
- Gli amanti di Ravello (The Lovers of Ravello, 1950)
- La Bisarca (1950)
- Vivere ancora (Still Alive, 1944)
- L' Ippocampo (The Sea-Horse, 1944)
- Il Cappello da prete (Priest's Hat, 1944)
- Ti conosco, mascherina! (Masked Girl, Recognized!, 1943)
- Grazia (The Charming Beauty, 1943)
- Turbína (Turbine, 1941)
- Paličova dcera (Arsonist's Daughter, 1941)
- Za tichých nocí (In the Still of the Night, 1941)
- Dívka v modrémDívka v modrémDívka v modrém is a 1940 Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Otakar Vávra.-Cast:* Lída Baarová - Komtesa Blanka z Blankenburgu* Oldrich Nový - Jan Karas, notár v Lucine* Ruzena Slemrová - Smrcinská* Sylva Langova - Slávinka...
(Girl in Blue, 1940) - Život je krásný (Life Is Beautiful, 1940)
- Artur a Leontýna (Arthur and Leontine, 1940)
- Ohnivé léto (Fiery Summer, 1939)
- Maskovaná milenka (Masked Paramour, 1939)
- Liebeslegende (Love Story, 1938) (Was banned by censors (due to the Goebbels-affaire), came in the cinemas in 1950)
- Der Spieler - Roman eines Schwindlers (Gambler's Story, 1938)
- Die Fledermaus (The Bat, 1937)
- Die Kronzeugin (The Chief Witness, 1937)
- Panenství (Virginity, 1937)
- Lidé na křeLidé na kře-Cast:* František Smolík as Professor Václav Junek* Zdenka Baldová as Anna Junková - Professor's wife* Ladislav Bohác as Ing. Zdenek Junek* Lída Baarová as MUDr. Pavla Junková* Hana Vítová as Hanka Junková* Ladislav Pesek as Jirka Junek...
(People on the Floating Ice, 1937) - Patrioten (Patriots, 1937)
- Unter Ausschluss der Öffentlichkeit (Private Show, 1937)
- Komediantská princezna (Gypsy Princess, 1936)
- ŠvadlenkaThe Seamstress-Cast:* Lída Baarová as Líza Bártová * Theodor Pištěk as Bárta* Hugo Haas as Francois Lorrain* Bedrich Veverka as Alfons* Adina Mandlová as Mici* Ruzena Slemrová as Majitelka salónu Yvette* Vera Ferbasová as Tonka* Václav Trégl as Houzvicka...
(The Seamstress, 1936) - Die Stunde der Versuchung (The Hour of Temptation, 1936)
- Verräter (Traitor, 1936)
- Barcarole (Boatman's Song, 1935)
- Leutnant Bobby, der Teufelskerl, (Lieutenant Bobby, the Daredevil, 1935)
- Einer zuviel an Bord (The Fifth-Wheel, 1935)
- Grandhotel Nevada, (Grand Hotel Nevada, 1934)
- Dokud máš maminku (As Long as your Mother is Alive, 1934)
- Zlatá Kateřina (Golden Kate, 1934)
- Na růžích ustláno (Easy Life, 1934)
- Pán na roztrhání (A Popular Guy, 1934)
- Pokušení paní Antonie (Antonia's Temptation, 1934)
- Její lékař (The Physician, 1933)
- Sedmá velmoc (The Seventh Superpower, 1933)
- Okénko (The Window, 1933)
- Madla z cihelny (The Brickmaker's Daughter, 1933)
- Jsem děvče s čertem v těle (Funky Girl, 1933)
- FunebrákThe Undertaker (film)The Undertaker is a Czech comedy film directed by Karel Lamač. It was released in 1932.-Cast:* Vlasta Burian - Pleticha* Josef Rovenský - Boleslav Hnipírdo* Betty Kysilková - Frantiska Plicová* Ruzena Slemrová - Anna Plicová...
(The Undertaker, 1932) - Malostranští mušketýři (Prague's Musketeers, 1932)
- Růžové kombiné (The Pink Slip, 1932)
- Šenkýřka u divoké krásky (Waitress at the Wild Beauty's Bar, 1932)
- Lelíček ve službách Sherlocka Holmese (Lelíček in Sherlock Holmes' Service, 1932)
- Zapadlí vlastenci (Forgotten Patriots, 1932)
- Kariéra Pavla Čamrdy (Pavel Čamrda's Career, 1931)
- Obraceni Ferdyše Pištory (Conversion of Fred Pištora, 1931)