Paula Wessely
Encyclopedia
Paula Anna Maria Wessely (20 January 1907 – May 11, 2000) was an Austrian
theatre and film actress
. Die Wessely (literally "The Wessely"), as she was affectionately called by her admirers and fans, was Austria's foremost popular postwar actress.
, the daughter of butcher Carl Wessely, younger brother of the late Burgtheater
actress Josephine Wessely
(1860–1887), whom many believed or still believe to be her sister. Like her adored aunt, Paula Wessely prepared for an artistic career. From 1922 she attended the Vienna State Academy of Music and Performing Arts and later the Max Reinhardt Seminar
, while she made her debut as an actress in 1924 at the Volkstheater
, followed by several minor roles of the boulevard
repertoire, also performing at the Raimund Theater
.
Her career proceeded, when in 1926 she became a member of the New German Theatre
ensemble in Prague
, where she and her future husband Attila Hörbiger
(1896–1987) performed in Les Nouveaux Messieurs by Flers
and Croisset
. In 1927 she returned to the Volkstheater, playing in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea
and Wedekind's Spring Awakening. After being denied the role of Jenny in Brecht's Threepenny Opera
in 1929, she quit and joined the ensemble of the Theater in der Josefstadt
under director Max Reinhardt
. Strongly insisting on major roles, she performed in Der Gemeine by Felix Salten
, together with Attila Hörbiger and Hans Moser
. Supported by Reinhardt, she played in Schiller's Intrigue and Love
at the 1930 Salzburg Festival
and in 1932 also in Hauptmann's Rose Bernd
under director Karlheinz Martin
at the Deutsches Theater
in Berlin
, acclaimed by the audience as well as by critics like Alfred Kerr
and colleagues like Werner Krauss
. On 23 December 1932, having taken singing lessons, she played the leading role in the premiere of Fritz Kreisler
's Singspiel Sissy
at the Theater an der Wien
. From 1933 until 1938 she again performed at the Salzburg Festival as Gretchen in Goethe's Faust
, together with Ewald Balser
. In 1936 she made her first appearance on the Burgtheater stage in Shaw's Saint Joan
.
Wessely, not quite photogenic, missed to participate in Max Ophüls
' 1933 filmization of Arthur Schnitzler's Liebelei
— though she had played Christine in the performance at the Theater in der Josefstadt, the role passed to Magda Schneider
. Her first major movie role was that of Leopoldine Dur in the 1934 film Maskerade
directed by Willi Forst
, together with Adolf Wohlbrück
. Further appearances in films like Episode
by Walter Reisch
, for which she was awarded the Volpi Cup
as best actress at the 1935 Venice Film Festival
, finally made her a star. In 1938 she was the speaking voice of Snow White
in the first German
-dubbed version of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
. Immediately banned by the Nazi
authorities after the Austrian Anschluss
in the same year, this version was re-released in 1948 in Austria
and in 1950 in West Germany
(the first public performance ever), for the last time performed in 1957. As Disney Germany re-dubbed this movie in 1966 and again in 1994, both older versions are no longer available — although they are archived at London. Like her brother-in-law Paul Hörbiger
, Wessely had publicly acclaimed the Anschluss, after which she smoothly continued her film and theatre career. Her most notorious movie appearance was in the anti-Polish Nazi propaganda
film Heimkehr
("Homecoming") by Gustav Ucicky
in 1941. Heavily criticized by Austrian intellectuals after World War II
, she later publicly regretted her involvement.
On 23 November 1935 Wessely had married Attila Hörbiger at the Vienna Rathaus. They she had three daughters: Elisabeth Orth (born 1936), Christiane Hörbiger
(born 1938) and Maresa Hörbiger (born 1945). All three daughters went on to become actresses, in particular Christiane Hörbiger, who up to today is one of the most popular actresses in German and Austrian cinema and television.
Though after the war she at first received a profession ban
by the Allied authorities, Wessely could resume her career yet in 1945 at the Innsbruck
State Theatre in her role as Christine in Liebelei, and again at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan
the next year. She also participated in the filming of Ernst Lothar
's novel The Angel with the Trumpet in 1947, playing a half-Jewish woman. In 1957 she was again critizized for her appearance in the homophobic
film Anders als du und ich by Veit Harlan
. Apart from that, she worked mainly as a theatre actress at the Vienna Burgtheater together with her husband for more than 40 years, performing in Raimund
's Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind and Der Diamant des Geisterkönigs, again as Gretchen in Goethe's Faust, in Schnitzler's Das weite Land, in Hofmannsthal
's Der Unbestechliche with Josef Meinrad
and as Ella Rentheim in Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman
. When Attila Hörbiger died of a stroke in April 1987, aged 91, Wessely, by then undisputed doyenne of the Burgtheater, retired at the age of 80.
In her last years she lived a very secluded life in her hometown Vienna and suffered from major depression
, caused by the death of her beloved husband. On January 20, 2000, she celebrated her 93rd birthday quietly, with only her three daughters and grandchildren at her home in Vienna-Grinzing
. In following April she suffered an acute attack of bronchitis
and was admitted to a hospital in Vienna. She died on May 11, 2000, at the venerable age of 93, "peacefully in her sleep", as the Burgtheater management announced the following day. She was buried two weeks later on the side of her husband in an Ehrengrab
of the Grinzing cemetery.
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
theatre and film actress
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Die Wessely (literally "The Wessely"), as she was affectionately called by her admirers and fans, was Austria's foremost popular postwar actress.
Biography
She was born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, the daughter of butcher Carl Wessely, younger brother of the late Burgtheater
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...
actress Josephine Wessely
Josephine Wessely
Josephine Wessely was an Austrian theatre actress.Born in Vienna the daughter of a shoemaker, talented Wessely from about 1874 attended the drama school at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde conservatory. She gave her debut in 1876, performing as Luise in Schiller's Intrigue and Love at the Leipzig...
(1860–1887), whom many believed or still believe to be her sister. Like her adored aunt, Paula Wessely prepared for an artistic career. From 1922 she attended the Vienna State Academy of Music and Performing Arts and later the Max Reinhardt Seminar
Max Reinhardt Seminar
The Max Reinhardt Seminar is the School of Drama at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. It is located in the Palais Cumberland, Penzingerstraße 9, in Vienna's 14th district - History :...
, while she made her debut as an actress in 1924 at the Volkstheater
Volkstheater, Vienna
The Volkstheater in Vienna was founded in 1889 by request of the citizens of Vienna, amongst them the dramatist Ludwig Anzengruber and the furniture manufacturer Thonet, in order to offer a popular counter weight to the Hofburgtheater...
, followed by several minor roles of the boulevard
Boulevard theatre
Boulevard theatre is a theatrical aesthetic which emerged from the boulevards of Paris's old city.-Origin:Starting from the second half of the 18th century, popular and bourgeois theatre alike took up residence on the boulevard du Temple, then nicknamed Boulevard of Crime due to the many...
repertoire, also performing at the Raimund Theater
Raimund Theater
The Raimund Theater is a theatre in the Mariahilf district of Vienna, Austria.Named after the Austrian dramatist Ferdinand Raimund, the theatre was built by an association of Viennese citizens and opened on 28 November 1893 with Raimund's play Die gefesselte Phantasie...
.
Her career proceeded, when in 1926 she became a member of the New German Theatre
Prague State Opera
The Prague State Opera , is an opera and ballet company in Prague, Czech Republic. The theatre was originally founded in 1888 as the New German Theatre and from 1949 to 1989 it was known as the Smetana Theatre....
ensemble in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, where she and her future husband Attila Hörbiger
Attila Hörbiger
Attila Hörbiger was an Austrian stage and movie actor.Hörbiger was born in Budapest, then Austria–Hungary, the son of engineer Hanns Hörbiger and younger brother of actor Paul Hörbiger...
(1896–1987) performed in Les Nouveaux Messieurs by Flers
Robert de Flers
Robert de Flers was a French playwright, opera librettist, and journalist....
and Croisset
Francis de Croisset
Francis de Croisset was a Belgium-born French playwright and opera librettist.His opera librettos include Massenet's Chérubin , based on his play of the same name, and Reynaldo Hahn's Ciboulette .He married, in 1910, Marie-Thérèse Bischoffsheim, the widow of banking heir Maurice Bischoffsheim and...
. In 1927 she returned to the Volkstheater, playing in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea
The Lady from the Sea
The Lady from the Sea is a play written in 1888 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.Kvinnan från havet is a ballet by choreographer Birgit Cullberg, and based on Ibsen's play...
and Wedekind's Spring Awakening. After being denied the role of Jenny in Brecht's Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
in 1929, she quit and joined the ensemble of the Theater in der Josefstadt
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...
under director Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
. Strongly insisting on major roles, she performed in Der Gemeine by Felix Salten
Felix Salten
Felix Salten was an Austrian author and critic in Vienna. His most famous work is Bambi .-Life:...
, together with Attila Hörbiger and Hans Moser
Hans Moser (actor)
Hans Moser was an Austrian actor who, during his long career, from the 1920s up to his death, mainly played in comedy films. He was particularly associated with the genre of the Wiener Film...
. Supported by Reinhardt, she played in Schiller's Intrigue and Love
Intrigue and Love
Intrigue and Love , , is a five-act play, written by the German dramatist and writer Friedrich Schiller...
at the 1930 Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
and in 1932 also in Hauptmann's Rose Bernd
Rose Bernd
Rose Bernd is a stage drama in five acts by Gerhart Hauptmann. It premiered October 31, 1903 in Berlin.-Dramatic characters:BERND, deaconROSE BERND, older daughterMARTHEL, younger daughterCHRISTOPHER FLAMM, landowner and magistrate...
under director Karlheinz Martin
Karlheinz Martin
Karlheinz Martin was a German stage and film director, best known for his expressionist productions.After enjoying success with experimental productions in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg, Martin went to Berlin, where he premiered Ernst Toller's anti-war drama, Transfiguration on September 30, 1919...
at the Deutsches Theater
Deutsches Theater
The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...
in 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...
, acclaimed by the audience as well as by critics like Alfred Kerr
Alfred Kerr
Alfred Kerr , born Alfred Kempner, was an influential German-Jewish theatre critic and essayist, nicknamed the Kulturpapst ....
and colleagues like Werner Krauss
Werner Krauss
Werner Johannes Krauss was a German stage and film actor.-Early life:Krauss was born at the parsonage of Gestungshausen in Upper Franconia, where his grandfather was Protestant pastor. He spent his childhood in Breslau and from 1901 attended the teacher's college at Kreuzburg...
. On 23 December 1932, having taken singing lessons, she played the leading role in the premiere of Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler
Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...
's Singspiel Sissy
Elisabeth of Bavaria
Elisabeth of Austria was the spouse of Franz Joseph I, and therefore both Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. She also held the titles of Queen of Bohemia and Croatia, among others...
at the Theater an der Wien
Theater an der Wien
The Theater an der Wien is a historic theatre on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district of Vienna. Completed in 1801, it has seen the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music...
. From 1933 until 1938 she again performed at the Salzburg Festival as Gretchen in Goethe's Faust
Goethe's Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts: and . Although written as a closet drama, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages...
, together with Ewald Balser
Ewald Balser
Ewald Balser was a German film actor. He appeared in 53 films between 1935 and 1975.He was born in Elberfeld, Germany and died in Vienna, Austria.-Selected filmography:* The Trial * Eroica...
. In 1936 she made her first appearance on the Burgtheater stage in Shaw's Saint Joan
Saint Joan (play)
Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw, based on the life and trial of Joan of Arc. Published not long after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts...
.
Wessely, not quite photogenic, missed to participate in Max Ophüls
Max Ophüls
Maximillian Oppenheimer — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German-born film director who worked in Germany , France , the United States , and France again...
' 1933 filmization of Arthur Schnitzler's Liebelei
Liebelei (film)
Liebelei is a German film directed by Max Ophüls. The film, based on a play of the same name by Arthur Schnitzler, describes an ill-fated love affair.-Plot:...
— though she had played Christine in the performance at the Theater in der Josefstadt, the role passed to Magda Schneider
Magda Schneider
Magda Schneider was a German actress and singer; she was the mother of the actress Romy Schneider.- Biography :Magdalena Schneider was born in Augsburg, Bavaria. After training as a stenographer, she studied singing at the Augsburg Academy and ballet at the local theater. She made her stage debut...
. Her first major movie role was that of Leopoldine Dur in the 1934 film Maskerade
Maskerade (film)
Maskerade , is an Austrian operetta film, and a classic of German language cinema. The exceptional script of this, a great example of the genre of the Wiener Film, was by Walter Reisch and Willi Forst, who also directed...
directed by Willi Forst
Willi Forst
Willi Forst, born Wilhelm Anton Frohs was an Austrian actor, screenwriter, film director, film producer and singer...
, together with Adolf Wohlbrück
Anton Walbrook
Anton Walbrook, born was an Austrian actor who settled in the United Kingdom.- Life :...
. Further appearances in films like Episode
Episode (film)
Episode is an Austrian film from 1935. It belongs to the popular Austrian light romantic comedy genre known as the Wiener Film, but also contains, for a film of this genre, unusually serious social comment. It was written and produced by Walter Reisch...
by Walter Reisch
Walter Reisch
Walter Reisch was an Austrian-born director and screenwriter. He also wrote lyrics to several songs featured in his films, one popular title is "Flieger, grüß mir die Sonne".-Selected filmography:...
, for which she was awarded the Volpi Cup
Volpi Cup
The Volpi Cups are the principal awards given to actors at the Venice Film Festival. Formal acting awards were introduced in the second festival . Initially they were called Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment. The name Volpi Cup was introduced the following year...
as best actress at the 1935 Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
, finally made her a star. In 1938 she was the speaking voice of Snow White
Snow White (Disney)
Snow White is a fictional character and the main protagonist from Walt Disney's first animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,...
in the first German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
-dubbed version of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
. Immediately banned by the Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
authorities after the Austrian Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
in the same year, this version was re-released in 1948 in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and in 1950 in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
(the first public performance ever), for the last time performed in 1957. As Disney Germany re-dubbed this movie in 1966 and again in 1994, both older versions are no longer available — although they are archived at London. Like her brother-in-law Paul Hörbiger
Paul Hörbiger
Paul Hörbiger was an Austrian theatre and film actor.-Life and work:Paul Hörbiger was born in Budapest, the son of Hans Hörbiger, an engineer who wrote Welteislehre on glacial cosmology, and elder brother of actor Attila Hörbiger. In 1902 the family returned to Vienna, while Paul attended the...
, Wessely had publicly acclaimed the Anschluss, after which she smoothly continued her film and theatre career. Her most notorious movie appearance was in the anti-Polish Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
film Heimkehr
Heimkehr
Heimkehr is a 1941 German anti-Polish propaganda film directed by Gustav Ucicky.It received the rare honor "Film of the Nation," bestowed on films considered to have made an outstanding contribution to the national cause...
("Homecoming") by Gustav Ucicky
Gustav Ucicky
Gustav Ucicky was an acclaimed Austrian film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. He was one of the more successful and acclaimed directors in Austria and Germany from the 1930s through to the early 1960s...
in 1941. Heavily criticized by Austrian intellectuals after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she later publicly regretted her involvement.
On 23 November 1935 Wessely had married Attila Hörbiger at the Vienna Rathaus. They she had three daughters: Elisabeth Orth (born 1936), Christiane Hörbiger
Christiane Hörbiger
Christiane Hörbiger is an Austrian television and film actress.-Life and work:Christiane Hörbiger is one of the three actress daughters of Austrian actors Attila Hörbiger and Paula Wessely . Her sisters are Elisabeth Orth and Maresa Hörbiger.She has played roles in various German and Austrian TV...
(born 1938) and Maresa Hörbiger (born 1945). All three daughters went on to become actresses, in particular Christiane Hörbiger, who up to today is one of the most popular actresses in German and Austrian cinema and television.
Though after the war she at first received a profession ban
Profession ban
Profession ban is law, laws or practice, which means that a person is hindered to perform one or more occupations. There is also another meaning of the term profession ban, namely: profession ban may prevail even if a ban does not exist...
by the Allied authorities, Wessely could resume her career yet in 1945 at the Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
State Theatre in her role as Christine in Liebelei, and again at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan
The Good Person of Szechwan
The Good Person of Szechwan is a play written by the German theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin and Ruth Berlau. The play was begun in 1938 but not completed until 1943, while the author was in exile in the United States...
the next year. She also participated in the filming of Ernst Lothar
Ernst Lothar
Ernst Lothar was a Moravian-Austrian writer, theatre director/manager and producer.He was born Ernst Lothar Müller, and as Müller is common German surname, he dropped it. His brother, Hans Müller-Einigen, went the other way and added a surname.-Biography:...
's novel The Angel with the Trumpet in 1947, playing a half-Jewish woman. In 1957 she was again critizized for her appearance in the homophobic
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
film Anders als du und ich by Veit Harlan
Veit Harlan
Veit Harlan was a German film director and actor.-Life and career:Harlan was born in Berlin. After studying under Max Reinhardt, he first appeared on the stage in 1915 and, after World War I, worked in the Berlin stage. In 1922 he married Jewish actress and cabaret singer Dora Gerson; the couple...
. Apart from that, she worked mainly as a theatre actress at the Vienna Burgtheater together with her husband for more than 40 years, performing in Raimund
Ferdinand Raimund
Ferdinand Raimund was an Austrian actor and dramatist.- Life and work :...
's Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind and Der Diamant des Geisterkönigs, again as Gretchen in Goethe's Faust, in Schnitzler's Das weite Land, in Hofmannsthal
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal ; , was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.-Early life:...
's Der Unbestechliche with Josef Meinrad
Josef Meinrad
Josef Meinrad was an Austrian actor.Josef Meinrad was born Josef Moučka in Vienna, as the fourth and youngest child of the tramdriver Franz Moučka and his second wife Katharina. For his secondary education, he received a scholarship in a school run by Redemptorists in Katzelsdorf near Wiener...
and as Ella Rentheim in Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman
John Gabriel Borkman
John Gabriel Borkman is the penultimate composition of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, written in 1896.-Plot:The Borkman family fortunes have been brought low by the imprisonment of John Gabriel who used his position as a bank manager to illegally speculate with his investors' money...
. When Attila Hörbiger died of a stroke in April 1987, aged 91, Wessely, by then undisputed doyenne of the Burgtheater, retired at the age of 80.
In her last years she lived a very secluded life in her hometown Vienna and suffered from major depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
, caused by the death of her beloved husband. On January 20, 2000, she celebrated her 93rd birthday quietly, with only her three daughters and grandchildren at her home in Vienna-Grinzing
Grinzing
Grinzing was an independent municipality until 1892 and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna.- Geography :- Location :...
. In following April she suffered an acute attack of bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
and was admitted to a hospital in Vienna. She died on May 11, 2000, at the venerable age of 93, "peacefully in her sleep", as the Burgtheater management announced the following day. She was buried two weeks later on the side of her husband in an Ehrengrab
Ehrengrab
An Ehrengrab is a distinction granted by certain German, Swiss and Austrian cities to one of their citizens for extraordinary services or achievements in their lifetime. If there are no descendants or institutions to care for the gravesite, the communities or cities will take responsibility for...
of the Grinzing cemetery.
Further reading
- Georg Markus: Die Hörbigers. Biografie einer Familie. Wien: Amalthea Verlag, 2006. ISBN 3-850-02565-9
- Edda Fuhrich & Gisela Prossnitz (Hg.): Paula Wessely, Attila Hörbiger. Ihr Leben – ihr Spiel. Eine Dokumentation. München: Langen Müller, 1985. ISBN 3-7844-2035-4
- André Müller: Entblößungen. München: Goldmann, 1979. ISBN 3-442-03887-1
- Elisabeth Orth: Märchen ihres Lebens. Meine Eltern Paula Wessely und Attila Hörbiger. Wien: Molden, 1975. ISBN 3-217-05032-0
- Maria Steiner: Paula Wessely. Die verdrängten Jahre. Wien: Verlag für Gesellschaftskritik, 1996. ISBN 3-85115-224-7