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Elisabeth Bergner (August 22, 1897 – May 12, 1986) was an actress. She was born Elisabeth Ettel in Drohobycz, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Drogobych, Ukraine). She went on stage when fourteen years old and began acting in Innsbruck at the age of 15. In Vienna. At sixteen she toured Austrian and German provinces with a Shakespearean company, later becoming accepted as the greatest Shakespearean actor on the continent. She worked as an artist's model, posing for sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck, who fell in love with her. She eventually moved to Munich and then Berlin. In 1923 she made her film... MORE

Elisabeth Bergner (August 22, 1897 – May 12, 1986) was an actress. She was born Elisabeth Ettel in Drohobycz, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Drogobych, Ukraine). She went on stage when fourteen years old and began acting in Innsbruck at the age of 15. In Vienna. At sixteen she toured Austrian and German provinces with a Shakespearean company, later becoming accepted as the greatest Shakespearean actor on the continent. She worked as an artist's model, posing for sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck, who fell in love with her. She eventually moved to Munich and then Berlin. In 1923 she made her film debut in Der Evangelimann. With the rise of Naziism, Bergner moved to London with director Paul Czinner, and they were married in 1933. Her stage work in London included The Boy David (1936) by J.M. Barrie, his last play, which he wrote especially for her, and Escape Me Never by Margaret Kennedy. Catherine the Great was banned in Germany because of the government's racial policies, reported Time magazine (March 26, 1934). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Escape Me Never (1935). She repeated her stage role of Rosalind, opposite Laurence Olivier's Orlando, in the 1936 film LESS