Paula Conrad-Schlenther (née Conrad; 27 February 1860 – 9 August 1938) was an Austrian-German stage actress.

Paula Conrad
Portrait of Paula Conrad-Schlenther (1860-1938), Austrian-German actress
Born(1860-02-27)27 February 1860
Vienna, Austria
Died9 August 1938(1938-08-09) (aged 78)
Resting placeUrnenfriedhof Gerichtstraße, Berlin, Germany
52°32′43″N 13°21′58″E / 52.5452°N 13.3661°E / 52.5452; 13.3661
OccupationActress
SpousePaul Schlenther

Life edit

Paula Conrad made her debut in 1877 in Baden bei Wien. From 1877 she was a member of the ensemble at the Königlichen Schauspielhaus in Berlin. She played Hannele in the 1983 world premiere of Gerhart Hauptmann's Hanneles Himmelfahrt. Alfred Kerr recalls the premiere three decades later, admiring Conrad and stating "blieb sie in jedem Sinn die erste" ("she remained in every sense the first").[1]

In 1892, Conrad married Paul Schlenther, the theater critic of the Vossische Zeitung and later director of the Vienna Burgtheater,[2] and she worked for him in Vienna from 1898 to 1910, after which she returned to the Schauspielhaus Berlin, remaining there until 1932. Conrad was primarily a performer of Hauptmann's works, playing roles such as Frau Flamm in Rose Bernd at its 1903 premiere and Aase in Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt. She also shortly appeared in silent films. Her grave is located at Berlin's Urnenfriedhof Gerichtstraße, an urn cemetery.

Filmography edit

References edit

  1. ^ Alfred Kerr: Hanneles Himmelfahrt, in: Der Tag, February 26, 1918, in: ders.: "Ich sage, was zu sagen ist" : Theaterkritiken 1893 - 1919. Günther Rühle (ed.). Werke in Einzelbänden, vol 7,1. Frankfurt: Fischer, 1998, p. 750
  2. ^ Skrine, Peter N. (1989). Hauptmann, Wedekind and Schnitzler. Basingstoke: Macmillan. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-349-20003-0. OCLC 597790743. Paul Schlenther (1854-1916). Friend of Otto Brahm and dramatic critic of the Berlin liberal daily Vossische Zeitung from 1886 to 1898. An ardent Ibsenite, he became director of the Vienna Burgtheater in 1898 and in the same year Hauptmann's first biographer.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

Further reading edit

  • Renate Hoyer: Paula Conrad-Schlenther: 1860-1938; vierzig Jahre Tätigkeit am Königlichen Schauspielhaus in Berlin, Berlin, Colloquium-Verlag, 1971. 160 pp.
  • C. Bernd Sucher (Hrsg.): Theaterlexikon. Autoren, Regisseure, Schauspieler, Dramaturgen, Bühnenbildner, Kritiker. By Christine Dössel and Marietta Piekenbrock with the assistance of Jean-Claude Kuner and C. Bernd Sucher. 2nd edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-423-03322-3, p. 121 f.

External links edit