Stolz, Hilde von (1903–1973)
Hilde von Stolz, Helen Steele, Stolz Hilda
actor
8 July 1903, Segesvár, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
16 December 1973, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany
A Student in Max Reinhardt’s school in Vienna, she appeared on stage in Budapest, Kolozsvár, Vienna and Berlin. From 1928 she made silent pictures under the name Helen Steele, while from 1933 she used the name Hilde von Stolz. An attractive woman well suited to playing urbane, sophisticated middle dass figures, she was such a sought-after actor that she played in over fifty German films during her career. The first role, which actually secured her a place in the history ofthe cinema, was the lead in Werner Hochbauin’s Morgen beginnt das Leben, where she distinguished herseif with her naturalistic acting. ln Maska I rade, Willy Forst’s Austrian film, she took the role of Gerda, one of the heroine’s rivals, an adventurous woman of a the world. In 1935 she appeared in the role Frau Cochard in Géza Bolváry’s Es flüstert die Liebe, an Austro-Hungarian co-production shot in Hungary. She played in Arthur Maria Rabenalfs 1936 German-Italian co-production. Die Liebe des Maharadscha, a film partly serving anti-British propaganda purposes. ln 1940 she took the lead in Luis Trenker’s Der Feuerteufeh and she played the countess in Jud Süss, while in 1943 she was Louise La Tour in Josef von Baky’s Münchhausen. After 1945 she signed a contract with DEFA, getting a role in a major film of Kurt Maetzig’s, Ehe im Schatten. In 1953 she appeared in less significant films, mostly of a more entertaining kind in the Federal Republic, and she stopped working in the late 1950s.
Photo: Színházi Élet 1937/6 (ADT)