Actress and cabaret singer, born in Vienna, Austria. She studied drama and ballet at Zürich, lived in Berlin from 1920, and came to represent the spirit of that decadent era. In 1926 she married Kurt Weill, starring in many of his works, including The Little Mahagonny (1927) and The Threepenny Opera (1928, filmed 1931). They fled to Paris in 1933, then to New York City, where she made many stage appearances, and after Weill's death she became the public custodian of his legacy. Later stage appearances included Brecht on Brecht (1962) and Mother Courage (1972), and her rare film roles included From Russia with Love (1963) and Semi-Tough (1977).
Lotte Lenya (October 18, 1898 – November 27, 1981), singer and actress, born Karoline Wilhelmine Blamauer, in Vienna, Austria.
Life and career
The early years
As a child of working class Roman Catholic parents, Lenya wanted to be a dancer.
Kurt Weill
The following year she was seen by her future husband, the German composer Kurt Weill during an audition, although they did not meet properly until 1924 through a mutual acquaintance, the writer Georg Kaiser.
After she accepted the part of Jenny in the first performance of The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) in 1928, the part became her breakthrough role.
Escape from Germany
With the rise of Nazism in Germany, she left the country, having become estranged from Weill.
Divorce and remarriage
She divorced Weill in 1933 but reunited with him in September 1935, when they both emigrated to the United States.
The War
During World War II, Lenya — now spelling her stage name with a 'y' — did a number of stage performances, recordings and radio performances, including for the Voice of America.
Sprechstimme
She also made several recordings of her husband's songs.
Broadway
In 1956 she won a Tony Award for her role as Jenny in Marc Blitzstein's English version of The Threepenny Opera. Lenya went on to record a number of songs from her time in Berlin, as well as songs from the American theater.
She was present in the studio when Louis Armstrong recorded Brecht-Weill's Mack the Knife.
James Bond
In 1963, she got the part as the SPECTRE agent Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love, starring, among others, Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi.
Cabaret
In 1966, Lenya originated the role of Fräulein Schneider in the original Broadway cast of the musical Cabaret.
Death
Lenya died in New York from cancer in 1981 at the age of 83.
She is entombed, with Kurt Weill, in a mausoleum at the Mount Repose Cemetery in Haverstraw, New York.
Filmography (not complete)
The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) (1931) as Jenny Diver The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (1965) which won her a nomination for an Academy Award as Contessa From Russia with Love (1963) as Rosa Klebb The Appointment by Sidney Lumet (1969) as Emma Valadier Semi-Tough (movie) (1977) as Clara PelfTV films
Bertolt Brecht's Übungstücke für Schauspieler (Practice Pieces) (1964) Mutter Courage in Brecht's Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and Her Children) (1965) The Gypsy in Ten Blocks on the Camino Real (1966) Mahagonny (1980)Narrator
She was the narrator in the documentary about the drawings of George Grosz, Interregnum (1960)
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