Rökk, Marika (1913-2004)

Rökk, Marika

ACTOR, DANCER, VOCALIST (AUSTRIA)

BORN 3 Nov 1913, Cairo - DIED 16 May 2004, Baden, Niederösterreich (near Wien)
CAUSE OF DEATH heart failure
GRAVE LOCATION Baden (near Wien), Niederösterreich: Helenenfriedhof, Steinbruchgasse (Gruppe 18, Reihe 3, Nummer 25)

Daughter of a Hungarian architect. She grew up in Budapest and was educated as a dancer. In 1925 she was already a solo dancer at a Broadway revue. From 1929 onwards she performed as a dancer and a singer in Cannes, London, Berlin and other places.

At the time she worked as a horse rider for Zirkus Renz she was offered her first movie part in "Leichte Kavallerie" (1935). She played in several movies directed by Georg Jacoby, whom she married in 1940. In several movies she starred next to Johannes Heesters. In 1943 she starred in the extravagant "Die Frau meiner Träume". The public loved it, but propaganda minister Goebbels remarked sourely that it was frivolous and that German women shouldn't dance like that. In 1937 Goebbels had already objected to her casting for the movie "Gasparone" but eventually she was allowed to have the part. It seems she was an admirer of Hitler in those days and she visited Goebbels at his home. Hitler certainly liked her and even called her 'my little Hungarian'.

After the war her fame faded after she wasn't allowed to work from 1945 to 1947. But during the 1950s she managed to make a come back. After Jacoby died in 1964 she married the actor Fred Raul in 1968. She continued singing and dancing until an advanced age. Her last television appearance was in 1998. She spent her last years in Baden (near Vienna).

Family
• Husband: Raul, Fred (1968-1985)
• Husband: Jacoby, Georg (1940-1964)

Related persons
• cooperated with Fritsch, Willy
• cooperated with Heesters, Johannes
• cooperated with Holt, Hans

Images
The grave of Marika Rökk at The Helenen Friedhof, Baden. Picture by Androom (21 Sep 2004)	Marika Rökk. (1941-1944)	Marika Rökk. (1941-1944) Picture by Foto Baumann