Niehaus, Ruth (1925-1994)

Niehaus, Ruth

ACTOR (GERMANY)

BORN 11 Jul 1925, Krefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen - DIED 24 Sep 1994, Hamburg: Krankenhaus St. Georg
BIRTH NAME Niehaus, Ruth Hildegard Rosemarie
CAUSE OF DEATH cancer of the stomach
GRAVE LOCATION Meerbusch, Nordrhein-Westfalen: Friedhof Büderich, Brühler Weg 21 (3/H/10-11, family grave)

Ruth Niehaus was the daughter of the engineer Fritz Niehaus (1896-1950). Her mother was Elisabeth Niehaus, born Nettesheim (1899-1982), an economist and author of children's books. Her bother Helmut (1928-1994) was a surgeon. Ruth grew up in Meerbusch near Düsseldorf. She attended the acting school in Düsseldorf where Peter Esser (1886-1970) was her teacher for two years.

She held theatre engagements in Krefeld (1947-1948), Hamburg (1948-1949), Oldenburg (1949-1950), and from 1952 to 1954 under Gustav Gründgens in Düsseldorf. In 1955 she returned to Hamburg where she was engaged at the Kammerspiele. Further stations were Berlin, Wuppertal, Munich, and Vienna. Her most successful time was at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg (1964-1968), where she worked under Oscar Fritz Schuh. She left there at the same time as Schuh and continued to perform in his productions.

In 1950 she had met Orson Welles in Hamburg. He offered her multiple roles in Hollywood and even asked her to marry him. But she turned down his offers and remained in Germany. She had met the journalist Ivar Lissner in Hamburg as well and she married him in 1950. In 1951 they had a daughter, Imogen. They lived in Chesières sur Ollon in Switzerland.

During the 1950s she was a movie star in Germany. Her first role was in "Das Haus in Montevideo" (1951) for which she won a Bambi in 1954. In 1953 she appeared in "Weg ohne Umkehr" and this earned her the Bundesfilmpreis in 1954. In the 1960s she concentrated on the theatre, and she appeared in many television productions until 1990. She was photographed by Peter Basch in his studio in New York for his book "Junge Schönheit" in 1964.

Her husband died in 1967 and was buried in Huémoz, Waadt. Ruth was only 42 years old at the time. In 1970 she published his memoirs under the title "Vergessen aber nicht vergeben". She travelled several times to China between 1988 and 1991 to learn more about her husband's life. After her own death in 1994 she was buried in the grave of her parents in Meerbusch. Joseph Beuys had created the gravestone after the death of her father in 1951. He had lived in a room of the villa of the Neuhaus family in Meerbusch from 1946 to 1948 and remained on friendly terms with the family afterwards.

Images
Ruth Niehaus in "Weg ohne Umkehr". (1953)	The grave of Ruth Niehaus at Friedhof Büderich in Meerbusch, Nordrhein-Westfalen. Picture by Androom (22 Jun 2025)	The grave of Ruth Niehaus at Friedhof Büderich in Meerbusch, Nordrhein-Westfalen. Picture by Androom (22 Jun 2025)