Wieck, Dorothea (1908-1986)

Wieck, Dorothea

ACTOR (SWITZERLAND)

BORN 3 Jan 1908, Davos, Graubünden - DIED 20 Feb 1986, Berlin (West)
BIRTH NAME Wieck, Doro Bertha Olavia
GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Friedhof Heerstrasse, Trahkener Allee 1, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (Feld 18-K-21)

Dorothea Wieck was the daughter of a successful merchant from Davos. She is a descendant of Friedrich Wieck, the father of Clara Schumann. Dorothea spent her early years in Sweden before attending a girls' school in Freiburg and another school in Dresden. When she was fifteen she took acting lessons with Maria Moissi in Berlin. Her first engagement came one year later at the Theater in der Josephstadt in Vienna.

She caught the eye of Otto Falckenberg, who engaged her for the Münchner Kammerspiele. She made her movie debut in 1926 in "Die kleine Inge und ihre drei Väter". She became well known for her part as Fräulein von Bernburg in "Mädchen in Uniform" (1931), the first film openly featuring a lesbian theme. On 13 Sep 1932 she married the journalist Ernst von der Decken (1894-1958).

She appeared in two Hollywood movies ("Cradle Song", 1933 and "Miss Fane's Baby is Stolen", 1934). She was forced to leave the USA because she was under suspicion of being a spy for the nazis. In 1935 she met Adolf Hitler at a reception. He looked at her and asked her if she was Dorothea Wieck. A little later one of his adjutants asked her to sit at his table. There were only artists at Hitler's table and he enjoyed himself enormously. She divorced Von der Decken in 1935.

More movies followed during the rest of the 1930s, but she refused to be used for propaganda purposes and during the Second World War the nazis allowed her to make only a few movies. During the fifties she returned to the cinema, but she was less successful. Her last part was in "Die Schachnovelle" (1960). From 1961 until 1967 she had her own theatre school in Berlin. In later years she appeared twice in the German television serial "Der Kommissar".

She lived for a long time in the Artist Colony Wilmersdorf in Berlin and she also worked as a director. Actress Gudrun Gundelach was a pupil of hers. After her death in 1986 she was buried at the Freidhof Heerstrasse in Berlin. According to her Wikipedia page her grave is no longer there.

Images
Dorothea Wieck. (1927-1928)	Dorothea Wieck. (1939-1940)	The grave of Dorothea Wieck at Friedhof Heerstrasse, Berlin. Picture by androom (25 Aug 2006)
The grave of Dorothea Wieck at the Friedhof Heerstrasse, Berlin. Picture by Androom (28 Mar 2007)	Dorothea Wieck.	Dorothea Wieck.
Dorothea Wieck. (1941-1944) Picture by FotoBaumann