Gertrud Eysoldt
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Gertrud Eysoldt | |
|---|---|
 Eysoldt as Salome, 1903 | |
| Born | 30 November 1870 |
| Died | 6 January 1955 (aged 84) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1890–1949 |
Gertrud Franziska Gabriele Eysoldt (30 November 1870 – 6 January 1955) was a German film and stage actress.[1]
Stage career[edit]
Gertrud Eysoldt first appeared in Henry IV in 1890 with the influential Meiningen Ensemble. After touring in Germany and Russia she performed in Berlin in 1899 and later played under the direction of Max Reinhardt. She specialized in modern realistic parts, particularly in the works of Frank Wedekind, opposite the author, as well the plays of Henrik Ibsen and Maeterlinck. In 1921 she was in the first German-language production of Schnitzler's controversial play Reigen at the Kleines Schauspielhaus in Berlin.[2]
In 1903, Eysoldt garnered widespread praise for her mesmerizing physical performances and her groundbreaking portrayal of some of the most controversial female characters in modern German theater. One critic declared that as the title role in Hugo von Hofmannsthal's play Elektra, she "created a new type of acting art and also a new image of women on stage."[3] Eysoldt caused a sensation in her role as Salome in Oscar Wilde's play of the same name. A critic stated she perfectly captured “the pathological persistence of a spoiled child . . . as well as the perverse, erotic, and vengeful lust of a scornful woman.”[4] She also starred in Strindberg's Rausch, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, and Gorky's The Lower Depths. In reviewing these roles, theater critic Marie Luise Becker wrote:
Gertrud Eysoldt is best suited for the roles of women of modern decadence. Those who scatter around them that secret, wildly sensual and unspeakable bliss and a nameless debauchery. These female figures, the demons and witches of our time—this will turned woman, which modern man seems to fear—are the heroines of the young dramatists. Earth-spirits, abhorred by the bourgeoisie just as they were burned centuries ago, rise up before the poet out of the fog and haze. Gertrud Eysoldt makes them human.
— S.E. Jackson, The Problem of the Actress in Modern German Theater and Thought (2021)
Film career[edit]
Eysoldt appeared in more than fifteen films from 1923 to 1949, including:
- The Lost Shoe (1923)
- I Had a Comrade (1924)
- The Transformation of Dr. Bessel (1927)
- The Lady with the Mask (1928)
- Hotel of Secrets (1929)
- Riding for Germany (1949)
Further reading[edit]
- Jackson, S.E., The Problem of the Actress in Modern German Theater and Thought, Camden House, Rochester, NY, 2021, ISBN 978-1-64014-086-8.
References[edit]
- ^ "Gertrud Eysoldt". FEMBIO: FrauenBiographForschung. Institut für Frauen-Biographieforschung Hannover/Boston. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ Phyllis Hartnoll; Peter Found, eds. (2003). The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre (2 ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192825742.
- ^ "Gertrud Eysoldt". FEMBIO: FrauenBiographForschung. Institut für Frauen-Biographieforschung Hannover/Boston. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ LeFurgy, Bill (2022). Sex, Art and Salome: Historical Photographs of a Princess, Dancer, Stripper, and Feminist Inspiration. Takoma Park, MD: Highkicker Books. p. 19. ISBN 9781734567861.
External links[edit]
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