Wolfgang Liebeneiner

Encyclopedia

Wolfgang Georg Louis Liebeneiner 6 October 1905 – 28 November 1987 was a German actor, film director and theatre director.

Beginnings

He was born in Liebau in Prussian Silesia. In 1928, he was taught by Otto Falckenberg, the director of the Munich Kammerspiele, in acting and directing.

Nazi era

In 1936, Liebeneiner became a member of the Prussian State Theater (Preußisches Staatstheater) in Berlin and in 1938, he became artistic director of the German Film Academy Babelsberg (Deutsche Filmakademie Babelsberg). In 1941, he directed the film Ich klage an (I accuse) in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. The film was about voluntary euthanasia of a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis, but was intended to support the T4 euthanasia program. He received a doctorate in the years from 1942 to 1945 while working for Universum Film AG, the largest German film studio at that time.

Post war

In 1947, Liebeneiner directed the debut of Wolfgang Borchert’s play Draußen vor der Tür (The Man Outside) in the Hamburg Kammerspiele. In 1956 he was successful with the film The Trapp Family.

He died on 28 November 1987 in Vienna after a long illness.

Personal life

Liebeneiner was married twice: first, from 1934 to the actress Ruth Hellberg, then from 1944 to the actress Hilde Krahl, with whom he had his daughter Johanna Liebeneiner, who also became an actress.

Selected filmography

Actor

  • The Other Side (1931)
  • Happy Days in Aranjuez (1933)
  • Music in the Blood (1934)
  • Asew (1935)
  • Liebelei (1933, directed by Max Ophüls)
  • A Love Story (1933)
  • Enjoy Yourselves (1934)
  • What Am I Without You (1934)
  • A Night on the Danube (1935)
  • Every Day Isn’t Sunday (1935)
  • Artist Love (1935)
  • His Late Excellency (1935)
  • The Blonde Carmen (1935)
  • Friedemann Bach (1941)

Director

Film

  • The Model Husband (1937)
  • Don’t Promise Me Anything (1937)
  • You and I (1938)
  • Yvette (1938)
  • Target in the Clouds (1939)
  • The Leghorn Hat (1939)
  • Bismarck (1940)
  • Ich klage an (1941)
  • Die Entlassung (1942)
  • Melody of a Great City (1943)
  • Love ’47 (1949)
  • My Niece Susanne (1950)
  • Abundance of Life (1950)
  • The Blue Star of the South (1951)
  • The Dancing Heart (1953)
  • The Stronger Woman (1953)
  • The Beautiful Miller (1954)
  • Love is Forever (1954)
  • On the Reeperbahn at Half Past Midnight (1954)
  • I Was an Ugly Girl (1955)
  • The Trapp Family (1956)
  • Queen Louise (1957)
  • Goodbye, Franziska (1957)
  • The Trapp Family in America (1958)
  • Taiga (1958)
  • My Daughter Patricia (1959)
  • Jacqueline  (1959)
  • At the Height of the Moon  (1969)
  • Goetz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand (1979)