Wolf Albach-Retty

Austrian actor (1906–1967)

Magda Schneider

(m. 1937; div. 1945)

Trude Marlen

(m. 1947)

ChildrenRomy SchneiderParent(s)Karl Walter Albach
Rosa Albach-Retty

Wolf Albach-Retty (born Wolfgang Helmuth Albert Albach; 28 May 1906 – 21 February 1967) was an Austrian actor. He was the father of Romy Schneider with the German actress Magda Schneider.

Career

Born as Wolfgang Helmuth Albert Albach in Vienna to actress Rosa Albach-Retty and K. u. K. officer Karl Albach, Albach-Retty trained at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and at the age of twenty played his first role at the Vienna Burgtheater.

He was a young man when he first appeared in a silent film role in 1927. In 1933 Albach-Retty became a patron member of the SS and in 1940 he joined the Nazi Party.^[1]^[2]

During the Third Reich, he made romance films and musicals. In 1936 he married Magda Schneider and temporarily took up German citizenship. In 1944, he was added to head of Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels' Gottbegnadeten list of individuals that Goebbels considered crucial to Nazi culture. His addition to the list made him exempt from military service obligations.^[3]

After World War II, his acting career soured as his past successes were no longer remembered and he was only able to find supporting acting roles in films. He returned to the Burgtheater and starred in, among other plays, Anatol by Arthur Schnitzler. By that time he was into his second marriage to actress Trude Marlen, they had a daughter Sacha Darwin (born 1947) together. He died in Vienna and is buried in Vienna's Zentralfriedhof.

Selected filmography

Das grobe Hemd [de] (1927)
Ein Wiener Musikantenmädel (1928)
The Mysterious Mirror (1928) as Sculptor
Love in May (1928)
Der Dieb im Schlafcoupée (1929)
The Uncle from Sumatra (1930)
General Babka (1930)
Der Fleck auf der Ehr' (1930) as Fred, Mrs. von Werner's grandson
Wiener Zauberklänge (1931) as Teddy Beamgarden
Two Hearts Beat as One (1932) as Victor Müller
Girls to Marry (1932) as Paul, Robert Groll's brother
The Beautiful Adventure (1932) as Andre d'Eguzon
The Black Hussar (1932) as Leutnant Aribert von Blome
And the Plains Are Gleaming (1933) as Peter Borly, Husarenleutnant
Kind, ich freu' mich auf dein Kommen (1933) as Herbert
Love Must Be Understood (1933) as Bobby Brandt, Ellens Vetter
Just Once a Great Lady (1934) as Heinz von Wolfenstein
Spring Parade (1934) as Wilhelm August Jurek
Tales from the Vienna Woods (1934) as Graf Rudi von Waldheim
Die Katz' im Sack (1935) as Edmund Vernon, Rennfahrer
Winter Night's Dream (1935) as Peter Kreutzberg
Großreinemachen (1935) as Robert Cox
The Bird Seller (1935) as Adam der Vogelhändler
Sylvia und ihr Chauffeur (1935)as Dr. Hartenegg
Rendezvous in Wien (1936) as Franz Lenhardt – Musiker
The Fairy Doll (1936) as Alexander – sein Bruder
Geheimnis eines alten Hauses (1936) as Teddy Eberlein
Millionäre/Ich möcht' so gern mit Dir allein sein (1937) as Fred, beider Sohn
Die glücklichste Ehe der Welt (1937) as Peter Reiterer
Darling of the Sailors (1937) as Kapitänleutnant Igor Juritsch
Frühlingsluft (1938) as Erbprinz, Rudolf
Der Hampelmann (1938) as Paul Oertel
Hotel Sacher (1939) as Lt. Herrngruber
Liebe streng verboten (1939)
Heimatland (1939) as Günther Nordmann, Reitlehrer
A Mother's Love (1939) as Walter Pirlinger – 1922
Das Glück wohnt nebenan (1939)
Wie konntest Du, Veronika (1940) as Dr. Fred Junker
Falstaff in Vienna (1940) as Robert von Weitenegg
Seven Years Hard Luck (1940) as Heinz Kersten
So gefällst Du mir (1941) as Peter Seidl
Tanz mit dem Kaiser (1941) as Rittmeister von Kleber
Die heimliche Gräfin (1942) as Michael Hohenwardt
Seven Years of Good Luck/Seven Years of Happiness (1942) as Heinz Kersten
Two Happy People (1943)
Mask in Blue (1943) as Georg Harding
Abenteuer im Grand Hotel (1943) as Rudolf, Count Lerchenau / Rudi Lindt
The White Dream (1943) as Ernst Eder
Reisebekanntschaft (1943) as Walter Falke
Alles aus Liebe (1943) as Rolf Möller, Tierdresseur
Romantische Brautfahrt (1944) as Der junge Baron Ferdinand Crisander
Hundstage (1944) as Dr. Paul Wendler
A Man Like Maximilian (1945) as Dr. Thomas Hesse
Wie ein Dieb in der Nacht (1945)
Alles Lüge (1948) as Will Wolters
Ein bezaubernder Schwindler (1949) as Martin Palmer, junger Komponist
Dangerous Guests (1949) as Peter Anders
Grossstadtnacht (1950) as Alfred Siedler
Two in One Suit (1950) as Otto Vogel
The Man in Search of Himself (1950) as Marius Aldon
Czardas of Hearts (1951) as Peter Tornay / Paul Endre
Woe to Him Who Loves (1951) as Dr. Gött
Unschuld in tausend Nöten/Das Mädel aus der Konfektion (1951) as Dr. Singer
Verklungenes Wien [de] (1951) as Sandor von Halvany
Zwei in einem Auto [de] (1951) as Georg Schmittlein
Der Mann in der Wanne (1952)
Ideal Woman Sought (1952) as Robby Holm
The Mine Foreman (1952) as Andreas Spaun, ein Kavalier
The Bird Seller (1953) as Fürst
The Great Lola (1954) as Carlo Werner
The Sweetest Fruits (1954) as Roberto di Caramello / Bananen-Beppo
School for Marriage (1954) as Tobias
The Seven Dresses of Katrin (1954) as Martin Pall
His Daughter is Called Peter (1955) as Ingenieur Max Klaar, ihr Vater
Your Life Guards (1955) as Onkel Nikolaus
And Who Is Kissing Me? (1956) as Lindner
Die Stimme der Sehnsucht [de] (1956) as Enrico Alovanis
Engagement at Wolfgangsee (1956) as Erich Eckberg
Imperial and Royal Field Marshal (1956) as Baron Linsky
Dort in der Wachau [de] (1957) as Kapitän Paul Heider
Wetterleuchten um Maria [de] (1957) as Baron Siebenzell
Der Kaiser und das Wäschermädel [de] (1957) as Erzherzog Max
Endangered Girls (1958) as Dr. Thomas Jensen
Man ist nur zweimal jung (1958) asPeter Grafenegger
Immer die Radfahrer (1958) as Prof. Johannes Büttner
Mein ganzes Herz ist voll Musik (1958) as Niko Berthold
Herrn Josefs letzte Liebe [de] (1959) as Albert Türkheim
Peter, das Zirkuskind/Auf allen Strassen (1959) as Christian, Gutsbesitzer
Girls for the Mambo-Bar (1959) as Krüger
Hunting Party (1959) as Friedrich Dahlhoff
Frauen in Teufels Hand (1960) as Herr von Parisi
Hohe Tannen [de] (1960) as Mr. Reichert
Der Orgelbauer von St. Marien [de] (1961) as Baron von Danning
Autofahrer unterwegs/Auf den Strassen einer Stadt (1961) as Peters
The Post Has Gone (1962) as Lukas Lenz
The Forester's Daughter (1962) as Graf Paalen
Bergwind (1963) as Herr Meister
The Cardinal (1963) as Baron Hartman (his only film with Romy Schneider)^[4]
Die große Kür [de] (1964) asChef der Wiener Eisrevue
Die Kinder (1964, TV movie) as Gandolf Graf Freyn
Das Mädel aus dem Böhmerwald [de] (1964) as Herr Baumann
Leinen aus Irland (1965, TV movie) as Ministerialrat Kress
Die Tänzerin Fanny Elßler (1966, TV movie) as Fürst Esterházy (final film role)

References

^ "Legenden. Diva mit Nazi-Trauma?" in: Der Spiegel, 15 September 2008
^ Oliver Rathkolb: Führertreu und gottbegnadet: Künstlereliten im Dritten Reich. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Wien 1991, ISBN 3-215-07490-7, pp. 235/236
^ Klee, Ernst (2009). Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945 (in German). Frankfurt am Maine: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag. ISBN 978-3596171538.
^ Marina Pavido (December 1, 2020). "Wolf Albach-Retty – A Famous Father". Cinema Austriaco. Retrieved July 15, 2023.