Marianne Hoppe, 93; German Actress’ Career Spanned Eight Decades

Marianne Hoppe, 93, a leading actress on the German stage through much of the 20th century, died Wednesday in Berlin of unspecified causes.

Hoppe’s final performance was five years ago in Bertolt Brecht’s “The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui” at the Berliner Ensemble theater. She had acted professionally since age 17, when she won a place at Berlin’s Deutsches Theater under director Max Reinhardt. She also worked frequently for director Gustaf Gruendgens, to whom she was married for 10 years, at Berlin’s Schauspielhaus.

Although Hoppe never worked or lived in Hollywood, many of her films were released in the United States. Among them were her debut picture, Franz Osten’s “Judas of Tyrol” in 1933 and Harald Reinl’s western, “Treasure of Silver Lake,” in 1965.

In the 1930s and ‘40s, Hoppe had many contacts with the Nazi elite and was invited to dinner by Adolf Hitler. Her career spanned and survived the Nazi era; after Germany’s defeat in World War II, she continued performing in theaters in Duesseldorf, Hamburg and Berlin.