Elfi von Dassanowsky

A musical Prodigy, von Dassanowsky was the youngest female to gain admission to Vienna's Academy (now University) of Music and Performing Arts to be trained as an opera singer and concert pianist. Already a noted performer as a student, she taught Curd Jürgens piano for one of his first major roles in Wen die Götter lieben (1942). Offered a star film contract by UFA Berlin, she declined it and association with the Nazi party.

Her rise to opera stardom after her debut in 1946 was followed by solo concerts for the Allied High Command, concert tours through Central Europe, performances as stage and film actress, work as announcer and performer for Forces Broadcasting and the BBC, and her creation of theatrical groups in Vienna.

In 1946, she co-founded Belvedere Film in Vienna with director Emmerich Hanus and producer August Diglas. As one of the few women in cinema history to create a film studio, von Dassanowsky was instrumental in the postwar rebirth of Austrian film and is today regarded as a female cinema pioneer. Among her studio's discoveries were European leading lady Nadja Tiller, comic actor Gunther Philipp and future international star Oskar Werner.

In 1951 she became an administrator of Phoebus International Films in Hamburg and the first female casting director in postwar Germany.

In Hollywood from 1962, she gave master classes in voice and piano, promoted Austrian culture and cinema in the U. S. and was a renowned vocal trainer, particularly for actors in productions by Otto Preminger.

Offered a role by Otto Preminger in his production of The Cardinal (1963) but became private vocal coach to his acting discoveries.

2 February 1996 was declared "Elfi von Dassanowsky Day" in California in honor of the 50th anniversary of her career.

She became a charter member of the Austrian American Film Association in 1997 and reestablished Belvedere Film in Los Angeles and Vienna in 1999.

Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 2000.

Named a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2001.

Awarded the Decoration of Honor in Gold by the Province and City of Vienna in 2002.

The establishment of the Elfi von Dassanowsky Foundation was announced in November 2007 and became active in 2009. It will honor the pioneering spirit of the late artist with grants to non-profit arts and women's cultural organizations.

The Elfi von Dassanowsky Prize has been established at the Vienna Independent Shorts Film Festival (VIS) as an annual juried award for international women filmmakers. It was presented for the first time in May 2010.