Margarete Schön

Born in 1895 in Magdeburg, Germany, Margarete Schön made her stage debut in 1912.

In 1912 she made her stage debut in Bad Freienwalde. Shortly thereafter, she received a commitment at the municipal theater of Bromberg (now, Bydgoszcz, in present-day Poland).

She was a member of the Deutschen Theater in Hannover from 1915-18 and Berlin's Staatstheater from 1918-45.

She made her film debut in 1918 with the movie "Schirokko" and already one year later she asserted in the film business in an impressive way and took part in a dozen movies in that year,.

From 1919 on she took part in several small roles for directors Carl Froelich, Hanna Henning, Alfred Halm, Walter Schmidthässler and her husband, director Robert Dinesen before earning a starring role in Urban Gad's 1922 drama Hanneles Himmelfahrt.

She had a few roles in silent films, notably as Kriemhild in Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924) and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924), but with the coming of sound she went from starring roles to supporting parts as mothers and wives.

When the talkies arose, the film offers dropped off still she acted in some well-known movies of the 30's and 40's like "Das Flötenkonzert von Sanssouci" (1930), "Kolberg" (1944) and "Die Feuerzangenbowle" (1944).

During the Second World War she appeared in approximately ten films, but generally avoided roles in Nazi propaganda films and stayed decidedly apolitical. One exception was an uncredited bit part in Veit Harlan's 1945 nationalistic film Kolberg.

After World War II she was under contract to the East German film company Defa, from 1948-50. She later worked on radio doing plays and narrating documentaries, as well as plays for children.

Her last movie came in 1955 into being called "Oberwachtmeister Borck".

In 1968, she was awarded the Bundesfilmpreis for many years of outstanding achievements in German film.