THIMIG, HELENE

(1889-1974)

Actress. Thimig intended to work with theBurgtheaterinVienna, where her fatherHugo Thimighad been an established actor for decades and became its director from 1914 to 1918. Her father, however, was not impressed with her talent, and so in 1908 she left Vienna for Meiningen, where she worked for three years. In 1912 Thimig joined the Royal Theater company inBerlin, where she remained until 1917, at which time she joinedMaxReinhardt's company at theDeutsches Theater. When Reinhardt took over the Theater in der Josephstadt in her native Vienna, she returned there frequently to play a variety of roles, both in the modern and in the classical repertoire.Among her most noteworthy roles for Reinhardt were Ophelia inHamlet, Rosalind inAs You Like It, Luise Miller inKabale und Liebe(Intrigue and Love), the title role inFriedrichSchiller'sDie Jungfrau von Orleans(The Maid of Orleans), Maria inJohann WolfgangGoethe'sClavigo, Glaube inHugo vonHoffmansthal'sJedermann(Everyman) at the Salzburg Festival, the title role inGerhartHauptmann'sDorothea Angermann, and Klärchen in Goethe'sEgmont.

Thimig married Reinhardt in 1932 and emigrated with him to the United States when he was forced out of Germany. After his death in 1943, she worked in more than a dozen Hollywood films; returning to Europe in 1946, she began working at the Salzburg Festival and in Vienna. As a member of the Burgtheater company, she began playing older character parts, such as in the Austrian premieres of Tennessee Williams'sThe Glass Menagerie, playing Amanda, and Federico Garcia Lorca'sBlood Wedding, as the Mother. Among her many awards were the Josef Kainz Medallion and the Salzburg Festival Prize.