Grete Mosheim: Movies & Filmography

Grete Mosheim (born Margarete Emma Dorothea Mosheim on 8 January 1905 in Berlin) was one of the most celebrated German actresses of the inter‑war period, renowned for her magnetic stage presence and versatile talent that spanned drama, comedy and musical revue. The daughter of Jewish businessman Markus Mosheim and his non‑Jewish wife Clara Hilger, she grew up in a culturally rich household and shared the theatrical spark with her sister Lore, who also pursued acting. At the age of seventeen Mosheim entered the prestigious Deutsches Theater in Berlin and began formal training at Max Reinhardt’s School of Drama, where she studied alongside future star Marlene Dietrich under the guidance of Berthold Held. Her breakthrough came in 1925 when Reinhardt placed her in René Fauchois’s Der sprechende Affe as a last‑minute replacement, a role she mastered in a single day and which instantly vaulted her to superstar status across the German capital. Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s she dominated the Berlin stage, alternating between serious plays, light‑hearted comedies and popular revues, even recording songs by Friedrich Hollaender that became instant hits. Parallel to her theatre triumphs, Mosheim built an impressive silent‑film résumé beginning with Michael (1924) and including notable titles such as Dreyfus (1930) and Yorck (1931). The rise of Adolf Hitler forced her exile in 1933; she relocated to London where she mastered English sufficiently to star in the West End production Two Share a Dwelling (1935) and the British film Car of Dreams. After World War II she returned periodically to German stages from 1952 onward, while also appearing in television productions, most memorably as the kindly grandmother in Moritz, Dear Moritz (1978). In recognition of her lifelong contributions, she received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1984. Mosheim’s personal life included three marriages—first to actor Oskar Homolka, then to industrialist Howard Gould, and finally to journalist Robert Cooper—but she never bore children. She succumbed to cancer in New York City on 29 December 1986, leaving behind a legacy of artistic excellence that continues to inspire actors and audiences alike.