Brigitte Mira

Brigitte Mira (20 April 1910 – 8 March 2005) was a German actress. She worked in both theater and film, and on many occasions, with Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Believed to have been born in Hamburg, she moved when young to Berlin. Mira's mother was German, and her father was Russian Jewish. During the Nazi era, Mira took part in the propaganda series Liese und Miese. She played Miese (germ. bad one): the bad role model, according to Nazi ideology, who listened to enemy radio stations and stockpiled rationed food. However, her acting skills turned the "bad" character she portrayed into a likeable one. The series was cancelled for being counterproductive. The propaganda directors did not know that Mira was half-Jewish because she had false papers. Although she insisted on her naivete as a young woman and that she had to conceal her origins, she was criticized later by some for taking part in these ads at all.
Notable performances include Emmi Kurowski in Fear Eats the Soul (1974), a role for which she won a German Film Award. In the 1980s, Mira achieved another big success with the television series Drei Damen vom Grill. She appeared in the 1991 stage production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies in Berlin.
Partial filmography
The Berliner (1948) as Dirne
(1958) as Frau Mertens
Münchhausen in Afrika (1958, voice) as Karla Mai
When She Starts, Look Out (1958) as Frau Knax
The Star of Santa Clara (1958) as Tante Theresa
So ein Millionär hat's schwer (1958) as Madame Pillard
Schlag auf Schlag (1959) as Sophie Hinze
Melodie und Rhythmus (1959) as Pensionsleiterin
Du bist wunderbar (1959) as Madame Dupont
Im Namen einer Mutter (1960) as Mutter Reitner, Strafgefangene
Geschminkte Jugend (1960)
Ich kann nicht länger schweigen (1962) as Frau Ohl
So toll wie anno dazumal (1962) as Frau Sommer
Jack and Jenny (1963) as Thea
(1968) as Frau Bütow
Hotel by the Hour (1970) as Rose Schuh
Twenty Girls and the Teachers (1971) as Wirtin
Wir hau'n den Hauswirt in die Pfanne (1971) as Mutti Bauer
Eight Hours Don't Make a Day (1973, TV series, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder) as Marions Mutter, Frau Andreas
The Tenderness of Wolves (1973, directed by Ulli Lommel) as Louise Engel
1 Berlin-Harlem (1974)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder) as Emmi
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974, directed by Werner Herzog) as Kathe, Servant
Fox and His Friends (1975, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder) as Shopkeeper #2
Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (1975, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder) as Emma Küsters
(1975, TV film, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder) as Mutter
The Secret Carrier (1975)
Everyone Dies Alone (1976) as Frau Häberle
(1976) as Oma Wuttke
Satan's Brew (1976, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder) as Mutter Kranz
Chinese Roulette (1976, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder) as Kast
Adolf & Marlene (1977)
Liebe das Leben, lebe das Lieben (1977) as Hauswartfrau
Drei Damen vom Grill (1977–1992, TV series, 140 episodes) as Margarete Färber
(1978) as Simons Mutter
Iron Gustav (1979, TV miniseries) as Frau Pauli
Derrick (1979, Season 6, Episode 12: "Ein Todesengel") as Frau Tobbe
Primel macht ihr Haus verrückt (1980) as Frau Kulicke
Fabian (1980) as Frau Hohlfeld
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980, TV miniseries) as Frau Bast / Wirtin Bast
Lili Marleen (1981, directed of Rainer Werner Fassbinder) as Nachbarin
(1981) as Denunziantin
Kamikaze 1989 (1982) as Personaldirektorin
The Roaring Fifties (1983) as Frau Willmsen
(1984) as Frau Niendorf
(1985) as Toilettenfrau
Schwarzer Lohn und weiße Weste (1985) as Gemüsefrau
Spreepiraten (1989–1990, TV series, 21 episodes) as Gundula Brachvogel
Fassbinder's Women (2000, documentary by Rosa von Praunheim) as Herself
Dubbing roles
Widow Tweed - Disney's The Fox and the Hound (1981)
External links
Brigitte Mira: Character actor who epitomised the spirit of old Berlin – The Guardian, 2005-03-25. Retrieved on 2010-04-21.
1910 births
2005 deaths
Actresses from Berlin
Best Actress German Film Award winners
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin
German stage actresses
German people of Russian-Jewish descent
German film actresses
German television actresses
20th-century German actresses