Ellen Schwiers

Ellen Schwiers (11 June 1930 – 26 April 2019) was a German actress of stage, film, and television. She was featured in world premieres of plays by Dürrenmatt and Frisch at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, and appeared as Buhlschaft in Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival. In a career from 1949 to 2015, she also appeared in more than 200 films and television shows, including popular series such as Tatort. She also directed plays, founded a touring theatre company in 1982, and was Intendant of a festival from 1984.
Career
Schwiers was born in Stettin on 11 June 1930, the daughter of , a travelling actor who trained her. Her earliest theatre engagement was at the Theater Koblenz from 1949, and she was then engaged by Heinz Hilpert at the Theater Göttingen in 1953. Her first major role was the title role in Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm. She played in the world premieres of Dürrenmatt's and Frisch's at the Schauspielhaus Zürich. She was internationally recognised for playing Buhlschaft in Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival in 1961 and 1962, a role that she also played in a 1961 film, alongside Walther Reyer in the title role.
Schwiers appeared in more than 200 television productions, including popular series such as Tatort, Der rote Schal and Doktor Martin.
Schwiers first directed a play at the , Shakespeare's Was ihr wollt (Twelfth Night). In 1984, she became Intendant of the festival.
Schwiers married Peter Jacob in 1956. Their daughter Katerina Jacob also became an actress. Their son Daniel, also an actor, died of cancer in 1985 at the age of 21. She is also the grandmother of Josephine Jacob. Schwiers founded a touring theatre company with her husband and daughter, Das Ensemble, which she kept running after her husband's death in 1992, and then passed to her daughter. She last appeared on stage at the age of 84 in the comedy Altweiberfrühling, with her daughter and her brother .
Schwiers died at her home in Starnberg on 26 April 2019.
Selected filmography
The first film role for Schwiers was Hildegard in in 1949, directed by Kurt Hoffmann. She appeared in more than 60 films, including:
Heimliches Rendezvous (1949) as Hildegard
08/15 Zweiter Teil (1955) as Natascha
Bandits of the Autobahn (1955) as Else Möller
Skandal um Dr. Vlimmen (1956) as Nel van der Kalk
The Story of Anastasia (1956) as Prinzessin Katharina von Russland
Between Time and Eternity (1956) as Consuela
The King of Bernina (1957) as Pia
Polikuschka (1958) as Akulina
Arms and the Man (1958) as Louka
Nackt, wie Gott sie schuf (1958) as Priska
Med mord i bagaget (1959) as Nina Christians
Aus dem Tagebuch eines Frauenarztes (1959) as Ursula Callway
Arzt aus Leidenschaft (1959) as Oberschwester Hilde
When the Bells Sound Clearly (1959) as Susanne Weiden
The Cow and I (1959) as Josépha
The Inheritance of Bjorndal (1960) as Gunvor
Sooo nicht, meine Herren (1960) as Charlott' Rubizek, seine Sekretärin
Der Gauner und der liebe Gott (1960) as Maria Holzmann
Gustav Adolf's Page (1960) as Korinna
The Last Witness (1960) as Ingrid Bernhardy
Frau Irene Besser (1961) as Franziska von Stein
Mann im Schatten (1961) as Miriam Capell
Jedermann (1961) as Buhlschaft
Wenn beide schuldig werden (1962) as Carla Förster
Camp der Verdammten (1962) as Kerima
The Brain (1962) as Ella
The Invisible Terror (1963) as Helen Roy
Ein Frauenarzt klagt an (1964) as Dr. Ursula Donati
Tim Frazer jagt den geheimnisvollen Mister X (1964) as Farida
Der Satan mit den roten Haaren (1964) as Lorca
The Bandits of the Rio Grande (1965) as Lida
God's Thunder (1965) as Françoise
4 Schlüssel (1966) as Irene Quinn
The Strangler of the Tower (1966) as Lady Trenton
Ballad of a Gunman (1967) as Maruja's Mother
Das Rasthaus der grausamen Puppen (1967) as Francis Nipple, Oberaufseherin
1900 (1976) as Amelia
Uncle Silas (1977, TV Mini-Series) as Madame Rougierre
Fedora (1978) as Nurse
Woman Doctors (1984) as Ärztin im Wald
Sherlock Holmes und die sieben Zwerge (1994) as Helene
(2003) as Frau im Circus
(2004, TV film) as Gräfin Curland
GG 19 - Eine Reise durch Deutschland in 19 Artikeln (2007) as Alte Dame (segment "Artikel 8")
(2011, TV film) as Mrs. Schulz
3096 Days (2013) as Natascha's Grandmother
Awards
1989: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
1995: Medal of Baden-Württemberg
2013: in the category "Starker Auftritt" for In the Prime of Life
References
External links
1930 births
2019 deaths
German film actresses
Actors from Szczecin
Actors from the Province of Pomerania
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg
German stage actresses
German television actresses
20th-century German actresses
21st-century German actresses