Uhlen was born Gisela Friedlinde Schreck[1] in Leipzig, Germany as fourth child of Luise Frieda and distillery owner and former opera singer Augustin Schreck.[2]
At the Leipziger Konservatorium she enrolled in a modern dance class, and learnt classical ballet and acrobatics at the opera school. At 15 she decided to become a theatre actress and chose the stage-name Gisela Uhlen. After her final examination as a dancer and during her training period she married ballet teacher Herbert Freund.[2]
At 17 she appeared for the first time at the Schauspielhaus Bochum. In 1938 Heinrich George brought her to the Berliner Schiller-Theater, where she was active until the end of the war. But even before her first stage appearance she had made film tests with Universum Film AG (Ufa), and thereby obtained the leading actress role in the 1936 film Annemarie. Die Geschichte einer Jungen Liebe. After the war performance of this film was prohibited. Uhlen played a young organist whose lover volunteered to go to the front and there died.[2]
From 1936 through 1960, Uhlen appeared in 23 films, and in 1960 she steered her career into television. Her career was active throughout her lifetime, with her having more than 56 television appearances into 2006, entirely in the German and European realm.
She married six times, most notably to German writer, director and producerHans Bertram, with whom she had daughter Barbara Bertram, who also became an actress, but with little success. With Wolfgang Kieling she had a daughter Susanne Uhlen,[1] who is now a successful German actress. During the Cold War, and following her divorce from Hans Bertram, Uhlen fled into East Germany to avoid a custody battle over their daughter, an unusual move in a time when most people were attempting to escape from East Germany, but moved to West Berlin in 1960.
Filmography
1936: Annemarie. Die Geschichte einer jungen Liebe - Annemarie Brinkmann
1938: Liebelei und Liebe - Elsbeth Schellenbach
1938: Tanz auf dem Vulkan [de] - Schauspielerin Angèle Destouches
1939: Morgen werde ich verhaftet - Eva Burger
1939: Mann für Mann - Erika Barrels
1940: Die Rothschilds - Phyllis - Bearings Tochter
1953: Minna von Barnhelm von Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
1957: Lysistrata nach Aristophanes
1958: Die Dreigroschenoper von Bertolt Brecht
1962: Die kleinen Füchse von Lillian Hellman
1964: Der Mann von nebenan von Norman Ginsbury
1964: Ein Leben lang von William Saroyan
1966: Geschlossene Gesellschaft von Jean-Paul Sartre
1969: Die Zimmerschlacht von Martin Walser
1972: Heiraten von George Bernard Shaw
1974: Das Mißverständnis von Albert Camus
1976: Frauen in New York von Clare Booth
1977: Marie Tudor von Victor Hugo
1977: Wer hat Angst vor Virginia Woolf? von Edward Albee
1984: Der Besuch der alten Dame von Friedrich Dürrenmatt
1986: Die Irre con Chaillot von Jean Giradoux
1990: Die Physiker von Friedrich Dürrenmatt
1992: Die Glasmenagerie von Tennessee Williams
1993: Hedda Gabler von Henrik Ibsen
1997: Mord im Pfarrhaus von Agatha Christie
Books
Umarmungen und Enthüllungen. Berlin : Parthas-Verl., 2002. ISBN 3-932529-33-2
Meine Droge ist das Leben. Weinheim : Beltz, Quadriga, 1993. ISBN 3-88679-199-8
Mein Glashaus. Frankfurt/M : Ullstein, 1991. ISBN 3-7770-0178-3
References
^ a b"DNB, Katalog" (in German). Deutschen Nationalbibliothek. Retrieved 2009-03-09. (German national library entry)
^ a b c"filmportal.de / Gisela Uhlen / ( Gisela Friedlinde Schreck )" (in German). Deutsches Filminstitut. Archived from the original on 2013-02-06. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
External links
Gisela Uhlen in the German National Library catalogue
Gisela Uhlen at IMDb
Gisela Uhlen Partial Filmography with Plot Synopsis
Gisela Uhlen - Postcards, movie cards, covers, books and articles