Sybille Maria Christina Schmitz (2 December 1909 – 13 April 1955) was a German

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

Biography

Schmitz attended an acting school in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and got her first engagement at

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most promi ...

's Deutsches Theater in Berlin in 1927. Only one year later, she made her film debut with ''Freie Fahrt'' (1928), which attracted her first attention from the critics. Her other early movies include Pabst's ''

Diary of a Lost Girl ''Diary of a Lost Girl'' (german: Tagebuch einer Verlorenen) is a 1929 German silent film directed by G. W. Pabst and starring American silent star Louise Brooks. It is shot in black and white, and various versions of the film range from 79 m ...

'' (1929),

Dreyer's Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc. ("Dreyer's"), is an American ice cream company, founded in 1928 in Oakland, California, where its present-day headquarters office remains. The company's two signature brands, ''Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream'' and ''Edy's ...

Vampyr ''Vampyr'' (german: Vampyr – Der Traum des Allan Gray, lit=Vampyr: The Dream of Allan Gray) is a 1932 horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from J. Sher ...

'' (1932), and eventually ''

F.P.1 ''F.P.1'' ( ger, F.P.1 antwortet nicht) is a 1932 German film directed by Karl Hartl. The film was based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Kurt Siodmak. The plot concerned a permanent air station in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The film ...

'' (1932), where she played her first leading role. Schmitz established herself as a prominent actress in the German cinema with the films which followed including '' Der Herr der Welt'' (1934), ''Abschiedswalzer'' (1934), '' Ein idealer Gatte'' (1935), and ''

Fährmann Maria ''Fährmann Maria'' ( ''Ferryman Maria'') is a 1936 German horror film directed by Frank Wisbar and starring Sybille Schmitz. Plot An elderly man operates a ferry in a small village. One evening, he weakens and dies while ferrying a silent stran ...

'' (1936). She also had roles in ''Die Umwege des schönen Karl'' (1937), ' (1938), ''Die Frau ohne Vergangenheit'' (1939), ''Trenck, der Pandur'' (1940) and ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...

'' (1943). Schmitz's career remained strong even though she was never officially endorsed by the

Reichsfilmkammer The Reichsfilmkammer (RFK; en, Reich Chamber of Film) was a statutory corporation controlled by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda that regulated the film industry in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. Membership in the associ ...

and had a strenuous relationship with

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to ...

. However, her explicitly non- Aryan appearance relegated her mostly to femme-fatales or problematic foreign women. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Schmitz was shunned by the German film community for continuously working during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, and it became difficult for her to land roles. She appeared in supporting roles in such movies as '' Zwischen gestern und morgen'' (1947), '' Sensation in Savoy'' (1950), and '' Illusion in a Minor Key'' (1952), but was beset with alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, several suicide attempts and the committal to a psychiatric clinic. Her self-destructive behavior and numerous affairs with both men and women further alienated Schmitz from the film industry and her husband, screenwriter Harald G. Petersson. Coincidentally, the last film she made less than two years before taking her own life (1953's '' The House on the Coast'', now considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...

) had Schmitz's character committing suicide as a last act of desperation. A much earlier film,

Frank Wisbar Frank Wisbar (born Franz Wysbar 9 December 1899 – 17 March 1967) was a German film director and screenwriter. Born in Lithuania, Wisbar directed more than 20 films between 1932 and 1967 in Germany and the United States, as well as amassin ...

's '' The Unknown'' (1936) ends with the suicide of Schmitz's character, also in a final act of desperate hopelessness.

Death

On April 13, 1955, Schmitz committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

with an overdose of sleeping pills; she was 45 years old. At the time of her death, she had been living in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

with a woman named Ursula Moritz, a physician who allegedly sold her

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...

at an inflated rate and kept Schmitz doped up while squandering the little funds she had available to her. Schmitz's family claimed that once the actress proved to be of no more use to Moritz, the physician facilitated her suicide. One year after Schmitz's death, charges were filed against Dr. Moritz for improper medical treatment.

Legacy

Schmitz's final years were used as the basis for

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's mai ...

's 1982 movie '' Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss''. In 2000, she was the topic of a documentary titled ''Tanz mit dem Tod: Der Ufa-Star Sybille Schmitz'' (English: ''Dance with Death: The Ufa Star Sybille Schmitz''), written and directed by Achim Podak. Both the documentary and the Fassbinder film are available on the Criterion DVD release of ''Veronika Voss''. A ghostly vampire featured in one of the ''

Vampire Hunter D is a series of novels written by Japanese author Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano since 1983. As of April 2022, 40 novels have been published in the main series, with some novels comprising as many as four volumes. They hav ...

'' novels is named Sybille Schmitz, a reference to Schmitz's role in ''

''.

Partial filmography

* '' Polizeibericht Überfall'' (1928, Short) - Prostitute * '' Tagebuch einer Verlorenen'' (English title: ''Diary of a Lost Girl'') (1929) - Elisabeth * ''

'' (1932) - Léone * ''

'' (1932) - Claire Lennartz * ''Rivalen der Luft'' (1933) - Sportfliegerin Lisa Holm * '' Music in the Blood'' (1934) - Carola, seine Nichte * '' Master of the World'' (1934) - Vilma, seine Frau * '' Farewell Waltz'' (1934) - George Sand * ''

Sergeant Schwenke ''Sergeant Schwenke'' (German: ''Oberwachtmeister Schwenke'') is a 1935 German drama film directed by Carl Froelich and starring Gustav Fröhlich, Marianne Hoppe and Karl Dannemann. It was made at the former National Studios in Berlin's Tempelhof ...

'' (1935) - Erna Zuwade, Stütze bei Wenkstern * '' Punks Arrives from America'' (1935) - Britta Geistenberg * ''

Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, ''Stradivarius'', as well as the colloqu ...

'' (1935) - Maria Belloni * ''

An Ideal Husband ''An Ideal Husband'' is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for ...

'' (1935) - Gloria Cheveley * ''

If It Were Not for Music ''Wenn die Musik nicht wär'' (English: ''If It Were Not for Music'') is a 1935 German drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Paul Hörbiger, Willi Schaeffers and Ida Wüst. The film was shot at the Grunewald Studios in Berlin. It i ...

'' (1935) - Ilonka Badacz * ''

I Was Jack Mortimer ''I Was Jack Mortimer'' (german: Ich war Jack Mortimer) is a 1935 German thriller film directed by Carl Froelich and starring Anton Walbrook, Eugen Klöpfer, and Sybille Schmitz. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. The film's sets ...

'' (1935) - Winifred Montemayor, Pedro's wife * ''

'' (1936) - Maria * ''

The Emperor's Candlesticks ''The Emperor's Candlesticks'' is an 1899 historical novel by Baroness Orczy. Written soon after the birth of her son John, it is her first book as an author rather than translator and was a commercial failure. As in the Scarlet Pimpernel, th ...

'' (1936) - Anna Demidow * '' The Unknown'' (1936) - Madeleine *'' The Chief Witness'' (1937) - Jelena Rakowska * '' Signal in the Night'' (1937) - Brigitte von Schachen * ''

Dance on the Volcano ''Dance on the Volcano'' (German: ''Tanz auf dem Vulkan'') is a 1938 German historical musical comedy film directed by Hans Steinhoff and starring Gustaf Gründgens, Sybille Schmitz and Ralph Arthur Roberts. It was shot at the Johannisthal ...

'' (1938) - Gräfin Heloise Cambouilly * '' The Roundabouts of Handsome Karl'' (1938) - Lu Donon - Tochter * '' The Stars Shine'' (1938) - Herself * ''

Hotel Sacher Hotel Sacher is a five-star luxury hotel in Vienna, Austria, facing the Vienna State Opera in the city's central Innere Stadt district. It is famous for the specialty of the house, the Sachertorte, a chocolate cake with apricot filling. There is ...

'' (1939) - Nadja Woroneff * '' Woman Without a Past'' (1939) - Eva * ''Die fremde Frau'' (1939) * ''Trenck, der Pandur'' (1940) - Prinzessin (princess) Deinhardstein * ''

Clarissa ''Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady: Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. And Particularly Shewing, the Distresses that May Attend the Misconduct Both of Parents and Children, In Relation to Marriage'' is an epis ...

'' (1941) - Clarissa von Reckwitz * ''Wetterleuchten um Barbara'' (1941) - Barbara Stammer * ''Vom Schicksal verweht'' (1942) - Dr. Virginia Larsen * ''

'' (1943) - Sigrid Olinsky * ''Die Hochstaplerin'' (1944) - Thea Varèn * ''Das Leben ruft'' (1944) - Hella Warkentin * '' Between Yesterday and Tomorrow'' (1947) - Nelly Dreifuss * '' The Last Night'' (1949) - Renée Meurier * '' The Lie'' (1950) - Susanne, seine Tochter * ''Der Fall Rabanser'' (1950) * '' Sensation in Savoy'' (1950) - Vera Gordon * '' Crown Jewels'' (1950) - Eva Skeravenen * '' Illusion in a Minor Key'' (1952) - Maria Alsbacher * '' The House on the Coast'' (1954) - Anna

Literature

* Brigitte Tast, Hans-Jürgen Tast: ''Dem Licht, dem Schatten so nah. Aus dem Leben der Sybille Schmitz'', Kulleraugen – Visuelle Kommunikation Nr. 46, Schellerten 2015,

References

External links

*
First Sybille Schmitz Website – from Germany – The Sybille Schmitz archives.

Photographs and literature
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitz, Sybille 1909 births 1955 deaths Drug-related suicides in Germany 1955 suicides German film actresses People from the Rhine Province 20th-century German actresses Burials at the Ostfriedhof (Munich) German stage actresses Bisexual actresses LGBT actresses Female suicides 20th-century LGBT people