Reinhild Solf (14 April 1940 – May/June 2022) was a German born stage and television actressC. Bernd Sucher (Herausgeber): '' Theaterlexikon. Autoren, Regisseure, Schauspieler, Dramaturgen, Bühnenbildner, Kritiker''. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2. Aufl., München 1999, S.668 and author.

Life

Early years

Reinhild Solf was born in

Haldensleben Haldensleben (; Eastphalian: ''Halslä'') is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Börde district. Geography It is situated on the Ohre river, near the confluence with its Beber tributary, and the parallel Mi ...

, a small town a short distance to the northwest of

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. She received her drama training at the Max Reinhardt Acting Academy in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

and went on to make her stage debut at the regional theatre in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. This was followed by work at the Theater Lübeck and at the National Theatre (''Staatliche Schauspielbühnen'') in Berlin.

Theatre

In 1973, at Berlin, she played Fontanelle in Edward Bond's

take A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each s ...

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane ...

and Mrs. Frost in The Vegetable, or From President to Postman (in German ''"Der Präsident oder das Würstchen"'') by

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

. In 1974 she embarked on a freelance career. In 1983 she took over the title role in

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

's Stella at the Zürich Playhouse. She followed this the next year with

Penthesilea Penthesilea ( el, Πενθεσίλεια, Penthesíleia) was an Amazonian queen in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope and Melanippe. She assisted Troy in the Trojan War, during which she w ...

Kleist Kleist, or von Kleist, is a surname. von Kleist: *August von Kleist (1818–1890), Prussian Major General *Conrad von Kleist (1839-1900), German politician (German Conservative Party), member of Reichstag *Ewald Georg von Kleist (ca. 1700–1748), ...

. Further roles followed at

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, where she remained until 1989. In 1988 she took the part of Mrs Meinhold in The Open Country by

Arthur Schnitzler Arthur Schnitzler (15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist. Biography Arthur Schnitzler was born at Praterstrasse 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire (as of 1867, part of the dual monarchy ...

, and in 1989 she appeared as Lotte (Lovage) in

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...

's "Laura and Lotte". It was around this time that Solf married the theatre director

Hans Hollmann Hans Erich (Eric) Hollmann (4 November 1899 – 19 November 1960) was a German electronic specialist who made several breakthroughs in the development of radar. Hollmann was born in Solingen, Germany. He became interested in radio and even a ...

. In 1989 she joined Frank Baumbauer at the

Theater Basel Theater Basel is the municipal theatre of the city of Basel, Switzerland, which is home to the city's opera and ballet companies. The theatre also presents plays and musicals in addition to operas and operettas. Because the theatre does not ha ...

where the same year she appeared in the first theatre production of The Piano Teacher by

Elfriede Jelinek Elfriede Jelinek (; born 20 October 1946) is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She is one of the most decorated authors writing in German today and was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature for her "musical flow of voices and counter-vo ...

. In 1991 she appeared at Basel in "Die Zeit und das Zimmer" by Botho Strauß, and two years later she took the title role in

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

's Lucrezia Borgia. During the next few years she worked variously at the Kleine Komödie theatre 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 ...

as well at theatres in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Literature

Reinhild Solf's first novel appeared in 1980, published by Molden Verlag of Graz, and in 1985 as a paperback by Goldmann Verlag, by this time based in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. The book, entitled "Leberwurst, Käsebrot, zwo, drei vier: Ein deutsch-deutsches Märchen" (''"Liver sausage, bread 'n cheese, one two three: a German to German journey"'') provided a fictional account of a childhood in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, a theme that will have resonated with thousands of readers in

the west West is a cardinal direction or compass point. West or The West may also refer to: Geography and locations Global context * The Western world * Western culture and Western civilization in general * The Western Bloc, countries allied with NATO ...

because of the massive population shifts across the "internal frontier" that had taken place between the foundation of the two separated German states in 1949 and the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The book was a commercial success and the paperback edition was reprinted in January 1987. Her second novel, "Schmetterling" (''"Butterfly"'') appeared in 2008 after a gap of nearly three decades. In 2011 she presented her third novel, "Schattenfrauen" (''"Shadow women"''), the story of three women meeting up in 2009 at the same camping place beside the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

where they previously camped many decades before when it was a girls' holiday camp for Free German Youth members during the years of one-

party dictatorship A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

. Published by Langen Müller Verlag, this book had its debut at the 2012

Leipzig Book Fair The Leipzig Book Fair (german: Leipziger Buchmesse) is the second largest book fair in Germany after the Frankfurt Book Fair. The fair takes place annually over four days at the Leipzig Trade Fairground in the northern part of Leipzig, Saxony. ...

. A film version of "Schattenfrauen" is reported to be (2016) under preparation.

Television

Solf has worked extensively as a television actress. She starred as Elisabeth of Bohemia in

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

's four-part drama Wallenstein (1978), and later featured as Tony, a central character in the 1979 television drama based on

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

's unhurried exploration of bourgeois decline,

Buddenbrooks ''Buddenbrooks'' () is a 1901 novel by Thomas Mann, chronicling the decline of a wealthy north German merchant family over the course of four generations, incidentally portraying the manner of life and mores of the Hanseatic bourgeoisie in th ...

. She has also appeared in supporting roles in three long-running television police dramas:

Derrick A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and ...

, Der Alte and

Die Männer vom K3 ''Die Männer vom K3'' is a German television Television in Germany began in Berlin on 22 March 1935, broadcasting for 90 minutes three times a week. It was home to the first public television station in the world, named ''Fernsehsender Paul ...

Personal life

Reinhild Solf was married to the theatre director

. Hollmann was born in Austria and the couple lived in

, Switzerland for many years. The marriage produced two recorded children. Their son, Caspar Florian, was killed in an avalanche in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solf, Reinhild 20th-century German actresses 20th-century German writers 1940 births 2022 deaths People from Haldensleben