Christa Tordy (born Anneliese Uhlhorn, 30 June 1904 – 28 April 1945) was a German

film actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. She was discovered while visiting her cousin

Mady Christians Marguerita Maria Christians (January 19, 1892 – October 28, 1951), known as Mady Christians, was an Austrian-born German-American actress who had a successful acting career in theatre and film in the United States until she was blacklisted dur ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, and briefly became a leading star before retiring after marrying

Harry Liedtke Harry Liedtke (12 October 1882 – 28 April 1945) was a German film actor. Early life Liedtke was born in Königsberg, East Prussia as the seventh out of 12 children of a merchant. After his father's death in 1896, he grew up in an orphanage and ...

. She was murdered along with her husband by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

at her home during its invasion of Germany during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Biography

Christa Tordy was born Anneliese Uhlhorn on 30 June 1904 in Bremen. She spent her childhood in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

after her father had retired there. There, she attended high school, graduating at age 17, and began studying art history, archaeology, philosophy, and literary history in

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, finishing her studies in Breslau with a doctorate. During her time in school, she also participated in student theater, creating and staging plays. In 1925, Tordy visited her cousin

who was then working on the film

A Waltz Dream ' (''A Waltz Dream'') is an operetta by Oscar Straus (composer), Oscar Straus with a German libretto by and , based on the novella ' (''Nux, the Prince consort, Prince Consort'') by Hans Müller-Einigen from his 1905 book ' (''Book of Adventures ...

. Tordy was noticed by director Ludwig Berger or cinematographer

Werner Brandes Werner Brandes (10 July 1889 in Braunschweig – 30 September 1968) was a German cinematographer. Brandes moved to Britain in the late 1920s to work on several prestige films for British International Pictures.Bergfelder & Cargnell p.64-65 Select ...

, who persuaded her to undergo a screen test. Tordy had a short but successful period at the end of the 1920s with several silent movies. She made her film debut in ''

The Sea Cadet ''The Sea Cadet'' (German: ''Der Seekadett'') is a 1926 German silent drama film directed by Carl Boese and starring Walter Slezak, Gerd Briese and Fritz Alberti.Krautz p.115 It was shot at the Terra Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were desi ...

'' (1926), followed by ''

His Toughest Case ''His Toughest Case'' (German: ''Sein großer Fall'') is a 1926 German silent crime film directed and co-written by Fritz Wendhausen and starring Alexander Murski, Christa Tordy and Olga Chekhova. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Ber ...

'' (1926). She next starred in ''

Prinz Louis Ferdinand ''Prinz Louis Ferdinand'' is a 1927 German silent historical drama film directed by Hans Behrendt and starring Kurt Junker, Christa Tordy, Hans Stüwe and Jenny Jugo. It was partly filmed at the EFA Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were des ...

'' (1927) and ''

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

'' (1927), both alongside

Hans Stüwe Hans Stüwe (14 May 1901 – 13 May 1976) was a German stage and film actor, singer, film and opera director. As a singer he made his debut at the Stadttheater in Königsberg and moved to Berlin to play on stage. Filmography References Biblio ...

. Tordy's final screen appearance was in the silent comedy film '' Love on Skis'' (1928), which she acted in with her husband

. The film was released a fortnight after their marriage. Tordy and Liedtke married on 27 March 1928 and Tordy retired from the film industry shortly thereafter. She only appeared in 8 films during her career. Grab Dorsch Liedke Pieskow

On 28 April 1945, Christa Tordy and Harry Liedtke were murdered by the Soviet Red Army. Liedtke had tried to save his wife from being raped and murdered, but died after either being smashed on the head with a beer bottle, or after being clubbed to death. Prior to their murder, the couple had attempted suicide. Tordy and Liedtke's bodies were exhumed in October 1948 and they were buried at Waldfriedhof Saarow-Pieskow Cemetery. Upon Liedtke's ex-wife

Käthe Dorsch Katharina "Käthe" Dorsch (, 29 December 1890 – 25 December 1957) was a German stage and film actor. Biography Katharina Dorsch was born on 29 December 1890 at 5:30 P.M. in the Kingdom of Bavaria, Bavarian town of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, th ...

's death in 1957, she was buried alongside the two.

Filmography

* ''

'' (1926) * ''

'' (1927) * ''Die Beichte des Feldkuraten'' (1927) * ''

'' (1927) * '' Das Geheimnis von Genf'' (1928) *'' The Countess of Sand'' (1928) * '' Love on Skis'' (1928)

Bibliography

* Hardt, Ursula. ''From Caligari to California: Erich Pommer's Life in the International Film Wars''. Berghahn Books, 1996.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tordy, Christa 1904 births 1945 deaths German film actresses German silent film actresses Actresses from Bremen (city) German civilians killed in World War II 20th-century German actresses