Ossi Oswalda

Vocation

German actress, mostly in silent films, who was given the nickname 'The German Mary Pickford' due to her popularity at the time. Oswalda trained as a ballerina and became a dancer for a theatre in Berlin. She made her film debut in Richard Oswald's Nächte des Grauens (Night of Horrors) before being discovered by the actor and screenwriter Hanns Kräly, who in turn recommended her to director Ernst Lubitsch. During her early career, she starred in several films by Lubitsch, including The Merry Jail, I Don't Want to Be a Man, The Oyster Princess and The Doll. In 1921, Oswalda started her own film production company with her husband at the time, baron Gustav von Koczian. However, during the next four years they only produced four films, all starring Oswalda. From 1925 on, she was contracted to Ufa. Oswalda's career waned along with the silent film era, and she only acted in two sound films, making her final appearance on screen in the 1933 film The Star of Valencia. Later on, she became a stage actor, and in 1943, wrote the story for the Czechoslovakian film Čtrnáctý u stolu. Oswalda died in the most miserable condition in Prague on 7 March 1947 at the age of 49. Link to Wikipedia biography