Lotte Lenya (October 18, 1898 – November 27, 1981), was a Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated singer and actress, born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer, in Vienna, Austria. She is best known for her performance as Jenny in Kurt Weill's and Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, and some other Brecht-Weill plays. Her role as Vivien Leigh's earthy friend Contessa Magda Terribili-Gonzales in the screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) brought Lenya an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. Her portrayal of the villainous Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963) brought her additional fame. She is also known for receiving a mention in the Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin versions of the song "Mack the Knife". Carl Van Vechten (June 17, 1880 – December 21, 1964) was an American writer and photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein. ... is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see Vienna (disambiguation). ... is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... AUGUST 25 1981 US Marine Sean Vance is Born on the 25th of August {ear nav|1981}} Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900 – April 3, 1950), born in Dessau, Germany and died in New York City, was a German and in his later years, a German-American composer active from the 1920s until his death. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the awards given to actresses working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... The Roman Spring of Mrs. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award® but is formally the Antoinette Perry Award is an annual American award celebrating achievements in theater, including musical theater. ... The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical is awarded to the actress who is voted the best non-starring actress in a musical, whether a new production or a revival. ... Die Dreigroschenoper, original German poster from Berlin, 1928. ... is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 331st day of the year (332nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... AUGUST 25 1981 US Marine Sean Vance is Born on the 25th of August {ear nav|1981}} Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... For other uses, see Singer (disambiguation). ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... For other uses, see Vienna (disambiguation). ... Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900 – April 3, 1950), born in Dessau, Germany and died in New York City, was a German and in his later years, a German-American composer active from the 1920s until his death. ... {{dy justified his choice of form, and from about 1929 on he began to interpret its penchant for contradictions, much as had Eisenstein, in terms of the dialectic. ... Die Dreigroschenoper, original German poster from Berlin, 1928. ... Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier (November 5, 1913 – July 8, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award winning English actress. ... Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. ... The Roman Spring of Mrs. ... Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress is an accolade given by a group of film or theatre professionals in recognition of the work of supporting and character actors. ... Colonel Rosa Klebb is a fictional character from the James Bond novel and film From Russia With Love. ... This article is about the spy series. ... For the Ian Fleming novel, see From Russia with Love. ... Louis[1] Armstrong[2] (4 August 1901[3] – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo[4] and Pops, was an American jazz musician. ... Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Bobby Cassotto, May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was one of the most popular American big band performers and rock and roll teen idols of the late 1950s. ... For other uses, see Mack the Knife (disambiguation). ...

Life and career

The early years

The child of working class Roman Catholic parents, Lenya wanted to be a dancer. She moved to study in Zurich, Switzerland in 1914, taking up her first job at the Schauspielhaus using the stage name Lotte Lenja (later changed to Lenya). She moved to Berlin to seek work in 1921. The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... A contemporary dancer rehearsing in a dance studio Dance generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting. ... Location within Switzerland   Zürich[?] (German pronunciation IPA: ; usually spelled Zurich in English) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ... The Schauspielhaus Zürich (English: )is one of the most prominent and important theaters in the german-speaking world. ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ...

Kurt Weill

The following year she was seen by her future husband, the German composer Kurt Weill during an audition for his first stage score Zaubernacht, but due to his position behind the piano, she did not see him. She was cast, but due to her loyalty to her voice teacher who was not, she declined the role. They did not meet properly until 1924 through a mutual acquaintance, the writer Georg Kaiser. Lenya married Kurt Weill in 1926. A composer is a person who writes music. ... Georg Kaiser (1878-1945) was a highly prolific German dramatist who wrote in a variety of styles, but is best known as an expressionist, most notably for The Citizens of Calais (1914), From Morn to Midnight (1916), and a trilogy, comprised of The Coral (1917), Gas (1918), Gas II(1920). ...

She accepted the part of Jenny in the first performance of The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) in 1928 and the part became her breakthrough role. During the last years of the Weimar Republic, she was busy in film and theatre, and especially in Brecht-Weill plays. Anthem Das Lied der Deutschen Germany during the Weimar period, with the Free State of Prussia (in blue) as the largest state Capital Berlin Language(s) German Government Republic President  - 1918-1925 Friedrich Ebert  - 1925-1933 Paul von Hindenburg Chancellor  - 1919 Philipp Scheidemann(first)  - 1933 Kurt von Schleicher (last) Legislature...

She also made several recordings of her husband's songs. In these, she sang in a high, wavering pitch.

Escape from Germany

With the rise of Nazism in Germany, she left the country, having become estranged from Weill. In March 1933, she fled to Paris, France where she sang the leading part in Brecht-Weill's "sung ballet" The Seven Deadly Sins. Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal         Nazism or National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus), refers primarily to the ideology and practices of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers Party, German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... The Seven Deadly Sins (German: Die sieben Todsünden[1]) is a satirical ballet chanté (sung ballet) in nine scenes composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. ...

Divorce and remarriage

She divorced Weill in 1933 but reunited with him in September 1935, when they both emigrated to the United States. They remarried in 1937. In 1941, the couple moved to a house of their own in New City, Rockland County, New York, roughly 50 km north of New York City. Their second marriage lasted until Weill's death in 1950. Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse. ... New City is the name of several towns in the United States: New City in New York, New City Township in North Dakota. ... Rockland County is a county located in the state of New York. ... This article is about the state. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

The War

During World War II, Lenya — now spelling her stage name with a 'y' — did a number of stage performances, recordings and radio performances, including for the Voice of America. After a badly received part in her husband's musical The Firebrand of Florence in 1945 in New York, she withdrew from the stage. After her husband's death she was coaxed back to the stage. She appeared on Broadway in Barefoot in Athens and married influential American editor George Davis. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Voice of America logo Voice of America (VOA), is the official external radio and television broadcasting service of the United States federal government. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... The Firebrand of Florence was a Broadway musical written by Kurt Weill (music), Ira Gershwin (lyrics), and Edwin Justus Mayer and Gershwin, based on Mayers play. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ...

Late career

In 1956 she won a Tony Award for her role as Jenny in Marc Blitzstein's English version of The Threepenny Opera. Lenya went on to record a number of songs from her time in Berlin, as well as songs from the American theater. Her voice had grown a lot deeper than during her first success as a performer. When she was to sing the soprano part in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and The Seven Deadly Sins, the part needed transposition to substantially lower keys. What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... Marc Blitzstein (March 2, 1905 – January 22, 1964) was an American composer. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ... This article is about the voice-type. ... Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. ... In music transposition refers to the process of moving a collection of notes (pitches) up or down in pitch by a constant interval. ...

Sprechstimme was used in some famous songs in the Brecht-Weill plays, but now Lenya used it even more to compensate for the shortages of her voice. Lenya was aware of this as a problem; in other contexts she was very careful about fully respecting her late husband's score. She founded the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, to administer incomes and issues regarding rights, and to spread knowledge about Weill's work. Sprechgesang and sprechstimme (German for spoken-song and spoken-voice) are musical terms used to refer to an expressionist vocal technique that falls between singing and speaking. ... Sheet music is written representation of music. ...

She was present in the studio when Louis Armstrong recorded Brecht-Weill's Mack the Knife. Armstrong improvised the line "Look out for Miss Lotte Lenya!" and added her name to the list of Mack's female conquests in the song. After the death of George Davis in 1957, she married the artist Russell Detwiler in 1962. He was 26 years her junior, and he died at age 44 in 1969. For other uses, see Mack the Knife (disambiguation). ... The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. ... Russell Claude Detwiler (1925 - 1969) was an American artist. ...

James Bond

In 1963, she got the part as the SPECTRE agent Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love, starring, among others, Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi. In the final scene in the film, she wore a pair of shoes with knives sticking out. She later said in interviews that when she met new people, the first thing they looked at was her shoes. Spectre, taken from the Battle for Wesnoth computer game. ... Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930) is a retired Scottish actor and producer who is perhaps best known as the first actor to portray James Bond in cinema, starring in seven Bond films. ... Daniela Bianchi (born January 31, 1942) is an actress, best known as Tatiana Tanya Romanova in the James Bond movie From Russia With Love. ...

Cabaret

In 1966, Lenya originated the role of Fräulein Schneider in the original Broadway cast of the musical Cabaret. Kander and Ebb's score was inspired by Kurt Weill's music, so Lenya was considered a particularly appropriate casting choice. Cabaret is a musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander. ... Kander and Ebb is the songwriting team of composer John Kander, born March 18, 1927 and lyricist Fred Ebb (April 8, 1933 - September 11, 2004). ...

Death

Lotte Lenya died in New York from cancer in 1981, aged 83. Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ...

She is buried next to Weill in Haverstraw, New York. ^[1] Haverstraw is the name of two locations in Rockland County, New York: the Town of Haverstraw the Village of Haverstraw There is also a village of West Haverstraw. ...

Legacy

In 2007, the musical Lovemusik, based on Lenya's relationship with Weill, opened on Broadway. Lenya was portrayed by Donna Murphy. LoveMusik is a Broadway Musical using music by Kurt Weill, and starring Michael Cerveris and Donna Murphy. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Filmography (not complete)

• The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) (1931) as Jenny Diver
• The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (1965) which won her a nomination for an Academy Award as Contessa
• From Russia with Love (1963) as Rosa Klebb
• The Appointment by Sidney Lumet (1969) as Emma Valadier
• Semi-Tough (movie) (1977) as Clara Pelf

The Roman Spring of Mrs. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... For the Ian Fleming novel, see From Russia with Love. ... Portrait of Sidney Lumet, May 7, 1939. ... Semi-Tough is a 1977 movie directed by Michael Richie and starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Lotte Lenya and Brian Donnehy Semi-Tough is an easy-going comedy about two professional football players (Reynolds and Kristofferson) and their mutual girlfriend (Clayburgyh). ...

TV films

• Bertolt Brecht's Übungstücke für Schauspieler (Practice Pieces) (1964)
• Mutter Courage in Brecht's Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and Her Children) (1965)
• The Gypsy in Ten Blocks on the Camino Real (1966)
• Mahagonny (1980)

Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) was a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956). ... Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) was a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956) with significant contributions from his mistress at the time, Margarete Steffin. ...

As narrator

She was the narrator in the documentary about the drawings of George Grosz (Interregnum, 1960). George Grosz (July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group, known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s. ...

External links

• FemBio: Lotte Lenya
• Lotte Lenya at the Internet Movie Database
• Lotte Lenya at the Internet Broadway Database

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... Internet Broadway Database The Internet Broadway Database (IBDb) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. ...

Footnotes