German actress of the silent movie era

Born May 12, 1909 - Kiel, Germany, died 1989 in Epfach- Germany

Daughter of a German Admiral and Governor of the, then German, Colony Tsing-tau-China. She was a beautiful and talented German actress. After some successful leading roles in productions of the German UFA-studios in Berlin, Wera Engels was invited to Hollywood. Producers saw her as a cheap alternative of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. She was contracted with RKO. Engels was given roles under Walter Futter and M.H. Hoffman, whose productions would nowadays be considered B-productions at best. She became best friends with the silent movie super star Mary Pickford (with whom she shares her final resting place in the Hollywood cementry). By 1935 She returned for a brief stint back to Germany, but left soon thereafter, because of the decline of the German movie industrie caused by the NAZI propaganda machine. Back in Hollywood Wera Engels married the Lithuanian-born actor/writer Ivan Lebedeff. After Lebedeff's death in 1958 (he died of Angina pectoris), Wera Engels moved back to Europe, where she stayed with several friends in London and Stockholm before she went back to Germany. She lived the rest of her life together with Erna Hoffmann( widow of Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitlers friend and personal photographer)in the Munich area.

Filmpgraphy of Wera Engels:

 1937 Man Spricht Uber Jacqueline Actor: Jacqueline Topelius 1935 Sweepstake Annie Actor 1935 Together We Live Actor: Sonia 1935 Hong Kong Nights Actor: Trina Vidor