Photos

These and other photographs can be obtained from the museum archive (Phone (0049/331) 56704-11 / E-mail: collection@filmmuseum-potsdam.de).

Biography

4 April 1941

Born in Berlin

During her school days, Domröse visits a dramatic circle at the "House of Young Talents" and becomes a stenotypist at an export company.

1958

She applies for the Film and Television College Potsdam-Babelsberg – her application is rejected. Director Slatan Dudow discovers her for the role of Sigi in his film Verwirrung der Liebe.

1959

During her college days, she plays further roles in DEFA productions.

1960

Starring in the TV film Papas neue Freundin (DIR: Georg Leopold), Domröse is introduced to a broader audience.

1961

She is engaged at the Berliner Ensemble after her graduation.

1966

Domröse is voted "Actress of the Year". She leaves the Berliner Ensemble to become a member of the ensemble of the Volksbühne in East Berlin. She predominantly plays classical roles from Shakespeare to Hacks.

1967 - 1969

Several TV appearances allow her to present the diversity of her artistic skills, playing a countess in Wege übers Land (DIR: Martin Eckermann), a proletarian in Krupp und Krause (DIR: Horst E. Brandt) and, most notably, the main role in the adaptation of Effi Briest (DIR: Wolfgang Luderer).

1967

She accepts a role in the Czech film Ja, Spravedlnost (which is released under the title Als Hitler den Krieg überlebte in 1975 in the FGR) (DIR: Zbynek Brynych), playing some kind of "Eva Braun epigone”.

She is voted "GDR TV Artist of the Year" three times during the first half of the 1970s.

1973

She plays the role of Paula in Die Legende von Paul und Paula (DIR: Heiner Carow). The film becomes a great audience success and, after a long time, one of the first DEFA productions to be screened in the FGR.

1976

Together with her second husband Hilmar Thate, she protests against the expatriation of Wolf Biermann. As a consequence, she is offered only few acting jobs afterwards.

1978/79

Domröse appears in two more impressive roles. Starring in the Dinah Nelken adaptation Fleur Lafontaine (DIR: Horst Seemann), she portrays the fate of a woman over several decades. The DEFA film Bis daß der Tod euch scheidet (DIR: Heiner Carow) contains her last appearance on the screens of GDR cinemas.

1979

She gives guest performances at the Thalia-Theater in Hamburg.

1980

She leaves the GDR together with Hilmar Thate. After her performances at the Thalia-Theater, Domröse and Thate join the ensemble of the Schiller-Theater in Berlin.

1982

She receives the Best Actor Award for the film Die zweite Haut (DIR: Frank Beyer) at the Festival International de Télévision de Monte Carlo. She works with Egon Günther for Hanna von acht bis acht.

1984

For the time being, she leaves the Schiller-Theater and does independent work for renowned German theatres as well as TV and feature film productions.

1985/86

She is engaged at the Staatstheater in Stuttgart.

1992

Once again, she works with director Heiner Carow. In Verfehlung (DIR: Heiner Carow), she plays 50-year-old Elisabeth Bosch, a woman from a village in the former GDR who has a relationship with a man from Hamburg.

1992

Directing debut at the theatre. So far, she has staged (among others) "Brut" by Matthias Zschokke, "Schreib mich in den Sand" by I. von Dullemen, "Maria Magdalena" by Hebbel and "Michael Kramer" by Gerhart Hauptmann.

1992

She becomes a lecturer at the "Ernst Busch" Acting College in Berlin.

1994

She plays the role of Superintendent Vera Bilewski in the TV thriller series Polizeiruf 110.

2003

Film: Tal der Ahnungslosen by Branwen Okpako

2003

Her autobiography "Ich fang mich selbst ein" is published.

2006

She plays Mary Tyrone in "A Long Day’s Journey Into Night" by Eugene O′Neill at the Hans-Otto-Theater in Potsdam.

After her first marriage to actor Jiri Vrstala, who became famous as Clown Ferdinand in the GDR, Domröse is married to Hilmar Thate (born in 1931).

Angelica Domröse lives in Berlin

Compilation of data: P. Warnecke

Memories

The "thorny diva" from Berlin

"Angelica, I think you′re absolutely great – keep it up!," a fan named Dieter wrote enthusiastically in a letter to Domröse.(1) The premiere of Die Legende von Paula und Paula on 29 April 1973 at Kosmos Cinema, Berlin was followed by 20 minutes of frenetic applause – 6 of which were for Paula (Dömröse) alone.(2) After the casting for Effi Briest, director Carow actually thought that she, aged 30, was too aristocratic and, above that, too old for the role. The rejected actress immediately called him and made clear that no one else but her could play the part. "She said that she was Paula and that she wanted anything in her that wasn′t Paula yet to become as lively, spontaneous and vivid as Paula."(3) She convincingly managed to do so – and she had to live with the consequences: Seamen wanted to name their torpedo boat "Angelica Domröse", voyeuristic idolisers visited "Cäsar und Cleopatra" performances at the Volksbühne Berlin with field glasses to catch a glance of what what was beneath Cleo′s flimsy dress, etc., etc. ... Yet the more people were making attempts to invade her private life, the more she was excluding them. Talking to journalists about the protection of privacy, she would sometimes talk herself into a fury until she was beside herself with anger. Thus, she was called "thorny rose" by the press in West Germany. This image didn’t harm the career of the actress as she had long ago become what people outside the GDR called a "star". At some point, Domröse admitted that she didn’t dislike this denomination as it implied a decisive amount of appreciation without which, as she put it, she could also perform "on the toilet".(4) Of course, she wasn’t eager to cope with the shady side of stardom. It was not before her autobiography was published in 2003 that the public found out more about her – more than ever.
In the beginning, she was determined and sometimes shy. During the qualifying examination at Babelsberg Film College, she turned her back to the committee because she was ashamed. Helene Weigel, who auditioned and engaged her at the Berliner Ensemble, called her "dolly bird".(5) As an advice for her debut in Verwirrung der Liebe, director Dudow – who had chosen the 17-year-old from 1,500 girls who had responded to his ad (Domröse was number 1,106) – told her to simply be what she was at that time: "a pretty, simple, nice and inexperienced girl".(6) Later on, the pretty girl didn’t follow Dudow’s advice anymore.
With the role of Paula, she had become the representative of soulful, vivid and independent women in East Germany. That she left for the West in 1980 without regretting it was a catastrophe for her countless admirers and the state. As a "major minor point", she could finally make her naive dream of a nice car come true in the FGR – a dream that she shared with a lot of Ufa stars. Attempts to use the "thorny rose" for political purposes are still a thorn in her side and make her ready to sting!


(1) Christoph Funke, Dieter Kranz: Angelica Domröse. Berlin 1976, p. 27
(2) Angelica Domröse: Ich fang mich selbst ein. Bergisch Gladbach 2003, p. 192
(3) Die Zeit, 29 March 1974
(4) Der Stern, 23 August 1973
(5) Wochenpost, 6 February 1965
(6) Filmspiegel, vol. 17/1961

Texts taken from the information system of the permanent exhibition "Babelsberg – Faces of a Film Metropolis"