Senta Berger

 ( 1941 Births ) 

Senta Verhoeven (née Berger; Austrian German: , ; born 13 May 1941) is an Austrian-German actress. She received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film, and television; her awards include three Bambi Awards, two Romys, an Adolf Grimme Award, both a Deutscher Fernsehpreis and a Bayerischer Fernsehpreis, and a Goldene Kamera.

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Early life Berger was born in Hietzing, Vienna, during the Second World War to musician (1902–1983) and teacher Therese Jany. Berger, Senta: Porträt. mdr.de. 2 February 2004 (in German) She first appeared on stage at the age of four, when her father accompanied her singing on the piano. At the age of five, she started ballet lessons.

Berger also took private acting lessons. In 1957, she won her first small role in The Unexcused Hour, one of the final films directed by Austrian auteur Willi Forst. She applied for the Max Reinhardt Seminar, a famous acting school in Vienna, and was accepted, but she left shortly afterwards after accepting a film role without permission. In 1958, she became the youngest member of the Josefstadt Theatre in Vienna and appeared in productions of L'Œuf, Charley's Aunt, Much Ado About Nothing' and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

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Career In 1960, Bernhard Wicki and Artur Brauner produced the comedy film The Good Soldier Schweik with Berger and German actor Heinz Rühmann. Brauner used Berger in several films, but she soon tired of musicals. In 1962, she went to Hollywood and worked with stars such as Charlton Heston, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Richard Widmark, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, and Yul Brynner. She returned to Germany to accept an offer for a role in a series, which would have included an obligation of several years. Early publicity material compared her to Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren.

In 1963, Berger met Michael Verhoeven, son of German film director Paul Verhoeven (not to be confused with the Netherlands Paul Verhoeven). In November 1964, she guest-starred in an episode of the U.S. television show The Man from U.N.C.L.E, entitled "The Double Affair". It was later expanded and released in cinemas as the feature film The Spy with My Face (1965). Also in 1965, she starred in The Glory Guys, a dramatic representation of Custer's Little Big Horn disaster, based on the novel The Dice of God by Hoffman Birney. Filmed by Levy-Gardner-Laven and released by United Artists, it stars Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, Senta Berger, James Caan, and Michael Anderson, Jr. Berger and Verhoeven started their own film production company in 1965, and married in 1966. Berger continued to develop her European career in France and Italy. In 1966, Berger co-starred with Kirk Douglas in the film Cast a Giant Shadow. Berger played the role of Magda, a soldier in the Israeli army during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Also in 1966, the British film Our Man in Marrakesh, called Bang, Bang, You're Dead in the U.S., was released, starring Senta Berger opposite Tony Randall. In The Quiller Memorandum, a third film of hers released in 1966, she played opposite Max von Sydow and George Segal in the role of a German schoolteacher involved in neo-Nazi activity. In 1967, Berger acted in the pilot film for the Robert Wagner television series It Takes a Thief, which aired on the U.S. television network ABC on 9 January 1968. She reprised her role in the series in October 1969, in an episode in which her character was killed.

In 1970, Berger starred for the first time in a film produced by her own company and directed by her husband. Other internationally successful films made by their joint production company included, Die weiße Rose (1982), The Nasty Girl (1990) and (1995). In 1971, Berger participated in the media campaign "We've had abortions!" launched by German feminist Alice Schwarzer with a cover story in the Stern political magazine. In 1972, she also campaigned for Willy Brandt's SPD.

Following the birth of her first son, Berger soon returned to theatre work. She played at the Burgtheater in Vienna, at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, and at the Schiller Theater in Berlin. Between 1974 and 1982, she played the Buhlschaft in the play Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival with Curd Jürgens and Maximilian Schell. She also acted alongside Schell and James Coburn in a supporting role in the acclaimed war film Cross of Iron (1977). In 1977, she was head of the jury at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival. Twenty-one years later, she was part of the jury at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1985 and 1986, Berger started a comeback for German-speaking audiences in the TV serial Kir Royal. Further serial hits followed, including Die schnelle Gerdi ( The Fast Gerdi, 1989–2002), in which she played a taxi driver. In the same year, she also began a singing career. From 2003 to 2010, Berger was president of the German Film Academy, which seeks to support the careers of actors and actresses in Germany and across Europe. Since 2005, the academy assigns the annual German Film Awards, or Lolas.

In 2005 she appeared in the film, Einmal so wie ich will ( Once According to My Will), as a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage, who finds love on holiday, but turns her back on the relationship. In 2016, she played one of the leading roles in the film Welcome to Germany, written and directed by her son Simon Verhoeven. The film grossed more than US$20 million, making it the most successful German picture of the year. It also won numerous awards, among them the Deutscher Filmpreis, the peace award Friedenspreis des deutschen Films, and was nominated for a European Film Award for Best Comedy.

She played the role of Doctor Eva Maria Prohacek in the popular German crime television series Unter Verdacht ( Under Suspicion) from 2002 till March 2020, when she retired from the role.

In June 2023, her romantic dramedy ( Weißt du noch; screenplay by Martin Rauhaus, directed by Rainer Kaufmann) premiered at the 40th Filmfest München.

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Memoirs In the spring of 2006, Berger's autobiography was published in Germany: Ich habe ja gewußt, daß ich fliegen kann ( I Knew that I Could Fly). Among her memories of Hollywood are a less-than-subtle attempt by Darryl Zanuck to get her on his casting couch, and of all the shallow people she met in Hollywood.

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Personal life Berger was married to German film director Michael Verhoeven from 1966 until his death in 2024; their sons are actor-director Simon Verhoeven (born 1972) and actor/producer Luca Verhoeven (born 1979). She lives in Germany. She is Jewish.

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Selected filmography

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Film

1957	The Unexcused Hour	Charge als Gymnasialschülerin	Willi Forst
1959	The Journey	Serving Girl in Black Scarf	Anatole Litvak
1960	The Good Soldier Schweik	Gretl	Axel von Ambesser
	I'm Marrying the Director	Vera Bleichinger	Wolfgang Liebeneiner
		Madeleine	Paul Martin
1961	The Secret Ways	Elsa	Phil Karlson
	The Miracle of Father Malachia	Yvonne Krüger	Bernhard Wicki
		Chantal	Géza von Radványi
		Chantal	Géza von Radványi
1962		Susan Brown	Werner Klingler
	Doctor Sibelius	Elisabeth Sibelius	Rudolf Jugert
	Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse	Nelly	Werner Klingler
	Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace	Mrs. Ellen Blackburn	Terence Fisher
1963	The Victors	Trudi	Carl Foreman
		Catherine Talbot	Mario Camerini	Two films
	Jack and Jenny	Jenny	Victor Vicas
1964		Jane	Camillo Mastrocinque
	The Spy with My Face	Serena	John Newland	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1965	Major Dundee	Teresa Santiago	Sam Peckinpah
	Shots in Threequarter Time	Captain Jenny Bedford	Alfred Weidenmann
	The Glory Guys	Lou Woddard	Arnold Laven
1966	Cast a Giant Shadow	Magda Simon	Melville Shavelson
	Our Man in Marrakesh	Kyra Stanovy	Don Sharp
	The Poppy Is Also a Flower	Dancer	Terence Young
	Long Legs, Long Fingers	Doris Holberg	Alfred Vohrer
	The Quiller Memorandum	Inge Lindt	Michael Anderson
	The Treasure of San Gennaro	Maggie	Dino Risi
1967	To Commit a Murder	Gertraud Sphax	Édouard Molinaro
	The Ambushers	Francesca Madeiros	Henry Levin	Matt Helm film series
	Diabolically Yours	Christiane	Julien Duvivier
1969	If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium	London Saleswoman	Mel Stuart	Cameo appearance
		May
	De Sade	Anne de Montreuil	Cy Endfield
		Giulietta Cavamacchia	Luigi Comencini
1970	Lonely Hearts	Giovanna	Franco Giraldi
	When Women Had Tails	Filli	Pasquale Festa Campanile
1971	He Who Loves in a Glass House	Hanna	Michael Verhoeven
		Sylvaine Orsini	Yves Boisset
	Roma Bene	Princess Dedé Marescalli	Carlo Lizzani
	Lover of the Great Bear	Fela	Valentino Orsini
1972	Cause of Divorce	Enrica Sebastiani	Marcello Fondato
	Die Moral der Ruth Halbfass	Ruth Halbfass	Volker Schlöndorff
1973		The wife	Otto Schenk
	The Scarlet Letter	Hester Prynne	Wim Wenders
		Suor Maria	Luigi Zampa
	Amore e ginnastica	Maria Pedani	Luigi Filippo D'Amico
1974	Puzzle	Sara Grimaldi	Duccio Tessari
	La bellissima estate	Manuela	Sergio Martino
1976		Alice Burgmann	Michael Verhoeven
	The Swiss Conspiracy	Denise Abbott	Jack Arnold
	Diary of a Passion	Roberta	Decio Silla
	Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen	Signora Palese		Anthology film
1977		Detta Gaspardi	Wolfgang Liebeneiner
	Cross of Iron	Eva	Sam Peckinpah
1978	Nest of Vipers	Carla Richter	Tonino Cervi
1985	Fatto su misura	Signora Schwartz	Francesco Laudadio
	The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal	Clara	Mario Monicelli
1986		Marie Landauer	Michael Verhoeven
1990	Tre colonne in cronaca	Countess Odessa Bonaveri	Carlo Vanzina
1998	Am I Beautiful?	Unna	Doris Dörrie
2009		Dorothea	Ben Verbong
2010		Anita
2012		Mona Mödlinger	Helmut Dietl
		Rosalie
2016	Welcome to Germany	Angelika Hartmann	Simon Verhoeven
2023		Marianne	Rainer Kaufmann

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Television

1963	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color:	Henriette Treffz
1964	The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Double Affair	Serena	(TV series, 1 episode)
	See How They Run	Orlando Miller
1968	The Name of the Game	Mariette Bern	1x04 Collectors' Edition
	It Takes a Thief: A Thief Is a Thief	Claire Vickers	(TV series, 1 episode)
		Mila Darvos
		Susanne Stefan	(TV miniseries, 3 episodes)
1969	It Takes a Thief: Flowers from Alexander	Claire Vickers/Laurie James	(TV series, 1 episode)
1976	Perry Como's Christmas in Austria	Guest star as Herself	(TV Holiday special show)
1986	Kir Royal	Mona	(TV series, 6 episodes)
1989	Die schnelle Gerdi	Gerdi	(TV series, 6 episodes)
1990	La belle Anglaise		(TV series, 1 episode)
1992		Charlotte
		Lilli	(TV series, 6 episodes)
1994	Captive Love	Anneliese
1994–1996	: Dr. Schwarz und Dr. Martin	Dr. Margarethe Martin	(TV series, 8 episodes)
1995	Die Nacht der Nächte	Teresa
	Kommissar Rex	Karla Wilke	(TV series, 1 episode)
1996	Mein Sohn ist kein Mörder!	Sarah Renzi
1997	Kap der Rache	Lilian
		Susa
	Bella Ciao	Teresa
1998		Clara
1999	Liebe und weitere Katastrophen	Franziska Ackermann	(TV miniseries, 4 episodes)
	Nancherrow	Alex Gower
		Marie Mechlenburg
2000	Zimmer mit Frühstück	Elisabeth
	Trennungsfieber	Dr. Carla Severin-Bauer
		Solveigh Kronberg
		Anna
2002–2019	Unter Verdacht	Dr. Eva-Maria Prohacek	(TV series, 30 episodes)
2002	Bis dass dein Tod uns scheidet	Edith Mosbach
2004	Die schnelle Gerdi und die Hauptstadt	Gerdi	(TV series, 6 episodes)
		Cornelia Cordes
2005		Emma Bauer
	Emilia – Die zweite Chance	Dr. Emilia Seiler
	Emilia – Familienbande	Dr. Emilia Seiler
2006		Helga Forstmann
2008	Rosamunde Pilcher: Four Seasons	Julia Combe	(TV miniseries, 4 episodes)
2009		Carla Sagmeister
		Rita Böhm
		Luise Fischer
2010	Liebe am Fjord: Das Ende der Eiszeit	Pernille	(TV series, 1 episode)
2011		Erika Welves
2012		Dorothee Lessing	(TV thriller)
		Klara
2013		Luisa Hamilton	(TV drama)
		Rita	(TV drama)
2014		Maria Koppel	(TV film)
2020		Martha	(TV drama)
2021	An seiner Seite	Charlotte Kler	(TV Drama)

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Honors and awards

• Bambi Prize (1968)
• Bravo Otto in Bronze (1969)
• Film Award in Silver (production) for Die Weiße Rose on behalf of the film company Sentana (1983)
• German Actor Award (Chaplin-shoe) for her role in Kir Royal (1987)
• Bambi Prize, Special Bambi "Unknockable Stars" (1990)
• Golden Gong (1996)
• Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (1999)
• Karl Valentin Order (1998)
• Golden Romy as the most popular actress (1998)
• Bambi Prize in the category for the ARD miniseries Love and Other Catastrophes (1999)
• Federal Cross of Merit (1999)
• Bavarian Order of Merit (2002)
• German Hörbuchpreis (2003)
• Medal Munich shines (for outstanding service to Munich) (2003)
• Hessian TV award as an ensemble member of the film The Conference (2005)
• Golden Ox – Honorary Award of the Film Arts Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to the Sentana Film Production Senta Berger and Michael Verhoeven (2005)
• Billy Wilder Award (2006)
• Platinum Romy for lifetime achievement (2007)
• Special Prize of the German TV crime Award for her starring role in the WDR production Schlaflos ("Sleepless") (2009)
• Herbert-Strate Prize of the NRW Film Foundation and the Association HDF Kino Cinema (2009)
• German Television Award for Best Actress for her leading role in Schlaflos (2009)
• Special Prize at the Television Film Festival in Baden-Baden for outstanding dramatic performance in Frau Böhm sagt Nein (2009)
• Golden Camera Award in the category Best Actress in German Frau Böhm sagt Nein and Schlaflos (2010)
• Grimme-Preis for her performance in Frau Böhm sagt Nein (2010)
• Bavarian Television Award for best actress says in the "TV Movie" for her role in the film Frau Böhm sagt Nein (2010)
• Grand Diagonale drama prize for lifetime achievement (2010)
• Star on the Boulevard of Stars in Berlin (2010)
• Hans Abich Award for outstanding services in television and film (Television Film Festival, Baden-Baden, 2010)
• Cultural Honor Prize of the City of Munich (2011)
• Bear (B.Z. culture prize) (2012)

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External links

• Senta Berger-links (Yahoo group)
• Interview in the FAZ newspaper on her autobiography (in German)

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