Carola Neher

Carola Neher (born Karoline Neher; 2 November 1900 – 26 June 1942) was a German actress and singer.

Biography

Neher was born in Munich in 1900. She worked as a bank clerk at the Munich branch of the Deutsche Bank from 11 June 1917 to 15 October 1919. In the summer of 1920, she made her debut performance at the Baden-Baden theater without a specific stage education, later also working at the theaters of Darmstadt, Nuremberg and at the Munich Kammerspiele. In 1920 and 1921, she worked with Therese Giehse and Peter Lorre. In 1924, Neher started to work at the Lobe-Theater Breslau.

On 7 May 1925 she married Alfred Henschke (the poet Klabund), who had followed her from Munich to Breslau, at that time already a well known and successful poet. The first performance of his Circle of Chalk ("Der Kreidekreis") turned into her first great success.[1]

In 1926, Neher went to Berlin to work with Bertolt Brecht. He wrote the role of Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera for her, but late in rehearsals her husband died at Davos on 14 August 1928. She was therefore unable to appear at the premiere, but acted the role of Polly in the later performances. Brecht wrote several roles for her, such as Lilian Holiday in Happy End and the title role in his Saint Joan of the Stockyards.[2] She enjoyed success as Marianne in Ödön von Horváth's Tales from the Vienna Woods, and embodied and immortalized Polly in G.W. Pabst's 1931 film version of The Threepenny Opera. At this time, Brecht wrote a poem about Neher, admiring her skill and beauty while advising her on how to rehearse.