Dolly Haas

Dorothy Clara Louise Haas (29 April 1910 – 16 September 1994) was a German-American actress and singer who played in German and American films. After moving to the United States, she often appeared in Broadway plays. She became a naturalized US citizen and married Al Hirschfeld, a noted portraitist and caricaturist in New York City.

Life and work

Haas was born in Hamburg, Germany, to Charles Oswald Haas, a bookseller of British-German origin, and Margarethe (née Jagemann) on 29 April 1910. She was already an accomplished actress in German cinema before moving to the United States.

Her father Charles was half-German, but had grown up in England, and had British citizenship. Dolly and her sister, Margarete, attended Jacob Loewenberg's girls' school Lyzeum in Hamburg, the Anerkannte höhere Mädchenschule. The Haas family's personal records, including diaries and letters, are currently held by the Center for Jewish History in New York City, New York.

Marriage and family Haas married German-born film director John Brahm. At one time, he was resident director for acting troupes such as Deutsches Theater and the Lessing Theater, both in Berlin.

After moving to the US, Haas became a naturalized U.S. citizen. She married again in 1943, to Al Hirschfeld in Baltimore, Maryland. They lived in New York, where he worked for The New York Times as a portraitist and caricaturist. His work was also published in The New York Review of Books. They had a daughter, Nina, born in 1945. She also performed with John Gielgud and Lillian Gish in the 1947 revival of Crime and Punishment.

In 1946 Haas followed Mary Martin in the lead role in Lute Song for the touring production. Haas also performed in Off Broadway productions of The Threepenny Opera and Brecht on Brecht. Haas was a personal friend of Hitchcock, and he cast her as Alma Keller, the wife of the murderer—janitor Otto Keller. This high-profile film also starred Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden and Brian Aherne.

Death Haas died 16 September 1994 from ovarian cancer in New York City, aged 84.

Filmography

Dolly Gets Ahead (1930) - Dolly Klaren One Hour of Happiness (1931) - Die Puppe (1931) - Antoinette Kampf The Virtuous Sinner (1931) - Hedwig Pichlers-Tochter (1931) - Antonia You Don't Forget Such a Girl (1932) - Lisa Brandes Things Are Getting Better Already (1932) - Edith A Tremendously Rich Man (1932) - Dolly Scampolo (1932) - Scampolo Großstadtnacht (1932) - Madeleine Duchanef Das häßliche Mädchen (1933) - Lotte The Little Crook (1933) - Annette Little Girl, Great Fortune (1933) - Annie Schierke The Page from the Dalmasse Hotel (1933) - Friedel Bornemann Ein Mädel mit Tempo (1934) - Susanne 'Susi' Wegener - Tochter Girls Will Be Boys (1934) - Pat Caverley Warum lügt Fräulein Käthe? (1935) - Käthe Wilkens - Fotografin Broken Blossoms (1936) - Lucy Star for a Night (1936) - Chorine (uncredited) Spy of Napoleon (1936) - Eloise Carefree (1938) - Minor Role (uncredited) The Bank Dick (1940) - Script Girl (uncredited) Unfinished Business (1941) - Woman (uncredited) I Married an Angel (1942) - Infanta (uncredited) Du Barry Was a Lady (1943) - Miss April (uncredited) The Merry Widow (1952) - First Little Girl (uncredited) I Confess (1953) - Alma Keller Main Street to Broadway (1953) - Herself (uncredited) Armstrong Circle Theatre (1954, TV Series) - Sister Madeline Studio One (1950-1956, TV Series) - Mrs. Kneiper (final appearance)