Marianne Sägebrecht

Marianne Sägebrecht (; born 27 August 1945) is a German film actress.

Her background included stints as a medical lab assistant and magazine assistant editor before she found her calling in show business. Claiming to be inspired by Bavaria's mad King Ludwig II, she became known as the "mother of Munich's subculture" as producer and performer of avant-garde theater and cabaret revues, particularly with her troupe Opera Curiosa. Spotted by director Percy Adlon in a 1977 production of Adele Spitzeder in which she essayed the role of a delicate prostitute, Sägebrecht was cast as Madame Sanchez/Mrs. Sancho Panza in Adlon's TV special Herr Kischott (1979), a spin on Don Quixote. The director put her in his 1983 feature The Swing in a small role and then in the leading role of Marianne, an overweight mortician in love with a subway conductor, in Sugarbaby (1985).

In 1987 she co-starred in the comedy drama Bagdad Café. American films beckoned as well and Sägebrecht was often cast in roles tailored to her unique abilities. Paul Mazursky reworked the part of a Teutonic masseuse for her in Moon over Parador (1988) while Danny DeVito tailored the part of the German housekeeper for a divorcing couple in The War of the Roses (1989).

Returning to Germany, she played a timid maid in the 1930s who marries her Jewish employer for convenience then falls in love in Martha and I (1990; released in the US in 1995). Sägebrecht headlined the black comedy as an unhappy wife whose straying husband plots her death in Mona Must Die (1994) and had small supporting parts in The Ogre (1996) and Left Luggage (1998).

In 1997, she was a member of the jury at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival.

Filmography

The Swing (1983) - Tandlerin Ein irres Feeling (1984) - Alfa's Mother (1984) - Journalist* Sugarbaby (a.k.a. Zuckerbaby) (1985) - lead role of Marianne Bagdad Café (a.k.a. Out of Rosenheim) (1987) - lead role of Jasmin Crazy Boys (1987) - Frl. Hermann Moon Over Parador (1988) - Magda The War of the Roses (1989) - Susan Rosalie Goes Shopping (1989) - lead role of Rosalie Greenspace Martha and I (1991) - Martha La Vida láctea (1992) - Aloha Dust Devil (1992) - Dr. Leidzinger (1993) - Emma Erotique (1994) - Hilde (segment "Taboo Parlor") Mona Must Die (1994) - Mona von Snead Eine Mutter kämpft um ihren Sohn (1994) - Marion Bruckmüller All Men are Mortal (1995) - Annie Beauville (1995) Luise and the Jackpot (1995) - Luise The Ogre (1996) - Mrs. Netta (1997) - Tata Jeannette Lorenz im Land der Lügner (1997) - Tante Martha Johnny (1997) Spanish Fly (1998) - Rosa Left Luggage (1998) - Chaya's Mother (1999) - Elli Schulze Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar (1999) - Bonnemine (Gutemine) Private Lies (2001) - Betty Großglocknerliebe (2003) - Anneliese Marga Engel kocht vor Wut (2003) - Marga Engel Marga Engel gibt nicht auf (2004) - Marga Engel Charlotte und ihre Männer (2005) - Charlotte Bezaubernde Marie (2007) - Marie Meyer Das Geheimnis meiner Schwester (2007) - Antonia Wiedemann Immer Wirbel um Marie (2008) - Marie Meyer In aller Freundschaft (2008) - Helga Schulze Frau Holle (2008) - Frau Holle (2009) - Sarah Silberschatz (2012) - Marguerita Pettson & Findus: Fun Stuff (2014) - Beda The Circle (2014) - Erika