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Hildegard Knef

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Hildegard Knef

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Also known as Hildegard Neff, Hildegarde Neff, Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef

German actress, singer and writer (1925-2002)

OverviewAI-generated

Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef was a German and West German actor, writer, singer, and autobiographer. Born in Ulm on 28 December 1925, she began her work period in 1944. She was fluent in German and English. Her notable works include the songs Heinweh-Blues and Geschenkte Gaul, as well as the films Das Urteil, oder, Der Gegenmensch, From here on in it gets rough, and Silk stockings.

Knef received the Order of Merit of Berlin. She was the unmarried partner of Boris Vian and had one child. Her relative was Catherine Schell. She resided in Kleinmachnow. Knef died in Berlin on 1 February 2002 from pneumonia, which was a natural cause. She is buried at Zehlendorf Forest Cemetery.

Synthesized by Vinony from 38 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
28 December 1925
Died
1 February 2002
Works
23

Top works

  • Heinweh-Blues
  • Geschenkte Gaul
  • Das Urteil, oder, Der Gegenmensch
  • From here on in it gets rough
  • Silk stockings

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Ulm, Germany

Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (December 28, 1925 - February 1, 2002) was a German actress, singer and writer. Description above from the Wikipedia article Hildegard Knef, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Known for

  • I Want It All — Self (archive footage)2025
  • So oder so ist das Leben – Hildegard Knef — Self (archive footage)2025
  • Schlingensief – A Voice That Shook the Silence — Self (archive footage)2020
  • Sternstunde Musik — Self2013
  • Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song — Self2002
  • ZDF-Kultnacht — Self (archive footage)2002
  • A Woman and a Half: Hildegard Knef — Self2001
  • Eine fast perfekte Hochzeit — Marlene Wolf-Schönberg - Hennys Tante1999
  • Show Palast — Self1999
  • The Johannes B. Kerner Show — Self1998

via TMDB

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
89,613
Total plays
1,177,076

Tags

chansongermanfemale vocalistsdeutscholdies

Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (* 28 December 1925 in Ulm; † 1 February 2002 in Berlin) was a German actress, voice actress, chanson singer, and author. While she was known as Hildegard Knef in German-speaking countries, she referred to herself as Hildegarde Neff outside of the German-speaking world from 1948 to around 1968. She became a US citizen in 1950 and regained German citizenship in 2001. Knef began her film career at the end of the Nazi <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Hildegard+Kne

via Last.fm · Hildegard Knef

Key facts

Born
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef , ( 1925-12-28 ) 28 December 1925, Ulm , Württemberg , German Reich
Died
1 February 2002 (2002-02-01) (aged 76), Berlin , Germany
Occupations
Actress singer writer
Years active
1944–2001
Spouse s
Kurt Hirsch ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1947 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1952 ) ​ , David Palastanga ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1962 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1976 ) ​ , Paul von Schell ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1977 ) ​

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Gender
female
Citizenship
West Germany
Place of birth
Ulm
Place of death
Berlin
Languages spoken
English language
Instrument
voice
Official website
www.hildegardknef.de
Image
Hildegard Knef 254-8439.jpg
Number of children
1
Residence
Kleinmachnow
Show 18 more facts
Commons category
Hildegard Knef
date of birth
1925-12-28
date of death
2002-02-01
name in native language
Hildegard Knef
birth name
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef
unmarried partner
Boris Vian
cause of death
pneumonia
start of work period
1944-00-00
hashtag
HildegardKnef
manner of death
natural causes
pseudonym
Hildegard Neff
copyright representative
GEMA
married name
Hildegard Schell
social media followers
8420
Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~13 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef ( German: [ˈhɪldəɡaʁt ˈkneːf] ; 28 December 1925 – 1 February 2002) was a German actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.

Early years

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Hildegard Knef” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (5)