Anny Ahlers

Anny Ahlers
Anny Ahlers
	Anny Ahlers in 1932, taken one year before her death
Born	21 December 1907; Hamburg, German Empire
Died	14 March 1933 (aged 25); London, England
Nationality	German
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer

Anny Ahlers (21 December 1907 – 14 March 1933) was a German actress and singer. She was born in Hamburg.

Career

She was born to Wilhelm Ahlers and his wife Augusta Victoria (Lieberg).^[1] Her father was an Army officer and her maternal grandmother was English. Ahlers began her career at the age of four, appearing as a dancer in circus acts. At seven she studied at the Operatic School of Dancing in Hamburg. Her breakthrough role was in the operetta Casanova, composed by Ralph Benatzky. This role established her popularity in Berlin.

In December 1931, she appeared with Richard Tauber in an operetta by Erich Wolfgang Korngold at the Admiralspalast in Berlin. This was called 'Das Lied der Liebe' and was based on the Johann Strauss operetta Das Spitzentuch der Königin. [ref: Daniel O'Hara, Richard Tauber: A new Chronology, Saltburn, 2013]. This ran until March 1932, after which she went to London, England to appear with Heddle Nash in the operetta The Dubarry at Her Majesty's Theatre [Ref: Eleanor Allen, Heddle Nash: Singing against the Tide, Jubilee House, London, 2010.

On 14 March 1933, while appearing in London, she died in controversial circumstances after jumping out her flat window in an apparent suicide.^[2] Her death has been blamed both on morphine that she had taken while suffering from tuberculosis, and on sleeping pills she was taking due to insomnia. Her replacement in the role, Kathlyn Hilliard, also died in 1933.^[3]

Filmography

Casanova (1928)
Madame Pompadour (1931) - Die Marquise von Pompadour
Die Faschingsfee [de] (1931) - Alexandra
The True Jacob (1931) - Yvette
Kabarett-Programm Nr. 5 (1931, short)
Die Liebesfiliale (1931) - Madame Irene
The Company's in Love (1932) - Peggy Barling

References

^ Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912–1976 vol.1 A-C p. 18; compiled from editions originally published annually by John Parker, this 1976 edition by Gale Research..Retrieved July 2, 2015
^ Gale (2007). "Ahlers, Anny (1906–1933)." Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages.
^ "3 More Actresses Victims of the 'DuBarry Jinx'". The San Francisco Examiner. 21 January 1934. p. 93. Retrieved 11 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.