Monica Bleibtreu

Monica Bleibtreu born May 4 1944 in Vienna died May 13 2009 in Hamburg was an Austrian actress acting instructor and screenwriter Bleibtreu hailed from a family with a longstanding theatrical tradition Her father Renato Attilio Bleibtreu directed the Wiener Zimmerbühne in Mödling and her greataunt was the renowned actress Hedwig Bleibtreu Following the financial failure of the theater Monica Bleibtreu was compelled to contribute to her familys livelihood while still a teenager At the age of sixteen she moved to Hamburg where she took acting lessons She later studied at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna Her career began on the stage where she performed at venues including the Schillertheater in Berlin the Freie Volksbühne Berlin the Münchner Kammerspiele and the Burgtheater From 1993 to 1998 Bleibtreu served as a professor of acting at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg She landed her first television role in 1972 in the crime series Der Kommissar Over the following decades she established herself as one of the most distinguished character actresses in Germanlanguage film and television Her later works include the television film Ein starker Abgangstarring alongside Bruno Ganzas well as the feature films Tannöd and Soul Kitchen both of which were released posthumously Her son the actor Moritz Bleibtreu was born of her relationship with the actor Hans Brenner Monica Bleibtreu died in Hamburg in 2009 at the age of 65