Fita Benkhoff

A vivacious and very attractive blonde supporting actress and occasional singer, Frieda Elfriede Benkhoff might best be described as a German Eve Arden. Even though she rarely commanded a leading role, she became widely popular as an effervescent, perpetually wisecracking scene stealer who invariably had the last word, whether as friend of the heroine, gossipy aunt or busybody. One of eight siblings, Fita began her working life as a dental assistant and telephone operator while training for acting in her own time. She made her first theatrical appearance in "Don Carlos" at Dortmund's Stadttheater in 1925. This was soon followed by comic turns on the larger stages of Berlin and Vienna, after which she was signed by Germany's premier film studio Ufa for a series of short featurettes. Fita was already 34 when she made her breakthrough as a feisty maid in Reinhold Schünzel's off-beat comedy Amphitryon (1935). She established such a popular rapport with the actor Paul Kemp that she was cast opposite him in further box office hits, including Boccaccio (1936), and, for once even co-starring, in The Bashful Casanova (1936). After successive critical plaudits with Love in Stunt Flying (1937), Opernball (1939) and Das Fräulein von Barnhelm (1940), Fita had become firmly established as one of Germany's leading comediennes. She continued her career with some success after the war, gradually drifting into character roles, most notably as Mother Wolff in Gerhart Hauptmann's The Beaver Coat (1949). After the death of her husband in 1957, Fita went into quasi-retirement and devoted much of her time to painting. Ten years later, her contribution was deservedly recognised with a Bambi Award. Sadly, she passed away soon after.