Trivia

Had two children with Bertolt Brecht: Stefan Brecht (born in 1924) and Barbara Berg (born in 1930).

While she became a respected stage actress on several stages in the 1920s, she studied dramaturgy under Max Reinhardt in Berlin.

As she was Jewish and her husband Bertolt Brecht an opponent of the Nazis, they fled Germany in 1933 and finally settled down in the US in 1941. They returned to Europe in 1947 because Brecht was considered to be a communist.

Stepmother of Frank Banholzer (1919-1943) and Hanne Hiob.

Daughter of Siegfried Weigl and Leopoldine Pollak. Niece of Arthur Weigl and his wife Emma, cousin of their children Trude (b. 1896), Irma and Egon Weigl (1901-1979). Egon is the father of Vladimir Weigl and Sanda Weigl.

Like Bertolt Brecht, Helene Weigel was politically committed and joined the Communist Party in 1930. When the National Socialists seized power the couple emigrated with their children to Switzerland; after that they went via Scandinavia to the USA.

The actress Helene Weigel was a respected theater actress who established herself in the lead role in the play "Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder".

Helene Weigel appeared in Fritz Lang's legendary silent movie "Metropolis" in 1927, in which she portrayed a female worker in. However, the theater was still hub of her life. One of her greatest successes was Brecht's "Die Mutter" in 1932.

Film acting always played a secondary role in her career.

She met the writer Bertolt Brecht at the beginning of the 20s, and their first child was born in 1924. They were married in 1929. Helene Weigel was the inspiration for many of Bertold Brecht's literary women and she portrayed them impressively on stage.

Helene Weigel had artistic training from 1915 to 1918 and was given her first theater engagements in 1918, such as at the Neues Theater Frankfurt, the Staatliches Schauspielhaus Berlin and the Deutsches Theater Berlin.

In 1948 she went back to Germany where she founded the Berliner Ensemble in East Berlin together with Bertolt Brecht. She was director of this ensemble till her death.

Helene Weigel had a minor role in the movie "The Seventh Cross" in 1944.

She returned to Europe after the war and initially settled in Switzerland.

Helene Weigel enjoyed much success on the stage in the 50s and only appeared seldom in movies, for example in "Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar" (1953), "Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder" (1955) and "Die Windrose" (1957).