Biography for
Bertolt Brecht

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Geburtstag

10 February 1898, Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany

Todestag

14 August 1956, East Berlin, East Germany. [now Berlin, Germany] (heart attack, pneumonia)

Bürgerlicher Name

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht

Kurzbiographie

Bertolt Brecht was born on 10 February 1898 in Augsburg, Germany and one of the country's most influential poets, playwrights and screenwriters. His most famous work was the musical "The Threepenny Opera" (with Kurt Weill), but his dramas such as "Mother Courage and Her Children" or "The Good Person of Sezuan" were equally successful. As he opposed the upcoming Nazi movement, he fled Germany in 1933 and finally emigrated to the United States. After testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, he left Hollywood and returned to Europe. He settled down in East Germany, where he founded the famous "Berliner Ensemble" and became the state's intellectual hero. He died on 14 August 1956 in East Berlin.

IMDb Kurz-Biographie von: fippi2000

Verheiratet mit

Helene Weigel	(10 April 1929 - 14 August 1956) (his death) 2 children
Marianne Zoff	(1922 - 1927) (divorced) 1 child

Markenzeichen

His thick Swabian accent

Dies und das

Frequently worked with Kurt Weill and Benno Besson.

He had five children: Frank (b. 1919), (killed in action, November, 1943, in Russia), with Paula Banholzer; Hanne (b. 1923)('Hanne Hiob') , with Marianne Zoff; Stefan (b. 1924) and Barbara (b. 1930), with Helene Weigel; and an infant who died shortly after birth in 1944, with Ruth Berlau.

His first wife Marianne was an opera singer.

Although he did not divorce Marianne Zoff until 1927, they separated in 1923. He got to know Helene Weigel shortly after their separation.

Spoke with a rasping Swabian accent. Thus, he recorded songs such as "The Ballad of Mecki Messer" from "Die Dreigroschenoper" (The Threepenny Opera).

Was twice posthumously nominated for Broadway's Tony Award: in 1963, as author of Best Play nominee "Mother Courage and Her Children;" and in 1977, for his lyrics as part of a Best Score nomination for "Happy End," shared with Michael Feingold for his adaptation of Brecht's words.

Studied medicine and worked briefly as an orderly in a Munich hospital during World War I.

His daughter Barbara Brecht-Schall currently holds the copyrights to all of his works.

Some of his most successful works are "Baal" (written in 1918), "The Treepenny Opera" (1928), "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagony" (1928/29), "Saint Joan of the Stockyards" (1929), "Fear and Misery in the Third Reich" (1935-38), "Mother Courage and Her Children" (1939) and "The Good Person of Sezuan" (1940).

Also sprach...

"He who laughs has not yet heard the bad news."

On his hometown Augsburg: "The best thing about Augsburg is the train to Munich."

"Why be a man when you can be a success?"

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