Valeska Gert

In 1978, Werner Herzog invited Gert to play the real estate broker "Knock" in his remake of F.W. Murnau's classic film ''Nosferatu (1922)'' The contract was signed on 1 March 1978 but Gert died just two weeks later, before filming began.

In a 1977 television show, the interviewer tactfully suggested that by the dawn of the 1950's Gert was perhaps not so well remembered as before. With typical self-deprecating humor and bluntness typical for Berliners, she exclaimed, "Not so well remembered? I was totally forgotten!".

Gert played "Pijma" in the successful Italian film Juliet of the Spirits (1965).

She emigrated to the USA in 1938 where tried to get work in vain. She lived from the welfare of a Jewish refugee committee, beside it she worked as plate cleaner and nude model. In 1947 she returned to Europe where she managed the cabaret "Hexenküche", in the 60's she made her comeback for the film.

Her career in Germany ended in 1933 because she was Jewish. From then on she danced in Paris, Budapest and London. Upon her return to Germany in 1950, she managed a similar operation in Berlin, the 'Hexenkueche' (Witch's Kitchen'), before being rediscovered for the screen by Fellini.

She was an actress, known for The 3 Penny Opera (1931), Ein Sommernachtstraum (1925) and Juliet of the Spirits (1965). She was married to Robin Hay Anderson and Helmuth von Krause.

German-Jewish actress and dancer of eccentric personality and dark, aquiline features. Her radical interpretations of modern dance are now regarded as having been ahead of her time. She first studied dance from the age of six and took acting lessons from Alexander and Maria Moissi. She performed in cabaret and pantomime in Berlin and at the Munich Kammerspiele during the 1920's and also acted in silent films. She was forced to leave Germany after the Nazis came to power in 1933.

Valeska Gert was born on January 11, 1892 in Berlin, Germany as Gertrud Valesca Samosch.