Marika Rökk

Beside her movie career, she became one of Europe's most famous operetta singers. She performed on stage until 1986.

She retired from films in the 1960s but continued to perform in Operetta's like "Die Blume von Hawaii" & others on the stage across Europe before retiring to Baden, Austria.

In 1948 she was among the first recipients of the German Bambi media award.

Recently declassified documents suggest that Rokk was recruited as a Soviet Spy in the 1940's along with her husband Georg Jacoby whilst studying in Berlin. The network she worked for passed on military intelligence including plans for Operation Barbarossa and the Battle of Kursk.

In 1939 she made It Was a Gay Ballnight (1939) with superstar Zarah Leander and started filming the first German color film Frauen sind doch bessere Diplomaten (1941) which was finished and released two years later. The couple had one child, Gabriele Jacoby. Miss Rökk also married 'Fred Raul'.

Soon she married German Film Director 'Georg Jacoby' and her 2nd German film was Der Bettelstudent (1936), directed by him.

Miss Rokk made her first German film: Light Cavalry (1935) in 1935 it made her a Star overnight.

She made her first films Why Sailors Leave Home (1930) in London, & also Kiss Me Sergeant (1930) in London, U. K. After that she made 2 very fine films in Hungary, her home.

From 1929 Marika Rökk began to appear on stage as a singer and dancer in revues and operettas in whole Europe.

In 1924 she intensified her dance career in Paris and joined the ballet company Hoffmann. With the company she got an engagement at Moulin Rouge in the same year. It followed appearances on Broadway and she went on tour through the USA before the company broke up in 1925.

Marika Rokk was born in Cairo on the 3rd of November 1913. As a child she moved to Hungary. In Paris at the Moulin Rouge she started her career as a dancer, soon moving on to Broadway New York City, USA.