Trivia

Ella Fitzgerald called her "the best singer without voice".

According to her book, "The Gift Horse", she was the last person John Garfield spoke to before he died.

In 1951/52, when they were both working on the 20th Century Fox lot, Knef and Marilyn Monroe shared a wardrobe and became friends. Monroe would borrow books from Knef; she loved Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke. In later years, Knef wrote a song about Marilyn (in German) and mentioned her extensively in her best-selling memoirs.

Known in the United States as Hildegard Neff, but she used her real name when performing back home in Germany.

Close personal friend of Marlene Dietrich, despite being in the legend's international shadow for much her career.

Became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1950.

Told her biographer Christian Schröder in 2000 that her favorite pictures were Les assassins sont parmi nous (1946), Film sans titre (1948), Svengali (1954), La fille de Hambourg (1958) and Seul dans Berlin (1976). Her least favorite of her own movies was Madeleine et le légionnaire (1958) which was one of the biggest flops in post-war Germany and practically ended her film career.

Knef launched a career as a singer in the 1960s and wrote her bestselling autobiography "Der geschenkte Gaul - Bericht aus meinem Leben" ("The Gift Horse - Report from my life") in 1970.

When interviewed by Harald Schmidt on his talk show, she revealed that Twentieth Century Fox had planned to campaign for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Le traître (1951) but withdrew because of politics (she was German).

Her first American film was to be La ville écartelée (1950) in which she would have co-starred with Montgomery Clift. Shortly before filming began, the producers got word that she had had an affair with a Nazi officer during World War II and fired her from the movie. Cornell Borchers replaced her. Later, she was lined up for the leads in Elia Kazan's Le cirque en révolte (1953) and in the film version of the musical La belle de Moscou (1957) in which she had starred on Broadway. Gloria Grahame and Cyd Charisse, respectively, were cast instead. After she refused to appear in Pour que les autres vivent (1957) (Mai Zetterling took over her role), 20th Century Fox released her from her contract. She would never appear in an American film again.

Sister-in-law of Catherine Schell.

Gave birth to her daughter Christina (Tinta Knef) on 16 May 1968. She was 42. Christina was her first and only child.

She was cast in La neuvième porte (1999) and in a television movie, Wie angelt man sich einen Müllmann? (2001), but had to leave both projects because of poor health. Barbara Jefford and Ingrid van Bergen gladly took over her roles. Knef's last movie appearance was in a rather forgettable Austrian comedy called Eine fast perfekte Hochzeit (1999).

Her nude scene as "Marina" in Die Sünderin (1951), the first in German filmmaking, drew the criticism of the Roman Catholic Church.

Was the cover girl for Modern Man Magazine in August 1956.

Hildegard trusted her clothing and gowns to one person who was based in New York. It was Irish-born Thomas Starr, grandfather of fashion designer Karen Starr-DelloIacono.

According to her memoirs "The Gift Horse", she found out that she had won the Best Actress award in Locarno for her role in Film sans titre (1948) by reading an article about her success in a newspaper - one year after the award was announced at the festival!.

Provided the voice for Grandmother Willow on the German soundtrack version of Disney's Pocahontas : Une légende indienne (1995).

During the making of Le Peuple des abîmes (1968), she felt terribly ill. To her and her husband's surprise, she found out that she was pregnant. She suffered from severe morning sickness throughout the shoot.