Ingeborg Körner
- Actress
Ingeborg Körner was born in Keetmanshoop, a town in southern Namibia (then South-West Africa), established in 1866 by the German industrialist Johann Keetman. The daughter of a colonial sea captain, she attended ballet school and then studied drama under actor/director Fritz Wagner at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. She also took private lessons with acting coach Herma Clement (1898-1973) in Berlin. Ingeborg made her stage debut at Hamburg's Thalia Theater in 1949 and later acted in plays at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm, the Munich Chamber Plays and at the Komödie Berlin.
She also had a moderately successful, though brief, acting career in the 1950s, which culminated in her co-starring opposite Heinz Rühmann in the comedy Ne craignez pas les grosses bêtes (1953). Ingeborg had previously been cast in smaller supporting roles in popular films like Das Haus in Montevideo (1951) and Toxi (1952). She commanded just one more lead (in the rather fluffy B-grade rom-com Das ideale Brautpaar (1954)) and was, thereafter, consigned to even smaller guest appearances on television. She later mused that giving up acting may have been a mistake.
Körner was married to Hans Wölffer (1904-1976), who once presided as director over the Theater am Kurfürstendamm. When they married, she was 18. He was 43 and twice divorced. Nonetheless, the union proved a happy one. As Ingeborg Wölffer she became a prominent socialite in post-war Berlin, hosting visiting luminaries like playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder, being photographed next to U.S. General Lucius D. Clay at a meeting of Berlin's four sector commanders in 1961 for the premiere of My Fair Lady, holidaying with her family at their estate in Saint Tropez or jet-setting to New York, Paris or London for negotiations with publishers or artistic directors over touring appearances. That's show biz.
She also had a moderately successful, though brief, acting career in the 1950s, which culminated in her co-starring opposite Heinz Rühmann in the comedy Ne craignez pas les grosses bêtes (1953). Ingeborg had previously been cast in smaller supporting roles in popular films like Das Haus in Montevideo (1951) and Toxi (1952). She commanded just one more lead (in the rather fluffy B-grade rom-com Das ideale Brautpaar (1954)) and was, thereafter, consigned to even smaller guest appearances on television. She later mused that giving up acting may have been a mistake.
Körner was married to Hans Wölffer (1904-1976), who once presided as director over the Theater am Kurfürstendamm. When they married, she was 18. He was 43 and twice divorced. Nonetheless, the union proved a happy one. As Ingeborg Wölffer she became a prominent socialite in post-war Berlin, hosting visiting luminaries like playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder, being photographed next to U.S. General Lucius D. Clay at a meeting of Berlin's four sector commanders in 1961 for the premiere of My Fair Lady, holidaying with her family at their estate in Saint Tropez or jet-setting to New York, Paris or London for negotiations with publishers or artistic directors over touring appearances. That's show biz.
