Ressel Orla(1889-1931)
- Actress
Hardly remembered today, the dark-haired, wide-eyed Ressel Orla came to
stardom quickly in the 1910s in Germany after her first major role in
Die Firma heiratet (1914)
(released in America as The Perfect Thirty-Six). With no offers coming
in for stage work, her original vocational pursuit, she continued film
work with much success. An expressive and beautiful woman with a
dramatic Madonna-like face, she was a star for several years but fell
out of popularity in the twenties. At the time of her death, she had
fallen on hard times, was no longer acting, and was barely forty. She
is undoubtedly remembered best for her performance as the treacherous
Lio Sha in Fritz Lang's two part film series The Spiders (1919-20), one
of her few performances that are widely available for viewing today.
