Sibylle von Gymnich(1921-2001)

Of venerable aristocratic lineage, red-haired beauty Sibylle von Gymnich was born Gisela Maria Gabriele Gräfin Beissel von Gymnich, the daughter of retired naval officer Dankmar Ernst Eberhard Graf Beissel von Gymnich (1891-1976) and his wife Edelgarde von Teichmann und Logischen (1891-1944). During the war years, Sibylle studied acting at the Ufa drama academy under the direction of Lyda Salmonova. She performed on the Berlin stage between 1946 and 1947 before moving to Munich to work in radio and as a voice-over actress. A year later, she was chosen by actor/director Heinz Rühmann for a leading role in his marital comedy Die kupferne Hochzeit (1948), starring Rühmann's wife Hertha Feiler. The film was not particularly well received. As it was set in the present (1948), critics pointed out that the characters seemed entirely too affluent, existing in a world totally untouched by the ravages of war.

Sibyll's career as an actress petered out rather quickly. She appeared in just four more (mediocre) pictures, invariably in small supporting roles, before disappearing from the scene in 1957. Not much is known about her later life, until November 14 1970, when she married one William Roloff in Montreal, Canada. Roloff's main claim to fame was as wartime Secretary of State in the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture and a prominent member of the anti-Nazi resistance who was implicated in the failed plot of July 20. He moved to Canada with a son from a previous marriage, dying in Toronto in 1979. Sibylle passed away in September 2001.