Biography

Distinguished German character actress of great range and intensity. Began her career as a fifteen year-old chorus girl in operetta. On stage from 1919, in Vienna from 1927. Joined the ensemble of the Volkstheater (1936-39), subsequently with the Burgtheater. As a tragedienne, acted in most of the classic plays, often portraying capricious or powerful women (queens, courtesans, even murderesses). Gained much notoriety from two separate incidents, publicly slapping theatre critics Wolfgang Harich (1946) and Hans Weigel (1956).

Her family moved to Nuremberg, when she was three years old.

Dorsch attended a commercial school and had her first engagement aged 15 as a choir singer at the Staatstheater, performing Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

After the movie "Sklaven des 20. Jahrhunderts" (1922) she retired from the film business and devoted exclusive to the theater where she became one of the great actresses. where she was successful at the Volkstheater and at the Burgtheater.

She was the daughter of a bakery helper.