Ilse Werner

Ilse Werner was born in Batavia (present-day Djakarta), the daughter of the Dutch merchant O.E.G. Still and his German wife, Lilly Werner. She spent her early childhood in Batavia, before the family moved her to Frankfurt to attend secondary school. In 1936, Ilse enrolled at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna to study elocution and drama. Following her graduation, she was offered a contract with a prestigious theatre in Josefstadt and made her stage debut in 1938. 'Discovered' by the director 'Geza von Bolvary' during a performance, she first acted on screen in Finale (1938). Her career then took off at lightning speed and she became one of the most popular stars at Ufa for the next seven years. An attractive, tomboyish brunette, Ilse had a considerable aptitude for singing, which producers brought to the fore by frequently casting her in films like Request Concert (1940), the pop musical Wir machen Musik (1942), and (as 19th century Swedish opera star Jenny Lind) in the biopic Die s