Haack, Käthe

(1897-1986)

   Actress. Haack became one of the most popular actresses in Berlin's numerous commercial theaters during the 1920s, playing ingenue parts in dozens of boulevard comedies. She was most often seen at the Lessing Theater, though she also appeared at the Residenz Theater, the Trianon Theater, and the Theater am Kurfürstendamm, concluding her "Weimar period" with a much-praised portrayal of the mayor's wife in Carl Zuck-mayer's Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (The Captain of Köpenick) at Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater. In 1934 Gustaf Gründgens hired her as a member of his company at the State Theater, where she remained until 1944. In the postwar years, she resumed her career in several Berlin commercial productions, culminating in the role of Mrs. Higgins in the Theater des Westens's extraordinarily popular production of Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady, which ran for three years in Berlin. Haack's film career was likewise resplendent, with more than 150 movie roles to her credit.