German character actress and occasional screenwriter. Began her career as an extra in opera. Stage debut in 1902, films from 1921. Under contract to Ufa, she was often cast in operettas or military comedies, specialising in robust, crusty old harridans: dominating mothers-in-law, henpecking wives, resolute aunts, grandmothers, and the like. Also appeared in several propaganda films during the Nazi period and consequently received a post-war acting ban, 1946-49.