She appeared on the stage of the Burgtheater as Recha in Lessing's Nathan der Weise in 1959, became a member of Theater Heidelberg and later Schauspielhaus Zürich.

[1] She decided in 1955 to pursue an acting career, and attended the Max Reinhardt Seminar, but dropped out the same year to play Mary Vetsera in the film Kronprinz Rudolfs letzte Liebe.

[5] She played at the Salzburg Festival, together with her mother for the first time, as Lottchen in Raimund's Der Bauer als Millionär [de] in 1961.

[3] From 1969 to 1972, she portrayed Die Buhlschaft in Hofmannsthal's Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival, with Ernst Schröder in the title role.

[1] Hörbiger played roles in various German and Austrian television films and series, beginning in the mid-1980s playing the lead role of Countess Christine von Guldenburgin in the series Das Erbe der Guldenburgs, alongside Brigitte Horney, Ruth Maria Kubitschek, and Stewart Granger.

[6] Hörbiger's only foray into voice acting was the role of Mrs Calloway (the dairy cow) in the German-language version of Disney's Home on the Range.