Elke Neidhardt was born in Stuttgart,[2] on July 5, 1941, the youngest of three children to father, Karl (a physician, Latin scholar and intellectual) and mother, Vilma (also a doctor).
[5] She also made two films in Germany Der Schatten: Ein Märchen für Erwachsene (1963) and the Jerry Cotton thriller Mordnacht in Manhattan (1965).
In 1963, Neidhardt moved to Vienna, where she landed numerous stage roles at Theater in der Josefstadt, and made regular appearances in film and television.
She was also in a small number of Australian feature films, including Libido (1973) in which she appeared nude),[8] Alvin Purple (1973) and The True Story of Eskimo Nell (1975).
[2] She returned to Germany in 1990, after being headhunted for the role of principal resident director for Cologne State Opera (Oper der Stadt Koln).
[5] In 2004 she directed the first full modern Australian production of the Ring Cycle, in Adelaide, which attracted worldwide critical acclaim and won several Helpmann Awards in 2005.
[18][19] Neidhardt met future husband Christopher Muir, an Australian television director, in Munich in 1965, when he was studying European TV, films and theatre for the ABC.
[20][21] Neidhardt subsequently had a 35-year relationship with Australian actor and musician Norman Kaye, nursing him through the final stages of Alzheimer's disease until his death in May 2007.