Elsie Attenhofer (born 21 February 1909 in Lugano, died 16 September 1999 in Bassersdorf) was a Swiss cabaret artiste, actress, writer and performer of monologues.
It was not until October 1944, with Hitler’s downfall looming, that the play was first performed (to rave reviews) by an ad hoc company at a private theatre in Basel.
He engaged her to appear at his theatre, ‘Die Mausefalle’, (The Mousetrap) in Stuttgart, but – ever the individualist – Attenhofer did not want to lose her independence.
[3] In her 1989 retrospective, Réserve du Patron, Attenhofer held an imaginary conversation with her late husband about their lives.
In 1990 she was awarded the Oberrheinischen Kulturpreis by the Goethe Foundation in Basel; eight years later she was honoured with the gold medal of the Canton of Zürich for her understanding of democracy and her humanity.