Inge Keller

[3] Internationally, Keller was known for her portrayal of the older Lilly Wust in the Golden Globe nominated Aimée & Jaguar.

Alongside all other theaters in Nazi Germany, the latter was closed down on 1 September 1944, when Joseph Goebbels decided to "extend the Total War into the cultural sphere."

Keller lost her exempt status as an actress (as did all artists who were not in the God's Gifted List) and was called up for the Reich Labour Service.

[8] Soon after, director Boleslaw Barlog was impressed by her and accepted her into the Schlosspark Theater in Steglitz, where she received her first major role, that of Waltraut 'Pützchen' von Mohrungen, in The Devil's General.

Some other important roles she had in the 1950s included Goneril in Wolfgang Langhoff's 1957 staging of King Lear and Masha in his 1958 production of Three Sisters.

[13] In addition to theater, she also appeared in cinema and television, with a first notable role in Kurt Maetzig's 1950 film The Council of the Gods.

[2] Der Tagesspiegel columnist Christoph Funke commented: "Keller turned that role into an unprecedented epitome in the portrayal of strong, self-aware women.

[13] On 18 November 1983, she performed Mrs. Alving in the East Berlin premiere of Ghosts, another of her stock characters from that decade, with Ulrich Mühe as Oswald.

[4] In 2000, she received the Caroline Neuber Prize of the City of Leipzig for her "outstanding performance in theater, cinema and television".

[17] On 23 July 2000, she performed on the stage of the Deutsches Theater for the last time, delivering the monologue of Elisabeth Matrei in Ingeborg Bachmann's Three Ways to the Lake.

Keller as Iphigenia in a rehearsal on 2 October 1963, two days before the premiere
Inge Keller, October 2006