Erna Morena
GermanyBiography of Erna Morena
Erna Morena was a popular German silent film actress. She made her debut on the silver screen in 1913 in the film "Sphinx" by Hungarian director Eugen Illés, who worked in Germany. They went on to collaborate on many projects together, with Morena appearing in a total of nine films directed by Illés. She was born on April 24, 1885, in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg. At the age of seventeen, she studied art history and attended ceramics courses in Munich. She then spent several months in Paris before returning to work as a nurse in Strasbourg.
In 1910, Erna moved to Berlin, where she continued to work in a hospital and attended Max Reinhardt's drama school. She excelled in her studies and within a year, she joined the cast of the Berlin Theater. In 1913, she made her film debut in Illés' "Sphinx." They continued to work together, with Morena appearing in a total of nine films by Illés. She later joined the PAGU film studio, and one of her most notable films of that time was the adaptation of Dumas' novel "The Lady of the Camellias" - Paul Leni's "Primavera," in which she starred alongside actor Harry Liedtke.
From the beginning of her career, critics spoke favorably of her performances. In 1915, Erna married playwright Wilhelm Herzog and lived with him for six years. It was Herzog who came up with her new stage name, and after that, she began appearing under the pseudonym Erna Morena. In 1918, she founded her own film studio, but due to the difficult economic situation in Germany, the company went bankrupt, releasing only one film in 1920.
Erna Morena had a very productive partnership with director Richard Oswald. Their collaboration began with the 1918 film "The Diary of a Lost Woman" based on Margaret Böhme's novel, followed by several more films, including the comedy "Memoirs of a Manolescu," in which she starred alongside Conrad Veidt. In the early 1920s, Erna Morena reached the peak of her career, appearing in leading roles in many popular films of the time, such as "The Indian Tomb," where she played Princess Savitri. However, by the end of the decade, her fame began to decline, and after the advent of sound cinema, the forty-year-old actress only received supporting roles.
In 1940, she stopped acting and settled in Munich, where she opened a boarding house for artists. After a brief appearance in the 1950 film "The Immortal Beloved," Morena bid farewell to the film industry. She passed away on July 21, 1962, at the age of seventy-seven. Throughout her thirty-eight-year film career, Erna Morena appeared in a hundred films.
