Renate Müller

Highly popular German star Renate Muller was the toast of late 20s Berlin along with the legendary Marlene Dietrich. Unlike Dietrich, however, she suffered at the hands of the Nazis and died under mysterious circumstances. Renate was born in Munich on April 26, 1906, the daughter of a newspaper editor-in-chief and a painter. As a child she lived a privileged, well-to-do life in pre-Nazi Germany. An early interest in acting and poetry led her to the Harzer Bergtheater under the tutelage of Georg Wilhelm Pabst, one of her professors at school. By the late 20s she had established herself as one of Berlin's most active and versatile stage players. Actor/director Reinhold Schünzel hired Renate for her first movie and used her again many times in some of her (and his) best films. As her American counterparts at the time were Claudette Colbert and Nancy Carroll, Renate too became a shining star of light, sexy comedies. Pert, stylish and wholesomely pretty, she had just enough of an edge to make her impish sexuality all the more interesting. The highlights of her rather brief career were The Office Girl (1931), which made her a star, and Viktor and Viktoria (1936), the widely popular romantic story of a woman who disguises herself as a man. In the mid-30s, however, the entertainment industry was becoming acutely affected by the rise of Hitler. While the outraged Dietrich turned her back on her country and became a U.S. citizen, Renate stayed true and remained in her homeland despite her intense dislike of the bleak political situation. She became less cooperative, however, over the years, especially when they began putting her in propaganda films, such as Togger (1937). Renate died tragically at age 31 on October 1, 1937, having checked into a Berlin hospital for knee surgery (some sources say drug addiction). She apparently fell or was pushed out of a third-story window and died instantly. Some sources say it was suicide due to her desperate unhappiness over the rise of Nazi Germany and her artistic entrapment. Others insist it was a murder covered up by the fascist regime. Those who favor this story claim that her death was the result of her lack of cooperation, her clandestine involvement with a Jewish man, and the regime's fear that she was going to turn traitor and leave Germany. In any event, her death was deeply felt and she was mourned by her many fans who weren't even allowed to attend her funeral.