| Gertrud Eysoldt | |
| Birth Date: | 30 November 1870 |
| Birth Place: | Pirna, Kingdom of Saxony |
| Death Place: | Ohlstadt, West Germany |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Years Active: | 1890–1949 |
Gertrud Franziska Gabriele Eysoldt (30 November 1870 – 6 January 1955) was a German film and stage actress.[1]
Gertrud Eysoldt first appeared in Henry IV in 1890 with the influential Meiningen Ensemble. After touring in Germany and Russia she performed in Berlin in 1899 and later played under the direction of Max Reinhardt. She specialized in modern realistic parts, particularly in the works of Frank Wedekind, opposite the author, as well the plays of Henrik Ibsen and Maeterlinck. In 1921 she was in the first German-language production of Schnitzler's controversial play Reigen at the Kleines Schauspielhaus in Berlin.[2]
In 1903, Eysoldt garnered widespread praise for her mesmerizing physical performances and her groundbreaking portrayal of some of the most controversial female characters in modern German theater. One critic declared that as the title role in Hugo von Hofmannsthal's play , she "created a new type of acting art and also a new image of women on stage."[3] Eysoldt caused a sensation in her role as Salome in Oscar Wilde's play of the same name. A critic stated she perfectly captured “the pathological persistence of a spoiled child . . . as well as the perverse, erotic, and vengeful lust of a scornful woman.”[4] She also starred in Strindberg's Rausch, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, and Gorky's The Lower Depths. In reviewing these roles, theater critic Marie Luise Becker wrote:
Eysoldt appeared in more than fifteen films from 1923 to 1949, including: