Christa Tordy
{{short description|German actress}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Christa Tordy. Originalfotografie (Silbergelatine), c. 1928.jpg
| name = Christa Tordy
| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|06|30|df=y}}
| birth_place = Bremen, German Empire
| death_date = {{death date and age|1945|4|28|1904|06|30|df=y}}
| death_place = Bad Saarow-Pieskow, Nazi Germany
| birth_name = Anneliese Uhlhorn
| othername =
| occupation = Actress
| yearsactive = 1926–1928
| spouse = {{marriage|Harry Liedtke|1928|1945|end=his death}}
| relatives = Mady Christians (cousin)
| partner(s) =
}}
Christa Tordy (born Anneliese Uhlhorn, 30 June 1904 – 28 April 1945) was a German film actress. She was discovered while visiting her cousin Mady Christians in Berlin, and briefly became a leading star before retiring after marrying Harry Liedtke. She was murdered along with her husband by the Soviet Red Army at her home during its invasion of Germany during World War II.
Biography
Christa Tordy was born Anneliese Uhlhorn on 30 June 1904 in Bremen. She spent her childhood in Wiesbaden after her father had retired there. There, she attended high school, graduating at age 17, and began studying art history, archaeology, philosophy, and literary history in Berlin and Munich, finishing her studies in Breslau with a doctorate. During her time in school, she also participated in student theater, creating and staging plays.{{Cite web|url=http://www.steffi-line.de/archiv_text/nost_film20b40/154_tordy_christa.htm|title = Christa Tordy}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Qo4AQAAIAAJ&q=christa+tordy|title=The Living Age|year=1926}}
In 1925, Tordy visited her cousin Mady ChristiansKay Weniger: Das große Personenlexikon des Films. Die Schauspieler, Regisseure, Kameraleute, Produzenten, Komponisten, Drehbuchautoren, Filmarchitekten, Ausstatter, Kostümbildner, Cutter, Tontechniker, Maskenbildner und Special Effects Designer des 20. Jahrhunderts. Band 2: C – F. John Paddy Carstairs – Peter Fritz. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, {{ISBN|3-89602-340-3}}, S. 68. who was then working on the film A Waltz Dream. Tordy was noticed by director Ludwig Berger or cinematographer Werner Brandes, who persuaded her to undergo a screen test.
Tordy had a short but successful period at the end of the 1920s with several silent movies.{{Cite web |title=Christa Tordy - Trivia |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0867909/trivia/?ref_=nm_dyk_trv |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}} She made her film debut in The Sea Cadet (1926), followed by His Toughest Case (1926). She next starred in Prinz Louis Ferdinand (1927) and Potsdam (1927), both alongside Hans Stüwe. Tordy's final screen appearance was in the silent comedy film Love on Skis (1928), which she acted in with her husband Harry Liedtke. The film was released a fortnight after their marriage.
Tordy and Liedtke married on 27 March 1928{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j45uCFE13EgC&q=christa+tordy|title = The Illustrated London News|date = April 1928}} and Tordy retired from the film industry shortly thereafter. She only appeared in 8 films during her career.
File:Grab Dorsch Liedke Pieskow.JPG
On 28 April 1945, Christa Tordy and Harry Liedtke were murdered by the Soviet Red Army.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Z4kDAAAQBAJ&q=christa+tordy&pg=PA285|title=The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema|isbn=9780857455659|last1=Bock|first1=ans-Michael|last2=Bergfelder|first2=im|date=September 2009}} Liedtke had tried to save his wife from being raped and murdered, but died after either being smashed on the head with a beer bottle,{{Cite web|url=http://www.steffi-line.de/archiv_text/nost_film20b40/154_tordy_christa.htm#name_info|title=Christa Tordy}} or after being clubbed to death.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ka2RAAAAIAAJ&q=christa+tordy|title=Film Culture|year=1971}} Prior to their murder, the couple had attempted suicide.
Tordy and Liedtke's bodies were exhumed in October 1948 and they were buried at Waldfriedhof Saarow-Pieskow Cemetery.{{Cite web|url=https://billiongraves.com/cemetery/Waldfriedhof-Saarow-Pieskow/223996|title=Waldfriedhof Saarow-Pieskow, Bad Saarow, Brandenburg, Germany | BillionGraves Cemetery and Images}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.knerger.de/html/liedtkeschauspieler_50.html|title=Schauspieler 50}} Upon Liedtke's ex-wife Käthe Dorsch's death in 1957, she was buried alongside the two.
Filmography
- The Sea Cadet (1926)
- His Toughest Case (1926)
- Prinz Louis Ferdinand (1927)
- Die Beichte des Feldkuraten (1927)
- Potsdam (1927)
- Das Geheimnis von Genf (1928)
- The Countess of Sand (1928)
- Love on Skis (1928)
Bibliography
- Hardt, Ursula. From Caligari to California: Erich Pommer's Life in the International Film Wars. Berghahn Books, 1996. {{ISBN|978-1571810250}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|0867909}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tordy, Christa}}
Category:German film actresses
Category:German silent film actresses
Category:Actresses from Bremen (city)