Hermine Körner Ring

This actress prize is a life award for a lifework. The ring with antique style Persian coin is a foundation endowed by the actress Hermine Körner (1878 - 1960), who directed in her will that it be always in the possession of an “actress striving for excellence”.

Hermine Körner, herself, awarded the ring to her colleague Roma Bahn. The successor in each case is selected by the Performing Arts Section of the Akademie der Künste, of which Körner was a member from 1955.

Hermine Körner, who was born in 1878 in Berlin and died there in 1960, was not only one of the most important tragic actresses of 20th century German-speaking theatre, but a theatre director as well. In 1919, she ended an engagement with Max Reinhardt in order to become Director of the Munich Schauspielhaus Theatre. In 1925, she directed first at the Albert Theatre, then at the Komödie (Comedy) Theatre, before finally returning to the Albert Theatre. She spent the Nazi era in the ensemble of the Berlin Staatstheater (State Theatre) under artistic director Gustaf Gründgens, where she played Hans Rehberg’s “Queen Isabella”, Shaw’s Mrs. Warren, and Ibsen’s Mrs. Inger. In the post-war years, she enjoyed sensational success in 1950 as Giraudoux’s “Madwoman of Chaillot” in the Karl-Heinz Stroux staging in the Berlin Hebbel Theatre as well as in Mattias Braun’s productions of ancient plays.

Laureates

1961    Roma Bahn
1975    Marianne Hoppe
2004    Gisela Stein
2010    Hildegard Schmahl