Henny Porten (1890-1960) was the first movie “star” of the German silent movie. She starred in around 200 movies, produced 26 with her production company, and successfully transitioned from silent movies to talkies.
Early Life
Henny Porten was born on January 7, 1890 in Magdeburg, but grew up mainly in Berlin. Her father was actor, opera singer, director, and film pioneer Franz Porten. The artistic ambitions ran in the family: Henny’s sister Rosa Porten (1884-1972) was an actor as well, but also made a name for herself as a screenwriter, director, and writer.
Henny made her movie debut in the 1906 “Meißener Porzellan”, directed by her father and produced by family friend Oskar Messter. Alongside her sister, several roles in her father’s short movie productions followed.
Professional Life
After finishing school, Porten became a professional actor, working for different production companies before signing with Messter. While her movies weren’t box office successes, her charisma and acting style made her a household name, though nobody knew her real name yet but only knew her as “Messter’s girl”. Usually, producers kept the names of their actors quiet because they feared the artists would ask for more money.
In 1911, she starred in the movie “Das Liebesglück der Blinden” (The Love of a Blind Girl), the first screenplay written by her sister. This was also the movie that made her famous. Messter was forced to release her name because the film was such a success and Porten’s acting was received so well. Porten went on to star in many movies per year (overall she acted in 200 movies) and it’s no wonder she is associated with the rise of the German film industry.
In 1919, Porten founded her own production company which merged with the company of Carl Froelich in 1924.
The 1920s were successful years for Henny, starring in multiple movies every year. In the 1920 movie “Kohlhiesels Töchter”, she played alongside Emil Jannings who would go on to win an Oscar as best actor in 1929. When movies started to transition from silent movies to talkies, Henny was skeptical, but made a successful debut in her first talking picture “Skandal um Eva” in 1930, directed by G.W. Pabst.
During the Nazi era, Porten made only a couple movies because she was married to a Jewish doctor and refused to divorce him. That she was able to work at all was due to the fact that she was considered valuable to the regime.
Personal Life
Porten married actor and director Curd A. Stark in 1912, but he fell in WWI in 1916.
She got remarried in 1921, to the Jewish doctor Wilhelm Ritter von Kaufmann-Asser who became the manager of Porten’s production company. During the Nazi regime, he was not allowed to work and Porten herself was denied some roles because she refused to get divorced from Kaufmann.
From 1945 until 1957, Henny Porten and her husband lived in Ratzeburg in Schleswig-Holstein after having lost her home in Berlin during the bombing. Kaufmann worked again as a doctor in a hospital for refugees with Porten sometimes helping out. She made three movies, “Absender unbekannt” (1950), “Carola Lamberti – Eine vom Zirkus” (1954), and “Das Fräulein von Scuderi” (1955); the latter two were produced by the DEFA (Deutsche Film AG) in the GDR.
The couple moved back to Berlin in 1957 where Kaufmann died in 1959. In 1960, Porten received the Order of Merit and died on October 15 the same year.
Sources and Resources
- 📖 Wiki– dt
- 📖 Wiki– engl.
- 📖 Cyranos
- 📖📷 Film Star Postcards – Henny Porten
- 🎥 YouTube Playlist Henny Porten
- 📷 Pinterest Board for many more photos and movie postcards (Henny Porten)
- 📷 Flickr Gallery with photos of Henny Porten
- 📷 Flickr Gallery with photos of Rosa Porten
- 📚 Book recommendation: Daniel Kehlmann: Lichtspiel (about the life of G.W. Pabst), Release in English as “The Director” on May 6.2025
