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Anna Sophie Ondráková, known as
Anny Ondra (
May 15,
1903,
Tarnów,
Galicia,
Austria-Hungary, now Poland -
February 28,
1987,
Hollenstedt near
Hamburg,
Germany) was a Czech, British, and
German film
actress.
As the daughter of a
k.u.k. officer, she spent her childhood in
Prague. She starred in Czech,
Austrian and
German comedies in the 1920s, but can also be seen in some British dramas, most notably in
Alfred Hitchcock's
The Manxman and
Blackmail (both 1929). However, when
Blackmail was reshot with
sound, Ondra's thick accent was considered unacceptable, so her dialogue was recorded by actress
Joan Barry. Ondra made some forty more films in the sound era before retiring in the late-
1930s.
On
July 6,
1933, she married the boxer
Max Schmeling, with whom she appeared together in the film
Knock-out (1935). The marriage lasted until her death.
Ondra was buried in the Saint Andreas Friedhof cemetery in Hollenstedt, Germany