Senta Wengraf(1924-2020)

Wengraf was born in Vienna, the daughter of an insurance company director. After attending drama school she made her stage debut at the Volkstheater in 1946. Her film career commenced the same year with a supporting role in Géza von Cziffra 's marital comedy Glaube an mich (1946), which, incidentally, was to be Austria's first post-war motion picture. She became best known in the mid-50s for her screen appearances as Countess Bellegarde in two films concerning the tragically short life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (popularly nicknamed Sissi), opposite stars Romy Schneider (in the title role) and Karlheinz Böhm. This set the trend for many subsequent performances in comedies, operettas and period dramas -- invariably as genteel grand dames or social lionesses-- on the big screen ( eg. Kaiserjäger (1956)), on television (Der Kurier der Kaiserin (1970)) or on radio. Until 1998, Wengraf alternated screen acting with a busy theatrical career in Germany and Austria. From 1978, she had been an ensemble member of the Theater in der Josefstadt. The actress maintained a high profile on Vienna's social scene through a well-documented relationship with former Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky (as related in a book by Senta Ziegler, entitled "Österreichs First Ladies: Von Luise Renner bis Margot Klestil-Löffler"). She was also a longstanding 'muse' of noted opera writer and critic Marcel Prawy (until the latter's death in 2003).