Born in Germany Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marlene Dietrich

Von Sternberg (1894-1969) was an Austrian director born in Vienna. He directed 35 movies, among which "Der Blaue Engel" (1930), "Morocco" (1930) and "The Devil Is a Woman" (1935) are probably best known. Dietrich (1901-1992) had started her career in silent movies such as "So Sind die Männer" (1923) and "Manon Lescaut" (1926). But when she worked for Sternberg, she gained world fame.
Marlene Dietrich played the cabaret girl Lola in "Der Blaue Engel" (American title "The Blue Angel" 1930). Lola sang in the cabaret of ill repute "Der Blaue Engel", and showed a lot of leg - scandalous for a movie set in 1924. Dr. Immanuel Rath, a literary professor (role by Emil Jannings), tried to forbid his students attending such a bar and also tried to convince Lola of quitting her job and bettering her life. Alas, Lola's charisma was too much for Dr. Rath and he fell head over heels for her charms.
In real life, it was not Emil Jannings but Josef von Sternberg who fell in love with Marlene Dietrich, and Sternberg chose Dietrich as the star for several other movies: "Morocco" (1930), "Dishonored" (1931), "Shanghai Express" (1932), "Blonde Venus" (1932), "The Scarlet Empress" (1934) and "The Devil is a Woman" (1935).
After her collaboration with Sternberg, Dietrich appeared in several other movies, including "Desire" (1936) and "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961). She was only once nominated for an Oscar, for her performance in "Morocco" (1932).
Apart from acting, Dietrich is also known for singing. In "Der Blaue Engel" she sang the lovely tune "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestelt", and in 1944 she recorded "Lili Marlene" both in the English and German text versions.

Answer: Leni Riefenstahl

Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was the director of these movies. She started as a dancer and actress, but changed to directing in 1932 with "Das blaue Licht" ("The Blue Light"), in which she played a sympathetic witch.
Her following documentaries "Triumph des Willen" (1935, about one of the mass meetings of the Nazi party at Nuremberg) and "Olympia" (1938, two movies about the Olympic Games in Berlin) were used (or abused) as Nazi propaganda, which caused her major problems finding work after the war.
Her last documentary "Impressionen under Wasser" (2002) included underwater images she filmed herself, as the first scuba diver over 90 years old.
Von Trotta (born 1942) is another important female movie director from Germany. Dorrie (born 1955) and Sanders-Brahms (1940-2014) are two other female movie directors from Germany, but they did not reach international success as von Trotta or Riefenstahl.

Answer: James Last

James Last (1929-2015) was the one we're looking for. He was born with the first name Hans, but his record firm decided that an English sounding first name would help to gain international fame.
Last started his career in 1948 with the Radio Bremen Dance Orchestra and the Last-Becker jazz sextet. In 1964, he formed his eponymous big band Orchestra, and they toured for over fifty years. James Last published at least 190 music collections (on LP and/or on CD), with influences from various music genres: classical music, tango, rock and roll, dance music, Brazilian or Scandinavian music, and so on.
In 2014 James Last started his farewell tour, ending in April 2015 - just two months before his death.
Miller (1904-1944) was born in Iowa. Armstrong (1901-1971) hails from New Orleans. And Jon "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917-1993) was born in South Carolina.

Answer: Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog (born 1942) started his career with short documentaries and some less known productions: "Lebenszeichen" (1968, a war drama) and "Auch Dwerge haben klein angefangen" (1970, a comedy translated as "Even Dwarves Started Small"). Herzog shot to international fame with "Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes" (1972), an epic movie filmed in the Amazon rainforest about one of the first conquistadores in search of the mythical city of gold El Dorado.
Later highlights of Herzog's career include "Fitzcarraldo" (1982), about the construction of the Manaus opera house in the midst of the rainforest, and "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans" (2009), a detective movie.
Fassbinder (1945-1982) and Schlöndorff (born 1939) were two other exponents of German new cinema. Fassbinder is best known for his movie "Die Ehe der Maria Braun" ("The Marriage of Maria Braun", 1978). Schlondorff directed "Die Blechtrommel" (1979, translated as "The Tin Drum").
Lang was one of the first German movie directors, known for "Metropolis" (1929) and "M" (1931).

Answer: Roy Black

"Ganz im Weiss" was a number one hit in West Germany and Austria. The title refers to a romantic marriage, and contrasts nicely with the (stage) name of the artist.
Roy Black (1943-1991) was born as Gerhard Hollerich. He chose the stage name Roy Black partly in honour of his teenage idol Roy Orbison, and partly because he had a deep black hair colour. At first he played rock and roll, but switched to romantic schlager music in 1966. Black had a few other successes, such as "Du bist nicht allein" ("You Are Not Alone") and "Schôn ist es auf die Welt zu sein" ("It Is Wonderful to Be on the World").
Pink (born 1979 as Alecia Beth Moore) is American, and so is Bobby Brown (born 1969 as Robert Brown). Pat Krimson (born 1965 as Patrick Claes) is a Belgian singer.

Answer: Michael Ande

Michael Ande was born in 1944. He started his career in German movies in 1955, and played Werner von Trapp in the German movies "Die Familie von Trapp" (1956) and "Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika" (1958). Ande's first role in a television series was Jim Hawkins in "Schatzinsel" (1966-1967), the German translation of "Treasure Island".

In 1977 he took the second role in "Der Alte" (translated as "The Old Fox"). Gerd Heymann, the character played by Michael Ande, was the assistant to chief inspector (Hauptkommissar) Erwin Köster in Munich.

Although Michael Ande stayed on the show until 2016, the main role changed a few times: Siegfried Löwitz played Erwin Köster up to 1986, then the character Erwin Köster was replaced by the character Leo Kress (role by Rolf Schimpf).

In 2008 Schimpf left the show and his character was replaced by the character Rolf Herzog (played by Viktor Kreye). In 2012 the fourth Hauptkommissar took up his duties: Richard Voss, a role by Jan-Gregor Kemp. Horst Tappert (1923-2008) played Hauptkommissar Derrick in the eponymous long-running detective show (1974-1998). Klaus Behrendt was one of the many actors on the police procedural "Tatort" (started in 1970 - Behrendt joined the show in 1990). Gartner (born 1943) played private investigator Matula in "Ein Fall fûr Zwei" ("A Case for Two") since 1981.

Answer: Nena

Nena was born as Gabriele Susanne Kerner in 1960. She started singing in 1979 in English, but changed to German lyrics when her first band was dissolved in 1982. Her first hit was "Neunundneunzig Luftballons" (1983), in which she sang about a number of balloons let lose over military terrains.

The pilots who intercept the balloons shoot them down, which causes so much upheaval that a 99 year devastating war starts. The English version "99 Red Balloons" was not the best possible translation, according to Nena and her band members: they thought the lyrics in English sounded too silly. Schwarzkopf (1915-2006), Rothenberger (1924-2010) and Damrau (born 1971) were operatic sopranos, no pop singers. 

Answer: Anne-Sophie Mutter

Mutter (born 1963) started her career in 1976 with Mozart's "Violin Concerto Nr. 4". Her repertoire includes both classical works (Mozart, Beethoven...) as well as contemporary music , some specially composed for her (Penderecki, John Williams...)
Mutter started in 1997 a long-term project to support young talents, and since 2011 she also gave concerts together with her pupils.
Mutter once announced her retirement in 2008, but later she declared that she would continue to perform as long as she found interesting new challenges.
Gudrun Gut (born 1957) played electronic instruments with the "Einsturzende Neubauten" and some other groups. Jabs (born 1955) became the lead guitarist of the heavy metal band the Scorpions in 1978. Lifits (born 1982) started a career as concert pianist in 2009.

Answer: Til Schweiger

Schweiger (born 1963) started his movie career in 1991 with a small part in "Manta, Manta" and his television career in 1990 playing a recurring character on the series "Lindenstrasse". His first major success was "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (1997), a crime comedy about two patients of a terminal disease who desire to see the sea once before they die.
In "Inglourious Basterds" (2009), Quentin Tarantino's version of a major plot against Hitler, Schweiger plays Sergeant Stiglitz, a German Wehrmacht soldier fed up with the SS to the point that he has killed at least a dozen SS officers. The American irregular troop named the "Basterds" (American soldiers from jewish ancestry) decide to free Stiglitz and recruit him as another "Basterd" when the SS is transferring Stieglitz to Berlin.
Prochnow (born 1941) is best known as the main actor in the submarine movie "Das Boot" (1981). Mueller-Stahl (born 1930) has played in movies such as "Shine" (1996) and "Eastern Promises" (2007). Fröbe (1913-1988) played Auric Goldfinger in "Dr. No" (1964). None of them had a part in "Inglourious Basterds".

Answer: Nico

Nico (1938-1988, original name Christa Paffgen) started modelling in 1954. After a few years, she switched careers to acting (including a minor role in Fellini's "La dolce vita", 1959) and singing. In 1966 and 1967 she briefly worked with The Velvet Underground, a quartet managed by Andy Warhol. Starting in 1967, she pursued a solo singing career. Kruger (born 1976) was a model, but gained more acclaim as an actress.

Heidi Klum (born 1973) was a model and turned television host for the shows "Germany's Next Topmodel" and ""Project Runway". Schiffer (born 1970) was a very successful model, who later took up a fashion designing career.