Lotte Lenya (born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer; October
â€" November ) was an Austrian-American chanteuse, diseuse, and
actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and
classical music world, she is best remembered for her performances of
the songs of her first husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language
cinema, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a jaded
aristocrat in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (). She also played the
murderous and sadistic Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia
with Love ().In , Lenya was seen by her future husband, German-Jewish
composer Kurt Weill, during an audition for his first stage score
Zaubernacht, but because of his position behind the piano, she did not
see him. She was cast, but owing to her loyalty to her voice coach,
she declined the role. She accepted the part of Jenny in the first
performance of The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) in , and
the part became her breakthrough role. During the last years of the
Weimar Republic, she was busy in film and theatre, and especially in
Brecht-Weill plays. She made several recordings of Weill's songs.
[Note ]With the rise of National Socialism in Germany, many artists
were not appreciated, and although not Jewish, she left the country,
having become estranged from Weill. (They would later divorce and
remarry.) In March , she moved to Paris, where she sang the leading
part in Brecht-Weill's "sung ballet", The Seven Deadly Sins.[citation
needed]Lenya and Weill settled in New York City on September . During
the summer of , Weill, Lenya, Paul Green, and Cheryl Crawford rented a
house at Trumbull Avenue in Nichols, Connecticut, about miles from
Pine Brook Country Club, the summer rehearsal headquarters of the
Group Theatre. Here, Green and Weill wrote the screenplay and music
for the controversial Broadway play Johnny Johnson, which was titled
after the most frequently occurring name on the American casualty list
of World War I. During this period, Lenya had a love affair with
playwright Paul Green.
â€" November ) was an Austrian-American chanteuse, diseuse, and
actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and
classical music world, she is best remembered for her performances of
the songs of her first husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language
cinema, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a jaded
aristocrat in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (). She also played the
murderous and sadistic Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia
with Love ().In , Lenya was seen by her future husband, German-Jewish
composer Kurt Weill, during an audition for his first stage score
Zaubernacht, but because of his position behind the piano, she did not
see him. She was cast, but owing to her loyalty to her voice coach,
she declined the role. She accepted the part of Jenny in the first
performance of The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) in , and
the part became her breakthrough role. During the last years of the
Weimar Republic, she was busy in film and theatre, and especially in
Brecht-Weill plays. She made several recordings of Weill's songs.
[Note ]With the rise of National Socialism in Germany, many artists
were not appreciated, and although not Jewish, she left the country,
having become estranged from Weill. (They would later divorce and
remarry.) In March , she moved to Paris, where she sang the leading
part in Brecht-Weill's "sung ballet", The Seven Deadly Sins.[citation
needed]Lenya and Weill settled in New York City on September . During
the summer of , Weill, Lenya, Paul Green, and Cheryl Crawford rented a
house at Trumbull Avenue in Nichols, Connecticut, about miles from
Pine Brook Country Club, the summer rehearsal headquarters of the
Group Theatre. Here, Green and Weill wrote the screenplay and music
for the controversial Broadway play Johnny Johnson, which was titled
after the most frequently occurring name on the American casualty list
of World War I. During this period, Lenya had a love affair with
playwright Paul Green.
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