Foto: Alexander Binder (1888-1929)

1892 - 1967

After an engagement in Düsseldorf she went on tour through Germany and acted in plays like "Elga" written by Hauptmann and "Fedora".

She made her film debut in 1917 and experienced the height of her career in the next two years.
To her well-known productions belong "Die Gräfin von Navarra" (17), "Apokalypse" (18), "Das Gift der Medici" (18) and "Maria Pawlowna" (19).

In the 20's followed only few movies like "Die Verschwörung zu Genua" (21) and "Die Vorbestraften" (27). 
Maria Fein's last work in front of the camera was the movie "Friederike" (32).

The world of the theater was still her main field of activity. But when the National Socialists came into power she wasn't given permission to play because of her Jewish extraction. During this time she opened the restaurant "Der grüne Zweig" together with a friend.
Finally she went to Vienna and was able to continue her theater career at the Volkstheater (among others as Gertrud in "Hamlet" and as czarina in "Das Haus Romanoff").

With the invasion of the Nazis in Austria she also lost this work place and she went to Holland where she met the director Ludwig Berger.
When the war broke out, Maria Fein was at the Côte d'Azur in France at this time. Thanks to the intervention of her daughter Maria Becker, who already lived in Switzerland, she was able to enter Switzerland too.
From there she emigrated to England and the USA where she continued to play theater and organized readings.

Maria Fein spent her last years in Switzerland where she continued her theater career in Luzern (e.g. "Elektra").

There were two daughters of the marriage with Theodor Becker - Thea and Maria. Maria Becker also became a well-known theater actress. Her brother Franz Fein was a well-known translator of US novels.
 

Other movies with Maria Fein:
Das Leben ein Traum (17) Der Mann im Spiegel (17) Die Kaukasierin (17) Mutter (17) Seine kleine Madonna/Nur ein Modell (17) Der Wahn ist kurz (18) Der Ehestifter (18) Die Vision (18) Liebesopfer (18) Edelwild (18) Die Verteidigerin (18) Die Erlösung des Reimundus (18) Nicht eher sollst Du Liebe fühlen, als... (19) Die Feste des Fürsten von Ferrara (19) Sühne (19) Das Lied der Nornen (19) Opfer der Blutrache (19) Weisse Rosen (20) Der kleine Herzog (24)