Short Biography

13 December 1915

Birth of Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgen Jürgens, son to Kurt Jürgens and Marie-Albertine Jürgens, née Noir, in Solln near Munich. Twin sisters Jeannette and Marguerite.

1932

First theatre appearance at the amateur theatre of a Berlin grammar school in the play “Zwölftausend” (“Twelve Thousand”) in the role of the schemer and villain.

1932/33

Stay at a boarding school in London in the home of family friends.

1935

Film debut alongside Willi Forst in KÖNIGSWALZER

1936

First theatre engagement at Dresden’s Central Theatre and Berlin’s Metropol Theatre in “Ball der Nationen” (“Ball of Nations”).

1937

15 June, marries the actress Lulu Basler.

1938

Engagement at the Deutschen Volkstheater in Vienna.

1941

Engagement at Vienna’s Burgtheater in Romeo und Juliette.

1943/44

First leading role in a film in EINE KLEINE SOMMERMELODIE.

1944/45

The last film with Willi Forst WIENER MÄDELN is only completed after the end of the war and has its German première on 19 August 1949 in Berlin. At the end of 1944 and during the filming, Jürgens is required to undertake entrenching duty.

1945

Founding of the touring theatre, the “Münchner Gastspielbühne Curd Jürgens”, a repertory company with a programme consisting of guest performances, is wound up after less than a year.

1946

Artistic director of Straubing City Theatre until 30 September 1946.

1947

Jürgens assumes Austrian citizenship.

8 October: Separation from Lulu Basler.

16 October: Marriage to the actress Judith Holzmeister.

1948

23 January: Première of his first postwar film, HIN UND HER.

1949

22 January: Première of the play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams at the Academy Theatre in Vienna. Start of Jürgens’ collaboration with Berthold Viertel including the starring role of Stanley Kowalski in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951).

With PRÄMIEN AUF DEM TOD Curd Jürgens directs himself in the first of four films.

1955

Jürgens receives the Coppa Volpi at the Venice Film Festival for Best Actor in DES TEUFELS GENERAL and LES HÉROS SONT FATIGUÉS.

13 August: Marries the actress Eva Bartok. The mariage lasts just one year.

1956

Filming with Brigitte Bardot for ET DIEU… CRÉA LA FEMMA. She coins the expression “armoire normande” (Norman wardrobe) for Curd Jürgens .

1957

International breakthrough in THE ENEMY BELOW with Robert Mitchum.

1958

14 September: Marriage to the photo model Simone Bicheron during the filming of DER SCHINDERHANNES.

1959

Curd Jürgens films KATIA with Romy Schneider.

1966

20 September: Curd Jürgens receives the Josef-Kainz-Medaille the city of Vienna for his portrayal of the role of Bill Maitland in “Richter in eigener Sache”.

1973-77

Curd Jürgens plays Everyman at the Salzburg Festival.

1975

The song “60 Jahre, und kein bißchen weise” is released.

1976

Curd Jürgens becomes professor of the Austrian Academy of the Arts.

His autobiographical novel “… und kein bißchen weise” is released at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

1978

21 March: Marriage to Margie Schmitz.

1980

Release of the novel “Der süße Duft der Rebellion”.

1981

Curd Jürgens receives the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Filmband in Gold for his long-standing and outstanding work in German film.

18 June 1982

Curd Jürgens dies in Vienna and is laid to rest in a grave of honour in Vienna’s Central Cemetery.

1997

Margie Jürgens passes the estate to the German Film Museum in Frankfurt am Main.

21 November to 11 January 1998: First presentation of the estate in the German Film Museum.

2000

7 June to 10 September: Exhibition and accompanying publication “Curd Jürgens” at the German Film Museum in Frankfurt am Main.

2001

17 May to 23 September: The German Film Museums’ exhibition “Curd Jürgens” transfers to Vienna’s Theatre Museum.

2007

New edition of the accompanying book.

2015

13 December: Launch of the virtual exhibition of Curd Jürgensʼ estate.