Edith Hancke

Edith Hancke (German: [ˈeː.diːt ˈhaŋ.kə] ^ⓘ; 14 October 1928 – 4 June 2015) was a German stage, film and television actress.^[1][2]

Edith Hancke, daughter of a bank clerk, grew up in Berlin-Charlottenburg. She received an education at the Lettehaus and, at the age of 20, attended Marlise Ludwig's acting school at Wilmersdorfer Wilhelmsaue. She received her first engagements at Berlin theaters beginning in 1948. She made guest appearances at the Renaissance Theater, the Deutsches Theater, the Schlosspark Theater, the Schillertheater, the Theater am Kurfürstendamm and the Berliner Komödie, among others.^[3]

Her real profession remained the theater. Several times she received the Golden Curtain, the award for the most popular actress in Berlin. Edith Hancke also performed for two years as a member of the cabaret Die Stachelschweine. She appeared in 150 episodes of the popular radio entertainment series Pension Spreewitz on RIAS. Even at the age of 72, she starred in the play Fenster zum Flur for one year. From 1981 to 1987, she was the narrator in the RIAS radio play series Damals war's - Geschichten aus dem alten Berlin. She thus succeeded the narrator Ewald Wenck, who died in 1981.^[4]

Through her work as a dubbing artist, Hancke's voice (which was the result of a botched tonsillectomy as a child)^[5] can be heard in many foreign films, such as the Czechoslovakian musical feature film Lemonade Joe (1964). She dubbed Baby Sinclair on the U.S. series Dinosaurs. She had been married since 1972 to fellow actor Klaus Sonnenschein, whom she had met at the Theater Tribüne in 1970, in their third marriage^[6] and lived with him in their home in Holstein and in Berlin-Schlachtensee.^[7] In the TV film Schaumküsse (2009), Hancke and Sonnenschein made a joint appearance as a married couple, which was their last role as actors for both of them.^[8]

• Cowie, Peter. World Filmography: 1967. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1977.

• Edith Hancke at IMDb