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Quick Facts
Biography
Marthe Keller (born 28 January 1945) is a Swiss actress and opera director.
Career
Early years
Marthe studied ballet as a child, but stopped after a skiing accident at age 16. She changed to acting, and worked in Berlin at the Schiller Theatre and the Berliner Ensemble.
Film work
Keller's earliest film appearances were in Funeral in Berlin (1966, in which she was not credited) and the German film Wilder Reiter GmbH (1967). She appeared in a series of French films in the 1970s, including Un cave (1971), La raison du plus fou (1973) and Toute une vie (And Now My Love, 1974). Her most famous American film appearances are her Golden Globe-nominated performance as Dustin Hoffman's girlfriend in Marathon Man (1976) and her performance as a femme fatale Palestinian terrorist who leads an attack on the Super Bowl in Black Sunday (1977). Keller acted alongside Al Pacino in the 1977 romantic drama film Bobby Deerfield, based on Erich Maria Remarque's novel Heaven Has No Favorites, and subsequently the two of them were involved in a relationship. She also acted alongside William Holden in Billy Wilder's 1978 romantic drama Fedora.
After 1978, Keller worked more steadily in European cinema compared to American movies. Her later films include Dark Eyes (1987), with Marcello Mastroianni.
In April 2016, she was announced as the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Theater work
In 2001, Keller appeared in an all-star Broadway adaptation of Abby Mann's play Judgment at Nuremberg, directed by John Tillinger, as Mrs. Bertholt, in the role played by Marlene Dietrich in the 1961 Stanley Kramer film version. She was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress for this performance.
Opera work
In addition to her work in film and theatre, Keller has developed a career in classical music as a speaker and opera director. She has performed the speaking role of Joan of Arc in Arthur Honegger's oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher on several occasions, with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa and Kurt Masur. She has recorded the role for Deutsche Grammophon with Ozawa (DG 429 412-2). Keller has also recited the spoken part in Igor Stravinsky's Perséphone. She has performed classical music melodramas for speaker and piano in recital. The Swiss composer Michael Jarrell wrote the melodrama Cassandre, after the novel of Christa Wolf, for Keller, who gave the world premiere in 1994.
Keller's first production as an opera director was Dialogues des Carmélites, for Opéra National du Rhin, in 1999. This production subsequently received a semi-staged performance in London that year. She has also directed Lucia di Lammermoor for Washington National Opera and for Los Angeles Opera. Her directorial debut at the Metropolitan Opera was in a 2004 production of Don Giovanni.
Personal life
Keller has one son, Alexandre (born 1971), from her relationship with director Philippe de Broca.
Theater
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/Marthe_Keller_1975.jpg/170px-Marthe_Keller_1975.jpg)
Year | Title | Author | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1970 | A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | Peter Nichols | Michel Fagadau | Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse |
1979 | Three Sisters | Anton Chekhov | Lucian Pintilie | Théâtre de la Ville |
1982 | Emballage perdu | Vera Feyder | Nelly Borgeaud | Théâtre des Mathurins |
1983 | Exiles | James Joyce | Andreas Voutsinas | Théâtre Renaud-Barrault |
1983 | Exiles | James Joyce | Andreas Voutsinas | Théâtre Renaud-Barrault |
1983-86 | Jedermann | Hugo von Hofmannsthal | Ernst Haeussermann & Gernot Friedel | Festival de Salzbourg |
1984 | Betrayal | Harold Pinter | Sami Frey | Théâtre des Célestins |
1986 | Don Carlos | Friedrich von Schiller | Michelle Marquais | Théâtre de la Ville |
1988 | Hamlet | William Shakespeare | Patrice Chéreau | Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers |
1997 | Kinkali | Arnaud Bedouet | Philippe Adrien | Théâtre national de la Colline |
2001 | Judgment at Nuremberg | Abby Mann | Joe Tillinger | Broadway theatre |
2008 | The Stronger | August Strindberg | Wadsworth | Arclight Theatre |
2011 | Jan Karski (mon nom est une fiction) | Yannick Haenel | Arthur Nauzyciel | Festival d'Avignon |
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | Der trojanische Krieg findet nicht statt | The piece | Franz Josef Wild | TV Movie |
Mein oder Dein | Jean | Franz Josef Wild (2) | TV Movie | |
1965 | Antiquitäten | Young Lady | Marran Gosov | Short |
Und nicht mehr Jessica | Jessica Lovell | Falk Harnack | TV Movie | |
Mariana Pineda | Wilm ten Haaf | TV Movie | ||
1966 | Funeral in Berlin | Brigit | Guy Hamilton | |
Kein Freibrief für Mord | Christine Foster | Karl-Heinz Bieber | TV Movie | |
Corinne und der Seebär | Corinne | Thomas Engel | TV Movie | |
1967 | Wilder Reiter GmbH | The nun | Franz-Josef Spieker | Nominated - German Film Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role |
Pfeiffer | Marthe | Marran Gosov (2) | Short | |
1969 | Le diable par la queue | Amélie | Philippe de Broca | |
1970 | Les caprices de Marie | Marie Panneton | Philippe de Broca (2) | |
1971 | Arsène Lupin | The Countess Natasha | Jean-Pierre Decourt | TV Series (3 Episodes) |
1972 | The Old Maid | Vicka | Jean-Pierre Blanc | |
Un cave | Catherine | Gilles Grangier | ||
P'pa je serai serrurier | The woman | Ulysse Laugier | Short | |
La demoiselle d'Avignon | Koba Lye-Lye | Michel Wyn | TV Series (1 Episode) | |
1973 | Elle court, elle court la banlieue | Marlène Réval | Gérard Pirès | |
La raison du plus fou | The hitchhiker | François Reichenbach | ||
La chute d'un corps | Marthe Renon | Michel Polac | ||
1974 | And Now My Love | Sarah & Rachel Stern | Claude Lelouch | |
Only the Wind Knows the Answer | Angela Delpierre | Alfred Vohrer | ||
1975 | Down the Ancient Staircase | Bianca | Mauro Bolognini | |
L'aigle à deux têtes | The Queen | Pierre Cavassilas | TV Movie | |
1976 | Marathon Man | Elsa Opel | John Schlesinger | Bambi Award for Best Actress - National Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture |
Le guêpier | Melba | Roger Pigaut | ||
1977 | Black Sunday | Dahlia Iyad | John Frankenheimer | |
Bobby Deerfield | Lillian | Sydney Pollack | ||
1978 | Fedora | Fedora / Antonia | Billy Wilder | |
1980 | The Formula | Lisa Spangler | John G. Avildsen | |
1981 | The Amateur | Elisabeth | Charles Jarrott | Nominated - Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress |
1982 | La certosa di Parma | Gina Sanseverina | Mauro Bolognini (2) | TV Mini-Series |
1983 | Der Platzanweiser | Peter Gehrig | ||
Jedermann | Buhlschaft | C. Rainer Ecke | TV Movie | |
Wagner | Mathilde Wesendonck | Tony Palmer | TV Mini-Series | |
1984 | Femmes de personne | Cecile | Christopher Frank | |
1985 | Red Kiss | Bronka | Véra Belmont | |
Joan Lui | Judy Johnson | Adriano Celentano | ||
1986 | Die Frau des Reporters | Esther | Heide Pils | TV Movie |
1987 | Dark Eyes | Tina | Nikita Mikhalkov | Nominated - David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress |
The Hospice | Dominique Othenin-Girard | TV Movie | ||
1988 | La ruelle au clair de lune | Nelly | Édouard Molinaro | TV Movie |
Una vittoria | Luigi Perelli | TV Movie | ||
Sueurs froides | Diane | Régis Wargnier | TV Series (1 Episode) | |
1989 | Georg Elser - Einer aus Deutschland | Klaus Maria Brandauer | ||
The Nightmare Years | Tess Shirer | Anthony Page | TV Mini-Series | |
1991 | Lapse of Memory | Linda Farmer | Patrick Dewolf | |
Young Catherine | Princess Johanna | Michael Anderson | TV Movie | |
1992 | Im Kreis der Iris | Marikka | Peter Patzak | TV Movie |
Turbulences | Hélène | Élisabeth Rappeneau | TV Movie | |
À deux pas du paradis | Eva Grundberg | Michel Vianey | TV Movie | |
1993 | Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher | Joan of Arc | Akio Jissoji | TV Movie |
Liberate mio figlio | Elena | Roberto Malenotti | TV Movie | |
1994 | My Friend Max | Catherine Mercier | Michel Brault | |
1995 | Sostiene Pereira | Mrs. Delgado | Roberto Faenza | |
Tödliches Geld | Beatrice Belmont | Detlef Rönfeldt | TV Movie | |
Belle Époque | Antoinette | Gavin Millar | TV Mini-Series | |
1997 | Women | Barbara | Luís Galvão Teles | |
K | Nora Winter | Alexandre Arcady | ||
Nuits blanches | Julia | Sophie Deflandre | ||
1998 | The School of Flesh | Madame Thorpe | Benoît Jacquot | |
1999 | Le derrière | Christina | Valérie Lemercier | |
2001 | Tout va bien c'est Noël ! | Jacqueline Bréaud | Laurent Dussaux | TV Movie |
2002 | Time of the Wolf | Rebecca McGregor | Rod Pridy | |
2003 | Par amour | Nicole Doucet | Alain Tasma | TV Movie Biarritz International Festival of Audiovisual - Best Actress Luchon International Film Festival - Best Actress |
2004 | Die Nacht singt ihre Lieder | Mother | Romuald Karmakar | |
La nourrice | Madame Dumayet-Ponti | Renaud Bertrand | TV Movie | |
2005 | Fragile | Emma | Laurent Nègre | Swiss Film Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role |
2007 | Chrysalis | Professor Brügen | Julien Leclercq | |
UV | The mother | Gilles Paquet-Brenner | ||
Dans l'ombre du maître | Maria | David Delrieux | TV Movie | |
Le lien | Eva | Denis Malleval | TV Movie | |
La prophétie d'Avignon | Dona Flores | David Delrieux (2) | TV Mini-Series | |
2008 | Cortex | Carole Rothmann | Nicolas Boukhrief | |
Bouquet final | Nickye | Michel Delgado | ||
Le sanglot des anges | Eléonore | Jacques Otmezguine | TV Mini-Series | |
2009 | Sous un autre jour | Iréne | Alain Tasma (2) | TV Movie |
2010 | Hereafter | Dr. Rousseau | Clint Eastwood | |
2011 | The Giants | Rosa | Bouli Lanners | |
My Best Enemy | Hannah Kaufmann | Wolfgang Murnberger | ||
Page Eight | Leona Chew | David Hare | TV Movie Nominated - Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | |
La résidence | Léa | Laurent Jaoui | TV Movie | |
2012 | In a Rush | Mina | Louis-Do de Lencquesaing | |
2013 | The Mark of the Angels – Miserere | Laura Bernheim | Sylvain White | |
2014 | Homo Faber (Trois Femmes) | Hanna | Richard Dindo | |
La vie à l'envers | Nina | Anne Giafferi | TV Movie | |
2015 | Amnesia | Martha Sagell | Barbet Schroeder | |
2016 | After Love | Christine | Joachim Lafosse | |
2017 | The Witness | Judge D'Amici | Mitko Panov | |
Sources Vives | Irène Meyer | Bruno Bontzolakis | TV Movie |