Biography

Cordula Trantow was born and raised in Berlin. Being the daughter of a composer and a dancing teacher, she took acting and dancing lessons when still in school, and she began playing minor roles at various Berlins theatres before graduation. Aged 14 Trantow made her film debut in Kalle wird Bürgermeister and Aufruhr im Schlaraffenland. After appearing in the tv feature Die begnadete Angst (after Bernanos) she was cast by Bernhard Wicki for his epochal film Die Brücke. Trantow has since played more than 150 roles for film, tv, and theatre. She spoke in notable radio plays such as Effi Briest, Die Hose, Geordnete Verhältnisse, Eine Stunde Liebe and Malaparte's Die Haut. She was engaged at, among others, the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel in Munich (1961/62 und 1970/71), the Württembergisches Staatstheater Stuttgart (1964/65), the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen (1966), and the Münchner Kammerspiele (1970/71). Since the early seventies Cordula Trantow worked freelance at theatres in Berlin, Bonn, and Neuss. In 1989 she wrote and directed the tv feature Besuch (The Visitor), starring Judy Winter. Since 1988 Ms. Trantow is director of the Summer Theatre Festival in Weilheim; since 1999 the festival is held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Ms. Trantow speaks English and French. She lives at the Starnberg Lake near Munich, and she has two sons descended from her marriage with director Rudolf Noelte. In 2000 Ms. Trantow was awarded with the Federal Cross of Honor.