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  • Biography
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Liesl Handl(1917-1996)

  • Actress
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Liesl Handl
Elisabeth (Liesl) Handl, a young Austrian dancer-turned actress, married Austrian comedy writer-producer Walter Reisch, whose greatest Viennese film success was Maskerade (1934). In that very popular comedy, star Paula Wessely played a prim secretary named Leopoldine "Poldi" Dur, whose (fictional) name happens to coincide with the equally fictional name of a scandalous nude model -- leading to numerous misunderstandings and complications.

In 1938 Mr & Mrs Reisch moved to the USA, where he enjoyed considerable success as a writer (Ninotchka) and later producer. His wife, nee Elisabeth Handl, acted small roles in a few Hollywood films, 1941-44, usually as young foreign-accented women (in one she played Hitler's niece). But for this second career, in the USA, Elisabeth (Handl) Reisch changed her name to "Poldi Dur" -- which the Reisches had lifted from the heroine of Reisch's 1934 Maskerade! (Perhaps they were trying to avoid confusion with the established actress Elissa Landi.)

Just think, if Reisch had remade Maskerade in Hollywood, with his wife playing the lead role, we would have been been confronted with the mind-boggling casting of actress "Poldi Dur" playing the character "Poldi Dur".
BornOctober 29, 1917
DiedMarch 27, 1996(78)
BornOctober 29, 1917
DiedMarch 27, 1996(78)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

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Known for

The Hitler Gang (1944)
The Hitler Gang
6.8
  • Geli Raubal(as Poldi Dur)
  • 1944
Silhouetten (1936)
Silhouetten
6.1
  • Leni Leitner & Tänzerin(as Lisl Handl)
  • 1936
Joan Bennett, Milton Berle, and Otto Preminger in Margin for Error (1943)
Margin for Error
5.7
  • Frieda(as Poldy Dur)
  • 1943
Episode (1935)
Episode
6.9
  • Dienstmätchen(as Lisl Handl)
  • 1935

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress



  • Resisting Enemy Interrogation (1944)
    Resisting Enemy Interrogation
    6.8
    • Nazi Nurse (uncredited)
    • 1944
  • The Hitler Gang (1944)
    The Hitler Gang
    6.8
    • Geli Raubal (as Poldi Dur)
    • 1944
  • George Sanders, Philip Dorn, and Brenda Marshall in Paris After Dark (1943)
    Paris After Dark
    6.3
    • Minor Role (uncredited)
    • 1943
  • George Sanders and Anna Sten in They Came to Blow Up America (1943)
    They Came to Blow Up America
    6.4
    • Helga Lorenz (as Poldy Dur)
    • 1943
  • Brian Donlevy and Anna Lee in Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
    Hangmen Also Die!
    7.4
    • Slugger's Girlfriend in Theater (uncredited)
    • 1943
  • Joan Bennett, Milton Berle, and Otto Preminger in Margin for Error (1943)
    Margin for Error
    5.7
    • Frieda (as Poldy Dur)
    • 1943
  • Silhouetten (1936)
    Silhouetten
    6.1
    • Leni Leitner & Tänzerin (as Lisl Handl)
    • 1936
  • Zirkus Saran (1935)
    Zirkus Saran
    6.1
    • (as Elisabeth Handl)
    • 1935
  • Episode (1935)
    Episode
    6.9
    • Dienstmätchen (as Lisl Handl)
    • 1935
  • The Trip to Youth
    6.0
    • Gretl, 'Vienna Girl' (as Lisl Handl)
    • 1935
  • Masquerade in Vienna (1934)
    Masquerade in Vienna
    7.6
    • (uncredited)
    • 1934

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • Poldi Dur
  • Born
    • October 29, 1917
    • Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
  • Died
    • March 27, 1996
    • Beverly Hills, California, USA(undisclosed)
  • Spouse
    • Walter Reisch1937 - March 28, 1983 (his death)

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