Barbara Sukowa

A strikingly beautiful German lead actress, 'Barbara Sukowa' (qv) broke into TV and films as the protégée of famed director 'Rainer Werner Fassbinder' (qv) with his masterpiece mini-series _Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)_ (qv) and the moody film drama _Lola (1981)_ (qv) in the title role. In the latter, Barbara won critical kudos portraying a cynical, manipulative singer/hooker who sets her sights on an unsuspecting town politician played by 'Armin Mueller-Stahl' (qv). Following Fassbinder's sudden death in 1982, Barbara was gloriously displayed in a couple of stark, brilliant, politically-motivated films by director 'Margarethe von Trotta' (qv). In _Marianne & Juliane (1981)_ (qv), Barbara won both the Venice Film Festival and German Film awards and as _Rosa Luxemburg (1986)_ , she copped the Cannes Film Festival award. A number of international productions, notably 'Lars von Trier' (qv)'s _Europa (1991)_ (qv), brought Barbara to the attention of Hollywood. Although not well known here by name, this fascinating figure has added her exotic allure to a number of American films including _The Sicilian (1987)_ (qv), _M. Butterfly (1993)_ (qv), _Johnny Mnemonic (1995)_ (qv), _Cradle Will Rock (1999)_ (qv) and the just-completed _Romance & Cigarettes (2005)_ (qv), which was written and directed by 'John Turturro' (qv). Barbara started up a second career as a concert vocalist in recent years, performing works by such classical composers as 'Arnold Schönberg' (qv), among others.::Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net