- published: 27 Oct 2008
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Marika Rökk (3 November 1913 – 16 May 2004) was an Austrian-German singer, dancer and actress of Hungarian descent, who became famous in German films, notably in the Nazi era.
Rökk was born in Cairo, Egypt, the daughter of the Hungarian architect and contractor Eduard Rökk and his wife Maria Karoly. She spent her early childhood in Budapest, before in 1924 her family moved to Paris. Here she learned to dance and starred with the "Hoffmann Girls" at the Moulin Rouge cabaret. After a tour that led her to the Broadway she continued her dance training in the United States, where she worked with Ned Wayburn. In 1929 she returned to Europe and the next year acted in her first film, Why Sailors Leave Home, a British comedy directed by Monty Banks, starring Leslie Fuller.
An acclaimed revue dancer on numerous European stages, Rökk in 1934 was offered a two-years contract with the Universum Film AG (UFA) in Nazi Germany, where she became one of the most famous filmstars of the time. She debuted in operetta movies like Leichte Kavallerie (1935) directed by Werner Hochbaum, Der Bettelstudent and Gasparone, followed by Hello Janine! in 1939, all together with Johannes Heesters as a "dream couple" of the musical comedy. In her appearances she cultivated her magyar accent conveying a notion of "paprika" exoticism.