Magdalena Montezuma (born Erika Kluge; 2 October 1942 - 15 July 1984) was a German actress known for her collaborations with avant-garde New German Cinema filmmakers, including Werner Schroeter, Ulrike Ottinger, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Rosa von Praunheim. Her distinct acting style is marked by heightened gesture, a penetrating gaze, and a histrionic sensibility.
Life and career
Born in Würzburg, Montezuma spent much of her youth in a plaster cast due to tuberculosis of the spinal marrow. She later lived in Dresden before attending university in Heidelberg, where she studied art history, Romance languages, and literature. It was here that she first met Schroeter, who along with von Praunheim gave her the name Magdalena Montezuma, after a rival actress of the protagonist in Patrick Dennis's novel Little Me, and more vaguely as an invocation of Moctezuma II or the Tohono O'odham creation story.
Montezuma went on to star in many of Schroeter's films, including his debut feature , which premiered at the Directors' Fortnight section in Cannes in 1970. She has been described as his muse, well-suited to his non-linear filmmaking. Montezuma and Schroeter lived together in Munich working on films together at night. During the day, Montezuma worked jobs as a telephone operator and in a delivery shop to support them. Montezuma also ran the business side of her films with Schroeter, handling correspondence with film labs and distributors. She slept very little and used Captagon to stay awake.
Montezeuma was diagnosed with cancer in 1982. During filming of , devised with Schroeter after her diagnosis to be her swan song, she expressed a desire to die on set. In the end, she died at her apartment in Berlin on 15 July 1984.
Selected filmography (1969, Werner Schroeter) (1970, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Michael Fengler) Der Bomberpilot (1970, Schroeter, TV Film) Macbeth Opera von Rosa von Praunheim (1971, Rosa von Praunheim, TV Film) - Lady Macbeth Rio das Mortes (1971, Fassbinder, TV Film) - Hannas Kollegin (1971, Schroeter, TV film) - Herodes Beware of a Holy Whore (1971, Fassbinder) - Irm (1971, Schroeter, TV film) - Lady Macbeth (1972, Schroeter) - Maria Malibran (1973, Schroeter) World on a Wire (1973, Fassbinder, TV serial) - Party Guest (1974, Schroeter) Joan's Dream (Johannas Traum, 1975, Schroeter) - Saint Joan (1976, Schroeter) - Magdalena, Josette, The Angel of Death (1979, Elfi Mikesch) Ticket of No Return (1979, Ulrike Ottinger) - Soziale Frage Palermo or Wolfsburg (1980, Schroeter) - Verteidigerin Taxi zum Klo (1980, Frank Ripploh) - Nurse Day of the Idiots (1981, Schroeter) - Zigeunerin Freak Orlando (1981, Ottinger) - Orlando (1982, Mikesch) - Magda/Isabelle Liebeskonzil (1982, Schroeter) - Doppelzeugin (1983, Walter Bockmayer and Rolf Bührmann) A Woman in Flames (1983, Robert van Ackeren) Pankow '95 (1983, Gábor Altorjay) - Bethermann (1984, Ottinger) - Golem/Norn (1986) - Anna, The Mother
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