Gusti Huber - Life and Career

Life and Career

Huber was born in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. She received her acting training from Dr. Beer who also arranged her debut in Zurich. She had her first film role in 1935 and two years later achieved her big breakthrough in the film adaptation of the play Unentschuldigte Stunde (Unexcused Hour).

Among the best known of her 20 films through 1945 were the 1937 Land der Liebe (Land of Love), 1939 Marguerite and 1941 Jenny und der Herr im Frack (Jenny and the Gentleman in Tails). After that she worked for four years at the Viennese Burgtheater and other stages.

After the war, she and her second husband, an officer in the US occupation army, went to the USA, in 1952, but then acted only occasionally, appeaing on Broadway three times ("Flight into Egypt", "Dial "M" for Murder" as Margot Wendice (played in Hitchcock's movie version by Grace Kelly) and "The Diary of Anne Frank"). Her last film was the 1959 Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank), in which she played the role of the mother Edith Frank.

Gusti Huber's daughter was Bibi Besch (1940 - 1996) - a versatile actress who had roles in films such as Star Trek II and in television, receiving several Emmy nominations. Her granddaughter is actress Samantha Mathis (born 1970), who was in American Psycho and other films.

Huber died in New York City.