Trimborn, Jürgen 1971-

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Trimborn, Jürgen 1971-

PERSONAL: Born 1971, in Cologne, Germany. Education: Graduate of the University of Cologne, 1995; Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Home— Cologne, Germany. Office— Institut for Theatre, Film, and Television Science, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus Plaza, Cologne 50923, Germany.

CAREER: Institut for Theatre, Film, and Television Science, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, professor.

WRITINGS

Die Pose als Inszenierungsmittel der Sexbombe im amerikanischen Film der fünfziger und sechziger Jahre, Leppin (Cologne, Germany), 1997.

Denkmale als Inszenierungen im öffentlichen Raum: Blick auf die gegenwärtige Denkmalproblematik in der Bundesrupublik Deutschland aus denkmalpflegerischer und medienwissenschaftlicher Sicht, Leppin (Cologne, Germany), 1997.

Sammlung Max Skladanowsky: aus dem Nachlass eines Filmpioniers, Leppin (Cologne, Germany), 1997.

Fernsehen der Neunziger: die deutsche Fernsehlandschaft seit der Etablierung des Privatfernsehens, Teiresias (Cologne, Germany), 1999.

Riefenstahl: eine deutsche Karriere (biography), Aufbau (Berlin, Germany), 2002, translation by Edna McCown published as Leni Riefenstahl: A Life, Faber & Faber (New York, NY), 2007.

Der Herr im Frack, Johannes Heesters (biography), Aufbau (Berlin, Germany), 2003.

Hildegard Knef: das Glück kennt nur Minuten (biography), 2005.

Rudi Carrell: ein Leben für die Show (biography), Bertelsmann (Munich, Germany), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Jürgen Trimborn, who has taught film and theater courses at the University of Cologne, is also the author of books, including several biographies. His Riefenstahl: eine deutsche Karriere was the first to be translated for English-speaking readers as Leni Riefenstahl: A Life. Leni Riefenstahl, who died in 2003 at the age of 101, spoke with Trim-born six years before her death. A filmmaker of note, at that time she had yet to make her final film, Underwater Impressions.

Riefenstahl was known to fabricate pieces of her history, and Trimborn’s most difficult task was to separate fact from fiction. What is known is that Riefenstahl was forced to give up dancing because of a bad knee, then became a sexy film star. Her ambition, however, was to become a film director in a field that was dominated by men, and she directed and acted in the “mountain film” subgenre. She admired Adolph Hitler, who became her patron, and she made films for him, including the notorious propaganda film The Triumph of the Will and Olympia. When The Triumph of the Will premiered in 1938, Riefenstahl became a celebrity, but her fame did not last. She claimed that she was late in understanding the Nazi plan and took no responsibility for the Holocaust. Following World War II, she took on a number of film projects, almost none of which were successful, but she did achieve financial security from the beautiful photographs she took of the Nuba people of Africa.

A Kirkus Reviews contributor concluded by writing that Trimborn’s biography “casts a bright light on the dark past of a superb artist who cozied up to killers, got what she wanted and spent the ensuing decades as the queen of denial.”