Karin Hardt

German actress Karin Hardt (1910-1992) made her cinema debut as a pure and disarmingly natural backfisch, looking for happiness. Her impressive career with many film, theatre and television appearances lasted for six decades.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1133/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Alex Binder.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7438/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Jacobi, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7340/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8377/2, 1934-1935. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9457/2, 1935-1936. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

Disarmingly natural

Karin Therese Meta Hardt was born in Altona (now Hamburg), Germany in 1910. She was the daughter of a merchant.

She had private acting lessons with Alex Otto and soon had theatre engagements in Mönchengladbach, Rheydt and Altenburg.

In 1931 she made her film debut in Vater geht auf Reisen/Father Goes To Travel (Carl Boese, 1931) with Lissi Arna.

She was then discovered by director Erich Waschneck, who cast her in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932), which became her breakthrough.

She was the pure and disarmingly natural backfisch, who in a girly way angled for happiness.


Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, no. 146. Photo: Filma, Amsterdam. Still from Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (1932).


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem. Publicity still for Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).


Dutch postcard by JosPe. Photo: still from Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (1932).


Dutch postcard (with Dutch censorship mark on the right) by JosPe, Arnhem. Karin Hardt (Christa) in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932), presented here as 8 Mädchen im Boot. The Dutch title was 8 Meisjes in een boot.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7047/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Fanal / Terra Produktion. Publicity still for Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).

Naive, blonde competitor

In the following years, Karin Hardt became a beloved star.

Karin Hardt and Erich Waschneck married in 1933, and he would go on to direct her in some of their best films, including An heiligen Wassern/Sacred Waters (1932) and Abel mit der Mundharmonika/Abel with the Mouth Organ (1933).

Among her best-known films in the following years belong Ein gewisser Herr Gran/A Certain Mr. Gran (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1933) next to Hans Albers, Die blonde Christel/Blonde Christel (Frans Seitz, 1933), and Barcarole

(Gerhard Lamprecht, 1935).

In the second half of the 1930s followed Die Umwege des schönen Karl/The Diversions of Handsome Karl (Carl Froelich, 1938) with Heinz Rühmann, and Menschen vom Variete/Vaudeville People (Josef von Báky, 1939) as the naive, blonde competitor of La Jana.

During the war years, her engagements became less, but Karin Hardt appeared for example in films like Kameraden/Comrades (Hans Schweikart, 1941) with Willy Birgel, Das Hochzeitshotel/The Marriage Hotel (Carl Boese, 1944), and Via Mala (Josef von Báky, 1944-1948) as the daughter of Carl Wery.


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 349. Photo: Filma. Dutch censorship mark at the right. Publicity still for Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).


Dutch postcard (with Dutch censorship mark on the right) by JosPe, Arnhem. Photo: Theodor Loos (Baumeister Engelhardt) and Karin Hardt (Christa) in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck 1932), presented here as 8 Mädchen im Boot. The film was remade in the Netherlands in 1958 as Jenny (Willy van Hemert, 1958).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 171/1. Photo: Fanal-Terra-Produktion. Karin Hardt in An heiligen Wassern (Erich Waschneck, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 188/1. Photo: Ufa. Hans Albers and Karin Hardt in Ein gewisser Herr Gran/A Certain Mister Gran (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1933).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1285/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Hämmerer / UFA.

David Bowie

After the war, Karin Hardt was again regularly seen in the cinema. Erich Waschneck directed her in the comedy Danke es geht mir gut/Thanks, I’m alright (1948).

She appeared as the queen in the fairytale film Dornröschen/Sleeping Beauty (Fritz Genschow, 1955), next to Horst Buchholz in Endstation Liebe/Last Stop Love (Georg Tressler, 1957), and with Kirk Douglas in Town Without Pity (Gottfried Reinhardt, 1961).

She mainly appeared in the theatre, in Berlin, Hamburg, Aachen and in Köln (Cologne). From the 1960s on she was also often seen on television, in TV-series like Bei uns zu Haus/At Our Home (1963), Der Forellenhof/The Trout Farm (1965) and Die Unternehmungen des Herrn Hans/The Enterprises of Mr. Hans (Charles Kerremans, 1976).

Hardt also appeared in the film Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo/Just a Gigolo (David Hemmings, 1979) with David Bowie. In 1983 she was awarded the Filmband in Gold for her continuing contributions to German cinema.

Then she had a great comeback in the popular serial Die Schwarzwaldklinik/The Black Forest Clinic (1985-1986). She played the housekeeper of the Brinkmann family, the owners of the clinic.

Karin Hardt died of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1992 in Berlin. She was married twice. First to Erich Waschneck from 1933 till his death in 1970, and then to Rolf von Goth.


Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 604. Photo: Karin Hardt in the film Schön ist es verliebt zu sein/It's Great to Be in Love (Walter Janssen, 1933-1934).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9683/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Randolf / Terra. Publicity still for Der Abenteurer von Paris/The Paris Adventure (Karl Heinz Martin, 1936).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9945/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Tobis Europa / Slavia. Publicity still for Port Arthur (Nicolas Farkas, 1936).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3311/2, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / UFA.


German postcard by Das Programm von Heute / Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: H.G. Film.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3491/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Quick / Terra.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (German), Schwarzwald-TV-Klinik (German), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 8 August 2024.

Acht Mädels im Boot (1932)

Karin Hardt (1910-1992) is the star of the German drama Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932) as a pure and disarmingly natural backfisch, looking for happiness. The film deals with a girl who is part of a rowing team and discovers she is pregnant. Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat became Karin Hardt's breakthrough and in the following years, she became a beloved star of the German cinema. Decades later, the film was remade in the Netherlands as Jenny (Willy van Hemert, 1958).


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 349. Photo: Filma. Karin Hardt in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932). Dutch censorship mark at the right.


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem. Photo: Filma. Karin Hardt in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem. Karin Hardt in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).

Girls sticking close together

Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (1932) is a German musical film directed by Erich Waschneck and starring Karin Hardt, Theodor Loos, and Helmuth Kionka. Also in the cast were the young and upcoming actresses Ali Ghito and Sabine Peters. The film's sets were designed by art director Alfred Junge.

Franz Winterstein wrote the script for Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (1932). Erich Waschneck directed the film in 1932 with members of the Berlin women's rowing club Seeschwalben.

The eight young girls of the title stick close together as a rowing team. On the outskirts of Berlin, the girls train with their strict coach Hanna (Ali Ghito) for the annual regatta. One of them, Christa Storm, an 18-year-old schoolgirl (Karin Hardt), suddenly behaves strangely. Her performance in sports is declining, and at school, she fails her A-levels.

Christa who is engaged to chemistry student Hans Hellbach (Helmuth Kionka), realises that she is pregnant but dares not confide in anyone that she is having a baby. When she confesses to Hans that she is expecting a baby and wants to marry him, the young man turns out to be unenthusiastic because he is afraid of his father. He urges her to have an abortion but Christa is not quite up to it.

Christa, disappointed and angry, decides to fend for herself. A doctor friend also tries to persuade her to abort, but she refuses to have the procedure done and runs away. Fearing her father (Theodor Loos), she is desperate.

Christa flees to her sports mates in the rowing club Seeschwalben (Terns). Christa breaks down in training and finally confesses to Hanna that she is expecting a child. When the girls learn the truth about their comrade, Christa finds support from her friends. With their help, she succeeds in persuading her father and boyfriend to change their minds. Everything turns out fine: her father takes her back in and allows her to give birth to the child. And the eight girls will stay together as good comrades.


Dutch postcard (with Dutch censorship mark on the right) by Jospe, Arnhem. In the middle, Edna Gray (Edna Kraus-Dumke) in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932), presented here as 8 Mädchen im Boot.


Dutch postcard by Jospe, Arnhem. Karin Hardt (Christa) in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932), presented here as 8 Mädchen im Boot. The Dutch title was 8 Meisjes in een boot.


Dutch postcard by Jospé, Arnhem. Theodor Loos (Baumeister Engelhardt) and Karin Hardt (Christa) in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932), presented here as 8 Mädchen im Boot.

A pure and natural girl

Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932) won the gold medal at the Venice Film Festival. The film has been compared to films like Kuhle Wampe/To Whom Does the World Belong? (Slatan Dudow, 1932) and Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, 1931), both with Hertha Thiele who like Karin Hardt, was known for her roles as a pure and natural girl.

Mädchen in Uniform (1931) with Dorothea Wieck and Hertha Thiele had been a success throughout much of Europe and was followed by other German films about intimate relationships among women, including Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (1932). Others were Anna and Elizabeth (1933), which also starred Wieck and Thiele and Ich für dich, du für mich/Me for You, You for Me (1934). Both films were banned by the Nazis.

Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932) has been remade twice. The first remake was the American film Eight Girls in a Boat (Richard Wallace, 1934) with Dorothy Wilson, Douglass Montgomery, Kay Johnson and Walter Connolly.

The second remake was the Dutch film Jenny (Willy van Hemert, 1958) starring his daughter Ellen van Hemert, Maxim Hamel and Kees Brusse. There was also a German-language version, Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Alfred Bittins, 1958) with Heli Finkenzeller, Gisela Fritsch and Maxim Hamel. Neither remake was a musical.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7047/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Fanal-Terra Produktion. Karin Hardt in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).


Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, no. 146. Photo: Filma, Amsterdam. Karin Hardt in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).


Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam. Photo: Filma, Amsterdam. Karin Hardt in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 83. Photo: Fanal-Terra-Produktion / Ross Verlag. Karin Hardt in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).

Sources: Filmportal.de (German), Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.