Liane Haid (16 August 1895 – 28 November 2000) was an Austrian actress who has often been referred to as Austria's first movie star.

Biography

Born in Vienna, Haid trained both as a dancer and singer and became the epitome of the Süßes Wiener Mädel ("Sweet Viennese Girl") and a popular pin-up throughout the 1920s and 30s. Her first motion picture was a propaganda film made during the First World War, Mit Herz und Hand fürs Vaterland (1916). She worked for UFA and, as a trained singer, easily made the transition to the sound era, appearing in comedy films alongside German stars such as Willi Forst, Bruno Kastner, Georg Alexander, Theo Lingen, and Heinz Rühmann.

Having refused several offers from Hollywood, she escaped from Nazi Germany to Switzerland in 1942 "because of the regime, because everything was bombed, and because all the good directors had left". She got married and also ended her film career.

Her notable films include Lady Hamilton (1921; her breakthrough role); Lucrezia Borgia (1926); Die Csardasfürstin (1927, based on the operetta by Emmerich Kálmán); and the talkies Das Lied ist aus (The Song Is Ended) (1930) and Ungeküsst soll man nicht schlafen gehn (1936). She made her last film appearance in 1953.

The sister of the actress Grit Haid, she died in Bern, Switzerland, in 2000, aged 105.