Actress Barbara Brecht-Schall, Daughter of Playwright Bertolt Brecht, Dies at 84

The New York Times reports that actress Barbara Brecht-Schall, daughter of German playwright Bertolt Brecht and lead administrator of her father's literary estate, died on Monday in Berlin at age 84.

Brecht-Schall frequently appeared on stage with the Berliner Ensemble, founded in 1949 by her father and her mother, Helene Weigel.

During the era between the two world wars, Bertolt Brecht was a leader in Berlin's lively and politically active bohemian artistic movement, a time famously depicted in the Broadway musical CABARET.

Though he was the author of such highly-regarded classics as THE GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN, THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE and MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, he is best known in America for writing the original German book and lyrics for THE THREEPENNY OPERA in collaboration with composer Kurt Weill.

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Below is a clip from the 1931 film version of THE THREEPENNY OPERA, with legendary actress Lotte Lenya, who married Weill, singing "Pirate Jenny."

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