Ruth Brinkmann

Ruth Brinkmann MBE (also Brinkman, born July 27, 1934 in Berlin, † 18 January 1997 in Vienna) was an American actress and co-founder of Vienna's English Theatre.

Life and work

Brinkmann family emigrated in 1937 to the United States. Ruth Brinkmann grew up in Manhasset and attended the Yale School of Drama. She performed as an actress at the Cleveland Playhouse and the Williamstown Theater on in Williamstown (Massachusetts ).

During a trip to Vienna, she met her future husband, the director and dramaturge Franz Schafranek (1930-1991) know. She founded with him Vienna's English Theatre, the first English-language theater in continental Europe. After the death of her husband she led this theater to their own demise. In 1994 she was accepted as a "Member" in the Order of the British Empire.