Haas, Dolly, 1910-1994

The actress Dolly (Dorothea Clara Eleanore) Haas was born on April 29, 1910 in Hamburg, Germany, the second daughter of the bookseller Charles Oswald Haas and his wife Margarete, née Hansen. Charles Haas was half-German but grew up in England, with British citizenship. Dolly and her sister, Margarete attended Jacob Loewenberg's prestigious girls' school Lyzeum in Hamburg, the Anerkannte höhere Mädchenschule . Dolly Haas had her debut as a professional actress in 1927. She then worked at Berlin's Grosses Schauspielhaus, before embarking on a film career that brought her to England and to Hollywood. She also performed on Broadway. Dolly Haas was first married to the German director John (Hans) Brahm. In 1936 she came to the United States with a contract from Columbia Pictures. In 1943 she married the renowned artist and caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. She died in New York in 1994.

From the guide to the Dolly Haas Family Collection, 1883-2011, bulk 1901-1935, (Leo Baeck Institute)