Brought up in Prague, Anny Ondra (born Ondrakova)
became a popular star of Czech, Austrian and German comedies in the 1920s.
In her British films, she proved an impressive dramatic actress, most notably in Hitchcock's The Manxman and Blackmail (both 1929).
Her strong Czech accent precluded a continuation of her international career after the conversion to sound. Ondra settled in Germany in 1930, and, after marrying boxer Max Schmeling, she largely retired from the industry in the mid-1930s.
She first married director Carl Lamac.
