--- name: "Maly Delschaft" canonical: "https://film.one/person/maly-delschaft" fi1m_id: "maly-delschaft" imdb_id: "nm0217848" tmdb_id: 35420 wikidata_id: "Q1887965" roles: ["Actor"] born: "4 December 1898" died: "20 August 1995" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-25T06:03:32.997789+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Maly Delschaft ## Identity Maly Delschaft - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/maly-delschaft - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** maly-delschaft - **IMDb ID:** nm0217848 - **TMDB ID:** 35420 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1887965 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maly_Delschaft, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1887965, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0217848/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/35420 Actor. Born 4 December 1898 in Hamburg, Germany. Died 20 August 1995. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 4 December 1898, Hamburg, Germany - **Died:** 20 August 1995 - **Also known as:** Мали Дельшафт, Martha Amalia "Maly" Delschaft, Martha Amalia Delschaft - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maly_Delschaft, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1887965, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0217848/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/35420 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Last Laugh*](https://film.one/film/the-last-laugh.md) (84) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Maly Delschaft > Maly Delschaft works through small gestures and changes of expression rather than grand displays of feeling. We value her restrained supporting work, while recognising that *The Last Laugh* gives only a narrow view of what she could do. In *The Last Laugh* (1924), the hotel doorman’s need for respect follows him home, where Maly Delschaft plays his niece. Her part helps establish why his standing matters outside his employment. We found his humiliation painful because the domestic characters make clear that he has more to lose than his position at work. Delschaft gives the story a useful supporting presence, though this is plainly Emil Jannings’s film. The early silent films repeatedly placed her beside Jannings: *Danton* (1921), *The Last Laugh* and E. A. Dupont’s *Varieté* (1925). In the last of these she is Frau Huller, the wife, a harder figure than the niece. Her understated physical acting, with its small gestures and shifts of expression, could serve both youthful and embittered characters. A leading role as the teacher in *Kreuzzug des Weibes* (1926) brought a breakthrough. F. W. Murnau’s *The Last Laugh* is also a reminder of how much a supporting actor depends on the surrounding film. Edgar G. Ulmer’s production design makes the hotel’s hierarchy readable, while Delschaft and Max Hiller’s bridegroom show why the doorman’s standing matters at home. The film sometimes underlines the doorman’s hurt too insistently; the family’s presence already gives us a reason to care. Our recommendation rests chiefly on Jannings and Karl Freund’s cinematography, but the smaller parts help make the distress understandable. Sound brought smaller film roles, and theatre took more of her attention in the 1930s and 1940s. Later character work included Mrs Lehmke, a landlady in *Das Beil von Wandsbek* (1951), and Claudia Galotti in Martin Hellberg’s *Emilia Galotti* (1958). These were both DEFA productions, part of a post-war screen career that continued into the early 1960s. The reduced size of the parts should not be treated as a verdict on the acting. Start with *The Last Laugh*, then look to *Kreuzzug des Weibes* for a leading role. ## Biography Maly Delschaft (born Martha Amalia Delschaft) was a German stage and film actress. She was born on 4 December 1898 in Hamburg and died on 20 August 1995 in Berlin. After beginning in theatre, she appeared in silent films from the early 1920s. She played supporting and leading roles in productions including *The Last Laugh* (1924) as His Niece and *Variety* (1925) as Frau Huller, often alongside Emil Jannings. During the Weimar and Nazi eras she continued in supporting roles. After the Second World War she worked in East Germany for the state-controlled studio DEFA until the early 1960s. In 1970 she received the Filmband in Gold for her life's work. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, filmportal.de.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *The Last Laugh* (1924), Fi1m 84, as His Niece — [page](https://film.one/film/the-last-laugh.md) ## Complete filmography (81) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Two Among Millions* (1961), as - - *Kein Ärger mit Cleopatra* (1960), Actor - *Menschen von Budapest* (1960), Actor - *Ja, so ein Mädchen mit sechzehn* (1959), as Tante Lotte - *The Man in the Stream* (1958), Actor - *My Wife Wants to Sing* (1958), as Susi Rettig - *Emilia Galotti* (1958), as Claudia Galotti - *Only One Woman* (1958), as Frau Führmann - *Die Schönste* (1957), Actor - *Witwer mit 5 Töchtern* (1957), as Berta Sengstake - *Thomas Müntzer* (1956), as Frau Barthel - *Studentin Helene Willfüer* (1956), Actor - *Alibi* (1955), as Frau Wilke - *Vor Gott und den Menschen* (1955), Actor - *Star mit fremden Federn* (1955), as Frau Mosbach - *Ich war ein häßliches Mädchen* (1955), Actor - *The Beacon* (1954), as Dame in der Küche - *Anna Susanna* (1953), as Kuddels Mutter - *Destinies of Women* (1952), as Frau Ludwig - *The Axe of Wandsbek* (1951), as Mrs. Lehmke - *The Sonnenbrucks* (1951), as Bertha Sonnenbruck - *The Boys of Kranichsee* (1950), as Frau Klitsch - *The Benthin Family* (1950), as Annemarie Naumann - *The Barge of Happy People* (1950), as Emmi Gutwein - *The Blum Affair* (1948), Actor - *Ein Blick zurück* (1944), as Beate Enderle - *Die goldene Spinne* (1943), as Rosa Sykora - *The Big Number* (1943), as Marion Wallner - *With the Eyes of a Woman* (1942), as Frau von Purkhammer - *Hochzeitsnacht* (1941), as Seine Frau - *Angelika* (1940), as Vera - *Paradies der Junggesellen* (1939), as Amalie Bernau - *Altes Herz geht auf die Reise* (1938), as Mali Schlieker - *Liselotte of the Palatinate* (1935), as Luise von Degenfeld, die Raugräfin - *Don't Lose Heart, Suzanne!* (1935), as Filmdiva - *Wilhelm Tell* (1934), as Barbara von Melchthal - *Heimat am Rhein* (1933), as Wanda von Lipska - *Der Kampf um den Bär* (1933), Actor - *K 1 greift ein* (1933), as Hella - *No Celebration Without Meyer* (1931), as Fräulein Krauss - *Straw widower* (1931), Actor - *Duty Is Duty* (1931), as Ilse, seine Frau - *Wie wohne ich gut und billig?* (1931), Actor - *Faded Dreams* (1930), as Madalina - *Die Sünde der Lissy Krafft* (1930), as Lissy Krafft - *Little Veronika (Innocence)* (1929), as Rosi - *Andreas Hofer* (1929), as Anna - *Eros in Ketten* (1929), Actor - *Das Recht der Ungeborenen* (1929), Actor - *Das Schicksal derer von Habsburg* (1928), as Stefanie - *Casanovas Erbe* (1928), as Gräfin Magda - *Petronella - Das Geheimnis der Berge* (1927), as Pia Schwiek - *Die Ausgestoßenen* (1927), Actor - *Der Fluch der Vererbung* (1927), as Magda - *The Ways of Love Are Strange* (1927), Actor - *The Right to Live* (1927), Actor - *Unter Ausschluß der Öffentlichkeit* (1927), as Eva - *When I Came Back* (1926), as Ottilie Giesecke - *Adventures of a Ten Mark Note* (1926), as Maid - *Die Kleine und ihr Kavalier* (1926), as Hedwig - *The White Horse Inn* (1926), as Ottilie Giesecke - *Jagd auf Menschen* (1926), as Elijy - *Die Wiskottens* (1926), as Emilie - *The Last Horse Carriage in Berlin* (1926), as Margot Lüdecke - *Der Mann ohne Schlaf* (1926), Actor - *The Wife's Crusade* (1926), as Die Lehrerin - *Die da unten* (1926), Actor - *Die eiserne Braut* (1925), Actor - *Variety* (1925), as Frau Huller - *Der Hahn im Korb* (1925), as Emma - *Wenn Du eine Tante hast* (1925), as Trude - *Die Anne-Liese von Dessau* (1925), Actor - *Die drei Portiermädel* (1925), as Martha - *Sündenbabel* (1925), as Loni - *Der Mann auf dem Kometen* (1925), Actor - *Rags and Silk* (1925), as Ulrike - *The Last Laugh* (1924), as His Niece — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-last-laugh.md) - *Dudu, ein Menschenschicksal* (1924), Actor - *Demon Circus* (1923), Actor - *Die Dame und ihr Friseur* (1922), Actor - *Danton* (1921), as Julia Danton ## Gallery - ![Maly Delschaft](https://film.one/media/person/3849576/gallery-be9d8e33c10f.jpg) Maly Delschaft — Alexander Binder, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Maly_Delschaft_by_Binder.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Maly Delschaft](https://film.one/media/person/3849576/gallery-c422f5159b3f.jpg) Maly Delschaft — Image via TMDB - ![Maly Delschaft](https://film.one/media/person/3849576/gallery-bfaaeb904e06.jpg) Maly Delschaft — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/maly-delschaft