சுயசரிதை
Elke Arendt, an actress and writer, began her ballet training at the Bavarian State Opera at the age of seven. After taking acting lessons in Munich, she performed on various stages across Germany from the mid-1950s. At sixteen, she made her screen debut as Snow White in the fairy tale Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge (1955), filmed at King Ludwig's scenic Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria's Swabia region. She then appeared in the children's fantasy Die Heinzelmännchen (1956) and in Rübezahl - Herr der Berge (1957), a tale about a capricious spirit of the Giant Mountains (Riesengebirge) on the Silesia-Bohemia border. All three films were directed by Erich Kobler, who favored fantasy themes.
Arendt took supporting roles in comedies, musicals, and occasional dramas, typically playing maids, waitresses, or secretaries. She also appeared in the Italian peplum film The Fury of Hercules (1962), notable for featuring French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg as the main villain. Near the end of her film career, she starred as the female lead in the crime thriller Nebelmörder (1964), alongside Hansjörg Felmy, who played an inspector investigating a series of stabbings among teenagers in a small town.
After leaving the screen in 1966, Arendt returned to theater and worked in radio plays as both performer and writer, eventually moving into stage direction. Following her second marriage to actor Stephan Orlac, she became known as Elke Orlac. Under this name, she published a novel in 2019 titled Louise, Hofnärrin zu Weimar. Set in 1775, the book centers on Luise von Göchhausen, a witty figure, Goethe’s friend, and Chief Lady-in-Waiting to Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
