Hildegard Knef (RIP) grew up in Germany, and despite being German herself, somehow found herself in a prisoner war camp during WWII. Eventually she got out and, thanks to her breathless beauty, managed to carve out a decent career as an actress. Somewhere around the time she married her first (American) husband, she decided to give singing a whirl. Lo and behold, she had an awesome/amazing/ridiculous husky, low-register voice, which sounded positively mind-bending when she sang in English with that crazy accent of hers. Reminds me of what Ingrid Pitt would've probably sounded like, if she wanted to add "chanteuse" to her resume.
Eventually Hildegard wrote an autobiography detailing her life during wartime (she dressed up like a male German soldier to avoid getting raped by the Russkies!), and it became a bestseller. She also appeared on Broadway. All in all, a pretty full life. She died in 2002, age 76. Smoking. So that's how you get a voice like that!
Anyway, lovely to look at, even lovelier to listen to. Thanks for the goodtimes, Hildy.
- Ken
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