Departures of note

Erni Mangold, born Ernestine Goldmann in 1927 in Großweikersdorf, Lower Austria, was one of Austria's most enduring character actresses. After training at the Krauss drama school, she made her stage debut in Vienna and from 1946 to 1956 performed at the Theater in der Josefstadt. In the mid-1950s she moved to Hamburg, where she worked under Gustaf Gründgens at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, later appearing at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. She also taught for many years, becoming a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna from 1984 to 1995.

Her film and television career spanned more than 140 productions from 1948 onward. She was best known for her role as the mistress of the seer in the 1955 film Hanussen, and appeared in numerous German and Austrian series including Tatort, Der Alte, Kommissar Rex, and Der Bulle von Tölz. Internationally she was remembered for a brief turn as a palm reader in Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995).

In 2015 she won the Austrian Film Prize for her performance in Der letzte Tanz, and she received many honours including the title of Kammerschauspielerin, the Nestroy Theatre Prize, and the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art. She retired from the stage in 2017 at age 90 after playing Maude in Harold and Maude. Mangold died on 5 September 2026 at the age of 99.