Ursula Thiess

Actress, Model. After gainiing a measure of success in her native land, she had a brief American film career in the 1950s. Raised in Hamburg, she married producer George Thiess in 1942, and had two children. Remaining in her home during WWII, she was forced to flee both the Allied bombing and the invading Russian troops; around the time of her divorce, Ursula appeared in the 1949 West German film “Keepers of the Night” and at the Kammerspiele Theater, as well as modeling for “Heute” magazine. In 1951, she was sponsored by RKO to come to the United States for screen tests, receiving an early publicity boost when she was featured on the June 4, 1951, cover of “Life”. Voted “Most Promising Star of 1952” by “Modern Screen” magazine, she made her Hollywood debut that same year in “Monsoon”. Around 1953, Ursula met actor Robert Taylor, whose relationship with a ballerina was breaking-up, on a studio-arranged ‘blind-date’; the pair married in 1954, with the union lasting until Taylor’s death. After appearing in a few Hollywood features in the 1950s, including “The Iron Gate” (1954), “The Americano” (1955), and 1956’s “Bandido”, Ursula essentially retired to raise her family. In the early 1960s, she was seen in Taylor’s television series “The Detectives” and on “77 Sunset Strip”, and in 1972 made her final screen appearance with “Left Hand of Gemini”. She married wealthy businessman Marshall Schacker (deceased 1986), and in later years divided her time between Los Angeles and Hawaii until moving to a Burbank retirement home. In 2003 she published an autobiography, “…But I Have Promises to Keep…My Life Before, With, and After Robert Taylor”. (bio by: Bob Hufford)  Family links:  Spouse:  Robert Taylor (1911 – 1969)  Children:  Michael Thiess (1945 – 1969)* *Calculated relationship