Senta Berger

Senta Berger was served well by the acting and ballet lessons she took as child. She debuted in the West German movie market and, in the 1950s and early '60s, found quick success as the co-star of several acrobatic musicals and comedies. Naturally, Hollywood came calling, and she soon found herself dividing her time between an established career in Germany and a burgeoning presence in America, where she starred in films such as the lively wartime western "Major Dundee" and the Kirk Douglas army epic "Cast a Giant Shadow." In the process, she met, married, and formed a production company with German director Michael Verhoeven, kicking off a long-running partnership that's seen her take on various roles both in front of and behind the camera.

While films such as the bawdy caveman comedy "When Woman Had Tails" garnered her fame in Italy and France, solidifying her status as a full-blown international sex symbol, her primary role in Germany eventually shifted to that of a serious-minded producer. In addition to overseeing projects such as the challenging and darkly comic "The Nasty Girl" (1990), she took time to briefly pursue a singing career. In the '00s, she reemerged as the gracefully aged star of such late-life romances as "Einmal so wie ich will," in which she plays an unhappily married woman who finds new love while on vacation.