Lilia Skala

Lilia Skala (née Sofer; 28 November 1896 – 18 December 1994) was an Austrian-American architect and actress.[1] She is perhaps best known for her role in the film Lilies of the Field (1963), for which she received critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination. During her career, Skala was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Lilia Skala
Skala in 1969
Born	Lilia Sofer (1896-11-28)28 November 1896 Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died	18 December 1994(1994-12-18) (aged 98) Bay Shore, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Lakeview Cemetery New Canaan, Connecticut, U.S.
Education	TU Dresden
Occupation	Architect Actress
Years active	1931–1990
Spouse(s)	Louis Erich Skala ​ ( m. 1922; died 1980)
Children	2

Before Skala decided to be an actress, she practiced architecture as a profession. She is one of the first women architects in Austria. Skala is the first woman member of the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects. She graduated from University of Dresden Summa cum Laude;[2] the institution is now known as the Technical University of Dresden, located in Germany.

Her legendary life was the subject of an eponymous one-woman play, Lilia! The play is written and performed by her granddaughter, Libby Skala.[3]

Early life and education

Skala was born Lilia Sofer in Vienna. Her mother, Katharina Skala, was Catholic, and her father, Julius Sofer, was Jewish and worked as a manufacturer's representative for the Waldes Koh-i-noor Company.[4][5] She was one of the first women to graduate in architecture and engineering from the University of Dresden, before practicing architecture professionally in Vienna.[6]

In the late 1930s, she was forced to flee her Nazi-occupied homeland with her husband, Louis Erich Skala, and their two young sons.[5][7] (Lilia and Erich adopted the non-Jewish sounding surname of Lilia's mother.) Skala and her husband managed to escape (at different times) from Austria and eventually settled in the United States.[7]

Career

According to Skala's son, Peter Skala's short memoir, he believes Skala developed interests in theatre when she was 14 or 15 years old. However, Skala's parents were conservative and preferred Skala to pursue a career that's more "respectable". At that time, women were not allow to study at The University of Vienna, so Skala's parents has to send her to the TU Dresden in Germany. Although there is no sufficient information about why Skala choose Architecture as her specific area of study, we do know that she excelled in a field that is traditionally dominated by male and graduated with a Summa cum Laude. Skala returned to Vienna and continued to practice architecture after the completion of her undergraduate degree. [8]

Skala has never stoped looking for beauty, whether it is architecture, or performance arts. About a year after the birth of her son, Peter Skala, she started acting lessons and rediscover her long-lost passion in theater.[8] As her creative talents unfold, Skala started to appear on countless television shows and serials from 1952 to 1985 (for example, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1965), and as Grand Duchess Sophie kept company on Broadway with Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam not too many years after toiling in a Queens zipper factory as a non-English-speaking refugee from Austria.[7] She played Lisa Douglas’s mother, the Countess, on Green Acres in the 1960s.

She was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress for her most famous role as the Mother Superior in 1963's Lilies of the Field opposite Oscar-winning Sidney Poitier. Skala also appeared in Ship of Fools (1965), Charly (1968), Deadly Hero (1976), Eleanor and Franklin (1976), Roseland (1977), Heartland (1979) Flashdance (1983), and House of Games (1987).[9]

Death and legacy

Skala died in 1994 in Bay Shore, New York, of natural causes at age 98. A collection of architectural drawings that she had made as an architecture student at the University of Dresden from 1915 to 1920 was donated to the International Archives of Women in Architecture by her sons, Peter, and Martin Skala.[10] The collection is part of Skala's belongings when she fled the Nazis in 1939.[11]

Personal life

Skala was a Christian Scientist.[12] She was introduced to the religion in Vienna in the 1920s.[13]

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1931	Purpur und Waschblau	Leonore von Cadour - Hofdame der Fürstin
1931	Man braucht kein Geld		Uncredited
1933	Madame wünscht keine Kinder		Uncredited
1936	Mädchenpensionat	Fräulein Hell
1936	Flores de Nice
1937	Unentschuldigte Stunde
1953	Call Me Madam	Grand Duchess Sophie
1963	Lilies of the Field	Mother Maria
1965	Ship of Fools	Frau Hutten
1967	Caprice	Madame Piasco
1968	Charly	Dr. Anna Straus
1976	Deadly Hero	Mrs. Broderick
1977	Roseland	Rosa (The Peabody)
1979	Heartland	Mrs. Landauer
1981	The End of August	Mlle. Reisz
1983	Flashdance	Hanna Long
1983	Testament	Fania
1987	House of Games	Dr. Littauer
1990	Men of Respect	Lucia	(final film role)

References

1. Rechcigl, Miloslav. Notable American Women with Czechoslovak Roots: A Bibliography, Bio-Bibliographies, Historiography and Genealogy.
2. "Lilia Sofer Skala Student Portfolio, Ms2003-015 - Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University".
3. "Libby Skala Interviews & Press". Liliashow.homestead.com. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
4. Tallmer, Jerry (14 August 2009). "Libby Skala encapsulates 100 years of life, love, dance". Chelsea Now. Archived from the original on 19 August 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
5. "Guide to the Papers of the Grace Polk Family, 1877-1975 AR 25104/MF 964". Findingaids.cjh.org. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
6. "Lilia Skala biodata". Libbyskala.com. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
7. Tallmer, Jerry (23 August 2005). "Theatrical tribute to a special grandmother". Thevillager.com. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
8. "http://www.libbyskala.com/International_Archive_of_Women_in_Architecture.pdf" (PDF). Newsletter Fall 2003, No. 15 International Archive of Women in Architecture, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 2003. External link in |title= (help)
9. Taylor, Clarke (24 November 1977). "Skala as Rosa; Grande Dame of 'Roseland'". Los Angeles Times. p. H30. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
10. "Buttresses to Broadway: When Lilia Skala Came to Blacksburg".
11. "International Archive of Women in Architecture, Fall 2003, No. 15" (PDF).
12. Gibson, Gwen (31 March 1988). "Versatile Lilia Skala Is Seeking New Fields". Chicago Tribune.
13. "News | Longyear Museum". Longyear.org. 14 March 2011. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2016.

External links

• Lilia Skala on IMDb
• Lilia Skala at Find a Grave