Acting

Lily Bouwmeester

Lily Geertruida Maria Henriëtte Bouwmeester (1901–1993) was a Dutch stage and film actress, who received an honorary Golden Calf for being "the best actress in Pre-War Dutch cinema". The daughter of two musicians, Bouwmeester spent her youth touring Europe with her parents. When constant travelling proved to be too exhausting, she moved in with her aunt, actress Theo Mann-Bouwmeester. She dreamed to become a dancer, but her aunt demanded for her to become an actress and sent her to several auditions. At the age of 14, she debuted in a stage production by Herman Heijermans. Bouwmeester made her screen debut in silent film Majoor Frans (1916). In 1917, she landed a contract with a prestigious theatre in Amsterdam and performed at the Stadsschouwburg, receiving much acclaim from theatre critics. While working on a play in 1920, she met actor Theo Frenkel Jr., whom she married in 1921. Soon after that she left the Stadsschouwburg to produce her own plays with her husband.