Until 1933, when she went to London to escape Adolf Hitler's rise to power, she was pre-eminent in the Berlin theatre scene. She performed in a wide variety of roles, being equally at home in drama and comedy. After overcoming the language barrier with intensive study of English, she found roles onstage in London in 1934-35 in "Two Share a Dwelling" and in the 1935 film "Car of Dreams". In London, she met American railroad tycoon Howard Gould; he became her second husband in 1937. They moved to New York in 1938.
