German singer and actress Leila Negra, 95, died on May 13. The mixed-race Negra (a British black father and a white/Creole German mother) had to leave school when the Nazis took over; she was forced into factory work. Negra was rescued from being sent to a concentration camp by Joseph Goebbels, of all people. He cast her as a servant in Münchhausen (1943), and she went on to appear in several other wartime films, including Stern von Rio. After the war, Negra found success as a singer. She appeared (or sang) in a handful of films through the 1950s (Toxi, Tanzende Sterne, Die Süßesten Früchte, Der Schweigende Engel). In 1957, Negra left the show business and became a nurse, at which profession she worked till her retirement.
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Leila Negra and Peter Alexander in Die Süßesten Früchte  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StY353HKlyQ
