Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (December 28, 1925 - February 1, 2002) was a German actress, singer and writer. She was billed in some English language films as Hildegard(e) Neff. Arguably, her most influential roles included that of Susanne Wallner in Wolfgang Staudte's film Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers Are Among Us) (the first film released after the Second World War in East Germany and produced by the Soviet filmmaking enterprise DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme) as well as her role as Marina in Die Sünderin (The Sinner) in which she performed the first nude scene in German filmmaking in 1950. The incident in the latter film sparked one of the largest scandals in German filmmaking history and drew the criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. She was the first and only German to have a successful Broadway show (Silk Stockings written by Cole Porter). She was sometimes compared to that other great German actress, Marlene Dietrich, in that they both were, or portrayed as, the liberated, self-confident woman. Hildegard Knef was one of the most important actresses of post-war Germany.

In the 1960s and 1970s she enjoyed much success as a singer of German chansons, which she often co-wrote. The song she is mostly remembered for is "Für mich soll's rote Rosen regnen" ("It shall rain red roses for me"). She is also known for her version of the song "Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin" (I`ve got a suitcase left in Berlin...), the title of which is still often cited in articles and in common speech throughout Germany.

She has published several books. Her autobiography Der geschenkte Gaul - Bericht aus einem Leben (The Gift Horse - Report of a Life) from 1970 is a candid, but not sensationalist, recount of her life in Germany during and after World War II. It became the best selling German book after World War II. Her second book "Das Urteil" ("The Verdict") from 1975 was a moderate success. It dealt with her struggle with breast cancer.

She was married three times and had a daughter (born in 1968) from her second husband David Cameron Palastanga.

Hildegard Knef was born in 1925 in the South German city of Ulm. In 1940, she began studying acting. Even before the fall of the Third Reich she appeared in several films, but most of them were only released after the war. To avoid being raped by Soviet soldiers she dressed like a young man and was sent to a camp for prisoners of war. She escaped and returned to war-shattered Berlin where she played her first parts on stage. The first German movie after WW II, Mörder sind unter uns, Die (1946) (The Murderers Are Among Us), made her a star. David O. Selznick invited her to Hollywood and offered her a contract - with two conditions: Hildegard Knef should change her name into Gilda Christian and should pretend to be Austrian instead of German. She refused both and returned to Germany. In 1951 she provoked one of the greatest scandals in German film history when she appeared naked on the screen in the movie Sünderin, Die (1951) . The Catholic Church protested vehemently against that film but Hildegard just commented: "I can't understand all that tumult - five years after Auschwitz!" With the support of her first husband, the American Kurt Hirsch , she tried a second time to launch a Hollywood career, changed her family name from Knef to Neff (because Americans couldn't pronounce Knef), but the only worthwhile part she got was a supporting role in the Hemingway adaptation of Snows of Kilimanjaro, The (1952). She became a leading lady in German, French and British films. Finally America offered her another chance, this time on the stage. She achieved a kind of stardom as Ninotchka in the very popular Broadway play, "Silk Stockings". In 1963, she began a new career as a singer and surprised the audience with her typical, deep, smoky voice and the fact that many lyrics of her songs were written by herself. In 1970, she wrote the autobiographical bestseller Der Geschenkte Gaul. She got sympathy from all over the world for her fight against cancer, which she defeated several times. After the German reunification, she moved back to Berlin.