Toward the end of World War I, Erra Bognar began working as an actress in silent films. She made her debut with a supporting role in Rudolf Meinert's crime drama *Die sterbenden Perlen. Over the next few years, she played mainly minor and medium-sized roles in productions by a wide variety of directors and studios. By 1926, her film career was largely over; she returned to the big screen only once more in 1937 for a small role in Fred Sauer's final film, *Der Lachdoktor: the tiny, uncredited part of a blonde spa client with wild hair would remain her only appearance in a sound film.