Josefine Gallmeyer was the illegitimate daughter of the actress Katharina Tomaselli [de] with opera singer Michael Greiner. In 1842, she took the surname of her stepfather, Christian Gallmeyer.
In 1853, at the age of 15, Gallmeyer made her debut at the Brno City Theatre. Thereafter, she was employed by the United German Theatres theatre company in Budapest. However, her contract was terminated without notice after a short time because of disobedience and insubordination.
Back in Brno, she increasingly appeared as a parodist and was discovered by Johann Nepomuk Nestroy in 1856. After guesting at the Theater in der Josefstadt, Nestroy facilitated Gallmeyer's residency at the Carltheater in Vienna in 1857. This collaboration proved unfruitful and Gallmeyer returned to her work in Brno.
In addition to further performances in Brno, she gave guest performances in Sibiu and Timișoara. Friedrich Strampfer, the director of the German State Theatre Timișoara, engaged her there and further facilitated a tour of Germany. There, she guested at the Victoria-Theater in Berlin and at the Königliches Hoftheater in Dresden. In Dresden, her work was cut short after one performance due to erratic behavior.
In 1862, Gallmeyer joined Strampfer in Vienna as he became director of the Theater an der Wien. There, she achieved her breakthrough with the posse of Ottokar Franz Ebersberg and Karl Costa.
In 1865, she returned to the Carltheater. Jacques Offenbach, from whom she expected a part, refused to write even one line for her. In 1875, she began to direct the Strampfer-Theater with writer Julius Rosen, which closed due to insolvency in 1884.
Gallmeyer was known her countless affairs and her extravagance. At times, she was considered very wealthy, but due to her immense charity she was impoverished when she died in Vienna on 3 February 1884 at the age of 46.
Adolph Kohut: Die größten und berühmtesten deutschen Soubretten des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Mit ungedruckten Briefen von Josephine Gallmeyer, Marie Geistinger, Ottilie Genée. Bagel, Düsseldorf 1890, 1885.
