Annemarie Wendl (26 December 1914,

Trostberg Trostberg (; Central Bavarian: ''Droschberg'' or ''Troschtberg'') is a town in the district of Traunstein, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Alz, 19 km northwest of Traunstein. As with other 'old towns' in the region, it is a ...

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

– 3 September 2006,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

) was a German actress.

Career

Wendl was born into an upper-class family in Bavaria and began her training as an actress in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Lucie Höflich Lucie Höflich (born Helene Lucie von Holwede; 20 February 1883 – 9 October 1956) was a German actress, teacher and head of the Staatliche Schauspielschule (State Drama School) in Berlin.

's seminar. Afterwards, she played classical roles on stage in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...

and

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

. In her youth, she played "all sentimental characters", such as ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

's'' Gretchen and

Emilia Galotti ''Emilia Galotti'' () is a play in five acts by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), which premiered on 8 March 1772 in Brunswick ("Braunschweig" in German). The work is a classic example of German '' bürgerliches Trauerspiel'' (bourgeois ...

. Later she played character roles, such as Adelheid in ''

Götz von Berlichingen Gottfried "Götz" von Berlichingen (1480 – 23 July 1562), also known as Götz of the Iron Hand, was a German (Franconian) Imperial Knight (''Reichsritter''), mercenary, and poet. He was born around 1480 into the noble family of Berliching ...

'',

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in ''

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'', Maria Stuart in the

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Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

and the title role in

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's ''

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''. Her last theatrical works were ''The Widow in the Green Tree'' (1997) and ''Sanssouci'' in 2001. Wendl began working in film in 1961 and made more than 35 films and TV productions. During her long career on the big screen, Wendl was seen in some of

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's main ...

's films (including '' I Only Want You To Love Me'', 1976). Her television work includes series like ', '' Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl'' and '' Der Kommissar'', where she made guest appearances in a few episodes. Wendl was best known for her role as "Else Kling" in the German weekly soap opera ''

Lindenstraße ''Lindenstraße'' (literally "Linden Street") was a long-running German television drama series, broadcast by Das Erste. The first episode aired on 8 December 1985 and since then new episodes were broadcast weekly until 2020. Its last timeslot ...

'', which started in December 1985. She appeared in the first episode ''Herzlich Willkommen'' and remained in the series' cast until May 2006. Her character, Else Kling, lost her husband, Egon Kling, in a car accident in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1998. In the episode "Abschied und Ankunft" (#1069), Else Kling died. She was called "the nation's caretaker" or also "the nation's worst blabbermouth" (due to her character's habit of unceasingly spreading gossip). She appeared in some commercials depicting Else Kling and sang rap songs. She published two CDs, ''Du Depp'' in 1993 and ''Else Goes Dance'' in 1995. Else Kling was often compared to

J.R. Ewing John Ross "J.R." Ewing Jr. is a fictional character in the American television series ''Dallas'' (1978–1991) and its spin-offs, including the revived ''Dallas'' series (2012–2014). The character was portrayed by Larry Hagman from the serie ...

Personal life

Privately, Wendl worked with young people and liked to wear fashionable clothes. On the ''Lindenstraße'' homepage her birthday was initially given as 26 December 1921 or 1922 until she turned 90 in 2004. An official correction was published, revealing that Wendl was somewhat older than her character (Else Kling was born on 14 May 1922, and died on 25 May 2006 at the age of 84).

Last years and death

In 2005, Wendl suffered a stroke and had three bouts of pneumonia, which caused her to cease work on ''Lindenstraße''. After her character's death, Wendl received coverage in the yellow press quite regularly, most notably about her health. Wendl, who was married to Siegmar Kleinschmidt from 1942 until his death in 1944, lived in Munich and died at age 91 in 2006. She was survived by her son. Her fellow actors from Lindenstrasse, including Marie-Luise Marjan,

Bill Mockridge William Mockridge (born 28 July 1947, Toronto) is a Canadian-German actor and Kabarett performer. He is the founder of the Springmaus Theatre in Bonn. He became known to a broad public through his portrayal of Erich Schiller in the WDR series '' ...

, and

Hans W. Geißendörfer Hans W. Geißendörfer (born 6 April 1941 in Augsburg) is a German film director and producer. Director of '' The Glass Cell'' (1978, starring Brigitte Fossey), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and 16 oth ...

, attended her funeral.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wendl, Annemarie 1914 births 2006 deaths German film actresses German stage actresses German television actresses German soap opera actresses 20th-century German actresses 21st-century German actresses People from Traunstein (district)