Rudi Carrell (born Rudolf Wijbrand Kesselaar; 19 December 1934 – 7 July 2006) was a Dutch entertainer. Along with famous entertainers such as Johannes Heesters and

Linda de Mol Linda Margaretha de Mol (born 8 July 1964 in Hilversum) is a successful Dutch television presenter and actress in the Netherlands and Germany. She is the sister of TV-producer and Endemol co-founder John de Mol, and has frequently appeared i ...

, he was one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in Germany. He worked as a television entertainer and hosted his own show; the ''Rudi Carrell Show'' ran first in the Netherlands, and then for many years in Germany. As a singer he had a number of hits, including a Dutch version of " A Windmill in Old Amsterdam", and acted in several movies.

''Eurovision Song Contest''

Carrell represented the Netherlands at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1960 The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on Tuesday 29 March 1960 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, United Kingdom, and hosted by British television presenter and actress Catherine ...

with the song "

Wat een geluk The Netherlands was represented by Rudi Carrell, with the song "Wat een geluk", at the 1960 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 29 March in London. Although Teddy Scholten had won the previous contest for the Netherlands, Dutch broadcaste ...

" ("What luck"). He finished 12th out of 13, scoring just two points. He provided the Dutch radio commentary for the 1987 Contest.

''Rudi Carrell Show''

The ''Rudi Carrell Show'' and its successors were a huge success in Germany from the 1960s to the 1990s. The show included a similar concept to ''Star Search'' or ''Pop Idol'' and brought many well-known German pop stars and actors to prominence, such as Alexis and Mark Keller. It also featured comedy sketches. His show was also popular in some non-German-speaking European countries, such as Slovenia. During this time he also hosted other popular shows, including ''Am laufenden Band'', ''Rudis Tagesshow'', ''Herzblatt'', ''Die verflixte 7'', and ''

7 Tage, 7 Köpfe 7 Tage, 7 Köpfe (''Sieben Tage, sieben Köpfe'', lit. ''Seven days, seven heads'') is a German comedy television program of the television station RTL Television and featured a humorous retrospective of the past week. The show was hosted by Joche ...

''.

Controversial humor

In 1987, Carrell caused a diplomatic rift between Germany and Iran with a sketch in which veiled women threw their undergarments at someone dressed like Iran's Supreme Leader

Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

. The Iranian government responded by expelling two German diplomats and permanently closing the Goethe Institute in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

.Rudi Carrell
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 3 August 2006

Death

In an interview in November 2005, Carrell confirmed to the magazine '' Bunte'' that he was suffering from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

. He died on 7 July 2006 in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Germany, aged 71.

Literature

* * *

References

External links

*
a German online book of condolence for Rudi Carell

Find-a-Grave entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrell, Rudi 1934 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Dutch male singers Dutch male comedians Dutch male film actors Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the Netherlands Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1960 Dutch television presenters Dutch game show hosts Dutch expatriates in Germany Deaths from lung cancer in Germany People from Alkmaar Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century comedians Controversies in the Netherlands Controversies in Iran Television controversies in Germany Political controversies in television Religious controversies in television ARD (broadcaster) people RTL Group people Radio Bremen people