Topsy Küppers (born 17 August 1931) is an Austrian writer, singer,

soubrette A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy". Theatre In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...

, actress and former

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

of German origin.

Life

Born in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

, the foundation stone for Küppers' career as an actress was laid by Ursula Staudte, who taught her according to the so-called '' Stanislawski principle''. However, according to her own statement, the greatest influence was

Trude Hesterberg Trude Hesterberg (2 May 1892 – 31 August 1967) was a German film actress. She appeared in 89 films between 1917 and 1964. Selected filmography * '' The Rosentopf Case'' (1918) * ''The Story of a Maid'' (1921) * ''Fridericus Rex'' (1922) ...

, who taught her the chanson and its interpretation. Küppers then took her exams at the Bühnengenossenschaft, which had

Gustaf Gründgens Gustaf Gründgens (; 22 December 1899 – 7 October 1963), born Gustav Heinrich Arnold Gründgens, was one of Germany's most famous and influential actors of the 20th century, and artistic director of theatres in Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg ...

on its board of examiners. She worked on German stages and for German and Austrian television and from 1958 performed with her then husband

Georg Kreisler Georg Kreisler (18 July 1922 – 22 November 2011) was an Austrian–American Viennese-language cabarettist, satirist, composer, and author. He was particularly popular in the 1950s and 1960s. From 2007 he lived in Salzburg, Austria, with his fou ...

in Munich, among other places. On 17 December 1976 she opened the ' in Vienna with four cabaret programmes, which was "dedicated to the preservation of Jewish literature and Jewish authors - both deceased and contemporary". In the 25 years that she voluntarily directed the theatre until January 2001, the "headmaster ..Urwienerin". During this time, she fought against

misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...

, anti-Semitism and fascism with musical-literary programmes such as ''Gehackte Zores,'' ''Weit von wo'' and ''Amoureuses, Scandaleuses, Heiteres und so Weiteres''.

Private life

In 1965, Küppers took Austrian citizenship. From her marriage to

came her daughter , who also works as a singer, speaker and actress, as well as a son. Kreisler and Topsy Küppers separated in the mid-1970s. Küppers was married in second marriage to Karlheinz (called Carlos) Springer († 2013). In early August 2013, Küppers was diagnosed with colon cancer, which she describes as "my unhappiness" and which she dealt with in the identically titled 2014 book.

Awards

Küppers has received awards at home and abroad for her work, including: * 1967: ''Trude-Hesterberg-Ring'' as beste deutschsprachige

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

ette * 1976: Goldmedaille beim internationalen Konzertfestiaval ''Immer wieder Widerstand'' in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

* 1977: Kulturpreis der Stadt Wien * 1984: Goldenes Verdienstzeichen des Landes Wien * 1991: in Silver * 1992: * 1992: Bundesverdienstkreuz I. Classe of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland * 1998:

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian D ...

* 2003: ''Goldene Emmerich-Kálmán-Medaille'' in Budapest für die auf Hungarian verfasste

Emmerich Kálmán Emmerich Kálmán ( hu, Kálmán Imre; 24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most popular works are '' Die Csár ...

Biography ''Minden Álom Bésce Vezet'' (German: ''Alle Träumen führen nach Wien'') * 2011: Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz Wissenschaft und Kunst 1st Classe * 2012: Ehrenbotschafterin der Stadt

* 2012: (in appreciation of her outstanding artistic achievements)

Discography

* ''Frivolitäten'', LP (1963) * ''Gehn ma Tauben vergiften'', with Georg Kreisler, LP (1964) * ''Die heiße Viertelstunde'', with Georg Kreisler, LP (1968) * ''Der Tod, das muß ein Wiener sein'', with Georg Kreisler, LP/CD (1969/1994) * ''Anders als die andern'', with Georg Kreisler, LP (1969) * ''Heute Abend: Lola Blau'', Musical für eine Frau und zwei Klaviere von Georg Kreisler, Doppel-LP/CD (1971/1997) * ''Komm… 12 schicke Schlager'', LP (1971) * ''Immer wieder Widerstand'', LP (1973) * ''Das Ungeheuer Zärtlichkeit'', LP/CD (1974/2001) * ''Spiegelbilder'', LP (1980) * ''Anny macht Moneye'', (1987) * ''Lieder nach Lust und Laune'', LP (1989) * ''Die Zunge der Kultur reicht weit''. Lieder and text by Erich Kästner, CD (2007) * ''Signale aus dem Jenseits'', Gastrolle bei den drei ???, CD (2017)

Books

* ''Freie Bühne Wieden.'' Einführung Topsy Küppers. Graphische Gestaltung Johann Hofmann. Freie Bühne Wieden, Vienna 1977. * Erwin Brecher: ''Jedes Wort Gedankensport.'' Bearbeitet von Topsy Küppers und Elke Browne. htp, Vienna 1995, . * ''Lauter liebe Leute. Ein dicker Brief an mein Publikum.'' Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1996, . * ''Alle Träume führen nach Wien. Ein Tatsachenroman.'' Ibera, Vienna 2001, . * ''

Wolf Messing Wolf Grigoryevich (Gershkovich) Messing (russian: Во́льф Григо́рьевич (Ге́ршикович) Ме́ссинг, pl, Wolf Grigoriewicz Messing, he, וולף מסינג) (10 September 1899 – 8 November 1974) was a self-procl ...

. Hellseher und Magier.'' Langen Müller, Munich 2002, . * ''Wenn dein Leben trist ist – erleuchte es mit Humor! Erlebtes – Erhörtes – Erdachtes …''''Wenn dein Leben trist ist – erleuchte es mit Humor! Erlebtes – Erhörtes – Erdachtes …''
on WorldCat Ibera, Vienna 2009, . * ''Mein Ungustl. Ein widerlicher Gast.'' Langen Müller, Munich 2014, . * ''Die Brüder Saphir. Ein Tatsachenroman.'' Verlag Der Apfel, Vienna 2018, .

Filmography

* 1954: ''

Guitars of Love ''Guitars of Love'' (german: Gitarren der Liebe) is a 1954 West German musical film directed by Werner Jacobs and starring Vico Torriani, Elma Karlowa and Harald Juhnke.MacKenzie p.176 It was shot at the Bavaria Studios in Munich. The film's sets ...

'' * 1955: ''

Three Girls from the Rhine ''Three Girls from the Rhine'' (German: ''Drei Mädels vom Rhein'') is a 1955 West German comedy film directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Gardy Granass, Margit Saad and Fita Benkhoff.Bock & Bergfelder p.194 It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios, ...

'' * 1955: ''La Gondola'' (TV) * 1956: '' Die wilde Auguste'' * 1956: ' * 1956: ''Uns gefällt die Welt'' * 1956: ' * 1960: ''Der Liebesonkel'' (television recording from the

Millowitsch-Theater The ''Volkstheater Millowitsch'', also known as the ''Millowitsch-Theater'', was a medium-sized theatre in Cologne, Germany where popular, low-brow comedies were performed. History The Millowitsch family had been active in theatre before owner ...

) * 1961: ''Paganini'' (TV) * 1962: ''Gasparone'' (TV) * 1963: ''Berlin-Melodie (tv) * 1969: ''Ein Abend zu zweit'' (tv) * 1972: ''Außenseiter'' (tv)

References

External links

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Topsy Küppers
(Facebook) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuppers, Topsy Austrian film actresses Austrian stage actresses 20th-century Austrian women singers Austrian theatre directors Austrian women theatre directors 20th-century Austrian writers Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class 1931 births Living people People from Aachen