Petra Schürmann-Freund (; 15 September 1933 – 14 January 2010) was a German actress, model, TV announcer and beauty queen who won

Miss World 1956 Miss World 1956, the 6th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 15 October 1956 at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, United Kingdom. 24 contestants competed for title of Miss World. The winner was Petra Schürmann, who represented Germany. ...

Biography

Schürmann won the 1956 Miss World contest, representing

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. she is the only German to win this title, with the exception of

Gabriella Brum Gabriella Brum (born 1962) is a German-British former model and beauty queen who won the 1980 Miss World and resigned 18 hours later, initially claiming her boyfriend disapproved. She stated that this was because of the pressure from the news me ...

who won the title in 1980 but resigned one day later. The pageant was held in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Schürmann finished only third in the

Miss Germany Miss Germany is a national beauty pageant in Germany. The contest was held for the first time in 1927. History In the past there were several organisations which claimed the title: In the 1920s already, German jurisdiction decided that the t ...

pageant, but was chosen to represent her country in London because of her better knowledge of English. At that time Schürmann was studying philosophy and history of the arts at the universities of

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-Ru ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. After winning her Miss World title, she continued her studies in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. Beginning with the 1960s Schürmann entered an ongoing radio and television career, primarily with the Munich-based

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadca ...

. She also did some acting and wrote several books.

Personal life

In 1973, Schürmann married the physician Dr. Gerhard Freund (1922–2008), who under a veil of secrecy, had fathered their daughter Alexandra in 1967. This was at a time when he was still wed to German actress

Marianne Koch Marianne Koch (; born 19 August 1931) is a German actress of the 1950s and 1960s, best known for her appearances in Spaghetti Westerns and adventure films of the 1960s. She later worked as a television host and as a physician. Career Betwee ...

. Alexandra Freund also had a successful career with the Munich broadcaster but died in 2001, aged 34, from an automobile accident when she collided with a wrong-way driver. Schürmann never fully recovered from the loss of her daughter, with whom she was very close. From 2003 until her death, she was involved in an intimate relationship with Felix Raslag, CEO of a biotech company in Munich, who was 35 years her junior.

Death

Schürmann retired in 2006 with her husband to their house on the shores of

Lake Starnberg Lake Starnberg, or ''Starnberger See'' ) — called Lake Würm, or ''Würmsee'' , until 1962 — is Germany's second-largest body of fresh water, having great depth, and fifth-largest lake by area. It and its surroundings lie in three different Ba ...

, south of Munich. When he died in August 2008, they had been married for 35 years. She died on 14 January 2010 in her home in

Starnberg Starnberg is a German town in Bavaria, Germany, some southwest of Munich. It is at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the " Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the district of Starnberg. Recording a disposable per-cap ...

following a long illness.

Selected filmography

* ''

Hot Pavements of Cologne ''Hot Pavements of Cologne'' (German: ''Heisses Pflaster Köln'') is a 1967 West German crime film directed by Ernst Hofbauer and starring Richard Münch, Walter Kohut and Arthur Brauss.World filmography, 1967 p.145 The film's sets were design ...

'' (1967) * ''

The Body in the Thames ''The Body in the Thames'' (German: ''Die Tote aus der Themse'') is a 1971 West German thriller film directed by Harald Philipp and starring Uschi Glas, Hansjörg Felmy and Werner Peters.Bergfelder p.257 It is part of the series of Edgar Wallace a ...

'' (1971)

References

External links

* *
Article in ''Stern'' magazine
– richly illustrated * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schurmann, Petra 1933 births 2010 deaths People from Mönchengladbach People from the Rhine Province German Roman Catholics Miss World winners German television presenters Miss World 1956 delegates German film actresses German television actresses German beauty pageant winners 20th-century German actresses German women television presenters ARD (broadcaster) people ZDF people Bayerischer Rundfunk people