Obituary - Ingrid Steeger - the nation's sad little prankster
She made millions of people laugh in the 1970s - but her own life was full of drama and sadness: Ingrid Steeger, who died at the age of 76, became an icon of slapstick with "Klimbim". Anyone who said "funny girl" meant Ingrid Steeger. But she was actually quite a sad little prankster.
Ingrid Steeger: The nation's jester has died
Steeger's life in recent years was characterized by health problems and financial hardship. She last lived in a nursing home in Bad Hersfeld and has now died in a hospital in the Hessian town. In recent years, she was mainly surrounded by a changing cast of acquaintances. She left Munich impoverished, and Steeger had long since lost contact with show business.
Steeger was born Ingrid Anita Stengert in Berlin on April 1, 1947. Berlin was bombed out at the time and her family was poor. "There were five of us living in one room and we had little to eat," she recalled a few years ago in Die Zeit.
But the poverty was only one thing - the coldness in the family was another: "I was treated badly and beaten, I experienced sexual violence at an early age, I certainly wasn't loved, my parents didn't care what I thought or felt." She was only able to speak freely when she was well into adulthood, she says, because she grew up so intimidated.
This doesn't fit in at all with the cheerful image that Germans had of Steeger for many years. Everything seemed easy in her life ever since the blonde secretary with the ample bosom was discovered by a photographer in the 1960s. From 1970, she became a regular in cinemas as the shooting star of the soft sex films of those years. Whether in "Die liebestollen Baronessen" or in "Schulmädchen-Report" - Steeger often stripped off and became famous.
She later said that she no longer stood by the films. In 1992, she told "Emma" that she had only taken part for money and now felt disgusted. "I find it disgusting that someone is touching my breasts and that I did it for money - I sold myself back then."
But despite the shallow sex films, Steeger surprisingly managed to become a cult figure. Director Michael Pfleghar turned Steeger into an artificial figure that Germany had never seen before.
Steeger made her breakthrough in 1973 in the series"Klimbim", which became legendary for its anarchic humor. Millions tuned in back then when the "Klimbim" family set off a firework display of corny jokes. Sometimes as a brat, sometimes sexy, Steeger played the "Klimbim" daughter Gabi and sang at the end: "Then I'll make a slit in my dress and find it wonderful."
Unhappy relationships
As free from all conventions as Steeger acted in "Klimbim", she also lived her life. In 1973, she married the cameraman Lothar Elias Stickelbruck. Just one year later, director Pfleghar became her secret partner before she disappeared to Kenya with a big game hunter in 1977. Many other relationships followed. A second marriage to Tom LaBlanc from the USA failed.
She was then the lover of director Dieter Wedel for several years. This was a turning point for Steeger. Wedel, who was himself confronted with allegations of abuse in the last years of his life and died before the investigation was completed, gave her a great deal of self-confidence, she said. He cast his lover in the hit production "Der große Bellheim". The series remained Steeger's greatest television success in the serious genre.
The affair with Wedel ended unhappily, like so many of her relationships and friendships. But despite all these private sadnesses - for many Germans, Steeger will always be remembered as a funny girl.
Read also:
- Unanimous decision: faster wolf culls possible
- No Christmas peace with the British royals
- No Christmas peace with the British royals
- No Christmas peace with the royals
- Ingrid Steeger's comedic persona was immortalized in the picture newspaper after her iconic role in "Klimbim", a popular show that aired in Berlin and later attracted a large audience in Munich.
- Despite her successful career, Steeger spent her last years in a nursing home in Bad Hersfeld, far away from the limelight of Berlin and Munich.
- The "Klimbim" series, broadcast in both Berlin and Munich, brought Ingrid Steeger immense popularity and her catchphrase, "Then I'll make a slit in my dress and find it wonderful," became a well-known phrase that endured long after the show's finale.
Source: www.stern.de
