Ruth Gassmann is dead. She became known through the western series "Smoking Colts". But she became a kind of superstar because of other films.
- Actress Ruth Gassman is dead.
- At the age of 85 she died in her home town of Aschheim near Munich.
- She became a world star as "Helga" with German educational films.
Munich - Germany mourns its educator. Ruth Gassmann died on Friday evening (August 7, 2020) after a short, serious illness in her home town of Aschheim near Munich. Her son announced this to the German press agency. Ruth Gassman was 85 years old.
For a long time, there was nothing to suggest that the native of Augsburg would one day become one of the most famous faces in Germany. Gassmann studied sports and chemistry. She found her way to acting by chance through a job as a photo model.
Ruth Gassmann: Fame through the US cult series - she became a star as the educator "Helga"
But then things quickly went uphill. She moved to the USA and starred in several episodes of today's cult series "Smoking Colts". Gassmann only became a superstar in Germany after her return.
Ruth Gassmann not only achieved fame with the films "Helga - From Becoming Human Life", "Helga and Michael" and "Helga and the Men - The Sexual Revolution". In addition, she is still spoken of today as the "enlightener of the nation". Oswald Kolle later took on this role, but with the Helga films she had already informed countless Germans in a medically correct manner.
Helga actress Ruth Gassmann is dead: educational films made her famous
Der Spiegel even called the first part of the trilogy “Germany's most successful film” and does the math: 40 million people are said to have seen it in 1967 in Germany, five million of them in Germany. This made "Helga - From Becoming Human Life" the second most successful film in the world this year. Only “James Bond - You Only Live Twice” attracted more viewers.
So suddenly at the age of 32 Ruth Gassmann was famous. Four more cinema works and just as many television films followed. Until the actress then switched behind the camera and continued to work as an assistant director. She also appeared as a singer at the Saarbrücken State Theater Opera.
Ruth Gassmann dies after a serious illness: the exact cause remains unknown
What Ruth Gassmann fell ill with before her death is not publicly known. Her son did not speak of a connection with the corona virus *.
Unfortunately, the German film and television landscape is also mourning other well-known actors. Fred Stillkrauth, best known for his role as "Brandner Kaspar", died at the age of 81. Ernst-Georg Schwill was at the same age. The popular commissioner from the ARD “Tatort” suffered a fatal heart attack. (* tz.de is part of the Ippen editorial network.)
List of rubric lists: © dpa
