“She will never be forgotten”
Acting legend Karin Baal is dead
November 30, 2024, 11:23 a.m
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In the 1950s she made her breakthrough with “Die Halbstarken”. From now on, Karin Baal shapes the film and series landscape. The actress died a few days ago at the age of 84. As the German answer to Brigitte Bardot at the time, she will never be forgotten.
The film “The Half-Strongs” made her a legend at a young age: The actress Karin Baal is dead. She died on Tuesday at the age of 84 in Berlin, her children said. “She has shaped a generation and will never be forgotten. She is leaving a huge hole – not just in our family, but in Berlin and all of Germany,” said Therese Lohner and Thomas Baal, the actress’s children.
Baal became known in the 1950s with “The Half-Strongs”. The black and white film tells of several young people in post-war Berlin, their living conditions and criminal activities.
When Baal was hired for the film, she was still a teenager herself. She was born in Berlin in 1940 and later began training as a fashion illustrator. From among hundreds of applicants, she was finally hired for “Die Halbstarken”, in which Horst Buchholz also starred. Baal took on the female lead role of Sissy. The film became a classic of post-war German cinema – and Baal was later celebrated as the German answer to Brigitte Bardot.
Afterwards she was seen in a number of films and series. These include “The Girl Rosemarie”, “We Cellar Children” and “The Young Sinner”. She also appeared in Edgar Wallace films and in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Berlin Alexanderplatz”. She also had roles in series such as “Liebling Kreuzberg” and “Schwarzwaldklinik”. She was also seen more often in TV crime dramas – such as “Tatort”.
Karin Baal celebrated her first successes in the 1950s.
(Foto: imago images/United Archives)
She remained loyal to her beloved Berlin until the end
In 2018, Baal was honored for her life’s work with the inaugural Götz George Prize. At the time, the Götz George Foundation honored Baal as a “great actress and admirable woman.” It was said at the time that she opened up to her characters relentlessly and with touching devotion, thereby making even the finest nuances of their wide range of emotions visible.
In pictures from recent years, Baal was seen in a wheelchair. But even though in her old age she repeatedly thought about moving to Vienna to be with her daughter, the actress lived in Berlin until the end, as her daughter Therese Lohner said. “She loved Berlin too much and really wanted to stay in her beloved Charlottenburg.”
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