Rosel Zech


Rosalie Helga Lina Zech, known as Rosel Zech, was a German theater and film actress, she is most well known for her works associated with the "Autorenkino" movement, which began in the 1970s.

Career

Theater

Rosel Zech was born in Berlin; her father was a citizen of Poland. Because of her birth out of wedlock, her mother, a dressmaker, married an inland waterway boatman soon after her daughter's birth, giving her his last name, She was raised in Hoya, Germany. Her performances led her, at the age of 20, to Lower Bavaria, where in 1962, her first theatrical engagement was in the South Bavarian City Theater in Landshut.
This was followed by other roles at various other theaters, such as in 1964 at the Städtebundtheater in Biel and at the summer theater in Winterthur. Two years later, she played at the Schauspielhaus Wuppertal. From 1970 to 1972, she appeared on stage at the Staatstheater Stuttgart and then at the Schauspielhaus Bochum.
During the 1978-79 season, Rosel Zech was active in Hamburg at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus and then returned to her native city of Berlin, where she acted on the Volksbühne. In 1981 she was hired by the Bayerischen Staatsschauspiel in Munich. Four years later, she was seen again at the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. In 2009 she worked with in the Luisenburg Festival in the play Mother Courage as Anna Fierlinger.

Film and television

She made her 1970 television debut in The Pot. In 1973 she appeared in a small role in The Tenderness of Wolves with Kurt Raab and Margit Carstensen. On the set, she met Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who produced the film. She and Fassbinder began an extended collaboration. The same year, Peter Zadek cast the actress in his film version of Kleiner Mann – was nun? in a supporting role as the wife of Mario Adorf. Fassbinder immediately chose her for his next project, Veronika Voss, and cast her as the lead. This second Fassbinder film was inspired by the life of the UFA actress Sybille Schmitz. Rosel Zech's convincing portrayal of the morphine-addicted actress turned Zech into a star overnight. The film was awarded in the 1982 Berlin International Film Festival with a Golden Bear. In the following years, Zech focused mainly on work in television and appeared in numerous television series and television films, as well as in regular theater productions in Berlin, where she lived during her last years. From 2002 until her death, she had a regular role as the mother superior in the German TV series Um Himmels Willen.

Death

She died of bone cancer in Berlin on 31 August 2011, aged 71.

Awards

Filmography

  • 1970: Der Pott, as Susi
  • 1973: The Tenderness of Wolves, as Dame an der Tür
  • 1973: Little Man, What Now?, as Marlene Dietrich / Marie Kleinholtz / Bettlerkind / Frau Nothnagel / Claire Waldoff
  • 1974: Mädchen in Uniform, as Frau von Bernburg
  • 1974: The Seagull, as Nina Michailowna Saretschnaja
  • 1974: Ice Age, as Wanda
  • 1977: Die Geisel, as Mrs. Gilchrist
  • 1977: ', as Frau Wolfermann
  • 1978: Hedda Gabler, as Hedda Gabler
  • 1978: Verführungen, as Christine
  • 1979: The Hamburg Syndrome, as Dr. Hamm
  • 1980: ', as Adele
  • 1980: The Misanthrope, as Célimène
  • 1981: ', as Herlinde
  • 1981: Der Nächste bitte
  • 1981: Lola, as Frau Schuckert
  • 1981: Heute spielen wir den Boss / Wo geht's denn hier zum Film?, as Frau Kaiser
  • 1981: Die Knapp-Familie as Elfriede Knapp
  • 1982: Veronika Voss, as Veronika Voss
  • 1983: Mascha
  • 1983: ', as Lieselotte Oppermann
  • 1983: Klawitter, as Elli Hoff
  • 1984: Julia, as Julia Lambert
  • 1985: Tatort, as Jutta Reismüller
  • 1985: Der Angriff der Gegenwart auf die übrige Zeit, as Ärztin
  • 1986: ', as Sabine Halm
  • 1986: The Old Fox as Helma Köhler
  • 1986: Betrogene Liebe as Agnes
  • 1986: Vermischte Nachrichten, as Erfolgstyp
  • 1987: Nebel im Fjord, as Claudia Busch
  • 1987: Herz mit Löffel
  • 1987: Die Bombe, as Helga Meyerdiercks
  • 1987: The Old Fox, as Gabriele Lohmann
  • 1987: The Old Fox, as Ingrid Pohl
  • 1988: Die Bertinis, as Erika Schwarz
  • 1988: Hemingway, as Lilli Marleen
  • 1989: ', as Felicitas Frey
  • 1989: The Old Fox as Jutta Sander
  • 1990: ' as Frau Berger
  • 1991: Salmonberries, as Roswitha
  • 1993: ', as Mrs. Neuhaus
  • 1993: Derrick as Charlotte Heine
  • 1993: Der rote Vogel as Ellen Vondrowski
  • 1994: Polizeiruf 110 as Mutter Reiser
  • 1994: Das Baby der schwangeren Toten as Betti Ley
  • 1995: Hades
  • 1995: Schade um Papa as Lena Bandmann
  • 1995: Dicke Freunde as Marianne Strauß
  • 1995: Outside Time as Sophie's Mother
  • 1996: : Die indische Ärztin as Dr. Karla Fasching-Spiehweg
  • 1996: Die Geliebte
  • 1997: Lea Katz – Die Kriminalpsychologin as Gisela Straub
  • 1997: Terror im Namen der Liebe as Elke
  • 1997: Die letzte Rettung as Gudrun
  • 1998: Der Schlüssel as Reinigungschefin
  • 1998: Tatort as Juwelierin
  • 1998: Tatort as Silvia Blankenberg
  • 1999: Aimée & Jaguar as Blonde Frau
  • 1999: Siska as Dr. Beate Paulus
  • 1999: The Old Fox as Judith Bennesch
  • 1999: Morgen gehört der Himmel dir as Frau Niering
  • 1999: Ein Fall für zwei as Klara Schierer
  • 2000: Oh, du Fröhliche, as Irmela Kapp
  • 2001: Ein unmöglicher Mann as Frau Schmitt-Oedenthal
  • 2001: Große Liebe wider Willen as Claudia
  • 2001: Das Schneeparadies as Margot
  • 2002: Im Visier der Zielfahnder as Britta Prahm
  • 2002: ', as Melanies Mutter
  • 2002: Zwei Affären und eine Hochzeit as Rosa Richter
  • 2002–2011: Um Himmels Willen as Oberin Elisabeth Reuter
  • 2003: Anatomie 2 as Dr. Bamberg
  • 2003: Tatort as Marion von Pahl
  • 2003: Der Auftrag - Mordfall in der Heimat as Karin Eisner
  • 2003: Plötzlich wieder 16 as Professorin
  • 2003: Stubbe – Von Fall zu Fall as Dorothee Mewes
  • 2004: Tatort as Monika Hanke-Helmhövel
  • 2004: Kammerflimmern as Oma Crash
  • 2004: The Old Fox as Gisela von Lindow
  • 2005: Rosamunde Pilcher as Winona Carter
  • 2005: K3 – Kripo Hamburg as Pauline Petersen
  • 2005: In Liebe eine Eins as Ursula Sandrock
  • 2006: ' as Mutter Martha
  • 2006: Mr. Nanny – Ein Mann für Mama as Marlene Meister
  • 2006: Agathe kann's nicht lassen as Katharina Meindl
  • 2008: Das Traumschiff as Kathrin Kriegel
  • 2008: Einsatz in Hamburg as Doris Blank
  • 2008–2009: Der Schwarzwaldhof as Dora Hofer
  • 2009: as Alma Sattler
  • 2011: Schicksalsjahre as Martha Engler