She was Princess Tausendschön: Christel Bodenstein is dead

She became famous as the East German fairytale princess: actress Christel Bodenstein is dead. She died on December 5 at the age of 86 in a nursing home in Berlin, according to a spokeswoman for the DEFA Foundation. "She had not been well for some time." She had been quiet recently. Bodenstein, born in 1938 and a native of Munich, is best known for the DEFA fairytale film "Das singende klingende Bäumchen".

In 1957, the 18-year-old played herself into the hearts of viewers as the wicked and defiant Princess Tausendschön with a pouty mouth. She was discovered at the age of 17 by director Kurt Maetzig ("Das Kaninchen bin ich"). Shortly afterwards, she starred in "The Captain of Cologne" and then played a princess in the fairy tale adaptation "The Brave Little Tailor".

During her studies at the Babelsberg Film Academy, she appeared several times in front of the camera for DEFA. In 1963, she got "her dream role", as she herself once confessed, alongside Manfred Krug as an FDJ secretary in "Description of a Summer".

"The Little Prince" was her favorite film

The attractive brunette married director Konrad Wolf ("I Was Nineteen"), but only filmed once with her husband: "The Little Prince", based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, was made in 1966. The work was shown once on GDR television, but was never allowed to be shown publicly again due to unresolved rights issues. This film was particularly close to Bodenstein's heart, reported the DEFA Foundation spokeswoman. When the foundation restored it a few years ago, "she was very happy".

Bodenstein acted at the Maxim Gorki Theater and for television, after reunification alongside Mario Adorf and Gudrun Landgrebe, among others, then worked as an assistant director at Berlin's Friedrichstadtpalast and wrote a revue at the end of her career. Her last film role dates from 2016 in the remake of the fairy tale that many fans associate her with - but as a herb woman.