# Christine Kaufmann

Christine Maria Kaufmann (German: ; 11 January 1945 – 28 March 2017) was a German-Austrian actress, author, and businesswoman. The daughter of a German father and a French mother, she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress for Town Without Pity in 1961, the first German to be so honoured.

## Life and career

Kaufmann was born in Lengdorf, Styria, Austria (then part of Nazi Germany). Her mother, Geneviève Kaufmann (née Gavaert), was a French make-up artist; her father, Johannes Kaufmann, was a German Luftwaffe officer and engineer.
Growing up in Munich, Bavaria, Kaufmann became a ballerina at the Munich Opera. She began her film career at the age of seven in The White Horse Inn (1952) and appeared as a lead actress in Der Schweigende Engel the same year, but gained big attention with Rose-Girl Resli in 1954. She achieved international recognition when she starred with Steve Reeves in The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) and with Kirk Douglas in Town Without Pity (1961). The following year she appeared in Escape from East Berlin and with future husband Tony Curtis in Taras Bulba.
Kaufmann resumed her career, which she had interrupted during her marriage with Curtis, notably with supporting roles in the Rainer Werner Fassbinder films Lili Marleen and Lola. She often worked with German director Helmut Dietl, for example in the satirical television series Monaco Franze. In 1987, she played a glamorous tattoo artist in the cult classic Bagdad Cafe, an offbeat comedy set in a desolate truck stop café and motel in the Mojave Desert. Her last role was Aunt Polly in the American film Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (2014), co-starring Jake T. Austin and Val Kilmer.
In her later years, Kaufmann was also a successful businesswoman; she promoted her own line of cosmetics products that sold well in Germany. From her 40s until her death, the media often called Kaufmann the "most beautiful grandmother in Germany". She wrote several books about beauty and health, as well as two autobiographies.

## Personal life

At age 18 in 1963, Kaufmann married her Taras Bulba co-star Tony Curtis. They had two daughters, Alexandra Theodora Dido Curtis (b. 19 July 1964) and Allegra Curtis (b. 11 July 1966). The couple divorced in 1968. Kaufmann married three more times: to television director Achim Lenz (1974–76), musician and actor Reno Eckstein (1979–1982) and illustrator Klaus Zey (1997–2011). On German television, Kaufmann admitted to having an affair with Warren Beatty.
Kaufmann enjoyed traveling. She moved from one place to another frequently. She spoke three languages: German, English, and French.
Kaufmann died of leukemia in Munich at age 72 on 28 March 2017, only a few days after she had been diagnosed with the disease.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1952 | Im Weißen Rössl | | Uncredited |
| 1953 | Prosecutor Corda | Berta Neidhart | |
| 1953 | Salto Mortale | Dascha | |
| 1953 | The Monastery's Hunter | Vronerl | |
| 1954 | Rose-Girl Resli | Resli | |
| 1954 | The Silent Angel | Angelika Helmer | |
| 1955 | When the Alpine Roses Bloom | Christine | |
| 1956 | Ein Herz schlägt für Erika | Erika Kayser | |
| 1956 | Die Stimme der Sehnsucht [de] | Eva | |
| 1957 | The Winemaker of Langenlois | Christl | |
| 1957 | Widower with Five Daughters | Ulla Scherzer | |
| 1958 | Mädchen in Uniform | Mia | |
| 1958 | Die singenden Engel von Tirol [de] | Evi Kramer | |
| 1958 | Embezzled Heaven | Doris | |
| 1959 | First Love | Silvia | |
| 1959 | Alle lieben Peter | Kitty Steiner | |
| 1959 | Winter Holidays | Florence | |
| 1959 | The Last Days of Pompeii | Elena / Ione | |
| 1960 | The Fabulous Fraud | Christine Wilkens | |
| 1960 | Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today | Gabriella Cocozza | |
| 1960 | Red Lips | Baby | |
| 1960 | The Last Pedestrian | Christine Cornelius | |
| 1961 | Constantine and the Cross | Livia | |
| 1961 | Town Without Pity | Karin Steinhof | |
| 1961 | Via Mala | Sylvia Lauretz | |
| 1961 | A Man Named Rocca | Geneviève Adé | |
| 1961 | The Phony American | Inge | |
| 1962 | Swordsman of Siena | Serenella Arconti | |
| 1962 | Escape from East Berlin | Erika Jurgens | |
| 1962 | Terror After Midnight | Julie Elgin | |
| 1962 | Taras Bulba | Natalia Dubrov | |
| 1964 | Wild and Wonderful | Giselle Ponchon | |
| 1969 | Love Birds [de] | La Contessa | |
| 1971 | Murders in the Rue Morgue | Madeleine Charron | |
| 1972 | The Death of Maria Malibran [fr] | | |
| 1973 | Willow Springs [fr] | Christine | |
| 1974 | Goodbye with Mums | | |
| 1975 | By Hook or by Crook | | |
| 1976 | As of Tomorrow | Vicky | |
| 1976 | Goldflocken [fr] | | |
| 1978 | Red Rings of Fear | Christina | |
| 1979 | It Can Only Get Worse | Violetta Schimpf | |
| 1980 | Egon Schiele: Excess and Punishment | Edith Harms | |
| 1981 | Lili Marleen | Miriam | |
| 1981 | Lola | Susi | |
| 1981 | Day of the Idiots | Ruth | |
| 1983 | Das Gold der Liebe | Patricias Mutter | Uncredited |
| 1983 | The Roaring Fifties | Natascha | |
| 1983 | Ziemlich weit weg | | |
| 1983 | The Swing | Mme. Lautenschlag | |
| 1983 | Pankow '95 | Laura Zart | |
| 1987 | Bagdad Cafe | Debby | |
| 1989 | The Story Teller | Clara Lilienthal | |
| 1989 | Hard to Be a God | Okana | |
| 1994 | The Knickerbocker Gang: The Talking Grave | Annie Kramer | |
| 1998 | Caipiranha | Karin Wolters | |
| 1998 | The Sleeper | Stationsleiterin | |
| 2002 | Haider lebt – 1. April 2021 | Newssprecherin | |
| 2011 | Fahr zur Hölle | Lilith | |
| 2014 | Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn | Aunt Polly | (final film role) |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1970 | Bend Sinister | Mariette | TV film |
| 1970 | Wie ein Blitz [de] | Diana Valesco | TV miniseries |
| 1971 | Gestrickte Spuren | Fanny Elßler | TV film |
| 1972 | Der Kommissar | Eva Raßner | "Traum eines Wahnsinnigen" |
| 1973 | Immobilien | Jasmin Strothmann | TV film |
| 1974 | Die Fälle des Herrn Konstantin | Gisela Pahl | "Der gußeiserne Buddha", "Bankdirektor Alba" |
| 1975 | Burning Daylight [de] | Margret 'Labiskwee' | "Vierauge" |
| 1977 | Derrick | Marion Kless | "Hals in der Schlinge" |
| 1978 | The Singers | Nina Huf | TV film |
| 1979 | Le comte de Monte-Cristo | Mme. Danglars | TV miniseries |
| 1979 | Joséphine ou la comédie des ambitions | Mme. Hosten-Lamothe | TV miniseries |
| 1979 | Der ganz normale Wahnsinn | Violetta Schimpf | "Drittes Kapitel", "Zweites Kapitel", "Sechstes Kapitel" |
| 1982 | Wonderful, Wonderful Times | Frau von Pachthofen | TV film |
| 1983 | Monaco Franze | Olga Behrens | Main role |
| 1983 | Inflation im Paradies | Laverne Schuhmann | TV film |
| 1987 | Die Insel | Margit | TV film |
| 1988 | Julius Caesar | Portia | TV film |
| 1990–1991 | Wenn das die Nachbarn wüßten | Kaufhausdirektorin | TV series |
| 1993 | Glückliche Reise | Felicitas von Feilitz | "Ibiza" |
| 1993 | Missione d'amore | Valery | TV miniseries |
| 1993 | Das Double | Jutta Eck | TV film |
| 1994 | Verliebt, verlobt, verheiratet | Maja Kunert | TV series |
| 1994 | Birkenhof & Lerchenau | Theres | TV film |
| 1995 | Stubbe – Von Fall zu Fall | Frau Jensen | "Stubbe sieht rot" |
| 1995 | Weihnachten mit Willy Wuff II – Eine Mama für Lieschen | Gräfin | TV film |
| 1996 | Balko | Frederike Kogel | "Ein Toter zuwenig" |
| 1997 | Parkhotel Stern | Oksana Olejewa | "Entscheidungen" |
| 1998 | A.S. [de] | Nadja Seewald | "Das Tier" |
| 1998 | Höllische Nachbarn [de] | Ingelore Merk | TV film |
| 1998 | Für alle Fälle Stefanie | Frau von Drossel | "Goldene Regeln" |
| 1999 | Einsatz Hamburg Süd | Frau Duenser | "Trau keinem!" |
| 2000 | SOKO München | Margit Finneisen | "Das Rendezvous" |
| 2003 | Club der Träume – Türkei, Marmaris | Adlaya | TV film |
| 2007 | Die ProSieben Märchenstunde | Tante Hortensie | "Aschenputtel – Für eine Handvoll Tauben" |
| 2008 | Im Namen des Gesetzes | Frau Meyer-Arndt | "Dunkle Ahnung" |
| 2008 | Love Trip Home | Marianne Forster | TV film |
| 2012 | Heiter bis tödlich – Fuchs und Gans | Diana Bootz | "Eierdiebe" |
| 2013 | Stille [de] | Adele Vio | TV film |
| 2013 | Tiere bis unters Dach | Frau von Werther | "Die Millionenkatze" |