Margit Carstensen (29 February 1940 – 1 June 2023) was a German theatre and film actress, best known outside Germany for roles in the works of film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. She appeared in films of directors Christoph Schlingensief and Leander Haußmann and on television in Tatort.

Theater career
Carstensen, the daughter of a physician, was born and raised in the northern German city of Kiel. Upon graduation from the local high school in 1958 (Abitur), she studied acting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. This education led to her first stage appearances in Kleve, Heilbronn, Münster, and Braunschweig. In 1965, Carstensen began a four-year engagement with the Deutsches Schauspielhaus (German Playhouse) in Hamburg. There she played leading roles in plays by John Osborne and the classical Spanish playwright Lope de Vega.

In 1969, she gained a local profile for her work in the Theater am Goetheplatz in Bremen, where she first met director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. She then worked under his direction in a comedy by the 18th-century Venetian Carlo Goldoni, The Coffee Shop (which was recorded for television in 1970), bringing her national attention in West Germany. She subsequently played the role of serial murderess Geesche Gottfried in the premiere of Fassbinder's own play Bremen Freedom (also televised, in 1972), and then in the title role of his Henrik Ibsen adaptation Nora Helmer (televised in 1974) derived from A Doll's House.

From 1973 to 1976, Carstensen held a steady acting engagement in Darmstadt. In 1977, she moved to what was then West Berlin where she performed on the highly regarded Staatliche Schauspielbühnen. In 1982, she moved to Stuttgart in order to work with director Hansgünther Heyme, where she appeared in a series of plays directed by him. Over the years she also performed in many smaller roles on the most important of the German-language stages, for example making several appearances in the Munich Kammerspiele.

By the late 1980s, she had developed ongoing working relationships with German directors Werner Schroeter, Christoph Schlingensief, and Leander Haußmann. In 1995 she followed Haußmann to Bochum, in order to work with him there. For the 2003–04 season, Carstensen appeared in the Vienna Burgtheater, in the premiere of Elfriede Jelinek's play Bambiland under the direction of Schlingensief.

In 2008, she appeared in the Schauspielhaus Bochum (Playhouse Bochum), in Shakespeare's As You Like It.

Film and television
Carstensen is best known outside Germany for the many film and television productions of Rainer Werner Fassbinder in which she participated. She played leading roles in the Fassbinder films The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), her best-known role for Fassbinder; Martha (1974), with Karlheinz Böhm, analysing a traditional marriage in a contemporary setting; Fear of Fear (1975); Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven (1975); Satan's Brew (1976); Chinese Roulette (1976) and Women in New York (1977). She also appeared in individual episodes of two Fassbinder television productions: Eight Hours Don't Make a Day (1972), and Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980).

Carstensen also worked in international productions. In the fifth film made by Polish director Andrzej Żuławski, Possession (1981), a French-German coproduction, she performed together with Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill and Heinz Bennent. Four years later she worked with Polish-born director Agnieszka Holland on her film Angry Harvest (1985), together with Armin Mueller-Stahl. This film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Her artistic collaboration with director Christoph Schlingensief began with two of his film projects. In his 100 Years of Adolf Hitler: The Last Hour in the Führerbunker (1989), she played the part of Magda Goebbels. In his satirical political spoof Terror 2000: Germany Out of Control (1992), she played the role of a detective.

Carstensen appeared in films by directors such as Leander Haußmann (Sonnenallee, 1999); Romuald Karmakar (Manila, 2000); Chris Kraus (Scherbentanz, 2002, a role for which she won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Actress); Oskar Roehler (Agnes and His Brothers, 2004) and Detlev Buck (Hands off Mississippi, 2007).

During the 2007–08 season Carstensen assisted with the Austrian-German TV documentary Mr. Karl – A Person for People, directed by Kurt Mayer.

In 2016, she was still on television, appearing in the longrunning series Tatort.

Death
Carstensen died in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, on 1 June 2023, at age 83.

Awards
Carstensen received many awards in her career. Among these were the 1973 German Film Awards (Gold), for her acting in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and the 2002 Bavarian Film Award, for her acting in Scherbentanz. In 1972 she was chosen by the German Film Critics Guild as Best Actress of the Year. In 2019, she was awarded the  for her life's work.

Filmography
Source:

  (1970, TV film, based on a play by Carlo Goldoni), as Vittoria
  (1970, TV film), as Margarete
 Die Ahnfrau – Oratorium nach Franz Grillparzer (1971, TV film, based on a play by Franz Grillparzer), as Berta
 The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), as Petra von Kant
  (1972, TV film), as Geesche Gottfried
 Eight Hours Don't Make a Day: Oma und Gregor (1972, TV), as Housewife
 The Tenderness of Wolves (1973), as Mrs. Lindner
 World on a Wire (1973, TV film, based on the novel Simulacron-3), as Maya Schmidt-Gentner
  (1974, TV film, based on the play A Doll's House), as Nora Helmer
 Martha (1974, TV film, based on a story by Cornell Woolrich), as Martha
 Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven (1975), as Marianne Thälmann
 Fear of Fear (1975, TV film), as Margot
 Satan's Brew (1976), as Andrée
 Chinese Roulette (1976), as Ariane Christ
 Adolf and Marlene (1977), as Marlene
  (1977, TV film, based on the play The Women), as Sylvia Fowler
  (1978), as Miss Rosner
 The Third Generation (1979), as Petra Vielhaber
  (1979, TV film), as Mrs. Lukaschewski
 Berlin Alexanderplatz: Epilogue (1980, TV series, based on the novel Berlin Alexanderplatz), as Terah, Angel
 Possession (1981), as Margit Gluckmeister
 The Council of Love (1982, based on a play by Oskar Panizza), as Prosecutor
 The Roaring Fifties (1983, based on a novel by Johannes Mario Simmel), as Secretary
 An Ideal Husband (1984, TV film, based on the play An Ideal Husband), as Lady Markby
 Emilia Galotti (1984, TV film, based on the play Emilia Galotti), as Countess Orsina
 Angry Harvest (1985), as Eugenia
 Half of Love ( La Moitié de l'amour, 1985)
 100 Years of Adolf Hitler: The Last Hour in the Führerbunker (1989), as Magda Goebbels
 Underground (1989, TV film), as Krista/Tina
 Derrick (1991, TV series, episode "Wer bist du, Vater?"/"Who are you, Father?"), as Mrs. Hauser
 Terror 2000: Germany Out of Control (1992), as Margret
 Anwalt Abel (1997, TV series, episode "Das schmutzige Dutzend"), as Mrs. Nussbauer
 Gesche's Poison (1997), as Mrs. Timm
  (1997), as Margit
 Rider of the Flames (1998), as Mrs. von Proeck
 Sonnenallee (1999), as Direktorin
 John Gabriel Borkman (2000, TV film, based on the play John Gabriel Borkman), as Gunhild Borkman
  (2000), as Regine Görler
 The Fool and His Wife This Evening in Pancomedia (2002, TV film, based on a play by Botho Strauß)
  (2002), as Käthe
 Agnes and His Brothers (2004), as Roxy
 The Captain from Köpenick (2005, TV film, based on the play The Captain of Köpenick), as Marie Hoprecht
 It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. (2007), as Linda Barnes
  (2007), as Mrs. Strietzel
 Mr. Karl – A Person for People (2008, TV documentary)
  (2009, TV film)
 Finsterworld (2013), as Mrs. Sandberg
 Tatort (2016, TV series, episode "Wofür es sich zu leben lohnt"), as Margarethe Weißkopf

References

External links
 

1940 births
2023 deaths
Actors from Kiel
German film actresses
German stage actresses
Best Actress German Film Award winners
Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg alumni
20th-century German actresses
21st-century German actresses
German television actresses