He knew who Romy Schneider’s favorite waltzing partner was (Mario Adorf) – and what Gina Lollobrigida found disgusting about the film business (“crying in your own four walls, laughing in front of people”). Hardly any Austrian journalist was closer to the stars and starlets of film and entertainment art than Ludwig Heinrich. He reported for OÖN for decades. Luigi, as everyone called him, died yesterday in Vienna at the age of 80 after a serious illness. He leaves behind a grown daughter.
His world was premieres and premiere parties, film sets and interview suites. You could listen to his anecdotes about Tony Curtis, Udo Jürgens, Michael Douglas, Paula Wessely or Jack Nicholson for hours. Luigi never denounced, he described with verve and charm the small weaknesses and bigger stumbling blocks of those who stand in the light. He lived this professional ethos for more than 60 years on the glamor front. During what was always a long, enriching conversation with him, he laughingly rejected the suggestion to create a stage program from his memories: “I didn’t do anything on stage myself.”
The extremely well-read and opera enthusiast preferred encounters and conversations. Luigi declined to write reviews. He began his career at the daily newspaper “Express”, which was discontinued in 1971. After that, he also supplied the Kleine Zeitung and the Tiroler Tageszeitung in addition to the OÖN. “I believe in discipline and dedication. And I thank God that he was so good to me,” said Luciano Pavarotti in the OÖN interview with Heinrich. Sentences that could have come from himself. Luigi will be fondly remembered by all who knew him.
Source: Nachrichten
