Child star, pop star, established theater great: Cornelia Froboess shaped the German entertainment landscape. Now the “Pack the swimming trunks” singer is 80 years old.
As an artist, Cornelia Froboess always went her own way – and developed from a child star to a sought-after character actress. Their hit “Pack the swimming trunks” is likely to be part of the collective German musical memory. She liked to keep her private life out of the headlines. And so she celebrates her 80th birthday on Saturday (October 28th) in seclusion with her family and without fanfare. Cornelia Froboess didn’t have time for an interview on this occasion. She is away, as she wrote to the German Press Agency.
The daughter of a composer, who was born in Wriezen on the Oder, had a lot to tell: anecdotes and experiences from over six decades in the entertainment industry. After all, at the age of seven she was already standing on a Berlin stage as “little Cornelia” to sing “Pack the Swimming Trunks” composed by her father.
It was her first hit – and the start of a long, artistic career: child star, “Berlin brat”, teenage dream couple with Peter Kraus, the “German Elvis”. Then: Star of many light, shallow music films (including “The Model Boy” with Peter Alexander) and, now known as Conny Froboess, reliable supplier of hits from the ideal world genre (“Two Little Italians”, “Lady Sunshine and Mr .Moon”).
Conny became Cornelia
Things could have easily continued like this for some time for the lively artist. But she wanted more. More depth, more quality, more demands. So Conny soon became Cornelia and instead of offering light entertainment, she made her mark on sophisticated TV and cinema films (including Fassbinder’s “The Longing of Veronika Voss”) and countless theater performances.
The artistic turn was necessary and probably unavoidable for her. “I don’t believe in being able to make up for what I’ve missed,” she said in an earlier interview with the German Press Agency. “You can set off for new ways of life. But we’ll find out whether that makes you happier.” She found out – and it looks like the countless theater performances have made her quite happy. “The theater was a dream for me,” she said.
After her acting lessons with Marlise Ludwig in Berlin, she got her first engagement at the Salzburg State Theater. Slipping into other roles became her professional life’s purpose: Lessing’s Minna, Wedekind’s Lulu, Brecht’s mother Courage – Froboess has played almost all of the major female roles in German theater. From 1972 to 2001 she was a permanent member of the ensemble at the Munich Kammerspiele and then moved to the Bavarian State Theater together with her director and friend Dieter Dorn.
Occasional television appearances
She found her artistic and private home in Bavaria, where she still lives today. At her side until his death in 2022 was the director and artistic director Hellmuth Matiasek, with whom she had been married since 1967 and has two children.
Even though Cornelia Froboess has taken things a little quieter in recent years, she still occasionally appears on television – for example in the “Ostwind” series, in “Grandma rips them all off” or in a crime scene. The artist was also a member of the Berlinale jury in 2010 and has received numerous awards, including the German Honorary Acting Prize for her life’s work in 2021.
Cornelia Froboess – Baumbauer acting agency
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
