She became known as the nation’s sweetheart; on her 80th birthday, Uschi Glas now says: “I was never a sweetheart” – and provides convincing evidence of this in her biography.
An almost striptease in front of police officers in the film classic “To the Matter, Sweetheart” made her famous, and from then on Uschi Glas was something like the nation’s sweetheart. Now she’s 80 and says: “I was never a sweetheart.” That’s the title of her biography, which was published on Wednesday, shortly before her special day this Saturday (March 2nd).
And in the book she provides convincing evidence for her claim: “I didn’t want to belong to anyone, to any country, to any movement, or to any man,” she writes. “I never wanted to fall into step just because everyone else was doing something the same way.” Her book is based on an unconditional striving for independence and freedom. “My book is a lot about contradiction, respect and independence. When I look back, these three – I’ll call them – values were and are very central in my life,” she says in an interview with the German Press Agency in Munich.
She stood behind her values from an early age
Even as a girl, Uschi Glas was terrified that her mother had no money of her own and was financially dependent on her husband. “It was clear to me: I don’t want that,” she says. “Of course it was also the case with us that my father said: ‘Why do you want to learn anything at all? You’re getting married at 24, you’re pretty.” Oh, help! No, no!”
When many of her colleagues undressed in front of the camera in the 1960s and 1970s, Glas stuck to her strict no to it; when all the artists drummed for Willy Brandt, she demonstratively didn’t do it. And at a time when this was anything but commonplace, she didn’t want to marry her first husband at all, not even after their son was born.
From the screen to the evening program
Glas’s career actually started quite differently – as a legal secretary in Munich, where the native of Lower Bavaria moved to when she was 20. At a premiere party she recommended herself to producer Horst Wendtland as an acting candidate – and got her first role in the Edgar Wallace film “The Uncanny Monk”. In 1966 she was “the half-blood Apanatschi” alongside Pierre Brice as Winnetou.
She took acting lessons, fought her way through – and then came the legendary scene as Barbara at the police station. She made film history with “To the Matter, Darling” – in black and white, because the budget at the time wasn’t enough for a color film.
With films like the “Lout from the First Bank” series, it was more of a lighter muse. From the mid-1970s onwards, Glas was seen more often on television than on the big screen, playing in various crime novels and Rosamunde Pilcher episodes . She once went to Thailand on the ZDF “Dream Ship”. She prefaced her book with a quote from her close friend and colleague Elmar Wepper, who died in October last year and who played a married couple with the glass for years in the series “Two Münchner in Hamburg”. It says: “What matters is what you do with your life. And love, my friend, it is the most important thing.”
Down-to-earthness as the secret of success
Glas’s great feat: She managed everything without major scandals, without airs and graces, without anyone publicly saying too bad a word about the down-to-earth Bavarian. Shortly before her special day, Helga-Ursula Glas-Hermann, as the actress’s full name is, was awarded the Bavarian Constitutional Order 2023 – “for her many years of social commitment, especially for children,” as the state parliament announced.
Her great commitment also goes to her association “brotZeit”, which offers free school breakfast. And since she made her big cinema comeback as the burnout-stricken teacher Leimbach-Knorr in Bora Dagtekin’s “Fack ju Göhte” trilogy, the students have even recognized her as a celebrity – and not just as a grandma who brings the food, like Glass says.
Stumbling blocks are a thing of the past
All in all, there is no question that the mother of three children has had a picture-perfect career – even if there were one or two stumbling blocks lurking in her private life. For a while, her son Ben Tewaag regularly made headlines that a mother wouldn’t want to read. It was just announced that he would be taking part in the “Battle of the Reality Stars” on RTL II this year.
And Uschi Glas’s first husband cheated on her with a younger woman. It was the first and only time that Glas really came out in public and showed what kind of temperament the neat, friendly lady has: “I’m not just standing around at home like a piece of furniture while he goes out chatting in the evenings.” And then there was the matter of her skin cream, which Stiftung Warentest didn’t like. Now all of this is yesterday’s news.
“I am happy and grateful to have reached my old age – in good health. I see no reason to hide the fact that I am 80,” writes Glas in her book. Their standard answer to those who have a problem with getting older is: “Then you’ll just have to die first.”
Information about the book
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.
