In her long career, Liselotte Pulver made several generations laugh. Today the actress turns an incredible 95 years old.
When the actress Liselotte Pulver (95), born on October 11, 1929 in Bern, Switzerland, finally celebrated her big breakthrough during the German economic miracle with films such as “I often think of Piroschka” (1955) or “The Wirtshaus im Spessart” (1958), She brought a lot of things that other actresses didn’t have to offer. In addition to a boyish manner that was new at the time, with which she slipped into numerous comedic “trouser roles”, it was above all her unmistakable laugh with which she played her way into the hearts of the audience, who were still reeling from the catastrophe of the previous world war.
Lilo’s birthday wishes: health and a million
It seems that even at the proud age of 95, she has not lost her zest for life and her refreshing sense of humor. In an interview with “Glückspost” in August 2024, she naturally answered the question of what she wanted most for her 95th birthday with a joke:
“What I wish for most is health – and a million!” She is “definitely” aiming for 100, “even more if possible.” The conditions for a few more years of laughter are pretty good. She doesn’t have any significant problems to complain about and is doing excellently in the elegant Burgerspittel retirement home in Bern, where she has lived for several years. She will celebrate her 95th on a smaller scale; she no longer wants as much hustle and bustle on her birthday as in previous years.
Laughing and wistful looks back at her career
Over the past few decades, Liselotte Pulver has repeatedly looked back on her long career in autobiographical books with titles such as “When You Still Laugh” (1990), “The Secret of My Laughter” (2004) and “Laughed in the Face of Life” (2017). . In these books, as well as in numerous interviews, the actress emphasized that there was one thing she still couldn’t laugh about.
This is about her missed opportunity for an international career at the end of the 1950s, which was opened up to her with offers for female lead roles in today’s US film classics such as “Ben Hur” (1959) and “El Cid” (1961). She had to turn down both offers with a heavy heart because she couldn’t get out of existing contracts for German film productions. Her role as the partner of film legend Charlton Heston (1923-2008) in the monumental film “El Cid” ultimately went to her colleague Sophia Loren (90). “Those were absolute blows, you could say,” admitted Lilo Pulver in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” in 2010. And added: “After those, it’s not so easy to get up again.”
Despite these setbacks, the Swiss actress did take part in a number of international productions, such as Douglas Sirk’s (1897-1987) Remarque film adaptation “Time to Live, Time to Die” (1958) or Billy Wilder’s (1909-2002) comedy “Eins , Two, Three” (1961), in which she embodied the blonde Miss Miracle “Miss Ingeborg” and performed an iconic saber dance in a polka dot dress on a table in front of Soviet agents. However, she was actually denied a really big Hollywood career.
Comeback on children’s television
From the 1970s onwards, Lilo Pulver was less and less present in the cinema and concentrated on smaller productions for German-language television. The fact that she is still known to a large fan base today is due not least to her participation in the German version of the children’s show “Sesame Street”, in which she played the ever-popular “Lilo” between 1978 and 1985 – and always used her unforgettable laugh brought.
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.
