Olympic skier, stuntman in a James Bond film and internationally successful businessman: Willy Bogner has seen a lot. Tomorrow, January 23, the athlete, entrepreneur and filmmaker will be 80 years old. And looks back on a life that brought him great success, but also a lot of suffering.
In terms of sport, Willy Bogner followed in the footsteps of his skiing-loving father at an early age. At 17 he was the first German to win the Lauberhorn race and later won several titles in slalom and combined. In 1960 and 1964 he competed in the Winter Olympics, but – like his father in 1936 – did not win a medal. “That’s perhaps the most interesting thing about sport – that you learn to lose,” says Bogner in an interview with Bavarian radio.
Bogner “invented” the wedge pants
In 1977, Willy Hermann Björn Bogner took over the management of the sports company founded by his father in 1932. He made the label with the big B in a circle as a trademark world-famous. The house of Bogner shaped fashion far beyond the edge of the piste – for example with the wedge pants, which became a hit in the 1950s. Bogner regularly dressed the German team at the Olympic Games.
In 2016 he gave up operational management after almost 40 years. Bogner discovered his passion for filming while he was still playing sports. His parents urged him to take care of the company – but Bogner found a way to link the business to his special passion.
For a long time he was considered one of the best ski camera people in the world. In the 1969 James Bond film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” he opened up new and spectacular perspectives for the audience when he drove backwards in front of the skiers with the camera on skis that were bent up at the back. He filmed action-packed scenes on a bobsleigh track, including for “Fire and Ice”: With the camera, he raced down the ice channel at high speed.
Recently he has hardly appeared in public. He will celebrate his birthday in private, Willy Bogner said on request. “I’m happy and grateful to be celebrating my 80s in the same year that our family business also celebrates its 90th anniversary,” he said. “It’s a good feeling to see your life’s work so successful and with a promising future.” He put it more casually on Bavarian Radio: “Everything’s okay, I would say.”
The many strokes of fate of Willy Bogner
- Five years ago Willy Bogner lost his beloved wife Sônia. Born in Brazil, she died in Munich in May 2017 at the age of 66 as a result of breast cancer. The couple was married for 44 years. Her death was not the first stroke of fate for Bogner.
- Already in 1964 the fashion designer had to cope with the loss of his partner. His girlfriend at the time, ski star Barbara Henneberger, died in an avalanche at the age of 23 – of all things while shooting one of Bogner’s ski films.
- Also with the offspring – Sônia and Willy Bogner adopted three children from their native Brazil – the two had to endure a lot of suffering. In 1984 Baby Maria-Isabell died on the flight to Munich, in 2005 the next blow: Adopted son Bernhard took his own life at the age of 17 – he hanged himself in the attic of the family villa in Munich.
Source: Nachrichten
