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Born on October 28, 1943 in Wrietzen an der Oder Cornelia Froboess is only seven years old when coming to early fame as a singer: In the middle of the year 1951 she performs for the RIAS-radio show "Mach mit" live at the Berlin Titania-Palast the song "Pack die Badehose ein" – originally composed for the Schöneberger Sängerknaben.
She is celebrated as the incarnation of the "Berlin brat" and is becoming the first child star of post-war Germany. Her fans are enthralled by her numerous disc recordings and concerts. Her stardom is accompanied by first film appearances, e.g. her first motion picture "Sündige Grenze" (1951) about a band of juvenile smugglers or the music film "Große Star-Parade" (1954).
As a teenager – now called Conny – her star rises even more with popular music films. At the end of the 1950s she and Peter Kraus are celebrated as the juvenile dream couple of West German film. Movies like "Wenn die Conny mit dem Peter... (Teenager-Melodie)" (1958) and "Conny und Peter machen Musik" (1960) do already promote their stars in their very title.
From the middle of the 1960s on Cornelia Froboess more and more concentrates on a career as a stage actress. 1963 she can be seen on stage at the Salzburger Landestheater, afterwards she works for many different theatres including the Staatstheater Braunschweig, the Berlin Schillertheater, the Deutsche Schauspielhaus in Hamburg and the Vienna Burgtheater. The award-winning Froboess becomes one of the most renowned stage actresses of Germany.
In 1972 she is hired by the Munich Kammerspiele an plays the part of Marthe Schwertlein in the much debated production of "Faust", directed by Dieter Dorn, that is also adapted on film and opens in 1988 in German cinemas. In the 1980s Cornelia Froboess returns to the movies again and at the same time is seen on TV regularly.
Her many talents are shown in a broad range of productions: She stars in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss" ("Veronika Voss", 1981/82) as well as the unexpected smash hit "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" (1997) or the popular children's film "Die wilden Kerle" ("The Wild Soccer Bunch", 2003).
After a leading role as a resourceful grandmother in the highly acclaimed children's film "Villa Henriette" (2004), Froboess took a break from acting for several years. It wasn't until 2010 that she appeared in a feature film again. She starred alongside Rosemarie Fendel in Margarethe von Trotta's psycho-thriller "Die Schwestern" (TV), playing an elderly woman whose close relationship with her sister is put to the test by the arrival of a mysterious man (Matthias Habich).
Also in 2011 and again with Habich as her partner, she portrayed a nun in the TV drama "Eine halbe Ewigkeit" who unexpectedly comes face to face with her great teenage love. In the same year, Froboess appeared on stage as Countess Helena in Dieter Dorn's production of "Das Käthchen von Heilbronn" at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel. On the big screen, Froboess made her comeback in 2013 with a leading role in Katja von Garnier's adaptation of the bestseller "Ostwind" ("Windstorm"). In the movie, she played the strict grandmother of the teenage protagonist.
She continued this role in the film's four sequels from 2015 to 2021. In addition, she appeared in television productions, such as a crime writer in the "Tatort" episode "Wendehammer" (2016), a grandmother in the Christmas film "Ein Lächeln nachts um vier" (2017), and the title role in the modern fairy tale adaptation "Frau Holles Garten" (2019).
In 2021, Conny Froboess received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Romy Awards in Austria and the German Screen Award for her contribution to the world of acting.