Cornelia Froboess

Cornelia Froboess (born 28 October 1943) is a German actress and a teen idol of the 1950s and early 1960s. During that time, Froboess appeared in many West German and Austrian musical films, especially after the rock and roll wave had hit Germany. In those comedy films, she would often portray the typical  (brat from [West] Berlin) who craves independence from her strict parents.

Career
As Die Kleine Cornelia she had her first hit record in 1951, aged eight, with a song written by her father. "" (Pack your swimsuit") is a cheery tune about a group of children going swimming on a hot summer's day at Wannsee. The title of the song has become a set phrase and synonym for going swimming easily recognized even by speakers of German who have never heard of the song. As she grew she recorded as Conny then Conny Froboess

In 1962, Froboess finished in sixth place at the Eurovision Song Contest, where she sang "" (Two little Italians) for Germany. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The same year she appeared as herself in Jean Renoir's comedy film The Elusive Corporal.

Later, Froboess became a theatre and movie actress. In 1982, she appeared in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film Veronika Voss. In 1988 she played Marthe Schwerdtlein in Goethe's Faust I, a performance that was also released as a film: Faust – Vom Himmel durch die Welt zur Hölle. In 1997 Froboess played the mother of the protagonist Martin Brest (Til Schweiger) in the film Knockin' on Heaven's Door. On stage, she appeared in Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm in 1976, staged by Dieter Dorn, and played Ellida in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea in 1990. At the Salzburg Festival 2004, she played Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. The same year she played the title role in Bertolt Brecht's play Mother Courage and Her Children.

Selected filmography

 The Sinful Border (1951)
 Ideal Woman Sought (1952)
 Three Days of Fear (1952)
 The Big Star Parade (1954)
 Conny and Peter Make Music (1960)
 Mariandl (1961)
 My Husband, the Economic Miracle (1961)
 The Bird Seller (1962)
  (1963)
 Rheinsberg (1967)
 Crazy - Completely Mad (1973)
 Derrick – Season 4, episode 8: "Via Bangkok" (1977)
 Derrick – Season 5, episode 12: "Ute und Manuela" (1978)
 Derrick – Season 9, episode 2: "Eine Falle für Derrick" (1982)
 Veronika Voss (1982)
  (1986)
  (1988)
  (1994, TV film)
 Windstorm (2013) and  (2015)

Awards
1962: Goldene Schallplatte
1968: 
1985: Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
1990: 
1994: Bavarian Film Award

References

External links

 

Category:1943 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Wriezen
Category:People from the Province of Brandenburg 
Category:German film actresses
Category:German television actresses
Category:German stage actresses
Category:20th-century German actresses
Category:21st-century German actresses
Category:German female singers
Category:Schlager musicians
Category:German Eurovision Song Contest entrants
Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1962
Category:Members of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
Category:Members of the Academy of the Arts, Berlin
Category:Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Category:Recipients of the Bavarian Order of Merit