Johanna von Koczian is dead: actress died at the age of 90

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Actress Johanna von Koczian

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Arthur Grimm/United Archives/Getty Images

The actress Johanna von Koczian is dead. She fell asleep peacefully in Berlin surrounded by her family on Tuesday at the age of 90, her former agent told the German Press Agency on Thursday, citing the family. Johanna von Koczian became famous in the 1970s with the song “The Little Household,” one of the biggest hits of that time.

She appeared with it in the “Hit Parade” and Dieter Thomas Heck swept the show steps. But her career, which spanned more than 60 years, was much more than just one song about the household and “a little bit of ironing.” The actress was considered “the German Audrey Hepburn” and had already appeared on stage under Gustaf Gründgens.

Their spectrum ranged from Kleist, Shakespeare and Lessing to “Praxis Bülowbogen” and “In aller Friendship”. She wrote books and presented television shows (“Do You Recognize the Melody?”). At the age of 77, she achieved success in 2010 at Berlin's Kudamm Theater, where the trained soprano played the "worst opera singer in the world" in the comedy "Glorious!" The audience laughed in tears.

Awarded the Federal Film Prize

She was trained at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and played there at the Salzburg Festival. Von Koczian began her film career in 1957 with the comedy “Viktor und Viktoria”. Her breakthrough came a year later in Kurt Hoffmann's "We Wunderkinder" alongside Hansjörg Felmy, and she was awarded the Federal Film Prize for her role.

Her stations included the Residenztheater in Munich and the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna. The mother of one daughter was married to the music producer Wolfgang Kabitzky, who died in 2004, for almost 40 years.

Johanna von Koczian last lived in a Berlin senior citizens' facility and withdrew from the public several years ago for health reasons.

ipp/dpa