Barbara Valentin

Barbara Valentin (born Ursula Ledersteger; 15 December 1940 – 22 February 2002)^[1] was an Austrian actress. She worked in film, often with Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Barbara Valentin
Valentin, c. 1959
Born	Ursula Ledersteger (1940-12-15)15 December 1940 Vienna, Nazi Germany
Died	22 February 2002(2002-02-22) (aged 61) Munich, Germany
Other names	Barbara Valentine
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1959–2001

Biography

Valentin was born in 1940 as Ursula Ledersteger in Vienna, Austria (then part of Nazi Germany).^[2][3] Her father was the Austrian art director, Hans Ledersteger and her mother the actress, Irmgard Alberti. She had a half-brother, Alfred Ledersteger. She was married to German film director Helmut Dietl.^[2]

During the early to mid-1980s, Valentin was close friends with Freddie Mercury, who lived with her and her daughter together in her Munich apartment for some time.^[4][5] She is featured in the music video for the Queen song, It's a Hard Life.

During her career, Valentin was nicknamed "the German Jayne Mansfield".^[6]

On 22 February 2002, Valentin died of a stroke in Munich, Germany at the age of 61.^[6] She was buried in the Ostfriedhof in Munich, Germany.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1960	Horrors of Spider Island	Babs	Fritz Böttger	horror film
1961	The Girl with the Narrow Hips [de] (German: Das Mädchen mit den schmalen Hüften)	Beauty queen	Johannes Kai
	The Festival Girls	Valentine	Leigh Jason
	There Is Still Room in Hell [de] (German: In der Hölle ist noch Platz)	Janet	Ernst R. von Theumer [de]
1965	Our Man in Jamaica	Gloria	Ernst R. von Theumer [de]
1966	Call Girls of Frankfurt [de]	Sonja	Rolf Olsen
1967	Carmen, Baby	Dolores	Radley Metzger
1968	Der Partyphotograph [de]	Barbara	Hans Dieter Bove
	The Star Maker	Hotel maid	John Carr
1970	Love, Vampire Style [de]	Rosi	Helmut Förnbacher
1971	Furchtlose Flieger	Blondie	Veith von Fürstenberg, Martin Müller
1972	King, Queen, Knave	Optician	Jerzy Skolimowski
1973	World on a Wire (German: Welt am Draht)	Gloria Fromm	Rainer Werner Fassbinder[7]	TV film
1974	Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (German: Angst essen Seele auf)	Barbara	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	A film about an older German woman who enters an Arab bar where she meets and marries a younger man from Morocco.[3][8]
	Martha	Marianne	Rainer Werner Fassbinder[9]	TV film
	Effi Briest	Marietta Tripelli	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1975	Fox and His Friends (German: Faustrecht der Freiheit)	Max's wife	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1976	Bomber & Paganini [de]	Mona	Nikos Perakis
	An Isfahanian in the Land of Hitler [fa]		Nosratollah Vahdat
1977	Women in Hospital	Angelika's mother	Rolf Thiele
1978	Flaming Hearts	Karola Faber	Walter Bockmayer, Rolf Bührmann
1980	Berlin Alexanderplatz	Ida	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	15½-hour television adaptation of Alfred Döblin's epic 1929 novel[10]
1981	Lili Marleen	Eva	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
	Looping [de]	Helma	Walter Bockmayer, Rolf Bührmann
1984	Hell is in Heaven (German: Im Himmel ist die Hölle los)	Erika Schrillmann	Helmer von Lützelburg	Satirical film
1987	The Second Victory	Greta Mayer	Gerald Thomas
2000	Fassbinder's Women	Herself	Rosa von Praunheim

References

1. "Barbara Valentin, German actress". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
2. Bret, David (2014). Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Biography. ISBN 9781291819434.
3. Reimer, Robert C.; Reimer, Carol J. (2010). The A to Z of German Cinema. Plymouth, U.K.: Scarecrow Press. p. 300. ISBN 9781461731863.
4. Bardola, Nicola (2021). Mercury in München: Seine besten Jahre [Mercury in Munich: His best years]. Heyne Verlag. ISBN 978-3641276539.
5. Sechs Jahre hat Freddie Mercury in München gelebt - eine Spurensuche [Freddie Mercury lived in Munich for six years - a search for clues] (in German). Bayerischer Rundfunk. 4 October 2021. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022.
6. Lentz III, Harris M. (2003). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2002: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. p. 309. ISBN 0786414642 – via Google Books.
7. Lim, Dennis (10 April 2010). "A Bold Vision, Still Ahead of Its Time". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
8. "Angst essen Seele auf". Festival de Cannes (in French). Retrieved 30 August 2019.
9. Holden, Stephen (1994). "FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW; Fassbinder on the Painfully Tight Bonds of Marriage". Retrieved 23 November 2018.
10. "Screen: By Fassbinder, 'BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ'". The New York Times. 10 August 1983. Retrieved 23 November 2018.

External links

• Barbara Valentin at AllMovie
• Barbara Valentin at IMDb
• Barbara Valentin at Find a Grave