At the age of 83: actress Margit Carstensen died

She was one of them great Fassbinder stars: The actress Margit Carstensen is dead. She died on Thursday at the age of 83 in a hospital in Heide (Schleswig-Holstein), as her agent announced on Friday, citing the family.

Carstensen played at numerous theaters. Through her stage engagements, she came into contact with the director Rainer Werner Fassbinder in the 1970s and was given leading roles in his films.

Carstensen, who was born in Kiel on February 29, 1940, became known through the Fassbinder relationship drama “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” of 1972 and through her role in it Movie “Martha” at the side of Karlheinz Böhm in 1974.

Later she also acted in many other films, so she worked together with the director Christoph Schlingensief for many years. With the director Leander Haussmann, she shot, among other things, the Ex-GDR comedy “Sonnenallee” (1999). In 2019 she was awarded in Berlin with the Götz George Prize for her life’s work honored.

In 2016 she was still on TV in “Tatort – What is worth living for”. In addition to Eva Mattes as Commissioner Klara Blum, she played a curious trio of old ladies with Irm Hermann and Hanna Schygulla, who become murderers for moral and ethical reasons.

Carstensen lived in seclusion in a small village for many years near Heide (Schleswig-Holstein). For a long time she could no longer take on roles because she was in poor health. For years, the heavy smoker had suffered from pulmonary emphysema, which made it difficult for her to breathe. (dpa / AFP)