Hildegard Knef: Chronology of her life 1990 – 2002
The author is not responsible for the correctness of the following information.
1990
March 1990:
• Reading of her own texts at
• Guest appearance in an episode of
the TV series Ein Schloss
am Wörthersee (shot in
Summer 1990:
Concert at
December 25 + 26, 1990:
Reading of her own texts at
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1991
January 1991:
Concert at a gay party event in
March 1991:
Guest star on the TV game show Alles nichts
oder?!; afterwards, the German tabloids speculate whether Knef is having an
alcohol problem.
April 1991:
Shooting in
August 15, 1991:
Guest of honour at the reopening of
the Babelsberg film studios.
• In
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1992
May 5, 1992:
On the TV programme Beziehungskiste,
Hildegard Knef and Paul von Schell talk frankly about their marriage.
May 10, 1992:
June 1992:
In
• A planned film version of a script
by Knef (working title: “Those Without Roots”) is shelved.
September 13, 1992:
12-part series Haus am See kicks
off on German TV – a hit with critics and audiences.
October 6, 1992:
On the TV programme Gottschalk
Late Night Knef announces that
November 1992:
Her first single in 5 years is
released, a new version of Für mich
soll's rote Rosen regnen with Knef as front singer of rock band
Extrabreit; the CD sells around 150,000 copies.
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1993
February 2, 1993:
On the TV show Ungelöste
Geheimnisse Knef talks about her paranormal experiences; a re-enactment
depicts the healing of her mysterious 1967 skin rash by spiritual healer
Gordon Turner.
February 1993:
Shooting takes place in the
March 1993:
The promotional video to Für mich soll`s roten Rosen regnen with
Extrabreit is produced in Hamburg.
March 25, 1993:
At
June 1993:
Shortly after the world première in
Berlin of the ill-fated musical “Sag mir wo die Blumen sind” (“Where Have All
The Flowers Gone”) on the life of Marlene Dietrich, an accompanying CD single with 3 Knef songs is released; it’s her first collaboration with composer
Hans Hammerschmid – after a break of nearly 20 years (since the 1974 album Ich bin
den weiten Weg gegangen).
July 1993:
Knef goes on detox to get rid of
her morphine addiction; for 4 ½ months, she retreats to a house in
Berlin-Kladow; in the months before, she subsisted on a so-called
“astronaut’s diet”, a liquid called “Fresubin”.
September 18, 1993:
Concert appearance at the “Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky” in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Late October 1993:
Knef is blackmailed anonymously and
gets police protection for her
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1994
May 5, 1994:
On the TV programme Gottschalk Late Night,
Knef announces that she has created a perfume to be distributed under her name,
but her plan is not realised.
September 1994:
Shooting takes place in
November 1994:
Almost 40 years after its recording,
Knef’s song from the filmThe Snows of
Kilimanjaro, Cole Porter’s Alles
war so leer/You Do Something To Me, sees its first release, on the CD Tonfilm-Schlager.
December 16, 1994:
Guest of honour at an AIDS benefit
concert at
December 1994:
Due to health problems, Knef and
her husband move from Munich to Berlin; after staying with friends, the
couple rents a suite at the Schweizerhof hotel (July 1995).
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1995
January 31, 1995:
For the TV documentary Der Wunderheiler,
Knef is treated by the controversial Romanian-Israeli spiritual healer
Valeriu Borgos; he manages to relieve her of chronic sinusitis and eye pains.
March 5, 1995:
Her last public appearance as a
singer, at the concert hall of broadcasting corporation SFB in Berlin,
accompanied by the RIAS big band, conducted by Jiggs Whigham; while several
months later the concert is broadcast on radio, it never sees a commercial
release.
• Dubbing work for the German
version of Disney’s animated picture Pocahontas; she also
records a song, Lausche mit dem Herz, released as CD single.
August 19, 1995:
In
September 23, 1995:
In Hamburg, première of the
feature-length documentary on her life and work, Für mich soll's rote Rosen
regnen; the film gets mixed reviews but is nonetheless nominated for the
prestigious Adolf Grimme TV Award; on October 4, the Berlin
première is celebrated with Knef as guest of honour at Wintergarten cabaret;
on October 19, she attends a screening in Leipzig where she
performs a couple of her songs.
October 1, 1995:
The city of
October 9, 1995:
Starring role in the TV feature Tödliches Erbe – also starring Horst Buchholz – that was
shot in
Autumn 1995:
Guest of honour at a retrospective
of her film work in
November 1995:
Accompanying the general release of
the documentary Für mich
soll's rote Rosen regnen, a soundtrack with
new studio recordings by Knef goes on sale in a 7-CD box set (assembling 120
of her old hits).
December 28, 1995:
Her 70 birthday party
at Schweizerhof hotel is overshadowed by a court decision ordering her to pay
a
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1996
January 4, 1996:
After a circulatory collapse,
Hildegard Knef is hospitalised in Berlin; she is suffering from double-sided pneumonia,
lies in coma for 4 days; doctors say her life has been in danger; a few days
later, she manages to give interviews to “B.Z.” newspaper and to TV gossip
show Brisant; she
admits to having earned around 35 million marks in her career but has now
accumulated a debt of DM 250,000 (Paul von Schell adds: “We are broke”);
famous actor-colleague Günter Pfitzmann publicly demands from her husband “to
get a job”; entertainer Harald Juhnke and singer Konstantin Wecker try
unsuccessfully to stage a benefit concert for her; due to her health problems
she has to cancel a role in the popular detective series “Tatort”.
January 1996:
While still in hospital, a reporter
hands over the trophy of the “B.Z.” award for artistic life achievement.
• A film project starring Knef
alongside Johnny Depp has to be cancelled.
January 1996:
In an interview for Spiegel-TV – recorded in December 1995 – Knef says, she would prefer directing a film
more than acting.
March 1996:
Knef moves from Schweizerhof hotel
to an apartment in
May 16, 1996:
In Babelsberg near
Summer 1996:
Plans for an album with new song
lyrics by Knef – in co-operaton with singer-songwriters Konstantin Wecker, Klaus
Hoffmann and Herman van Veen – fail due to her health problems and to
financial difficulties (a concert tour through
October 6, 1996:
Guest star on the Patrick-Lindner-Show on German TV channel ZDF.
October 26, 1996:
First recipient of the “Marlene
Award” for stage entertainment at
Early
November, 1996:
At
November 15, 1996:
In
December 5, 1996:
She attends – together with the
premier of the state of
December 9, 1996:
Press presentation at
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1997
February 12, 1997:
In
February 16, 1997:
At the opening of the
April 26, 1997:
Knef performs 3 songs on the TV
lottery show Die Goldene 1.
July 31, 1997:
In
September 1997:
Guest of honour at a gay and
lesbian autumn festival in
October 3. 1997:
Knef has to spend 3 weeks in a
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1998
May 1, 1998:
Knef and her husband move to an
apartment in the
• Hildegard Knef contributes to a
film (Leben mit
Krebs) by Deutsche Krebshilfe, a cancer charity group.
• Knef plays her last acting role,
in the Austrian film Eine fast
perfekte Hochzeit (shot in
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1999
February 4, 1999:
At
November 1999:
17 Millimeter is
released – her last album (and first studio album in 19 years); the CD is a
collaboration with jazz musician Till Brönner (they planned a follow-up) and
is awarded a prize as
November 9, 1999:
Her last TV appearance as a singer,
with Zum Schluss... (accompanied by
Till Brönner on trumpet), on the chat show Herman &
Tietjen.
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2000
• Health problems force Hildegard
Knef to cancel a role in the TV film production “Wie angelt man sich einen
Müllmann?”
January 30, 2000:
In
February 4, 2000:
Hospitalised in
March 1, 2000:
At the seat of the Axel Springer
publishing house in
March 9, 2000:
In a TV transmitted ceremony in
March 2000:
Guest of honour at the
Summer 2000:
Shooting takes place on the cruise
liner Queen Elizabeth II and in the
December 2000:
The founding of a charitable trust
to support research into lung emphysema – to be given Knef’s name – is
postponed.
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2001
January 26, 2001:
At
February 11, 2001:
In the presence of Hildegard Knef,
the documentary A Woman and a Half is premiered at the Berlin film
festival – her last public appearance in person; the film was intended for
cinemas but is later only aired on TV; an accompanying CD and a book are
released posthumously.
February 28, 2001:
Her manager, Thomas Jost, announces
that she is to revise 3 of her books for new editions (Der
geschenkte Gaul, Das
Urteil and So nicht);
he also announces 2 new albums and a CD single “sung in English, for all her
fans in Europe” – but those projects could not be realised.
May 2001:
Hildegard Knef suffers a critical
collapse of her lungs with kidney and liver failure; for 3 weeks she is in a
coma and she spends a total of 3 months in intensive care at Behring lung
clinic in Berlin-Wannsee; a part of her lung is surgically removed forcing
her to live with a permanent breathing apparatus; in July – while Knef is
still in hospital – her husband Paul organises the removal to her last
residence, an apartment in Kleinmachnow near Berlin, at Gradnauer Straße.
June 27, 2001:
Hildegard Knef officially regains
her German citizenship.
July 2, 2001:
The last musical recording in her
lifetime is released: Engel – a new version of a song by hard rock band Rammstein.
Summer 2001:
Founding of the “Hildegard Knef
Initiative” for the advancement of research into lung emphysema under the
auspices of Knef’s personal doctor, Professor Robert Loddenkemper.
November 15, 2001:
In
November 2001:
Her friend David Richards dies of
AIDS-related complications, at age 44 (in February 2002, yellow press
magazine “Neue Post” claims that his death destroyed any remaining will to
live for Knef).
December 23, 2001:
In an interview with “Bild am Sonntag”
newspaper, she announces that for health reasons she “cannot carry on working
anymore”.
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2002
January 17, 2002:
Her last public appearance on TV:
an interview on the Johannes-B.-Kerner-Show in which she says, “I absolutely don’t feel like fighting anymore”.
January 31, 2002:
In the morning, Hildegard Knef is
found unconscious and is rushed to the Behring lung clinic in Berlin-Wannsee.
February 1, 2002:
At around 2 o’clock a.m., Hildegard Knef dies of acute pneumonia. German federal president Johannes Rau and chancellor Gerhard Schröder express their deep shock and offer their condolences to the widower; Schröder: “She always knew how to get to the heart of her audiences – not only in Germany”. February 2, 2002: A book of condolences is placed at Berlin 's city hall signed by 1,500 people within a couple of days. February 7, 2002: The official funeral service takes place at Berlin 's Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church; the eulogy is delivered by Klaus Wowereit, the Governing Mayor of the capital; the ceremony is accompanied by musical offerings by Kai Rautenberg and Till Brönner; in the afternoon, Knef is buried at the Waldfriedhof in Berlin-Zehlendorf (the plot is financed by the senate of Berlin ). September 25, 2002: The tombstone – designed by her widower Paul von Schell – is erected at her grave.
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