German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/381. Photo: Lothar Winkler.
Ambitious stenotypist
Heidelinde Weis was born in Villach, Austria, in 1940. She was the daughter of a mercenary’s employee and she studied at a commercial school. At 14, she played the title role in an adaptation of the fairy tale 'Hans im Glück' (Hans in the Fortune) at the Österreichischen Schulbühne (Austrian School Theatre).
After her acting studies at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Wien (Vienna) in 1957-1958, she became a company member of the Wiener Theater in der Josefstadt from 1959 to 1960.
She made her film debut as an ambitious stenotypist opposite Hans Söhnker in Ich heirate Herrn Direktor/I Marry the Managing Director (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1960).
In real life, she married theatre producer Hellmuth Duna in 1960. From then on she toured often with his theatre company. Between 1962 and 1981 she also did guest performances, amongst others at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm, in Hamburg, Düsseldorf and at Theater in der Brienner Straße in München.
She was very successful in 'Colombe' by Jean Anouilh (also adapted for TV by Hans-Dieter Schwarze in 1965), and as Isabella in 'Maß für Maß' (Measure for Measure) and Olivia in 'Was ihr wollt' (As You Like It) by William Shakespeare. The latter was also filmed as Was Ihr wollt/As You Like It (Franz Peter Wirth, 1962). At the Salzburger Festspielen, she later played Rosetta in 'Leonce und Lena'(Leonce and Lena) (1976) and the countess in 'Der tolle Tag or Figaros Hochzeit' (1978).
West German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Constantin / Mangold. Heidelinde Weis in Der Lügner und die Nonne/The Liar and the Nun (Rolf Thiele, 1967).
German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Hamburg. Photo: Wolfgang Pirker.
Attractive corpse
In the cinema, Heidelinde Weis had her breakthrough as the attractive corpse in Die Tote von Beverly Hills/The Corpse of Beverly Hills (Michael Pfleghar, 1964). The thriller, based on a bestseller by Curt Goetz, won the Technical Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Next, she appeared opposite child star Hansi Kraus in the comedy Lausbubengeschichten/Tales of a Young Scamp (Helmut Käutner, 1964) based on Ludwig Thoma, and in the sequels Tante Frieda - Neue Lausbubengeschichten/Aunt Frieda – New Tales of a Young Scamp (Werner Jacobs, 1965) with Elisabeth Flickenschildt, and Onkel Filser - Allerneueste Lausbubengeschichten/Uncle Filser – Brand New Tales of a Young Scamp (Werner Jacobs, 1966) with Michl Lang.
She played the title role in the biographical costume drama Liselotte von der Pfalz (Kurt Hoffmann, 1966). Other films were the James Bond spoof Serenade for Two Spies (Michael Pfleghar, 1966) with Tony Kendall, the comedy Der Lügner und die Nonne/The Liar and the Nun (Rolf Thiele, 1967) with Curd Jürgens, and the anthology film Der Paukenspieler/The Tympanist (Volker Schlöndorf, a.o., 1967) with Hans Kraus.
She also played in the British drama The Man Outside (Samuel Gallu, 1967) with Van Heflin and she appeared opposite Angela Lansbury and Michael York in Something for Everyone (Harold Prince, 1970).
West German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Ina Bernels, München.
West German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Roberto Ferrantini.
Guest starring
At the end of the 1960s, Heidelinde Weis started to focus on television. She appeared in a double role in the German miniseries Die Frau in Weiß/The Woman in White (Wilhelm Semmelroth, 1971), an adaptation of the classic mystery novel by Wilkie Collins.
In the following decades she did a lot of guest starring roles in popular Krimi series like Der Kommissar/The Inspector (1972) with Erik Ode, Derrick (1976-1988) with Horst Tappert, Der Alte/The Old Fox (1977-2002) with Michael Ande, Krimistunde/Crime Hour (1983) with Paul Dahlke, and Ein Fall für zwei/A Case for Two (1982) with Claus Theo Gärtner.
In 1975 she recorded the LP 'So sing ich' (That’s How I Sing) with self-composed songs, for which she won the German record award Deutscher Schallplattenpreis in 1976. In 1977 she won the Goldene Kamera award. In the cinema, she was seen in the Yugoslavian production Gospodjica (Vojtech Jasný, 1980).
Because of the longtime illness of her husband, her appearances in the 1980s were rare. She played on TV in Die Erbin/The Heiress (Rolf von Sydow, 1982) and in the series Schwarzwaldklinik/The Black Forest Clinic (1985). After her husband’s death in 1998, she played and directed the stage play 'Nächstes Jahr, gleiche Zeit' (Same Time, Next Year), with Heiner Lauterbach. She also returned to the TV screen in e.g. the Rosamunde Pilcher TV film adaptation, Liebe im Spiel/Love in the Game (2004) and in series like the Krimi SOKO 5113 (2008) and Das Traumschiff/The Dream Ship (2008).
She survived both breast cancer (2010) and bladder cancer (2016). In 2022, she published an optimistic autobiography, entitled 'Das Beste kommt noch' (The Best is yet to come). Sadly, she passed away on 24 November 2023 in her hometown of Villach, Kärnten, at the age of 83.
Heidelinde Weis sings 'Superman' from the LP 'So sing ich' (1975). Source: DurianKPZ (YouTube)
Italian synchronized scenes from the Derrick episode Der Mann aus Kiel/The Man from Kiel (1982). The Italian voices add to the fun. Source: Derrickclub (YouTube).
Sources: I.S. Mowis (IMDb), Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-line - German), Wikipedia (German), AllMovie and IMDb.
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