Austrian postcard by Austriapost, Wien, no. 396. Photo: Arion Film-Verleih. Lonny Kellner is written on the postcard as Loni (sic) Kellner.
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 678. Photo: Arthur Grimm / BBF-Nordfilm / Allianz. Lonny Kellner in Das ideale Brautpaar/The ideal bride and groom (Robert A. Stemmle, 1954).
Reaching the top ranks of the US charts
Lonny Kellner was born in 1930 in Remscheid, Germany. Lonny grew up in Remscheid, took acting lessons after her school education and began studying singing.
Her first roles followed at the Bonn Stadttheater and then at the Westfälisches Landestheater in classics such as 'Minna von Barnhelm' by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, 'Scampolo' by Dario Niccodemi and 'Die versunkene Glocke' (The Sunken Bell) by Gerhart Hauptmann.
In 1948, through the recommendation of colleagues, she performed a few Schlager songs at the NWDR radio station in Cologne. She made her debut with the songs 'Wenn ich dich seh', dann fange ich zu träumen an' and 'Gib mir einen Kuss durchs Telefon'. Cabaret shows, radio plays and orchestral recordings for many radio stations soon followed.
She sang her first big hits 'Im Hafen von Adano' and 'La-Le-Lu' as a duet with René Carol. In 1952 Kellner made her first film appearance as a pop singer with the song 'Manhattan-Boogie' in the West German musical drama Königin der Arena/Queen of the Arena (Rolf Meyer, 1952) starring Maria Litto. This was followed by the films Tanzende Sterne/Dancing Stars (Géza von Cziffra, 1952) starring Germaine Damar, Die Blume von Hawaii/The Flower of Hawaii (Géza von Cziffra, 1953), Geld aus der Luft/Money from the Air (Géza von Cziffra, 1954) starring Josef Meinrad.
She co-starred in Keine Angst vor Schwiegermüttern/Don't Worry About Your Mother-in-Law (Erich Engels, 1954) with Grethe Weiser as her mother, Das ideale Brautpaar/The Perfect Couple (Robert A. Stemmle, 1954), and Auf Wiedersehen am Bodensee/I'll See You at Lake Constance (Hans Albin, 1956). She achieved great success with such film songs as 'So ein Tag, so wunderschön wie heute' and 'Du, du, lass mein kleines Herz in Ruh'. She even managed to reach the top ranks of the US charts.
German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1127. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Fono / Deutsche London. Lonny Kellner and Claus Biederstaedt in Keine Angst vor Schwiegermüttern/No fear of mothers-in-law (Erich Engels, 1954).
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1300. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Fono / Deutsche London. Lonny Kellner and Claus Biederstaedt in Keine Angst vor Schwiegermüttern/No fear of mothers-in-law (Erich Engels, 1954).
Peter Frankenfeld
In 1956, Lonny Kellner turned down a career in the United States to marry entertainer Peter Frankenfeld, whom she had met on a joint tour. Max Schmeling and his wife Anny Ondra were witnesses at the wedding. The violinist Helmut Zacharias played 'Lullaby of Birdland'.
Frankenfeld adopted her son Thomas, born in 1951, from a previous relationship. After their marriage, Lonny Kellner-Frankenfeld and Peter Frankenfeld stood together more often in front of cameras and microphones and did shows and tours together.
The couple set up a recording studio in their house in Wedel, Holstein, where they produced sketches for radio and TV programmes such as the duets 'Bum-Budi-Bum' and 'Ich bin der Herr im Haus'. She completed an apprenticeship so that she could also work for Frankenfeld as a quasi-secretary.
After Frankenfeld's unexpected death in 1979, Kellner-Frankenfeld worked as an actress again. She appeared in 39 episodes of the family series Unsere Hagenbecks/Our Hagenbecks (1991-1994) and made guest appearances in the ZDF series Das Traumschiff/The Dream Ship (1983-1987). She also played leading roles in Ein unvergessliches Wochenende/An unforgettable weekend, an episode of the TV series Großstadtrevier/Big city district (2001) and in two episodes of Heimatgeschichten/Home stories (1998-2003).
Her last film role was in the romantic comedy Otto - Der Liebesfilm/Otto - The love film (Otto Waalkes, Bernd Eilert, 1992) starring Otto Waalkes. In memory of Frankenfeld, she endowed the Peter Frankenfeld Award for artistic versatility and humanitarian commitment in 2000. Lonny Kellner died of bone cancer in 2003 in Hamburg, Germany, at 72. Her first husband was Werner Labriga.
German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 793. Photo: Arthur Grimm / BBF-Nordfilm / Allianz. Lonny Kellner in Das ideale Brautpaar/The ideal bride and groom (Robert A. Stemmle, 1954).
Sources: Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.
No comments:
Post a Comment