Marika Kilius

Marika Kilius (1943) is a two-time Olympic silver medalist and two-time World champion in pair skating. She also appeared in German films, together with her skate partner Hans-Jürgen Bäumler.


Czech postcard by Pressfoto, no. S 12/2, 1964. Photo: Zdenek Havelka. Kilius and Bäumler won a Silver Medal at the IX Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck (1964).


With Hans-Jürgen Bäumler. German postcard by Alpiner Fotoverlag A. Blumenthal, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, no. 110, 1964.


With Hans-Jürgen Bäumler. German postcard by ISV, no. H. 115.


With Hans-Jürgen Bäumler. German promotion card by CBS.


German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Marina Bäumler.

German female athlete of the year

Marika Kilius was born in 1943 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She was the daughter of a hairdresser and at the age of 4, she already learned to skate.

Kilius began as a singles skater but picked up pairs very early. Her first partner was Franz Ningel. They placed fourth at the 1956 Olympics and won the silver medal at the 1957 World Championships. Kilius was still a child when she was paired with Ningel, who was more than six years her senior. By 1957 she had grown to be taller than he was, which caused problems on their lifts, so the team split.

For a time following her split with Ningel, Kilius competed in artistic roller skating as a singles skater. She was the World Roller Lady Champion in 1958. Meanwhile, in 1957, Kilius began skating with Hans-Jürgen Bäumler under the tutelage of Erich Zeller.

Between 1958 and 1964, Kilius and Bäumler won the German Championships four times, the European Championships six times and the World Championships two times. Their first World title, in 1963, followed the cancellation of the 1961 event due to the crash of Sabena Flight 548 and a collision during their performance at the 1962 World Figure Skating Championships that forced them to withdraw.

Marika Kilius was voted the German female athlete of the year in 1959.


Dutch postcard, no. 1162. Photo: CBS Grammafoonplaten.


Dutch postcard by Muziek Parade, Hilversum, no. AX 6092.


With Hans-Jürgen Bäumler. Dutch postcard by Uitg. en druk. 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. 6120.


German autograph card. Photo: Fritz Frischmann, 1964. Here, Marika Kilius performed in the Wiener Eisrevue in Luxembourg.


German promotion card by Hudora-Schlittschuhen (skates). Caption: Wir siegten auf Hudora (We won on Hudora).

Schlager singers

Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler also captured the silver medal at the Olympics twice, in 1960 and 1964. In 1966, it was alleged that the team had signed a professional skating contract before the 1964 Winter Olympics - against the rules at the time - and they were stripped of the medal.

In 1964 they had professionally skated for Holiday on Ice. The IOC dismissed the charges in 1987, reinstated the original results, and Kilius and Bäumler were re-awarded their silver medals. Both Kilius and Bäumler became singers of Schlagers, the German version of pop songs. Her debut single, 'Wenn die Cowboys träumen' (1964, When the Cowboys Dream), shot to number two in the German charts and spent four months in the top ten.

Also successful was her duet with Bäumler, 'Honeymoon in St. Tropez' (1964). Reportedly her skating was better than her singing and her voice was replaced by that of background singer Leonie Brückner. Further lightweight solo singles failed to maintain the momentum. That same year, Kilius suddenly married Werner Zahn, the son of a factory owner from Frankfurt am Main. This happened just before the premiere of the film Die große Kür/The Big Kür (Franz Antel, 1964) with Peter Kraus, in which director Franz Antel had wanted to present her and Bäumler as a new Traumpaar (romantic dream pair).

However, the film still became a huge success, and they made a sequel, Das große Glück/The Lucky Strike (Franz Antel, 1967) with Theo Lingen. They reunited for the comedy Einer spinnt immer/One Always Spins (Franz Antel, 1971) starring Georg Thomalla, in which they had cameo appearances. Kilius divorced Werner Zahn, and her second marriage, to American businessman Jake Orfield, also ended in a divorce. She has two children, Sascha and Melanie Schäfer, and two grandchildren.

In 2008 she and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler reunited as jury members for the German TV show Dancing on Ice. A year later she had a supporting part in the film comedy Rabentage/Ravens Days (Thomas Haaf, 2009) and she continues to appear regularly on TV. Marika Kilius introduced a cosmetics line, Beauty on Ice, in 2012, and in 2013, she presented her memoirs, Pirouettes des Lebens (Pirouettes of Life).


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. AX 5891. Photo: CBS-Schallplatten.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no AX 6160.


Vintage postcard. Photo: Schirner, Düsseldorf. Caption: Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler, World Ice-Skating Champions.


German autograph card by Cantor, Wiesbaden.


Marika Kilius sings 'Erst kam ein verliebter Blick' (1965, First Came A Lovely Glance). Source: Megayoyo1992 (YouTube).

Sources: Ready Steady Girls!, Marika Kilius Offical Website (Now defunct), Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 25 December 2024.

Hans-Jürgen Bäumler

German actor and singer Hans-Jürgen Bäumler (1942) started as a figure skater. Between 1958 and 1964 he and his skating partner Marika Kilius won the German nationals four times, they became six times European champions and twice World champions in pair skating.


German postcard by ISV, no. K 37. Photo: F. Schneider.


Czech postcard by Pressfoto, no. S 12/2, 1964. Photo: Zdenek Havelka. Kilius and Bäumler won a Silver Medal at the IX Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck (1964).


German promotion card by Hudora-Schlittschuhen (skates). Caption: Wir siegten auf Hudora (We won on Hudora).


German postcard by ISV, no. H. 115.


German promotion card by CBS.

Stripped

Hans-Jürgen Bäumler was born in Dachau, Germany, in 1942. Bäumler started figure skating at the age of eight. His ambitious mother, Anni Bäumler, moved with her son from his native town of Dachau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen after his primary school years. He had little contact with his father, who lived in Dachau, as he grew up. He joined SC Riessersee in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and was coached by Erich Zeller from the early 1950s. In 1954, Bäumler won his first national title as German junior champion, and a year later, at the age of 13, he beat the slightly younger Manfred Schnelldorfer in the Bavarian championships.

From 1956 to 1959, Bäumler managed to secure a podium place in men's solo figure skating at the German championships. At the time, he was the third-best German figure skater, behind Manfred Schnelldorfer and Tilo Gutzeit. He participated in the European championships from 1956 to 1958. His best result was sixth place. In addition, he skated solo in two world championships. In 1956, he scored 12th place and in 1958, 14th place.

He became famous in the pairs event with his skating partner Marika Kilius. In 1957 the two teamed up. With her, he became the German pair riding champion in 1958, 1959, 1963 and 1964. From 1959 to 1964, they became European champions six consecutive times. They won their first silver world championship medal in Colorado Springs (1959), behind Canadian pair Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul. In 1960, they won the bronze medal in Vancouver. In 1963, Kilius and Bäumler became world champions in Cortina d'Ampezzo and in 1964 in Dortmund. As a pair, they contested two Winter Olympics. In both Squaw Valley (1960) and Innsbruck (1964), they won the silver medal.

In 1964 they turned professional and both performed first at the Vienna Ice Revue and finally at Holiday on Ice. Both Hans-Jürgen and Marika also became singers of Schlagers (the German version of pop songs) in the mid-1960s. Their most successful duet was 'Honeymoon in St.Tropez' (1964). Bäumler's greatest solo hit was 'Wunderschönes fremdes Mädchen' (Wonderful Strange Girl) (1964).

The tabloids portrayed Kilius and Bäumler as "ice princess" and "ice prince" and accompanied their private life in detail with emotional, partly constructed headlines in the form of an "endless fairy tale". The fact that the athletes described as the "dream couple" did not become a couple in real life was met with great disappointment among their followers. In 1966 they were stripped of their silver medal which they had won at the Winter Olympics in 1964, while allegedly they had signed this contract prior to the 1964 Winter Olympics. They were rehabilitated in 1987 by the International Skating Union (ISU), the original result stood and they got their silver medals back.


Dutch postcard by Uitg. en druk. 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. 6120.


Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6091. Photo: Gofilex. Publicity still for Die grosse Kür/The Great Free Program (Franz Antel, 1964).


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freithoff, Essen, no. 878. Retail price: 10 Pfg.


German postcard by CBS.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. AX 6160.

Ice Operetta

From 1964 on, Hans-Jürgen Bäumler also worked as a film actor. His debut was the ice musical Die Große Kür/The Great Free Program (Franz Antel, 1964) with Marika Kilius.

In the 1960s he performed in a series of dramas and comedies like Ruf der Wälder/Call of the forests (Franz Antel, 1965) with Terence Hill, Die Liebesquelle/The love source (Ernst Hofbauer, 1965) and Das Sündige Dorf/The sinful village (Werner Jacobs, 1966).

Apart from these forgettable light entertainment films, he was seen on stage in the ice spectacle 'Eisoperette' (Ice Operetta) and in operettas like 'Im weißen Rössel' (The White Horse Inn) (1969) and 'Maske in Blau' (Mask in Blue) (1970).

He was also successful in the popular TV series Salto Mortale (1969-1972). In the mid-1970s he hosted several quiz shows on German television and between 1990 and 1993 he presented the TV show Riskant/Risky.

In the last decades, Hans-Jürgen Bäumler mainly worked as a theatre actor and appears on television in series like Kreuzfahrt ins Glück/Cruise into Happiness (2008), Unser Charly/Our Charly (2000-2012) and Dr. Klein (2019). In 2011, he was inducted into the German sport's Hall of Fame. With his wife Marina, he has two sons Christoph and Bastian. He and his wife live in Nice, in the south of France.


German signature card.


German signature card.


German signature card by ZDF. Photo: Kay Engels.

Sources: Wikipedia (English, German and Dutch) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 5 May 2023.