The German filmmaker Michael Verhoeven (“The White Rose”) is dead. The husband of actress Senta Berger died last Monday at the age of 85 after a short, serious illness, as the family announced to the German Press Agency in Munich on Friday.
“A world has been lost. It’s unimaginably painful.”said his son, the director and screenwriter Simon Verhoeven. Simon Verhoeven told the “Bild” newspaper that his father had already been buried.
He was all her happiness and she was his.
Simon Verhoeven about his parents’ marriage
In a few weeks, on July 13th, the director, producer and actor with great curiosity about life and other people would have turned 86 years old. A long time – and yet not as Verhoeven felt last summer on the occasion of his big birthday. “How short 85 years are and how rich and full my life was and is”he said at the time.
Claudia Roth pays tribute to Verhoeven’s work
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth paid tribute to the late director. With him “we are losing one of the most deserving directors Oeuvre is one of the most important and politically committed in post-war German history“, explained Roth on Friday in Berlin.
With his films, the director repeatedly dealt with socio-political questions and the National Socialist past, said Roth: “Michael Verhoeven was one of those courageous filmmakers who always appealed to the democratic conscience of our society. His haunting cinematic masterpieces provided important food for thought for the political development of our country.”
Verhoeven initially studied medicine
Verhoeven was born in Berlin in 1938 and grew up in Munich. His father was the director Paul Verhoeven, his mother was the actress Doris Kiesow. In addition to studying medicine and working as a doctor, Verhoeven worked as an actor in the 50s and 60s before he Started as a film director in the late 1960s.
He gained his first experiences as an actor, first in small plays, then in the 1950s in films such as “The Flying Classroom” or “The Drummer” with Heinz Rühmann.
Verhoeven shot serious and entertaining formats
His early film “pairings” received the Federal Film Prize. Later he filmed something like this “Found food” with Heinz Rühmann and Mario Adorf.
© IMAGO/Eventpress/Eventpress via www.imago-images.de
Verhoeven dealt intensively with National Socialism in his work, for example in the cinema “The White Rose” from 1982 about the resistance of Sophie Scholl and like-minded people.
Die Satire “The Terrible Girl” (1990), about attempts to cover up Nazi crimes, was nominated for an Oscar. The film about a schoolgirl during the Nazi era also received the British Academy Award.
Verhoeven also shot entertainment formats such as the ZDF series “Fast Gerdi” (1989) with his wife Senta as a Munich taxi driver. In 2016 he co-produced the successful comedy “Welcome to the Hartmanns” from 2016, which was directed by his son Simon. He also made television films such as “Land of Cockaigne” or „Mutters Courage“.
Verhoeven and Senta Berger married since 1966
Verhoeven and Berger had been married since 1966. In 1963, Berger and Verhoeven came together to film the comedy “Jack and Jenny,” which also included a kissing scene between the two. Their deep love would ultimately last more than 60 years.
© imago/United Archives/United Archives/Impress
In addition to his wife, Verhoeven also worked with his son Simon, who was the director of the hit film “Welcome to the Hartmanns” – his father was a co-producer of the film. Son Luca Verhoeven also works as an actor and producer.
Verhoeven most recently lived with Senta Berger in the Munich suburb of Grünwald. Berger once made it clear in an interview that married life was not always easy. “Everyday life wears on every couple, ridiculous little things keep coming up, even though you know you can’t change the other person.”
But that didn’t shake the foundations of the relationship. “We found each other. It seems we were meant for each other,” said Berger confidently. It seems that there was an open, warm atmosphere with a good culture of debate at home in Grünwald.
This is also suggested by Simon Verhoeven’s farewell words to his father: “He was our hero without ever wanting to be a hero. My mother and he walked their path together for over 60 years. He was all her happiness and she was his.“