Introduction
Ruth Drexel (14 July 1930, Vilshofen an der Donau, Lower Bavaria – 26 February 2009) was a German actress, director, and theatre director/manager. Her best-known role was as "Resi Berghammer" in the German television series, Der Bulle von Tölz, in which she played the mother of the eponymous cop. As of January 2006, she played the role in 58 episodes.
Life and career
Born in Vilshofen an der Donau, near Passau, Drexel trained as an actress in Munich, where she was also given her first engagement. She subsequently worked in Berlin (as a member of the Berliner Ensemble during 1955-56), Wuppertal, Darmstadt and Düsseldorf. She also appeared, to great critical acclaim, in new plays by Franz Xaver Kroetz and Felix Mitterer. In 1980, she co-founded the Tiroler Volksschauspiele in Telfs, Tyrol.
Drexel's early television work included Wedekind's Der Marquis von Keith (1962), a German adaptation of Shaw's Candida (1963), Frisch's Biedermann und die Brandstifter (1967), and Kroetz's Wildwechsel (Jail Bait), directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1973). She also put in guest appearances on Der Kommissar and Tatort.
Drexel was a member of the cast of the cult television series Münchner Geschichten (1974) and Zur Freiheit (1987). In 2005, she started a new television series, Agathe kann's nicht lassen, playing Agathe Heiland, an elderly sleuth modelled on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.
Selected filmography
- Mathias Kneissl (1970)
- The Marquise of O (1976)
- Derrick - Season 7, Episode 11: "Pricker" (1980)
- Derrick - Season 8, Episode 05: "Die Schwester" (1981)
Family
Ruth Drexel was married once, to Michael Adami. They had a daughter, Katharina Adami (b. 1956). Drexel had a second child, Cilli Drexel (b. 1975) by her long-time companion, actor Hans Brenner.
Death
Drexel's long-time companion, actor Hans Brenner, died in 1998. Until her own death from cancer in 2009, aged 78, Ruth Drexel lived in Feldkirchen, near Munich.