“For heaven’s sake”: mourning for ARD actress Karin Gregorek

Karin Gregorek became an actress by chance. After a career in East German film and television, a nun with weaknesses was her trademark in reunified Germany. She has now passed away at the age of 81.

She died in the night from Friday to Saturday in Berlin. Gregorek often appeared in supporting TV roles. The Berliner was known to a wide television audience as nun Felicitas Meier from the ARD ratings hit “Um Himmels Willen” (2002-2021). She was also very often in the ZDF family series “Tierarzt Dr. Engel” and also had appearances in the ARD thrillers “Polizeiruf 110” and “Tatort”.

Actress Karin Gregorek (81) is dead

Gregorek came to her profession as an actress more by chance, as she said in an interview: “When a friend went to Berlin to audition for the drama school, I just came with her. I was accepted, my girlfriend wasn’t,” she told the pharmacy magazine “Senioren Ratgeber” in 2019. At the time, her parents did not go down well with her career aspirations.

The actress, who was born in Mecklenburg, was already successful in theatre, film and television during the GDR era. Her first screen role was in the 1963 Defa film Christine, which was never completed due to the death of director Slatan Dudow during filming.

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In the decades that followed, she appeared again and again in film and television productions by Defa and DFF. As head nurse Walburga in Lothar Warneke’s drama “One carries the other’s burden…” she received the prize in the category “Best Supporting Actress” at the National Feature Film Festival of the GDR in 1988.

Her biggest hit with the public, with more than seven million viewers at times, was the long-running hit “Um Himmels Willen”, in which Gregorek had been involved since 2002. Felicitas Meier, the deputy superior of the Magdalen Order, was popular with various weaknesses: among other things, for tobacco, computer games, chocolate and poker.

“Oh Heaven’s Sake” was Gregorek’s greatest success

When Gregorek agreed to play the part of the nun in the ARD series, the habit also played a role for her: “I thought it would be faster in the make-up and wardrobe.” A mistake: the nuns would of course still be thoroughly made up. Despite the costume, she was recognized on the street. “It’s strange.” (dpa / mp)