She was one of the great Fassbinder stars: The actress Margit Carstensen is dead. She died on Thursday at the age of 83 in a hospital in Heide (Schleswig-Holstein), as her agent announced, citing the family. In 2016 she was still on TV in “Tatort – What is worth living for”. In addition to Eva Mattes as Commissioner Klara Blum, she played a curious trio of old ladies with Irm Hermann and Hanna Schygulla, who become murderers for moral and ethical reasons.
Carstensen had lived a secluded life for many years. For a long time she could no longer take on roles because she was in poor health. For years, the heavy smoker had suffered from pulmonary emphysema, which made it difficult for her to breathe.
Cooperation with Fassbinder and Schlingensief
Carstensen grew up in Kiel. After studying acting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, she played on various stages, from 1965 to 1969 Carstensen belonged to the ensemble of the Hamburger Schauspielhaus. In 1969 she moved to Bremen, where she met the charismatic playwright and filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982). With him she made films such as “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” (1972), “Martha” (1974) and “Chinese Roulette” (1976).
Years of artistic collaboration also connected her with Christoph Schlingensief (1960-2010), in whose film “100 Years Adolf Hitler – The Last Hour in the Fuehrer Bunker” (1989) she embodied Magda Goebbels and in his media persiflage “Terror 2000” (1992 ) she played a detective. With the director Leander Haußmann she shot the ex-GDR comedy “Sonnenallee” (1999). In 2019 she was honored in Berlin with the Götz George Prize for her life’s work.