“Red roses”
Wencke Myhre plays a guest role
Wencke Myhre as Jonna in “Rote Rosen”.
© ARD program directorate
Wencke Myhre can be seen in her “Rote Rosen” guest role as Aunt Jonna for the first time on Wednesday. Interesting facts about the pop singer.
The Norwegian pop singer Wencke Myhre (74) can be seen for the first time on Wednesday (December 8th) in her guest role in the telenovela “Rote Rosen” (Monday to Friday, 2:10 pm, the first). For ten episodes she will cause a lot of excitement as the humorous and chaotic “Aunt Jonna”: So her nephew, “Cheese Werner” (Dirk Hartkopf), ends up in the hospital right at the beginning. “I have to say that I recognized myself in her”, Myhre told NDR about her role. “That’s an aunt from Norway – a bit crazy aunt – who comes to visit her nephew. And yes, she breaks his leg on the first day,” she said with a laugh from the script.
And not only the artist seems to have had a lot of fun with the series project, her colleagues also raved: “The woman is 74 years old and has so much energy. I couldn’t have wished for a better aunt,” said her “nephew” Hartkopf. The Norwegian also needed said energy, because on the seven days of shooting she had to do a tight workload: “I get up at five in the morning,” she said.
First record deal as a teen
Wencke Myhre is one of the most popular pop singers of the 1970s and 1980s. She started her career when she was a teenager. She received her first record deal on her 13th birthday, having previously won the “Chat Noir” talent competition in Oslo (1960).
The all-rounder celebrated great success with songs in Norwegian, German, Swedish, Danish and English. She made catchy hits like “He has a bright red rubber boat” (1970). Wencke Myhre received her first gold record for “Gi meg en Cowboy til mann” (“I want ‘nen cowboy as a man”, 1963), which her Danish hit colleague Gitte Haenning (75) had sung before. In 1968 she reached the 6th place for Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest with her German-language title “Ein Hoch der Liebe”. In 1977 she was awarded the Golden Camera as the most popular female show star.
Federal Cross of Merit for the “Bridge between Norway and Germany”
A few days ago in November 2021, the artist received the Federal Cross of Merit from Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (65). During his state visit to Norway he said in his laudation: “Dear Ms. Myhre, your artistic work has been building a bridge between Norway and Germany since the 1960s. In both countries you are an icon and an ambassador of hearts.”
And another topic was important to the Federal President: how you deal with breast cancer. “You have also campaigned to ensure that cancer is no longer a taboo subject. Your own diagnosis eleven years ago ‘got you down to earth’, as you once described it yourself. Only a year later you are practically straight up from your radiation treatment went on stage and sang in front of 40,000 people. Dear Ms. Myhre, your courage to face life is also one of the dreams we carry within us, “said Steinmeier.
Christmas concerts and anniversaries
Wencke Myhre will celebrate her 75th birthday (February 15) in summer and autumn in 2022 with an extensive series of concerts. Her orchestra is led by the Swedish musician and musical star Anders Eljas (68), who has been her partner for many years after three marriages and four children. 2024 is also her 70th stage anniversary – she had her first public appearance together with her father and brother in Oslo in 1954.
Wencke Myhre told NDR about quitting: “If it’s no longer fun, I’ll quit. And when the audience – that’s my employer – when they say it.” But her fans obviously haven’t had enough of her yet, because they can look forward to lots of Christmas concerts in their home country.
Pop stars in the telenovela
Wencke Myhre is not the first pop star to be seen in a guest role in the telenovela “Rote Rosen”. Marianne Rosenberg (66, “He belongs to me”), Ex-Modern-Talking-Star Thomas Anders (58) and Jürgen Drews (76, “Ein Bett im Kornfeld”) played with them, Ex-Bro’Sis- Star Ross Anthony (47) played weather presenter Tony Frost.