“Winnetou’s sister”: Actress Marie Versini has died

As Winnetou’s sister Nscho-chi, she became a star in the early 1960s – it remained the role of her life. The French actress Marie Versini has now died at the age of 81.

The French actress Marie Versini, who became known in the 1960s for her role as Winnetou’s sister Nscho-tschi in Karl May films, is dead. She died on Monday at the age of 81, like the Karl May publishing house confirmed in Bamberg citing the family.

Premiere in Munich 1963

Versini was born on August 10, 1940 in Paris. She first appeared in front of the camera in 1956 in “Mitsou and the Men”, followed around seven years later in “Winnetou Part 1”, which premiered in December 1963 in Munich. The then 23-year-old actress died as Nscho-chi in the arms of Old Shatterhand. The scene with Lex Barker went down in film history.

The actress also appeared in other Karl May films, including “Der Schut”, “Im Reiche des Silber Löwen” and again as Nscho-chi in “Winnetou and his friend Old Firehand”. In France it was mainly through the period film “Is Paris Burning?” known, she also starred in the films of her husband, who died in 2013, director Pierre Viallet. She also wrote novels, children’s books and screenplays.

Role of her life

Versini was inseparably linked to her role as Winnetou’s sister throughout her life: “I was Nscho-chi. And I am still, just a little older,” she said in an interview at the age of 70. In 2003 she published her autobiography, “I Was Winnetou’s Sister: Pictures and Stories of a Career”.