Ingeborg von Kusserow (28 January 1919 – 14 April 2014) was a German film actress.

Ingeborg von Kusserow
Ingeborg von Kusserow in 1946
Born(1919-01-28)28 January 1919
Died14 April 2014(2014-04-14) (aged 95)
Other namesIngeborg Wells
OccupationActress

Biography

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Kusserow was born in Wollstein, Province of Posen, Germany (today Wolsztyn, Poland).[1]

She starred in Nazi propaganda films during the Third Reich, which she wrote about in a 1949 memoir I Was Hitler's Mickey Mouse.[2]

Kusserow married Percy Graf Welsburg in November 1941; they hoped to get away to Switzerland and Italy but in fact had to remain in Berlin throughout the war, which she describes in a 1948 memoir Enough, no More. They finally emigrated to Britain in 1947 and lived in St John's Wood, London[3] and she restarted her acting career, usually appearing as Ingeborg Wells. Kusserow retired in 1960 and divorced Welsburg, but married again in 1968 to Kenneth Slingsby-Fahn (1913–2007), a retired RAF officer. Their life together in their garden flat in Abercorn Place has been recounted in a memoir by a neighbour.[4]

In 1979 she and her husband relocated to a cottage in Houghton, West Sussex where Kenneth died in 2007. Kusserow lived alone until 2013, when she suffered a fall and had to live in a care home until her death a year later.

She is known for her appearance in the 1951 film Captain Horatio Hornblower and in the German adaptation of the play You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running. She played Lady Irina in episode 21 "The Vandals" in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1956).

Death

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Kusserow died on 14 April 2014.[5] Before her death she reportedly fell and broke a femur. She survived but as a result of the injury her health declined severely.

Selected filmography

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[6][7]

References

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  1. ^ Biography
  2. ^ "Ingeborg von Kusserow". Der Spiegel. Vol. 13. 30 March 1950. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  3. ^ "The home of German actress Ingeborg von Kusserow". www.englandunderground.com. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  4. ^ Mills, John, Which Yet Survive. Impressions of Friends, Family and Encounters, Quartet Books, London, 2017
  5. ^ Mills, John (14 May 2014). "Ingeborg Wells: Actress and singer who was a star in Hitler's Germany before continuing her career in postwar Britain". The Independent. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  6. ^ "Filmography". Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  7. ^ Giesen, Rolf (11 September 2015). Nazi Propaganda Films: A History and Filmography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-1269-0.
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