Karin Ugowski (née Komischke; born 11 July 1943) is a German actress, narrator, film producer and furtherer of art and culture in Germany with various stations of work in UK, France, Italy, Israel, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Spain, US and Germany.
Early life
Karin Ugowski was born in Berlin Johannisthal, Germany during the last stage of The Battle of Berlin in the middle of the Berlin bombings, 2 years before the end of Second World War. She grew up in postwar Germany behind the Iron Curtain and her parents were both wartime traumatized. After finishing Gymnasiale Oberstufe (comparable to Highschool in US) she was intended to study medicine. Against the will of her parents she attended to the Film University Babelsberg in 1962 and received her B.A. in drama from the Film University Babelsberg, Germany in 1965. She has a younger brother.
Career
During her acting studies she already gained notice and received widespread recognition for her enchanting but self-confident impersonations of the princess roles in German classic theatrical motion pictures in the early 1960s based on historical fairy tales, like Mother Holly (1963), The Golden Goose (1964) and King Thrushbeard (1965) co-starring German cult actor Manfred Krug. Her first cinema appearances were heavily related to an ideal of female youth and beauty in the 1960s of postwar Germany. In this time she already became an up-and-coming film star building a fan base, which still remains until today for these old film classics, which are still airing in German TV frequently.
In early science fiction motion pictures like Signale – Ein Weltraumabenteuer (1970) (English: "Signals") and in historical feature films like the spy thriller The Invisible Visor (1973) which has already achieved cult status, co-starring the young Armin Mueller-Stahl, or as the malicious white farmers daughter in the German film version of the American Indian legend story Osceola (1971) or even in first episodes of the German TV classic crime series Police call 110, where she appears as one of the first officiating female police detectives and inspectors besides the actress Sigrid Göhler in German TV, she has so much the more astounded and irritated her fan base knowing her from the princess roles by showing completely different faces in the 1970s and exposing as character actress of complex parts. More than once she has surprised with her versatility, as shown again in the more recent years, like in the cinema short film Open (2005) of the director Charlotte Siebenrock, when she turned from an old frustrated canteen kitchen porter into an attractive buoyant and beautiful looking women within minutes, leading to the presentation of the short film at various short film festivals or in the motion picture In All Colours of the Rainbow (2007) in a role of an older woman falling in love with a much younger man fighting the social resentment, directed by her son, Sebastian Ugovsky.
Already during her first film work she fell in love with theater, especially the experimental and political theatre, which was able to change something in the time of upheaval in Germany. As a permanent company member of the Volksbuehne Berlin theatre, she worked early with great personalities such as Benno Besson, Heiner Müller and later Frank Castorf, Johann Kresnik, Leander Haußmann, Christoph Schlingensief and other Berlin theater-greats with guest performances all over the world. This is how she became a member of the political movement Neues Forum in the late 1980s, supporting the political rally in November 1989 at the Berlin Alexanderplatz, which was part of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the lifting of the Iron Curtain leading to the end of the Cold War.
The actress, who has frequently campaigned for art and culture support and development in Germany in the last decades and has carried a yearly exhibition festival with her husband to support artists in this area, became a talking point recently again by participating in a supporting role as mother of the lead in Samuel Maoz's latest international motion picture Foxtrot (Israel, 2017), a sequel of his award-winning motion picture Lebanon (2009), which will likely screen in Cannes and won the Silver lion (Grand Prix de Jury) at the Biennale 2017/18.
In all, the actress was involved in over 80 theater productions and over 150 film and television productions. Politically, Karin Ugowski can be considered as critical of any system, reasoned by her own history and which is mirrored in her commitment for political theater and various interpretive readings up to today. Since 2006, Karin Ugowski is an active member of the German Film Academy and member of the jury for the German film award (LOLA).
Personal life
During her acting studies in the time when she came to be known for her first motion picture appearances in the 1960s, she met her first husband Eberhart Ugowski and married very quickly. In this time her first son was born. Even if the marriage only lasted for a few years, her last name by which she is known (Ugowski) remains from this marriage. Since then she kept the name even after the divorce in 1967 because of the name recognition.
In the 1970s, she was in a long-term relationship with the actor and well-known theater director Helmut Straßburger she met when working with him on theater stagings, bringing her second son into the world: the author, play wright, independent Stage Director and film maker, composer and Music Producer Sebastian Ugovsky (sometimes credited as Gilmano for musical works), the founder of the music record label REQQORD (formerly Slo' Jam) in Berlin, Germany, who has contributed music titles to film scores of motion pictures like The Equalizer (2014, Denzel Washington).
Ugowski has cultivated a long-term friendship with the author and play wright Peter Brasch, brother of also well-known author, poet and play write Thomas Brasch and the actor Klaus Brasch. The parents of the Brasch brothers were Jewish immigrants to the UK in the late 1930s during the pogrom in Germany and moved back to Germany after the end of Second World War, which made both authors, Thomas and Peter, being strongly driven by the dream for eternal peace and freedom of thought in their work, a common ground between the Braschs and Karin Ugowski. Peter Brasch had a crash on Karin Ugowski and has dedicated a book of poetry to her (inscription) and wrote another radio play called The Golden Goose – an audio drama adaptation in 1989 inspired by her role of princess Roswitha in the classic movie. He died in 2001. He was one of the first having insights in the first writings of Karin Ugowski's son Sebastian Ugovsky.
Since 1993, she has been married to painter and scenographer Günter Horn, the last living advisee of the famous painter Otto Nagel.
Filmography
A selection of Cinema and TV motion pictures.
Original titleYearEnglish titleDirectorFoxtrot2017FoxtrotSamuel MaozAuf dem Weg ins Leben2014On the waySebastian UgovskyDie Farben des Regenbogen2007In all Colours of the RainbowSebastian UgovskyTornado – Der Zorn des Himmels2006Open2005OpenCharlotte SiebenrockDer Mörder meines Vaters2005The Killer of my FatherUrs EggerSoko Leipzig2005Leipzig HomicideMichel BielawaSehnsucht2004DesireCiro CappellariPolizeiruf 1102001Police call 110Marco SerafiniPolizeiruf 1101999Police call 110Marijan David VajdaDie Männer vom K31993K3Sigi RothemundEin kleiner Knall am Nachmittag1991A Little Bang on PMChristine KrügerDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1990The Prosecutor holds the FloorManfred MosblechDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1990The Prosecutor holds the FloorGunter FriedrichEin brauchbarer Mann1989A Useful ManHans-Werner HonertPolizeiruf 1101989Police call 110Thomas JacobDie Beteiligten1989Those InvolvedHorst E. BrandtDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1987The Prosecutor holds the FloorThomas JacobDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1986The Prosecutor holds the FloorGeorgi KissimovDer Doppelgänger1985DoublesWerner W. WallrothPolizeiruf 1101984Police call 110Klaus GrabowskyAch du meine Liebe1984Oh Dear!Georgi KissimovDas Puppenheim in Pinnow1984The Doll's House in PinnowChristian SteinkeMeine hoffnungsvollen Kinder1983Offsprings of HopeGeorgi KissimovDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1983The Prosecutor holds the FloorHans KnötzschDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1983The Prosecutor holds the FloorHans WernerIm Spiegel1983In the MirrorHelmut KrätzigDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1981The Prosecutor holds the FloorAchim HübnerErnste Spiele1980Serious GamesTamás FejérDas Ding im Schloß1979The Thing in the CastleGottfried KolditzDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1978The Prosecutor holds the FloorHans-Werner HonertEhe man Ehefrau bleibt1977Ere Remain Being his WifeJens-Peter ProllDas unsichtbare Visier – Afrikaanse Broederbond 31977The Invisible VisorPeter HagenDas unsichtbare Visier – Afrikaanse Broederbond 21977The Invisible VisorPeter HagenDas unsichtbare Visier – Afrikaanse Broederbond 11977The Invisible VisorPeter HagenDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1976The Prosecutor holds the FloorHorst ZaeskePolizeiruf 1101973Police call 110Jerzy Bednarczyk, Jan LaskowskiDie Nacht der Barrikaden1973The Nights of the BarricadesHubert KreuzPolizeiruf 1101972Police call 110Bernhard StephanOsceola1971OsceolaKonrad Petzold, James WinburnDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1971The Prosecutor holds the FloorHorst ZaeskeCaesar & Cleopatra1970Caesar & CleopatraOttofritz GaillardSignale – Ein Weltraumabenteuer1970SignalsGottfried KolditzDer Staatsanwalt hat das Wort1969The Prosecutor holds the FloorUrsula ReinholdTolle Tage1969Happy DaysWolfgang LudererGeheime Spuren (1–3)1969Undercover TrailsHelmut KrätzigGeheimkommando Spree (1 & 2)1968Secret Operation Unit „Spree"Helmut KrätzigDer erste Sommer1968The first SummerUrsula SchmengerDie Erben des Manifests: Unterm Wind der Jahre (1–3)1967Heirs of the Manifesto: Wind of ChangePeter HagenZielansprache1967The Target SpeechUrsula ReinholdHat Adam Riese sich verrechnet?1966Has Adam Riese been wrong?Hans Joachim PreilColumbus 641966Columbus 64Ulrich TheinTrick 17b1966Trick 17b – The PloyHans-Erich KorbschmittDer Nachfolger1965The SuccessorIngrid SanderKönig Drosselbart1965King ThrushbeardWalter BeckJulika1965JulikaMartin EckermannEhering in der Westentasche1965The Wedding Ring in the Vest PocketHubert HoelzkeDie goldene Gans1964The Golden GooseSiegfried HartmannFrau Holle1963Mother HollyGottfried Kolditz
Theatrography
A selection.