With Vicco von Bülow aka Loriot, Evelyn Hamann created numerous classics of German television entertainment. But she has also acted in theatre, produced audio book series and made a name for herself by appearing at readings.
Evelyn Hamann was born on August 6, 1942 in Hamburg. She grew up in a family of musicians:her father Hamann is concert master of the NDR Symphony Orchestra, her mother a singer and music teacher, her brother Gerhard earns his living as a music professor. Evelyn Hamann, on the other hand, is drawn to acting. At the University of Music and Performing Arts in Hamburg, she lays the foundation for a stage career. At first she played smaller roles at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, later she was engaged in Göttingen and Heidelberg, where she shared the stage with Jürgen Prochnow, among others.
Loriot and Hamann:A congenial duo
Legendary:Evelyn Hamann and Vicco von Bülow made the audience laugh.It was Vicco von Bülow, alias Loriot, who discovered her in 1976 and introduced her to a large television audience, although she didn't meet his expectations at all at first:"I was actually looking for a short, fat, blond, typical German housewife. Instead I got a tall, slim, brown skinny," the doyen of comedy recalls when he first met Evelyn Hamann in the 1970s. "Then don't be chubby," says Loriot and hires the slim Hanseatic woman as a partner for his planned sketch series.
The new comedian duo turns out to be congenial. Unforgotten are the sketches of the two from the 1970s, such as the "Nudelsketch":At a romantic dinner, Evelyn Hamann as Miss Hildegard stares spellbound and with a deadly serious expression at a noodle that sticks to her admirer's face. Or the "yodel school":As a conservative housewife in Hoppenstedt, Hamann takes her yodel diploma there.
Hamann's appearance as a television announcer, who almost despaired when the British crime series "Die Cousinen" was announced on the English "Th", is also one of the classics of German television entertainment. She will also remain unforgotten as the psychotherapist Margarethe Tietze in the hit film "Ödipussi" (1988) or as the annoyed housewife Renate Lohse in "Pappa ante Portas" (1991).
Evelyn Hamann receives numerous awards
As the curious secretary Adelheid on the hunt for murderers, Hamann keeps her boss busy.Whether strict secretary, fussy housewife or diligent TV announcer:Evelyn Hamann's comedy is never loud, never drifts into the ridiculous. "I always try not to denounce my characters through the portrayal, that doesn't fit into my worldview at all," she once said of her work. Evelyn Hamann has received numerous awards for this professionalism and acting performance, including the Golden Camera three times (1977, 1987 and 1997). In 1993, Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker awarded Hamann the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class. In 1997 she received the Telestar and the Bavarian Television Prize for best series actress for her role as a criminalistic-unconventional secretary in the NDR production "Adelheid und ihr Mörder".
Hanseatic discretion in private
Evelyn Hamann hardly spoke about her private life.In her private life, the actress keeps it very discreet:little is known about her private life, she rarely gives interviews and consistently wards off personal questions. She has been through a divorce and most recently lives in seclusion in Hamburg-Eppendorf.
On October 28, 2007, after a short, serious illness, she died at the age of 65 surrounded by her family. Vicco von Bülow said goodbye to her on the program "Beckmann" on October 29:"Evelyn Hamann left us last night. It's hard for me to find words for my grief. With Evelyn I have a loyal partner and we all do lost a wonderful actress who always managed to overcome the delicate sides of life through comedy."