Swiss acting star At 95, Lilo Pulver dreams of a million and a new husband

When asked what she would like for her 95th birthday, it's clear what comes first: "What I wish for most is good health," said Liselotte "Lilo" Pulver in a recent interview, before mischievously and laughingly adding "and a million".

Anyone who remembers Pulver's irrepressible laughter from "I often think of Piroschka" will know what the mood must have been like when the actress was interviewed by the Swiss "Glückspost". She celebrates her 95th birthday next Friday, October 11.

Pulver is doing well, which is probably the most important message from the magazine's interview with the actress.

She has no significant ailments and wants to live to be over a hundred, said Pulver, who lives in a retirement home.

Pulver has a structured everyday life

Pulver reported on a disciplined, structured daily routine - getting up at 7.30 a.m., daily exercise, walks, entertainment and a good night's sleep.

Most of the others from her generation of actors have long since died. Pulver is one of the last of a generation of Will Quadflieg, O. W. Fischer, Curd Jürgens and Heinz Rühmann.

What Fischer's charm and Rühmann's versatility were, Pulver's was the laughter with which she captivated the masses. Alongside "Ich denke oft an Piroschka", "Das Wirtshaus im Spessart" and Billy Wilder's "Eins, zwei, drei" are the Swiss actress's greatest successes.

Pulver was born in Bern on October 11, 1929. She worked as a model from 1948 and took her first acting lessons. In 1952, Pulver was the film success of the year as the almost constantly laughing daughter of a Hungarian stationmaster in "I often think of Piroschka".

Her second major leading role came in 1958 in "Das Wirtshaus im Spessart", in which the rather boyishly built Pulver played a wanderer in pants.

Due to its great success, there was even a Spessart trilogy - and Pulver was on top artistically: "I was the number two star in Germany at the time". But she couldn't get past Ruth Leuwerik. But Pulver also became internationally famous. Because she spoke French so well, she landed many roles in France.

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Pulver was compared to Audrey Hepburn and Doris Day - and a global career also beckoned. She was offered a leading role in "Ben Hur", which later won eleven Oscars. But she had to turn it down due to another film contract.

In 1961, she was supposed to play the lead role in the Hollywood hit "El Cid", but again contracts got in the way - Sophia Loren got Pulver's role. "Those were absolute club blows, you don't get up again so easily after them," Pulver once said.

Lilo Pulver had to cope with a stroke of fate

As a result, she was one of the losers of the end of the cinema boom in Germany. From the end of the 60s, she hardly got any more roles. It was only when she starred in the German edition of "Sesame Street" with her infectious cheerfulness that Pulver was more present again from the end of the 70s.

However, her comeback only lasted a few years and she never really gained a foothold on television.

Added to this were the growing private shadows. Her drug-addicted daughter Mélisande fell from Bern Cathedral in 1989 at the age of 21 under unclear circumstances.

Only a few years after this shock, her husband, the actor Helmut Schmid, to whom Pulver had been married since 1961 and with whom she had a son, Marc-Tell, died in 1992.

In the meantime, Pulver had a lot of dissatisfaction. But this seems to have subsided recently. She enjoys visits from her son and grandchildren, hopes for a million for her garden and even dreams of a new husband in the "Glückspost".

"Hope dies last - he should be handsome, rich and funny," the magazine quoted Pulver, noting that this was followed by a resounding laugh from her.

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