Christine Kaufmann

Life and career

Kaufmann was born in Lengdorf, Styria, Austria, then part of Nazi Germany. Her mother, Geneviève Kaufmann (née Gavaert), was a French make-up artist; her father, Johannes Kaufmann, was a German Luftwaffe officer and engineer. Christine Kaufmann also had Circassian ancestry.

Growing up in Munich, Bavaria, Kaufmann became a ballerina at the Munich Opera. She began her film career at the age of seven in The White Horse Inn (1952), but gained attention with Rose-Girl Resli (1954). She gained international recognition when she starred with Steve Reeves in The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) and with Kirk Douglas in Town Without Pity (1961). The following year she appeared in Escape from East Berlin (1962).

At age 18 in 1963, Kaufmann married Tony Curtis, an American actor whom she had met during the filming of Taras Bulba (also 1962). They had two daughters, Alexandra (born 19 July 1964) and Allegra (born 11 July 1966). The couple divorced in 1968. Kaufmann resumed her career, which she had interrupted during her marriage. Kaufmann married three more times: television director Achim Lenz (1974–76), musician and actor Reno Eckstein (1979-1982) and illustrator Klaus Zey (1997-2011).

On German television, Kaufmann admitted to having an affair with Warren Beatty.

Kaufmann was also a successful businesswoman, promoting her own cosmetics products line that sells well in Germany. She wrote several books about beauty and health, as well as two autobiographies. She spoke three languages: German, English, and French.

Kaufmann enjoyed travelling. She moved from one place to another frequently—a pattern that she believed she had inherited from her Circassian forefathers.

Kaufmann died on 28 March 2017 in Munich from leukaemia at the age of 72.