Veruschka
Encyclopedia
Vera Gräfin von Lehndorff-Steinort (born 14 May 1939 in Königsberg
, East Prussia
, now known as Kaliningrad
, Russia
) is a German
model
, actress, and artist
who was popular during the 1960s. Often known simply as Veruschka or Veruschka von Lehndorff, she is a daughter of Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort
, a member of the German Resistance
.
, reportedly after witnessing Jewish children being beaten and killed. When Veruschka was five years old, her father was executed for attempting to assassinate Adolf Hitler
in the July 20 Plot
. After his death, the remaining family members spent their times in labor camps until the end of World War II
. By the end of the war, her family was left homeless. As a young girl, she attended 13 schools. She has three sisters: Marie Eleanore "Nona" (b. 1937, married Jan van Haeften and Wolf-Siegfried Wagner (b. 1943), son of Wieland Wagner
and grand-grandson of composer Richard Wagner
), Gabriele (b. 1942, married Armin, Edler Herr und Freiherr von Plotho), and Katharina (b. 1944, married Henrik Kappelhoff-Wulff).
and then moved to Florence
, where she was discovered at age 20 by the photographer Ugo Mulas
and became a full-time model. In Paris
, she met Eileen Ford
, head of the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency. In 1961, she moved to New York City
, but soon returned to Munich
. She had also garnered attention when she made a brief five minute appearance in the 1966 cult film Blow Up
by Michelangelo Antonioni
.
She once worked with Salvador Dalí
and photographer Peter Beard, who took her to Kenya
. At her peak, she earned as much as $10,000 a day. In 1975, however, she departed from the fashion industry due to disagreements with Grace Mirabella
, the newly appointed editor-in-chief of Vogue
.
Occasionally Veruschka still appears on catwalks. She was a guest model in the Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2000 in Australia
. In October 2010, at the age of 71, she modeled for Giles Deacon
's showing for the fall run of London Fashion Week
.
Veruschka provides vocals on several tracks on the 2010 album Mimikry by ANBB, a collaboration of Blixa Bargeld
and Alva Noto
.
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
, East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
, now known as Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) is a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
, actress, and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who was popular during the 1960s. Often known simply as Veruschka or Veruschka von Lehndorff, she is a daughter of Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort
Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort
Heinrich Ahasverus Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort was a member of the July 20 Plot against Adolf Hitler.- Biography :...
, a member of the German Resistance
German Resistance
The German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
.
Early life
Veruschka was born on 14 May 1939 in East Prussia as Vera Gottliebe Anna Gräfin von Lehndorff-Steinort. For a short time, she enjoyed a wealthy lifestyle residing in East Prussia in a large house on an enormous estate that had been in her family for centuries. Her mother was the former Countess Gottliebe von Kalnein (b. 1913). Her father was a German count and army reserve officer who became a key member of the German ResistanceGerman Resistance
The German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
, reportedly after witnessing Jewish children being beaten and killed. When Veruschka was five years old, her father was executed for attempting to assassinate Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
in the July 20 Plot
July 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
. After his death, the remaining family members spent their times in labor camps until the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. By the end of the war, her family was left homeless. As a young girl, she attended 13 schools. She has three sisters: Marie Eleanore "Nona" (b. 1937, married Jan van Haeften and Wolf-Siegfried Wagner (b. 1943), son of Wieland Wagner
Wieland Wagner
Wieland Wagner was a German opera director.- Life :Wieland was the elder of two sons of Siegfried and Winifred Wagner and grandson of composer Richard Wagner....
and grand-grandson of composer Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
), Gabriele (b. 1942, married Armin, Edler Herr und Freiherr von Plotho), and Katharina (b. 1944, married Henrik Kappelhoff-Wulff).
Rise to fame
She studied art in HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and then moved to Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, where she was discovered at age 20 by the photographer Ugo Mulas
Ugo Mulas
Ugo Mulas was an Italian photographer noted for his portraits of artists and his street photography.Ugo Mulas began his studies in law in 1948 in Milan, but left to take art courses at the Brera Fine Arts Academy. In 1954 he was asked to cover the Venice Biennale, his first professional assignment...
and became a full-time model. In Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, she met Eileen Ford
Eileen Ford
Eileen Ford is a model agency executive and co-founder, in 1946, with her late husband Gerard William "Jerry" Ford, of Ford Models, one of the earliest and internationally best known modelling agencies in the world.-Early life:...
, head of the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency. In 1961, she moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, but soon returned to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. She had also garnered attention when she made a brief five minute appearance in the 1966 cult film Blow Up
Blowup
Blowup is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, his first English-language film.It tells of a British photographer's accidental involvement with a murder, inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story, "Las babas del diablo" or "The Devil's Drool" , translated also as Blow-Up, and by the life...
by Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
.
She once worked with Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
and photographer Peter Beard, who took her to Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. At her peak, she earned as much as $10,000 a day. In 1975, however, she departed from the fashion industry due to disagreements with Grace Mirabella
Grace Mirabella
Grace Mirabella is a former editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine. She started working at Vogue in the 1950s and served as editor in chief between 1971 and 1988.-Biography:...
, the newly appointed editor-in-chief of Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
.
Occasionally Veruschka still appears on catwalks. She was a guest model in the Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2000 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. In October 2010, at the age of 71, she modeled for Giles Deacon
Giles Deacon
Giles Deacon is a British fashion designer, best known for his playful designs and his collaboration with High Street retailer New Look. Deacon was employed by the fashion houses Bottega Veneta and Gucci, before founding his own label, GILES, in 2003...
's showing for the fall run of London Fashion Week
London Fashion Week
London Fashion Week is an apparel trade show held in London, England twice each year, in February and September. It is one of the "Big Four" fashion weeks, along with New York Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week.-Organization:...
.
Veruschka provides vocals on several tracks on the 2010 album Mimikry by ANBB, a collaboration of Blixa Bargeld
Blixa Bargeld
Blixa Bargeld is a composer, author, actor, singer, musician, performer and lecturer in a number of artistic fields...
and Alva Noto
Alva Noto
Alva Noto is a stage name of sound artist Carsten Nicolai who uses art and music as complementary tools to create microscopic views of creative processes. Another alias he uses is Noto...
.
Filmography
- BlowupBlowupBlowup is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, his first English-language film.It tells of a British photographer's accidental involvement with a murder, inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story, "Las babas del diablo" or "The Devil's Drool" , translated also as Blow-Up, and by the life...
(1966) - Veruschka: Poetry of a Woman (1971)
- Salomé (1972)
- Cattivi pensieri (1976)
- Couleur chair (1978)
- Milo-Milo (1979)
- Bizarre Styles (1981)
- Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse (1984)
- Vom Zusehen beim Sterben (1985)
- The BrideThe Bride (film)The Bride is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, released in 1985 and directed by Franc Roddam. The film stars Sting as Baron Charles Frankenstein and Jennifer Beals as Eva, a woman he creates in the same fashion as his infamous monster....
(1985) - Orchestre rouge, L (1989)
- Veruschka - Die Inszenierung (m)eines Körpers (2005)
- Casino RoyaleCasino Royale (2006 film)Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
(2006)