Ilse Werner (German:[ˈɪl.zəˈvɛʁ.nɐ]ⓘ; born Ilse Charlotte Still, 11 July 1921 – 8 August 2005) was a Dutch-German actress, singer, and musical whistler.
Life
She was born in Batavia (present-day Jakarta, Indonesia) to a Dutch father, merchant and plantation owner, and a German mother. Werner was Dutch by birth; although she lived most of her life and spent her career with great successes in Austria and Germany, mainly during the time of the Third Reich. She did not assume German citizenship until 1955.
Having briefly been barred from performing by the Allies at the end of World War II, due to her alleged role in Nazi propaganda, she returned to the big screen in the 1950s where she excelled in dramatic character roles. She also acted in theatre, worked as a dubbing actor, and recorded numerous songs and whistling performances.
Werner had her last appearance on German TV in 2001. She later lived in a retirement home in Lübeck, where she died peacefully in her sleep on 7 August 2005, having suffered from pneumonia. Her last wish was to have her ashes scattered in Potsdam-Babelsberg, near the film studios.
