Best known for her performance as a drug-addicted fading screen star (based on the tragic life of actress Sybille Schmitz) in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's classic drama Veronika Voss (1982). Subsequently had a substantial career in German television, notably as the mother in the miniseries The Oppermann Family (1983).
Born out of wedlock to a bargee and a dressmaker and trained for acting in Berlin. Made her theatrical debut in Landshut in 1962.