Constanze Engelbrecht

Constanze started into the movies at an early age: as the German voice of "Jeff" from "Lassie." After "Gymnasium" (high school) the daughter of actress Alice Franz studied singing at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium in Munich, Germany, at Guildhall School in London, GB, and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Actress Rosemarie Fendel gave her acting lesssons. Constanze's career took place in all areas, she worked on stage, in movies and on TV. In 1998 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, followed by a mastectomy. The cancer spread to the liver. After going through 20 chemotherapy treatments, she suffered a backlash in March 2000 when doctors found a brain tumor with 11 metastases spreading through her brain. She is survived by her 16-year old daughter Julie and her husband François Nocher, who had stayed with her on an extra bed in her hospital room for the last days of her life.