Petra Schürmann

Petra Schürmann-Freund (15 September 1933 – 14 January 2010) was a German model, TV announcer, and actress.^[7]

Biography

Schürmann won the 1956 Miss World^[10] contest, representing West Germany.^[9][11][12] As of 2010^[update] she is the only German to win this title.,^[9] with the exception of Gabriella Brum who won the title in 1980 but resigned one day later. The pageant was held in London, United Kingdom.^[9] Interestingly, Petra Schürmann only came third in the Miss Germany pageant, but was chosen to represent her country in London because of her better knowledge of English.^[13]

At that time she studied philosophy and history of the arts at the universities of Bonn and Cologne.^[8][9] After winning her Miss World title she continued her studies in Munich.^[13]

Beginning with the 1960s she entered an ongoing radio and television career, primarily with the Munich based Bayerischer Rundfunk.^[9] She also did some acting and wrote some books.^[9]

Personal life

In 1973, she married the physician Dr. Gerhard Freund, who already back in 1967, under a veil of secrecy, became the father of their daughter Alexandra.^[8] This was at a time when he was still wed to German actress Marianne Koch.^[8] Alexandra Freund also had a successful career with the Munich broadcaster but died in 2001 aged 34 from an automobile accident when she collided with a wrong-way driver.^[8] Petra Schürmann never really recovered from the loss of her daughter with whom she was very close.^[7][8][9]

Death

Petra Schürmann retired with her husband to their house on the shores of Lake Starnberg south of Munich.^[8] When he died in August 2008 they had been married for 35 years.^[11][12][13] She died on 14 January 2010 in her home in Starnberg following a long illness.^[7]

References

External links

• Petra Schürmann at the Internet Movie Database
• Petra Schürmann in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• Article in Stern magazine - richly illustrated (German)