- Veruschka
location=Königsberg ,East Prussia
birthdate= birth date and age|1939|5|14
haircolor=dark blond
eyecolor=blue
measurements=34in-64 cm (25in)-90 cm (35 in)|height= 183cm
weight= ?
dress size=US8Vera Gräfin von Lehndorff-Steinort (born
May 14 ,1939 inKönigsberg ,East Prussia , now known asKaliningrad ,Russia ) is a Germansupermodel ,actress , andartist who was popular during the 1960s. Better known simply as Veruschka or Veruschka von Lehndorff, she is a daughter ofHeinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort , a member of theGerman Resistance .Early life
Veruschka was born in 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 Resistance after witnessingJewish children being beaten and killed. When Veruschka was five years old, Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort was executed for attempting to assassinateAdolf Hitler in theJuly 20 Plot . After his death, the remaining family members spent their times in labor camps until the end ofWorld War II . By the end of the war, her family was left homeless. As a young girl, she attended 13 schools. Her traumatic childhood experiences later triggered heavy depression in1974 . She has three sisters: Marie Eleanore "Nona" (b. 1937, married Jan van Haeften and Wolf Siegfried Wagner, son ofWieland Wagner and grandson of composerRichard Wagner ), 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
Hamburg and then moved toFlorence , where she was discovered at age 20 by the photographerUgo Mulas and became a full-time model. Back then tall models were not considered desirable inParis , but there she metEileen Ford , head of the prestigiousFord Modeling Agency . In 1961, she moved toNew York City , but she did not score any bookings. To stand out, she returned toMunich and told people that she was really fromRussia and changed her name to create a mysterious persona, which earned her many bookings. She had also garnered attention when she made a brief five minute appearance in the 1966 cult film "Blowup " byMichelangelo Antonioni ("Premiere" named the scene the sexiest scene in film history although there was no nudity).In the same year, she did her first shoot wearing nothing but body paint, which she would continue to do for years. She once worked with
Salvador Dalí and photographerPeter Beard , who took her toKenya , where she painted herself with black shoe polish to resemble surreal plants and animals in an attempt to "go native". At her peak, she earned as much as $10,000 a day. In 1975, however, she departed from the fashion industry due to disagreements withGrace Mirabella , the newly appointed editor-in-chief of "Vogue", who wanted to change her image to make it more approachable to average women. In 1985, she entered the art world, putting on a body-painting show inTribeca ; on her naked body, she was painted with different outfits transforming her into wild animals and several archetypes, such as film stars, dandies, gangsters, and dirty old men. Occasionally, she still appears on catwalks, for example, as a guest model in the Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2000 inAustralia . She is avegetarian . [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0902610/bio Veruschka von Lehndorff - Biography ] ]Filmography
* "
Blowup " (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 Bride " (1985)
* "Orchestre rouge, L" (1989)
* "Casino Royale" (2006)Quotes
* "I dressed all in black and went to see all the top photographers, like Irving Penn, and said, 'I am Veruschka who comes from the border between Russia, Germany and Poland. I'd like to see what you can do with my face.'"
* "I was always being different types of women. I copiedUrsula Andress ,Brigitte Bardot ,Greta Garbo . Then I got bored so I painted myself as an animal."Referrnces
External links
*imdb name|0902610
* [http://www.veruschkaselfportraits.com/ Portraits of Veruschka]
* [http://www.myspace.com/veravonlehndorff Veruschka von Lehndorff mySPACE]
*fashionmodel|id=Veruschka_von+Lehndorff|name=Veruschka
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/Fashion/After-a-fashion/2005/05/12/1115843302460.html Veruschka, after a fashion]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/21/1045638469233.html Veruschka's enduring mystique]
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