Irene Koss

Irene Koss (3 August 1928 – 1 May 1996) was a German actor and the first television announcer in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Life

Koss was born in Hamburg, the daughter of a cigar merchant. After ballet lessons and acting training, she made her debut, together with Hardy Krüger, in the comedy Der zerbrochne Krug at the Landesbühne Hannover in 1946. She was later engaged at the Hamburg Kammerspiele. Among others, she played together with Lil Dagover.

When Northwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) was looking for a female programme announcer in 1950, Koss was selected by Hanns Farenburg as a suitable "television face". She made her first television announcement on New Year's Eve 1950 at 8 p.m. as part of NWDR's first experimental broadcasts; the number of viewers was presumably three. When the regular programme began broadcasting on 25 December 1952, Initially she received a salary of 20 DM per day of announcing, later she was employed by NDR until 1962 and at the same time directed the television children's programme After Drechsel's death in 1986, she worked behind the scenes at the Lach- und Schießgesellschaft he founded and built up the cabaret's archive.

She died on 1 May 1996 in Munich, as a result of cancer. The couple's common grave is located at the Münchner Nordfriedhof (grave wall right no. 244).

Literature

Margret Baumann: Das Lächeln der Nation. Irene Koss, the first female television announcer. In: Das Archiv, 58th year 2010, No. 2. Rolf Potthoff: Who was it? Irene Koss. In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 1. March 2014.