Rudi Carrell (born Rudolf Wijbrand Kesselaar; 19 December 1934 – 7 July 2006) was a Dutch entertainer. Along with famous entertainers such as

Johannes Heesters Johan Marius Nicolaas Heesters (5 December 1903 – 24 December 2011), known professionally as Johannes Heesters, was a Dutch actor of stage, television and film, as well as a vocalist of numerous recordings and performer on the concert stag ...

and

Linda de Mol Linda Margaretha de Mol (born 8 July 1964 in Hilversum) is a successful Dutch television presenter and actress in the Netherlands and Germany. She is the sister of TV-producer and Endemol co-founder John de Mol, and has frequently appeared i ...

, he was one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in Germany. He worked as a television entertainer and hosted his own show; the ''Rudi Carrell Show'' ran first in the Netherlands, and then for many years in Germany. As a singer he had a number of hits, including a Dutch version of "

A Windmill in Old Amsterdam "A Windmill In Old Amsterdam" is a 1965 novelty song written by Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge. The song, about a mouse that wears clogs, and arranged in waltz time, was notably recorded by Ronnie Hilton in 1965 and issued on the His Master's Voice ...

", and acted in several movies.

''Eurovision Song Contest''

Carrell represented the Netherlands at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1960 The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on Tuesday 29 March 1960 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, United Kingdom, and hosted by British television presenter and actress Catherine ...

with the song "

Wat een geluk The Netherlands was represented by Rudi Carrell, with the song "Wat een geluk", at the 1960 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 29 March in London. Although Teddy Scholten had won the previous contest for the Netherlands, Dutch broadcaste ...

" ("What luck"). He finished 12th out of 13, scoring just two points. He provided the Dutch radio commentary for the 1987 Contest.

''Rudi Carrell Show''

The ''Rudi Carrell Show'' and its successors were a huge success in Germany from the 1960s to the 1990s. The show included a similar concept to ''Star Search'' or ''Pop Idol'' and brought many well-known German pop stars and actors to prominence, such as Alexis and Mark Keller. It also featured comedy sketches. His show was also popular in some non-German-speaking European countries, such as Slovenia. During this time he also hosted other popular shows, including ''Am laufenden Band'', ''Rudis Tagesshow'', ''Herzblatt'', ''Die verflixte 7'', and ''

7 Tage, 7 Köpfe 7 Tage, 7 Köpfe (''Sieben Tage, sieben Köpfe'', lit. ''Seven days, seven heads'') is a German comedy television program of the television station RTL Television and featured a humorous retrospective of the past week. The show was hosted by Joche ...

''.

Controversial humor

In 1987, Carrell caused a diplomatic rift between Germany and Iran with a sketch in which veiled women threw their undergarments at someone dressed like Iran's Supreme Leader

Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

. The Iranian government responded by expelling two German diplomats and permanently closing the

Goethe Institute The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange an ...

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

.Rudi Carrell
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', 3 August 2006

Death

In an interview in November 2005, Carrell confirmed to the magazine ''

Bunte ''Bunte'' (company's preferred spelling in capital letters) is a German-language weekly celebrity gossip magazine published by Hubert Burda Media. The first edition was published in 1948 under the name ''Das Ufer''. Under the leadership of Hube ...

'' that he was suffering from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

. He died on 7 July 2006 in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie H ...

, Germany, aged 71.

Literature

* * *

References

External links

*
a German online book of condolence for Rudi Carell

Find-a-Grave entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrell, Rudi 1934 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Dutch male singers Dutch male comedians Dutch male film actors Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the Netherlands Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1960 Dutch game show hosts Dutch expatriates in Germany Deaths from lung cancer in Germany People from Alkmaar Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century comedians Controversies in the Netherlands Controversies in Iran Television controversies in Germany Political controversies in television Religious controversies in television ARD (broadcaster) people RTL Group people Radio Bremen people