On Boxing Day (December 26, the first) the Munich commissioners Franz Leitmayr (Udo Wachtveitl, 64) and Ivo Batic (Miroslav Nemec, 68) are served a special case. In “Tatort: Murder under mistletoes” the two embark on a journey through time to England in the 1920s as part of a crime dinner together with colleagues. As “Detective Chief Inspector Francis Lightmyer” and “Detective Constable Ivor Partridge” they have to solve the butler’s murder in a mansion. It doesn’t take long for suspicion to fall on the resolute Lady Mona Bantam. The fine lady is played by Sunnyi Melles (64). But how do you know the actress?
Sunnyi Melles is one of the most renowned actresses in Germany. The all-rounder was born in Luxembourg in 1958 as the daughter of a Hungarian music professor and a Hungarian-Jewish actress. Her parents separated and Melles then moved with her mother and brother to Switzerland, to Basel. The red-blond girl with the porcelain skin was already on the stage of the municipal theater at the age of ten. At the age of 14 she got a role alongside Max von Sydow (1929-2020) in the film “Steppenwolf”.
Melles completed her theater training in the late 1970s in Munich at the Otto Falckenberg School. After that she was seen on theater stages for years – from 1982 she belonged to the ensemble of the Munich Kammerspiele. Appearances at the Bavarian State Theater in Munich or at the Burgtheater in Vienna followed. As a paramour in “Jedermann” at the Salzburg Festival, she thrilled audiences for three years from 1990.
But Sunnyi Melles was also able to convince away from the theater. She was seen in formats like “Kommissar Rex”, “Siska” or “Das Adlon”. In cinema films such as “Money” (1989) by Doris Dörrie (67), “Rubbeldiekatz” (2011) or “Triangle of Sadness” (2022) she also repeatedly occupied roles. The “crime scene” is also not new territory for the actress, “Mord unter Misteln” is her fourth use in crime format. Most recently she was seen in the Münster case “Erclare Chimera” (2015). The 64-year-old was also able to take prizes home with her: for her achievements she was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Nestroy Theater Prize, among others.
She also caused a stir in her private life. So Sunnyi Melles is a real princess. The actress has been married to Peter Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (68), a younger brother of Alexander Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (79), since 1993. There are two children from the marriage.
