Most recently you played Countess Schönberg in the “SOKO Kitzbühel” for 20 years. The series was discontinued in 2021. Now you live in Italy. How come? This is a beautiful story. My father was a cameraman for Bayerischer Rundfunk and worked in the outdoor studio in Rome 40 years ago. Back then I often visited my parents. One day we went to Lake Bracciano to visit her friends. I remember looking out over the beautiful lake and suddenly it occurred to me that I would love to live here. After separating from my husband in 2017, I happened to tell the director during a shoot that I would like to move to the south. He said he had a house for me – on Lake Bracciano.
Sounds incredible.
Since I decided to take this new path, everything has been coming my way. I completely remodeled my life, got out of my 30-year marriage and suddenly met new people here. Of course there were also violent situations because the house is very old. The core renovation took two and a half years, and many things didn’t work right away because the chaos is deeply rooted in Italy.
L’Arronge, born in Munich in 1957, was in front of the camera for the TV series “Die Kolonne” at the age of eight. After the eleventh grade she left high school, got an English diploma as a translator and took acting lessons. She was soon seen in TV series such as “Derrick”, the “Schwarzwaldklinik” or in Dominik Graf’s thriller melodrama “Bittere Innocence”. L’Arronge was married to the pilot Charly Reichenwallner for 30 years and has an adult daughter with him.
They became famous with the children’s series “Salto Mortale” and were later seen in TV series such as “Lawyer Abel” and “Hotel Paradies”. Are you still filming? Not since the end of “Soko Kitzbühel”. I feel like I deserve a break because I’ve been in front of the camera since I was eight years old. At that time I was doing toothpaste commercials, and the first films came later. At the same time I did an incredible amount of dubbing, being the German voice of Pippi Longstocking. In the morning I went to school, in the afternoon I sat in the studio, in the evening I came home with a stomach ache. This pressure was too great in the long run. I suffered my first nervous breakdown when I was twelve. After a six-month break, I still really wanted to continue.
Why? My parents left the decision up to me. I don’t blame them. Those were just the times back then. We could put the money I earned to good use.
For decades you were one of the most famous actresses in Germany. How do you look back? I had a very eventful life, traveled a lot, filmed once in the Caribbean and then again in the South Seas. In the past, actresses lived in luxury hotels and were carried on their hands. Even though I was always busy, I still suffered from existential anxiety. At the same time, I felt torn inside when I was out and about because then I couldn’t take care of my daughter. Luckily, when she was little, I had a permanent role in my hometown of Munich. I still have a small apartment there.
Your plan for the future? I’m writing a book about my life with which I want to inspire other people to find their own path. I now live very close to nature and enjoy the peace and quiet. I recently planted a lemon tree in the garden. With this I have fulfilled a long-awaited dream.
