Baden-Baden – The Black Forest saga “The Fallers” has been flickering across screens for 28 years. According to SWR, one million viewers tune in every Sunday.
Episode 1163 runs on Christmas Day – the last time with TV star Ursula Cantieni (75, plays farmer Johanna Faller). “I am very happy that the long-distance went well. But at some point the cut has to be made. The time was ripe for me,” says Ursula Cantieni to BILD.
For 50 years she was “under high tension”. At that time (at the age of 27) Cantieni started as a professor for speech training at the University of Essen, then went to theater and television. “Always adrenaline. I couldn’t drop out. In all the Faller years, I’ve only had five days off,” reports the actress.
In her 28 years, Ursula Cantieni has hardly turned on the TV series. “I’m very critical of myself,” she says
Ursula Cantieni was also on the guessing show “Tell the Truth” for 20 years. “Because of the two productions, my schedule was very tight.” Then there were health problems. “It’s not like I can walk away lightly about it, but it’s not to despair of either. Work is the order of the day.” An illness is also one of the reasons for leaving.
28 years of “The Fallers”, 20 years of “Tell the Truth”. Today the Swiss says: “I got in the hope that it wasn’t a flash in the pan. If I had been told 20 or 30 years, I might have said no.” But she has no regrets: “It was a great time.”
In the show “Tell the Truth” Ursula is known as the “Lady with X-ray Vision”.
Hearty laughter and a large portion of joie de vivre: Ursula Cantieni has been bringing a good mood to the TV show for 20 years
Yoga mat instead of TV cameras
It’s been a year since Cantieni’s last day of shooting with the Fallers. She has now exchanged her apron and rubber boots for a yoga mat and sports pants. “We have a beautiful yoga room in our house. My husband teaches yoga classes and I take part three times a week. That gave me structure and support, and of course it also helped a lot in terms of my health,” says the 75-year-old.
This exercise is called Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle). Ursula Cantieni and her husband Markus Hubenschmid are trained yoga teachers
Five years ago, the couple bought a dilapidated house (185 square meters) in Baden-Baden. It was built in 1741 and is under monument protection. The vaulted cellar dates from the late Middle Ages. The renovation took a good four years.
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Ursula: “It was quite difficult to watch. We immersed ourselves – studied the floor plan, plans. I was in my element and could let my imagination run wild. Each room has a different character, even with bold colors.”
The study is a powdery blue-green with a beamed ceiling. The yoga room is beige-pink-grey.
Cantieni and her husband moved in in April 2021. “We live in a kind of castle. And now it has got a character of a Swiss chalet in Switzerland. With lots of wood.”
Ursula Cantieni on the future: “I’ll take everything as it comes. First see that everything sorts itself out nicely in me and that my strength is stable again. Then we will see.”
Curry at Christmas
The actress celebrates Christmas at home in Baden-Baden with her husband and his parents. But there is no duck or roast goose. “We make curry, start with a nice little soup and for dessert maybe compote with cream.”
Ursula Cantieni celebrates the second Christmas in her new house. Before that, the couple never had a Christmas tree
TV farewell to the Grande Dame
On December 22, SWR will show the special edition “Tell the truth – Bye-bye Ursula Cantieni” and then (9 p.m.) the documentary “Ursula Cantieni – The woman behind Johanna Faller”. The last Fallers episode (“Christmas Presents”) will be broadcast on Christmas Day (7:15 p.m.). “My husband and I will watch it together,” says Cantieni.
