It’s a successful comeback!
Two years ago, ARD announced the end of the series after the seventh season. Now Elisabeth Lanz (51) as “Veterinarian Dr. Mertens” back on TV and last Tuesday achieved the best market share since 2013 with 18 percent.
PICTURE ON SUNDAY:Congratulations on the top rate. How did you actually find out that it was still going on?
Elizabeth Lanz: “My family and I had just set up a second home in Austria, since I had already docked in Vienna for work so that I could also spend more time with my mother. Then I suddenly got a call from the producer who told me that ARD would like 13 new episodes and he asked me if I would be willing to do it again.”
Even a hippopotamus gets its teeth brushed: Elisabeth Lanz as veterinarian Dr. Susanne Mertens (Tuesdays, 8.15 p.m., Das Erste)
The vet mourns her deceased husband and child. Have you ever been in a situation where you changed something in your life after the death of a loved one?
Lance: “The loss of my father was a rupture in my life. Not only because he was my father, but also because he was a Catholic priest and stood for a certain worldview and value system. We discussed a lot about religion and beliefs and I questioned everything – which is what you have to do as a young person. At that time I felt incredibly independent and already very stable in my perspective. It wasn’t until my father was gone that I realized that without him I couldn’t stand up straight. I realized that the friction itself was also a leaning.”
Elisabeth’s father Johannes was a Catholic priest who broke celibacy for the love of his life. The couple married and had four children.
Johannes Lanz was an ordained Catholic priest who nevertheless decided to have a family
What did you and your father have different opinions about?
Lance: “I had my difficulties with the dogmas of the Catholic Church. In my mind, it was always about guilt. I find it enormously important to reflect, to align oneself with higher values and to live with a conscience. For me, the Francis prayer has already said almost everything that is necessary for valuable togetherness and a transcendent debate. The first line is, ‘Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.’”
Did your father feel guilty for breaking celibacy for your mother?
Lance: “My father was an ordained priest, and the values he made a vow of aren’t something you give up just because you choose a worldly life, love, and a family.”
Her father’s ordination to the priesthood in 1962. Elisabeth von und zu Liechtenstein was his godmother at his side
What was your father’s opinion on celibacy?
Lance: “Despite everything, he always defended celibacy, because he was aware of the difficulties of reconciling a spiritual life with the obligations of a secular family man in a completely different depth. After he stopped working as a priest, he took over the management of an SOS Children’s Village. Even then it was not so easy to keep the balance between the common good and the family well-being, if you can put it that way.”
Was it difficult to share the father with so many children in the SOS Children’s Village?
Lance: “Yes, if I wanted to see him, I had to go to his office. He took everything he did very seriously and was always careful not to favor his own children under any circumstances. Sometimes that leads to the exact opposite.”
Little Elisabeth is sitting on a donkey, her mother is standing behind her, and children from the SOS Children’s Village in Altmünster are next to her
When did you have time for the talks?
Lance: “Our conversations intensified when my father left the SOS Children’s Village and he was allowed to work as a religion teacher again. As a former priest who decided to marry, he was not allowed to teach for a long time. I was fifteen then.”
What did your father think of your career choice as an actress?
Lance: “At first he didn’t like it. He also didn’t come to my first theater premiere, even though I had a leading role. In the Josefstadt in Vienna I played a vaudeville dancer who hopped across the stage in a negligee. That wasn’t his thing. But that has changed. We all have to learn along with the development of our children.”
How old is your father?
Lance: “He turned 64 years old. During a severe storm with hail and storms, he wanted to pull out a tarpaulin to protect the roof. In doing so, he fell down. He was in the hospital in a coma for two more weeks. I had to shoot a comedy at the same time and commuted back and forth between filming and the clinic. As painful as this time was, it was a very valuable experience. Up to this point, I didn’t know how you can mentally keep yourself under control despite the deepest emotional pain. With this knowledge, I felt armed for a lot.”
How did you process the grief?
Lance: “For a long time I didn’t understand that he died. At that time I no longer lived at home, but in Vienna and was not involved in the usual processes with him. A human system takes much longer to really understand such drastic things. I then changed a few things in my life and moved from Vienna to Berlin. It’s been 20 years since he died, but there are moments when I think of my father and suddenly tears come to my eyes. It’s a person I can no longer exchange ideas with, who stands for very specific values, and I keep recognizing anew: He’s no longer there.”
Elisabeth Lanz with furry partners
Do you still think so?
Lance: “I know that there is not only the human being, but also something higher that I am committed to.”
How did your father particularly influence you?
Lance: “He was a very stylish guy who would chop wood in a white shirt and tie when he had to. And he was always helpful – for everyone. He always jumped immediately for everything and everyone. It’s hard for me, too, when someone approaches me with a request to say no.”
This article comes from BILD am SONNTAG. The ePaper of the entire issue is available here.
