"It was the voluptuous Butz (no pun intended) that really caught my fancy, however. Pretty much a nonentity for the first hour of the film, once her character is possessed by the Baroness she suddenly morphs into an arrestingly seductive vampire, virtually throbbing with feral carnality. ("Her! I want her!") I'm partial to brunettes anyway (Edwige Fenech and Caroline Munro — yowza!), and Ulrike's got the killer combo of a schoolgirl face and a sex kitten body... Needless to say I was quite smitten with this fetching young fraulein. I'm motivated to see more of her films, no matter how bad they might be."Brian Lindsey, Eccentric Cinema source
"ulrike butz war die talentreichste schauspielerin der 70er jahre leider war sie nur in erotikfilmen zu sehen diese haben durch sie aber eine relativ hohe qualität erreicht sie ist mindestens auf dem gleich hohen niveu anzusetzen wie eine ingrid steeger,auch wenn ihre brüste vieleicht eine nummer kleiner ware"
cinemaexpert no1, New Video Forum source translate
"Lots of nudity in the movie but Ulrike Butz is the one who gave me a stiffy. What a body! Her exposure isn't the longest but she's the best. Too bad her career was cut short by an overdose."
filmo70, Celebrity Nudity Database source
"Ulrike is maybe the peachiest of all 70s German softcore starlets, a dollfaced fraulein-next-door brunette with legs up to her ears and a ravishing body. She's easily 20# heavier than any current-day actress of her size and it looks terrific on her: respectable tits, big round ass, curves in places Kate Moss doesn't have places -- just a total babe."
12-string, Celebrity Nudity Database source
Hold on there... an overdose? Really?
At one time she was indeed a drug addict, but she seemed to have kicked the habit in the early '80s. Then again, she wouldn't be the first junkie to relapse after a time of sobriety.
Her addiction could however explain the void in her filmography from 1974 to 1981, only to return as an extra in two flicks directed by Franz Marischka, who had worked with her in the early '70s. Was it a favor to Marischka, or was it perhaps the other way around? Why didn't she land any bigger roles during her come-back?
In any case, here's what's probably Ulrike's last image captured on celluloid:
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| Die Unglaublichen Abenteuer Des Guru Jakob (1983) |
Howdy, I'm the one who posted that overdose comment. That bit of info was mentioned in an audio commentary (Vampire Ecstasy) by German producer Chris Nebe. I went back to double check and sure enough he mentions it twice. Here are two rough quotes to what he says, "she OD'd two years after", then later "this girl is Ulrike Butz, this girl you can see is as far from drugs in this film but she OD'd two years later". He seems to remember things quite well and her career did abruptly stop right about two years after the filming of this movie.
ReplyDeleteAnyway just posting so as to let you know that I didn't just pull that comment out of thin air.
Hi there, thanks for your comment! I should indeed urgently look into that commentary track you mention.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Vampire Ecstasy was released in 1973, and Ulrike's last known acting part was in 1983 (see the filmography + pics), so she couldn't have died two years after Vampire...
Which leads me to believe Mr. Nebe based his comments on rumours.
I don't blame you for forwarding his words at all and appreciate you're taking the time to get in touch with me, as I was eager to learn about the source of this information.
But there is absolute proof she was alive (and well?) in the early eighties.
Should you have any more info, no matter how insignificant or trivial, please feel free to share!
I guess you can OD and not die so maybe he's right but he also may have just meant that her career/life was ruined by drugs, I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad to know she made it to the 80's and hopefully is still around today.
BTW, You have some great pictures here! That Oktoberfest picture needs to be my desktop image!!
True, one can survive an overdose, although in that context usually it means the person died.
ReplyDeleteWe know for a fact that drugs killed her career and personal life, but my main interest here remains what happened to her after 1983... Is she still alive, did she relapse, change her name, join a cult...?
I even emailed Rinaldo Talamonti who's still active in the business and gives lectures, but never got any reply.
Glad you like the pics, I'll put up some more soon...
The reason she didn't do more than those two films after her drugs problem period was simply that she lost her looks - the drugs clearly had taken a heavy toll.
ReplyDeleteHer father, Hermann Butz, was a German TV presenter. You can find some of that info on the vintage erotica forum where I posted some scans of German magazine articles.
Nice to hear from you beutelwolf, and thanks for your contributions to the VE forum, they're very interesting!
ReplyDelete