Irm Hermann, one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s closest collaborators, has died in Berlin aged 77 following what her agent called a “short, serious illness”.
Hermann also starred in Werner Herzog’s 1979 film Woyzeck, alongside Klaus Kinski, and in Loriot’s cult 1991 film Pappa Ante Portas.
The pair also had a romantic relationship, although after Fassbinder’s death aged 37 in 1982, Hermann claimed he had been physically abusive.
Fassbinder persuaded her to quit her secretarial role and, despite no formal acting training, star in his 1966 short film, Der Stadtstreicher.