Dagmar Koller

Born in Carinthia, Austria, in 1939, Dagmar Koller studied ballet from a very early age to correct a leg disorder. She won the state prize for dance from the Academy of Performing Arts in Vienna, and joined the chorus of the Vienna Folk Opera before her breakout role as Mi in "The Land of Smiles", the tour of which brought her to the US, where she also performed at Carnegie Hall with the Johann Strauss Orchestra. During her time in New York she became enamored with the American musical form and returned to Europe to play leading roles in "Sweet Charity", "Man of La Mancha", "My Fair Lady", "Irma La Douce", "West Side Story", "Annie Get Your Gun", "Carousel", and many others. By the early 1970s she was on the cover of many magazines, including the famed Bunte of Germany, which declared her Musical Star #1. She is a constant presence on television including her own interview show with other performing artists, "Hallo, Wie Gehts?", and has filmed many television and feature films, playing opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Une petite musique de nuit (1977). Her marriage to Dr. Helmut Zilk, who became mayor and governor of Vienna in 1984, brought her onto a different stage, now playing First Lady. During the next ten years she received and entertained many international celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and The Prince and Princess of Wales. She made a stage comeback in 1994 recreating her role of Dulcinea in "Man of La Mancha" after surviving a letter bomb explosion meant to assassinate her husband. She recently published her autobiography, "Jetzt Faengt's Erst Richtig An" - now life really begins!