Dora Altmann (nee Alrich; 20 February 1881 - 24 December 1971) was a German actress, who acted in film and on television during the 1960s and early 1970s. She played Grandma Georgina, Charlie Bucket's grandmother, in the 1971 film version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
Biography[]
Dora Altmann was born on 20 February 1881 to Munich magistrate Theodor Tremmel. She graduated from the Riemerschmid Commercial School and initially pursued a civil profession. In 1908, without the knowledge of her parents, she joined the Paul Kister folk singer society, which played in the Gärtnerbräu on Reichenbachstrasse. In 1915 she went on tour with her husband Richard Altmann and his music quartet Buntes Münchner Brettl.
In 1947 she was brought to the Platzl by Michl Lang, where she gave the nasty old woman for 24 years until her death. Here she also helped Bally Prell in October 1953 before her premiere as the Beauty Queen of Schneizlreuth with a ribbon from her bodice to fasten the crown on the debutante's head.
She made her television debut at the age of 80 in 1961 as Veronika in Die drei Eisbären. In 1971 she was cast in the uncredited role of Grandma Georgina in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Her last television role was as Ms. Windegger in the Tatort episode "Wenn Steine sprechen," broadcast in 1972.
In February 1971, she celebrated her 90th birthday with friends from Platzl.
Altmann died on Christmas Eve 1971, at the age of 90, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.