In his career, celebrity hairdresser Udo Walz has given countless stars the perfect look. Today, July 28, he would have turned 80 years old.
Of course, life in Berlin’s capital continued even after the death of Udo Walz (1944-2020) on November 20, 2020 – just a little less beautiful and glamorous. With the tragic passing of the charismatic star hairdresser, another dazzling relic of the defunct old West Berlin disappeared, in which the Swabian, born on July 28, 1944 in Waiblingen, found the ideal conditions for his rise to “acting master hairdresser” and Germany’s most famous hair stylist.
When he arrived there in 1963 at the age of 19, the boy from humble beginnings had already had an astonishingly rapid career that would lay the foundation for his later myth as a glamour icon. Until the end of his life, Walz rarely missed the opportunity to describe his cinematic entry into professional life with a wealth of anecdotes in numerous interviews and TV appearances.
A cinematic career start
How he began an apprenticeship as a hairdresser at the age of 14, out of necessity, because his poor parents could not afford the desired training at a hotel management school. How he completed his journeyman’s examination as the third worst among 600 apprentices (“The others practiced the same haircut for months – I was lazy,” he later commented on this in the Tagesspiegel) and then immediately made sure to escape the dreariness and lack of glamour in Swabia. And how he finally gained direct access to the world of the beautiful, famous and rich through little tricks.
According to legend, the determined young hairdresser landed a job in the sophisticated ski resort of St. Moritz during his first stop in Zurich, where he pretended to speak French as well as English, which was by no means true. “They thought the name Udo was crap there,” Walz reported. the “Tagesspiegel”, which is why he simply looked after his wealthy and often famous clients as “Monsieur Boris” during this time. The fact that these clients included film legends such as Marlene Dietrich (1901-1991) and Romy Schneider (1938-1982) gave “Monsieur Boris” valuable points on his CV. Marlene Dietrich even invited him to dinner at the time – but he was too shy to sit at her table.
With “Marlene Dietrich Bonus” to West Berlin
When he moved to West Berlin in 1963, the now 19-year-old newcomer successfully evaded military service and single-mindedly used his “Dietrich bonus” there. Ina Sailer, the city’s hottest celebrity hairdresser in the 1960s, is said to have hired him primarily because he had previously been the world-famous actress’s regular hairdresser in St. Moritz. When he dared to go into business for himself in 1968 and set up his own salon on Fasanenstraße in Charlottenburg, which was more like a large living room, he took some of his celebrity clients with him.
From the beginning, the up-and-coming Swabian self-promotion genius sought proximity not only to the highest levels of celebrity, but also to the media. His first PR coup was a cover story in the Berlin tabloid “BZ” in 1967, which portrayed him as a “young hairdresser who actually wanted to go to New York, but stayed in Berlin because he liked it.” After this cover story had suddenly increased his fame in West Berlin, the up-and-coming star hairdresser increasingly became a prominent figure himself and a favorite of the magazines.
At the end of the sixties, his collaboration with the well-known fashion photographer FC Gundlach, 95, opened further doors for him. This again came about through a happy coincidence – Walz stepped in for a sick colleague as a hair stylist at one of his photo shoots, after which Gundlach wanted to work exclusively with him.
Star hairdresser of supermodels
This is how Udo Walz entered the world of supermodels. In the course of his career, he gave Claudia Schiffer, 53, Naomi Campbell, 54, and Heidi Klum, 51, the right look, making a name for himself internationally. According to his own statements, various Hollywood superstars such as Julia Roberts, 56, George Clooney, 63, Eva Longoria, 49, and Gwyneth Paltrow, 51, have also repeatedly used his services.
Walz was not content with just being the “celebrity hairdresser” but also showed up at the glamorous events of West Berlin’s high society in order to become a prominent personality and a dazzling brand alongside big names. “I’m crazy about TV and newspapers,” admitted Walz shortly before his death. the “Tagesspiegel”. And added: “The more you appear, the better it is for business.”
For this reason, in 2000, he did not shy away from appearing for one day as the hairdresser for the container dwellers in the first season of the reality show “Big Brother”. The fact that, according to surveys, around 98 percent of all Germans knew his name, as he was happy to mention in later interviews, obviously filled Udo Walz with some pride.
Rise to “Berlin’s reigning master hairdresser”
When Walz fulfilled his big dream in 1985 and opened a large salon with an integrated bar in the Kempinski Plaza on Kurfürstendamm, he had long since risen to become “Berlin’s acting master hairdresser” and also had good contacts in the political sphere of the island city. As he revealed in an interview with the “Kurier”, his friendship with Richard Burt, 77, the US ambassador to Germany between 1985 and 1989, and his wife played a key role. “They came from Bonn to their residence in Berlin every Friday. On Saturday they were in my salon or we went out,” he reported. And added: “That’s how you get to know a lot of people.”
The contact with the party-loving US ambassador opened the doors for Walz to the political arena of the then still divided city. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the move of the Bundestag to Berlin, the busy celebrity hairdresser profited from the contacts he had made there and eventually secured the rank of “Chancellor’s hairdresser”. After Gerhard Schröder, 80, Angela Merkel, 70, was also one of his loyal regular customers. The fact that he gave the CDU politician a completely new look before she took office as Chancellor, which she has remained true to to this day, made his star rise even further. In interviews, the “Chancellor’s hairdresser” liked to flirt with the idea that he actually deserved the Federal Cross of Merit for this achievement.
The legacy of the hairdressing legend
From his main branch on Kurfürstendamm, the celebrity hairdresser, who became a well-known brand, built up a veritable Udo Walz empire over the years. At times he ran eleven salons under his name, in Berlin, Potsdam, Mallorca and even on a cruise ship. The star hairdresser would certainly not have been happy that this sophisticated main branch had to file for bankruptcy just a few months after his death. Despite this setback, his surviving widower Carsten Thamm-Walz, 54, promised to continue his husband’s legacy in his spirit and to maintain the remaining salons. Even after his departure, Udo Walz will remain Berlin’s “acting master hairdresser”.