Age is taking its toll on controversial German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, who gained international notoriety in the 30s with her film Triumph of the Will seen as glorifying Adolf Hitler. Riefenstahl turns 99 on Wednesday, and admits she takes morphine every eight hours for severe back pain. It doesn't seem to slow her down much, though. Last year, shortly after surviving a helicopter crash, she spent two weeks diving in the Indian Ocean. "It is hard for a person who was at one time 100 percent active to experience a slowdown in strength," she said. Despite demonstrating talent as an actor, dancer, cinematographer and still photographer, she's never shed the burden of her Third Reich associations. Ray Müller, director of a documentary of her life said, "Her talent was her tragedy."
Indomitable Spirit
Age is taking its toll on controversial German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, who gained international notoriety in the 30s with her film Triumph of the Will seen as glorifying Adolf Hitler. Riefenstahl turns 99 on Wednesday, and admits she takes morphine every eight hours for severe back pain. It doesn't seem to slow her down much, though. Last year, shortly after surviving a helicopter crash, she spent two weeks diving in the Indian Ocean. "It is hard for a person who was at one time 100 percent active to experience a slowdown in strength," she said. Despite demonstrating talent as an actor, dancer, cinematographer and still photographer, she's never shed the burden of her Third Reich associations. Ray Müller, director of a documentary of her life said, "Her talent was her tragedy."
