Barbara Rütting (21 November 1927 – 28 March 2020), also known as Barbara Ruetting, was a German film actress, politician, author and vegetarianism activist. She appeared in 50 films between 1952 and 1979.
Biography
Rütting won the German Film Award as Best New Actress of the Year in 1953. She was a star of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in Canaris with O. E. Hasse and in The Last Bridge with Maria Schell. One of her most notable film roles was the title role in the drama The Vulture Wally, released in 1956. In 1961, she played the female lead as a journalist in the American-German film Town Without Pity, co-starring Kirk Douglas and Christine Kaufmann.
After the 1970s, Rütting's film and television appearances were sporadic. She instead focused on her career as a writer of children's and lifestyle books. She was a vegetarian and became a vocal supporter of animal rights and environmental protection. She joined the Green Party in 1982, and was elected to the Bavarian parliament twice, in 2002 and 2008. She left the Greens in 2009, and became a member of V-Partei3 in 2016.
Rütting authored natural food cookbooks including a vegan cookbook in 2013.