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Simone Rethel
Simone Rethel in 2013.
Born	(1949-06-15) 15 June 1949 (age 75) Herrsching am Ammersee, Bavaria
Nationality	German
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1965–present

Simone Rethel-Heesters (born 15 June 1949 in Herrsching am Ammersee, Bavaria) is a German actress and writer.

Simone Rethel is the daughter of painter and designer Alfred Rethel and the granddaughter of aircraft designer Walter Rethel. She is the descendant of historical painter Otto Rethel [de], the brother of Alfred Rethel.

As a student in 1965, she played the main role in Axel von Ambesser's film Die fromme Helene [de] alongside Theo Lingen and Friedrich von Thun. After she completed schooling, she took part to Hanna Burgwitz's acting lessons and made her stage debut during her formation by playing in Joseph von Eichendorff's Die Freier at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel [de] in Munich in 1966 under the direction of Axel von Ambesser, who had discovered her and later granted her several stage and television roles.

Rethel mainly appeared in boulevard theatre plays and had roles in numerous television series such as Der Kommissar, Derrick, The Old Fox, Schöne Ferien and Diese Drombuschs.

Simone Rethel was married to Johannes Heesters from 1992 until his death in 2011. Heesters was 46 years older than her.^[1]

Besides her acting career, Rethel was also a painter and a photographer. Since early 2005, she has been an ambassador of Altern in Würde and has raised awareness about Alzheimer's disease. In early 2010, she published her book Sag nie, du bist zu alt, in which she criticises negative view of society on ageing.

• Simone Rethel; Beatrix Ross (1998). Schönheit des Alters (in German). Nürnberg: Burgschmiet. ISBN 3-933731-01-1.
• Simone Rethel-Heesters (2006). Johannes Heesters: Ein Mensch und ein Jahrhundert (in German). Berlin: Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. ISBN 3-89602-731-X.
• Simone Rethel-Heesters (2010). Sag nie, du bist zu alt (in German). Frankfurt: Westend Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938060-35-3.
• Rei Gesing with Simone Rethel-Heesters (preface) and André Kröker (2018). Die Weisheit der 100-Jährigen. 7 Fragen an die ältesten Menschen Deutschlands. MonoLit (in German). Vol. 1. Münster: Solibro Verlag. ISBN 978-3-96079-061-7.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Simone Rethel.

• Literature by and about Simone Rethel in the German National Library catalogue
• Simone Rethel, Munzinger-Archiv (in German)
• Simone Rethel at IMDb
• Simone Rethel, filmportal.de (in German)
• Simone Rethel's official website (in German)