Actor Urs Althaus breaks his silence for the first time
“I was terrified of dying of prostate cancer”
When Tatjana Patitz died, actor Urs Althaus not only cried about a model colleague he knew and respected. Like her, he suffered from cancer, which he is now speaking about for the first time.
Published: 36 minutes ago
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Actor Urs Althaus was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Flavia SchlittlerDeputy Head of Department People
Anyone who knows him or meets him for the first time will be immediately captivated by his sparkling eyes and his winning laugh. The last few days have both rested with “The Name of the Rose” actor Urs Althaus (66). The death of model icon Tatjana Patitz († 56), who died of breast cancer on January 11, took him a lot, Blick reported.
Not only because he knew her, brought her to Zurich for a shoot as an option model agent at the time. But because he knows what hell she went through when she found out about her cancer. The man from Uri also fell ill with it. “Even if everyone deals with it differently and is cared for by a loving environment. You walk through a great valley of loneliness and insecurity. I was terrified of dying of prostate cancer.”
Nothing in Althaus pointed to cancer
It has been four years since he was diagnosed. A colleague who checked his fitness values on the computer noticed it. “He noticed a strange value, he recommended that I have this checked, which luckily I did.” But it was not until the second test that the malignant cells, which were in the early stages, were discovered, and shortly afterwards he underwent surgery, that was in 2019. “I hardly had time to prepare for it. I had neither pain nor physical abnormalities, nothing, absolutely nothing pointed to it,” said the former top model, who was the first black man to grace the cover of the magazine “IQ” in 1977.
Althaus was lucky. «The professor who operated on me in Lucerne removed seventeen different cancer foci. I was already registered for radiation and chemotherapy.” But he never had to use it.
During filming he had to wear diapers
Why has he been silent for so long? “I had to process this first. When I got the diagnosis, I was in the middle of projects and had a lot of orders. Cancer is still something where you don’t know whether you’ll still be booked or whether someone else will get the job.” Urs Althaus wanted to continue living as normally as possible, which was sometimes borderline for him. During the shooting of “Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood”, where he plays Chief Anaru in four of six episodes, “I had to wear diapers”. Two years ago, the mini-series was awarded the German Television Prize. No one suspected how ill Althaus was.
On January 11th he got the analysis of his annual blood test. On the day Tatjana Patitz died. “I wanted to post that I was considered cancer-free when I found out about the death of my model colleague, which still makes me sad today. But also humbly and very grateful, I may still be alive. »