Maria di Balbi
| Maria di Balbi | |||||||||
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Simone Ritscher as Maria di Balbi
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| Verbotene Liebe character | |||||||||
| Portrayed by | Simone Ritscher | ||||||||
| Duration | 2009-2011 | ||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 3313 January 21, 2009 |
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| Last appearance | Episode 3760 January 7, 2011 |
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| Created by | Holger Badura | ||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||
| Other names | Maria Galdi Francesca von Lahnstein |
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| Occupation | Former private secretary of the Waldensteyck family | ||||||||
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| Siblings | Carlotta di Balbi (deceased) Francesca di Balbi (deceased) |
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| Children | Ansgar von Lahnstein |
| Grandchildren |
Kim Wolf Hannes von Lahnstein Nick Brandner |
| Nieces and nephews |
Carla von Lahnstein Leonard von Lahnstein Constantin von Lahnstein |
Maria di Balbi is a fictional character on the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love) portrayed by actress Simone Ritscher since January 21, 2009. The character was also known by the alias Maria Galdi and the identity of her late sister Francesca von Lahnstein. She left the series on January 7, 2011. Two months later, on March 17, 2011, the character was killed off off-screen to the anger of many fans.
Maria is the loyal private secretary of the Waldensteyck family and arrives together with Princess Luise (Mascha Müller) in Düsseldorf. She schedules every meeting for her and tries to groom her for her assignments as representative of her family. Maria can be very caring, but also very protective when it comes to Luise's indiscretions. When Luise meets the charming pilot Gregor Mann (Andreas Jancke), Maria tries to be the voice of reason and wants her to stop seeing him. Not only is Luise engaged to Eduard von Tepp (Hubertus Regout), she also has a life to live that just wouldn't fit in with the life that Gregor seems to live. Luise listens to Maria and decides to keep her distance from Gregor. She sees him one last time and tells him that she won't return and is leaving town. Only days later, Luise and Gregor meet again at a masked-ball, which is taking place at Castle Königsbrunn.
Gregor, a good friend of the Lahnstein family and cousin to Stella (Anne Wis), the caretaker of the castle, is also on the guest list. Hidden behind masks Luise and Gregor dance most of the night together under the watchful eyes of Maria. When the masks fall and Luise sees who she is dancing with, she runs off. Gregor asks Maria whether she knew the woman he was dancing with, but Maria denies knowing her. She tries to advise Luise to marry Eduard, but realizes that Luise loves Gregor and can't talk her out of seeing him. Maria tries to stay loyal to Luise and even covers for her when she goes off to see Gregor. When suspicions are aroused that Maria isn't who she says she is and some think that maybe she is the supposedly dead Francesca von Lahnstein, Maria quits her job as private secretary.
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Wikipedia