http://www.zap2it.com/celebrities/news/zap-leonardodicapriograndmotherdeath,0,7325779.story
Leonardo DiCaprio's Granny Oma Dies
Helene Indenbirken was 93
Zap2It.com
August 6 2008
Leonardo DiCaprio's beloved grandmother, who accompanied him to movie premieres and who he once referred to as "gangsta," has died.
Helene Indenbirken was 93 when she passed away in a hospital in her native North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, according to the hometown paper, the Recklinghauser Zeitung.
"The Departed" actor and his mother had visited Indenbirken, DiCaprio's maternal grandmother whom he called "Oma," last week. Her health had begun to decline earlier in the year.
Helene Indenbirken was married to Wilhelm Indenbirken, whose name was given to their famous grandson, Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio. The actor's mother/Helene's daughter Irmelin, was born in an air raid shelter in 1943 during a WWII bombing raid. The family emigrated to the U.S. after the war in 1955 and lived in a German neighborhood in New York.
They returned to Germany 30 years later. DiCaprio would visit his grandmother whenever work brought him to Europe, which is also when he'd invite her to his premieres.
DiCaprio once told Vanity Fair about his grandmother: "She is literally gangsta, and I mean that with an 'a.' She will tell people exactly what she thinks to their face and look them in the eye."
The exact date and cause of death have not been reported. DiCaprio will return to Oer-Erkenschwick, Germany to attend a small memorial service.
