Gudrun Ritter was born in Marienberg on November 16th 1936. Between 156 and 1959, she studied acting in Leipzig, and after her graduation, she became an ensemble member at the Deutsches Theater Berlin, where she was to play for more than 40 years. She worked with renowned theatre directors like Frank Castorf, Thomas Ostermeier and Claus Peymann, starring in stage productions of "Miss Sara Sampson", "Elektra" and "Maria Stuart".

In 1962, Ritter, who remained a fixture in theatre, gave her TV debut in "Die neue Losung". Since zhe mid-1970s she appeared regularly in TV and film productions, among them Rainer Simon"s "Jadup und Boel" (1980) and "Das Luftschiff" (1983) and Heiner Carow"s "Coming Out" (1989), the first DEFA film to deal openly with homosexuality in East Germany. After only few screen performances in the 1990s, the theatre actress re-emerged in television in the past decade: In 2001, she appeared in "Kelly Bastian – Geschichte einer Hoffnung", and ony year later, she starred alongside Martina Gedeck and Harald Krassnitzer in "Die Mutter" by Matti Geschonneck. She received a German Television Award nomination for her performance in "Bella Block - Das Glück der anderen" and also appeared in the lauded made-for-TV drama "Als der Fremde kam".

This was followed by more TV roles and an appearance in Thomas Arslan"s ensemble film "Ferien" (2007), which also starred Angela Winkler and Uwe Bohm. In 2010, Gudrun Ritter got her first major film role in years: In Matti Geschonneck"s tragicomic working class comedy "Boxhagener Platz", Ritter plays a lively widow who is drawn into a strange murder case together with her little grandson.