In the fall of 1943, going under the name Willi Puhlmann, he was cast in the main role for the film adaption of the German fairy tale Little Muck, which was set in 18th century Holy Roman Empire.

At the same time, Puhlmann photographed fashion for German and international magazines such as Constanze, Burda, Vogue, Glamour, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, etc.

[4][3] He photographed celebrities including Isabella Rossellini, Cindy Crawford, Mel Gibson, Richard Avedon, Suzy Parker, Cheryl Tiegs, Naomi Campbell, Hildegard Knef and Agnieszka Kotlarska.

[2][6] Puhlmann died on July 17, 1996, when N93119, the Boeing 747-100 used for TWA Flight 800, bound for Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris, exploded 12 minutes after take-off, off the coast of Long Island, New York, killing all of the 230 passengers and crew.

He was en-route to an assignment in Paris and one of his clients, Polish model Agnieszka Kotlarska, backed out of flying on TWA Flight 800 at the last minute, narrowly escaping death.