Actor. Born in Berlin during the Weimar Republic, as a youth, he was required to enroll in a training camp for Hitler Youth, and served with the Reich Labor Service. At 18, he joined the Luftwaffe and served as a paratrooper. Captured shortly after deployment, he spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in the US. Upon his return to Germany, he found himself in the Soviet controlled half of his country. He returned to a study of acting and made his stage debut in the Municipal Theatre of Kothen in 1948. In 1952, he landed a lead in the feature film, 'Das verurteilte Dorf ' (The Condemned Village). He portrayed the titular character in 'Ernst Thalmann', (1954) a propaganda epic that became part of East German schools' curriculum. He received the National Prize first class, and the Best Actor Award in the 1956 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for his work in the film. He was awarded the National Prize again in 1968, for his portrayal of Krause in the East German television miniseries 'Krause and Krupp', and received the Art Prize from the Free German Trade Union Federation in 1967, 1968, and 1971. His career spanned some thirty films including 'Geschwader Fledermaus' (1958); 'Kein Arger mit Cleopatra' (1960); and 'Der Fruhling braucht Zeit' (1966). He died in East Berlin at the age of 47.
Actor. Born in Berlin during the Weimar Republic, as a youth, he was required to enroll in a training camp for Hitler Youth, and served with the Reich Labor Service. At 18, he joined the Luftwaffe and served as a paratrooper. Captured shortly after deployment, he spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in the US. Upon his return to Germany, he found himself in the Soviet controlled half of his country. He returned to a study of acting and made his stage debut in the Municipal Theatre of Kothen in 1948. In 1952, he landed a lead in the feature film, 'Das verurteilte Dorf ' (The Condemned Village). He portrayed the titular character in 'Ernst Thalmann', (1954) a propaganda epic that became part of East German schools' curriculum. He received the National Prize first class, and the Best Actor Award in the 1956 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for his work in the film. He was awarded the National Prize again in 1968, for his portrayal of Krause in the East German television miniseries 'Krause and Krupp', and received the Art Prize from the Free German Trade Union Federation in 1967, 1968, and 1971. His career spanned some thirty films including 'Geschwader Fledermaus' (1958); 'Kein Arger mit Cleopatra' (1960); and 'Der Fruhling braucht Zeit' (1966). He died in East Berlin at the age of 47.
Bio by: Iola
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