Heinz Rühmann

German Film Actor

Date of Birth	:	07 Mar, 1902
Date of Death	:	03 Oct, 1994
Place of Birth	:	Essen, Germany
Profession	:	Actor, Film Director, Singer, Film Actor, Screenwriter, Film Producer, Aviator, Stage Actor
Nationality	:	German

Heinrich Wilhelm "Heinz" Rühmann was a German film actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1926 and 1993. He is one of the most famous and popular German actors of the 20th century and is considered a legend of German cinema. Rühmann is best known for playing the role of an ordinary citizen in film comedies such as Three from the Filling Station and The Punch Bowl. During his later years he was also a respected character actor in films such as Captain Köpenick and It Happened in Broad Daylight. His only English-language film was Ship of Fools in 1964.

Biography

Early life

Rühmann was born in Essen as the son of a restaurateur. His father Hermann Rühmann moved to Berlin in 1915, where he probably committed suicide a little later. The exact circumstances of death could never be clarified. His son Heinz began his acting career during the early 1920s and appeared in numerous theatres in Germany during the following years. His role in the 1930 movie Die Drei von der Tankstelle (The Three from the Filling Station) led him to film stardom. He remained highly popular as a comedic actor (and sometime singer) throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. He remained in Germany and continued to work during the Nazi period, as did his friend and colleague, Hans Albers.

Career during the Third Reich

During the 1933-45 period, he acted in 37 films and directed four. After January 1933, Rühmann did not speak openly about German politics, but instead kept himself as neutral as possible. He never stated a word against or towards the Nazis in the press, although he had been a supporter of democracy. In 1938, he divorced his Jewish wife Maria Herbot, who then left Germany and traveled to Stockholm where she married a Swedish actor. The divorce caused Rühmann to be accused by some of wanting to secure his career; however, the marriage had probably already fallen apart, and some sources say that he wanted to protect his wife with the divorce. After 1945, Herbot defended her ex-husband against accusations of opportunism. His second wife, Hertha Feiler, whom he married shortly after, had a Jewish grandfather, a fact that caused Rühmann problems with the Nazi cultural authorities. Rühmann retained his reputation as an apolitical star during the entire Nazi era.

Postwar career

Rühmann had a difficult time resuming his career after the war, but by the mid-1950s, the former comedian had established himself again as a star, only this time as Germany's leading character actor. In 1956, Rühmann starred in the title role of the internationally acclaimed picture Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (The Captain of Köpenick), the true story of a Prussian cobbler, Wilhelm Voigt, who dressed up as an army officer and took over the town hall in Köpenick. In the days of the German Empire, the army had an exalted status and Voigt embarrassed the army officers and civil servants who obeyed him without question. Rühmann was also the leading man in the 1960 film version of The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik, after the novel by Czech author Jaroslav Hašek. He also played the role of Father Brown in three German films during the 1960s. In 1965, Rühmann was brought to Hollywood by producer Stanley Kramer for a supporting role as a German Jew in his all-star movie Ship of Fools.

His wife Hertha Feiler died in 1970 and Rühmann married his third wife Hertha Droemer in 1974. In his later years, he also worked as a recitator for German television. His last film was Faraway, So Close! (1993) by Wim Wenders, in which he played an old fatherly chauffeur named Konrad. Rühmann died in October 1994, aged 92 years. He was buried in Berg-Aufkirchen, Bavaria. His popularity with German audiences continues: In 1995, he was posthumously awarded the Goldene Kamera as the "Greatest German Actor of the Century"; in 2006, a poll voted him number one in the ZDF TV-show Unsere Besten – Favorite German Actors.

Awards

1938: Venice Film Festival: Medal for his acting in Der Mustergatte
1940: Appointed Staatsschauspieler by the Third Reich
1940: Honorary Membership in the Danish Flight Club
1957: Golden Gate Award (Best Actor) for Der Hauptmann von Köpenick
1957: Kunstpreis der Stadt Berlin
1957: Filmband in Gold as Best Leading Actor for Der Hauptmann von Köpenick
1959: Ernst-Lubitsch-Preis
1961: Preis der deutschen Filmkritik (Award of German Film Critics)
1961: Filmband in Gold as Best Leading Actor for Das schwarze Schaf
1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1984: A total of twelve Bambi Awards
1965: Großes Verdienstkreuz des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
1966: Silberner Bildschirm by the film magazine TV-Hören und Sehen
1967, 1968: Two Goldener Bildschirm by the film magazine TV-Hören und Sehen
1972: Großes Verdienstkreuz des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland mit Stern
1972: Filmband in Gold for his "long and outstanding work" in German Film
1972: Goldene Leinwand (Special Award) for extraordinary merits
1972: Honorary Medal by the Spitzenorganisation der Filmwirtschaft (SPIO) for Lifetime Achievement
1977: Großes Verdienstkreuz des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland mit Stern und Schulterband
1977: Cultural Honorary Award by the City of München
1981: Bayerischer Maximiliansorden für Wissenschaft und Kunst
1982: Chaplin-Stock in Silver by the Association of German Film Critics
1982: Goldene Ehrenmünze der Landeshauptstadt München
1986: Bayerischer Filmpreis: Honorary Award
1989: Appointment as Professor honoris causa by the Kunst und Wissenschaft of North Rhine-Westphalia
1990: Goldene Berolina
1992: Magdeburger Otto for Lifetime Achievement
1995: Goldene Kamera as the Greatest German Actor of the Century (posthumous)
2006: Voted No. 1 in the ZDF TV-show Unsere Besten – Favorite German Actors (results by a poll)

Quotes

Total 0 Quotes

Quotes not found.