Günther Simon (actor)
Günther Simon (born May 11, 1925 in Berlin ; † June 25, 1972 there ) was a German actor . He gained notoriety through roles in several DEFA films.
Life
The son of the banker Friedrich Simon attended a private drama school while still a high school student. During his time with the Reich Labor Service , he volunteered for the paratroopers in August 1943. In 1943 he joined the NSDAP . During the Allied invasion he was used in Normandy and was taken prisoner by the Americans , which he spent in a camp in Colorado . He gained his first stage experience in the camp theater there.
After the end of the war, he took acting lessons from Karl Meixner at the Hebbel Theater from 1947 . He made his debut at the Stadttheater Köthen in Der Wirbelsturm by Dimitri Tscheglow. From 1948 to 1950 he played at the Schwerin City Theater , where he met his wife Margaritha, a dancer. From 1950 to 1951 Simon was employed at the Dresden State Theater , then briefly at the Leipzig City Theaters.
From 1951 Simon also received film roles. In 1952 he was selected to take on the title role in the lavish two-part film adaptation of Ernst Thälmann's life . Simon had a decisive influence on the film work and tried to match the portrayed role personally. He joined the SED and became a member of the central party leadership of the DEFA studio.
In the years that followed, Simon always played exemplary socialists, peasants, workers and fatherly functionaries. From the mid-1960s, he also embodied these characters on television. Occasionally, however, he also got roles that did not correspond to this cliché, such as in the film Lot's Wife , where he reacts with incomprehension to his wife's aspirations for emancipation, or as father trembling cheek in Alfons trembling cheek , where he was able to prove his comedic skills.
Günther Simon and his wife Rita had three sons and a daughter.
His grave is in the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof in Berlin.
Filmography
- 1952: The condemned village
- 1953: Anna Susanna
- 1953: jacket and pants
- 1954: Ernst Thälmann - son of his class
- 1955: Ernst Thälmann - leader in his class
- 1956: Back then in Paris
- 1956: meeting point Aimée
- 1956: Three girls in the final
- 1956: A Berlin romance (voiceover)
- 1956: The dream ship
- 1957: Sheriff Teddy
- 1957: Don't forget my wives
- 1957: Tinko
- 1958: The Song of the Sailors
- 1958: The black battalion (Černý prapor)
- 1958: My wife makes music
- 1958: Sun seeker
- 1958: Bat squadron
- 1958: The Lottery Swede
- 1959: Senta on the wrong track
- 1959: Little Kuno
- 1959: The silent star
- 1959: an old love
- 1960: One of us
- 1960: The bog dog
- 1960: Those over 40 today
- 1960: No trouble with Cleopatra
- 1961: Doctors
- 1961: the dress
- 1961: The Stranger
- 1961: A handful of notes
- 1962: Poison (TV)
- 1962: At French chimneys
- 1963: fog
- 1963: Secret archive on the Elbe
- 1964: black velvet
- 1964: Preludio 11
- 1964: The Trumpeter's Song
- 1964: I don't have a title yet
- 1965: Lot's wife
- 1965: Spring takes time
- 1965: When you grow up, dear Adam
- 1965: The reserve hero
- 1966: Alfons Zitterbacke
- 1966: Journey to the marriage bed
- 1966: Wisp and Fire (TV two-part)
- 1967: bread and roses
- 1967–69: Krupp and Krause (TV five-part series)
- 1968: Heroin
- 1969: Suspected dead person
- 1970: Everyone dies for himself alone (TV film, 3 parts)
- 1970: Because I love you ...
- 1971: KLK to PTX - Die Rote Kapelle
- 1972: Dangerous journey
- 1972: Ripe cherries
Radio plays
- 1955: Jan de Hartog : Ship without a harbor (Meier, Steuermann) - Director: Lothar Dutombé (radio play - Broadcasting of the GDR )
- 1957: Wolfgang Schreyer : The Assassination (von Stauffenberg) - Director: Lothar Dutombé (Broadcasting of the GDR)
- 1958: Anna and Friedrich Schlotterbeck : SMS Prinzregent Luitpold (Albin Köbis) - Director: Theodor Popp (Broadcasting of the GDR)
- 1958: Bruno Apitz : Naked Among Wolves (Camp Elder Krämer) - Director: Joachim Witte (Broadcasting of the GDR)
- 2002: Marianne Weil / Stefan Dutt : Legionaries, Guerrillas, Saboteurs - Director: Marianne Weil / Stefan Dutt (A Socialist Complete Radio Play - DLR)
Awards
- 1954: National Prize of the GDR 1st class for Ernst Thälmann - son of his class in the collective
- 1955: Heinrich Greif Prize 2nd class for dubbing Das Lied vom Menschen
- 1956: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival : Best male actor for Ernst Thälmann - son of his class and Ernst Thälmann - leader of his class
- 1969: National Prize of the GDR 1st class for Krupp and Krause / Krause and Krupp as a collective
literature
- Konrad Wolf on Günther Simon in Prisma, Cinema and Television Almanac No. 4. Henschelverlag, Berlin 1973, ISSN 0323-5599 .
- Bernd-Rainer Barth : Simon, Günther . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
Web links
- Biography on defa-stiftung.de
- Günther Simon in theInternet Movie Database(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Harry Waibel : Servants of many masters. Former Nazi functionaries in the Soviet Zone / GDR. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-63542-1 , p. 314.
- ^ New Times from August 1, 1956
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Simon, Günther |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German film actor (GDR) |
DATE OF BIRTH | May 11, 1925 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
DATE OF DEATH | June 25, 1972 |
Place of death | Berlin |