Günther Simon (actor)

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Günther Simon

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.

tomb

His grave is in the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof in Berlin.

Filmography

Radio plays

Awards

literature

Web links

Commons : Günther Simon  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ^ 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