Horst Frank (actor)

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Horst Frank (photography without year) Horst Frank signature.svg

Horst Bernhard Wilhelm Frank (born May 28, 1929 in Lübeck ; † May 25, 1999 in Heidelberg ) was a German actor , radio play and voice actor .

Life

After attending secondary school , Horst Frank began a commercial apprenticeship, which he had to break off due to military service at the end of the Second World War . From 1947 to 1949 he completed an acting training at the Hamburg University of Music . He did not pass the final exam, but he got his first engagement in 1950. He financed his studies by doing odd jobs as a night watchman, babysitter and window dresser. After the training, engagements at various theaters followed, first at the municipal theater in his hometown Lübeck, later in Bonn , Basel , Baden-Baden and at the municipal theaters of Wuppertal . During his television career, he only returned to the theater for touring productions, which were particularly successful thanks to his high profile.

Horst Frank, 1968

Film career

In the 1950s he played in several German movies. In addition to positive heroes, the Wirtschaftswunder cinema also called for anti-heroes as a contrast. Frank specialized in pessimistic, melancholy characters. After two television productions, his first movie The Star of Africa (1957) set him for this role. In the heroic war film he played the cynical aviator Albin Droste. This was followed by other anti-war films such as Sharks and Small Fish (1957) and the Stalingrad film Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever (1958). In addition, he seemed predestined for the role of sex offender. In 1958, for example, he played a terrifying murderer in the big box office hits Das Mädchen vom Moorhof (based on the novel by Selma Lagerlöf ) and the crime film Der Greifer (with Hans Albers as a detective ).

In the 1960s, he remained arrested in these villain roles. For example, he played the “boss” in the neighborhood of St. Pauli or in the Jerry Cotton film adaptation At zero o'clock the trap snaps shut (1966) and in The Revenge of Dr. Fu Man Chu (1967). Sometimes he had "the other villain" Klaus Kinski as a film partner. He shone in the title role in the drama Caligula (a television production from 1966). Some agent films - often set in the Far East - benefited from his distinctive voice. It wasn't until 1971 that he was involved again in a great public success - in the Simmel film adaptation And Jimmy went to the rainbow .

Television career

Through his participation in the ZDF crime series Der Kommissar , Derrick and Der Alte as well as his role as Baron de Lefuet in the multi-part Timm Thaler (1979) based on the children's book by James Krüss (the soundtrack of the series was shortened to 3 Ariola LPs released) he consolidated his television career.

He was always present in other roles in various television series, for example The Winter That Was a Summer , Rival of the Racetrack , Das Traumschiff or Elbflorenz and guest roles in almost all German crime series such as Sonderdezernat K1 , SOKO 5113 , Polizeiruf 110 , Der Fahnder and Tatort ( all as a counterpart to the “singing commissioners” Stoever / Brockmöller from NDR , Hamburg), Großstadtrevier , Peter Strohm or Adelheid and their murderers - the latter testify to his close ties to Hamburg. The Internet Movie Database has featured in over 140 different films and television series.

Others

Because of his distinctive voice, Horst Frank was also hired for radio plays. As early as 1953 he spoke under the director Eduard Hermann in You knock still still, among others with Kurt Lieck and Hans Lietzau .

The radio play series The three question marks , with which he became known as Chief Inspector Reynolds and which he lent his voice to episode 36 ("The Super Whale"), published in 1985, was more successful .

In Europe he spoke other roles. He was Captain Nemo in the Europe version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne and he and his wife - actress Brigitte Kollecker  - played the quarreling couple Tom Fawley and Eireen Fox in three episodes of the horror series by H. G. Francis . As the hero of the radio play series Kung Fu , he also proved his diversity.

Frank has lent his voice to Laurence Harvey ( Ambassador of Fear ) and Jack Palance ( The Last Coup of the Dalton Gang ) as a voice actor in US films . Ironically, however, he was dubbed in most of his foreign and even in some of his German films, regularly by Helmo Kindermann.

Horst Frank also tried his hand at poetry. The volume of poetry when I look in the mirror was published in 1989 by RG Fischer Verlag. The artist recorded some poems from the volume for a music album ( Stage Fright , 1989). He also made trips to the music business ( My time with you , 1979). In 1981 he published his memoirs under the title Life is Life.

Private

Horst Frank grave, Ohlsdorf cemetery Y24 (332)

Horst Frank lived in France and Italy for several years . From 1961 to 1963 he lived in Tanganyika on his own farm. Political turmoil forced him to return to Germany. “In Africa I put myself to the test,” he said later. "I have found out whether I am still suitable for something else." There is a son from his first marriage. From 1961 he was married to the actress Chariklia Baxevanos for almost a year , with her he has a daughter (Désirée). In 1979 he got his fourth marriage to the actress Brigitte Kollecker . Horst Frank died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1999 three days before his 70th birthday . He was buried in Hamburg at the Ohlsdorf cemetery (grave Y24 (332)).

Tributes

Harald Wehmeier parodied Horst Frank regularly in the mid-1990s on the NDR2 show Kwatsch , where he let the character express himself extensively on everyday topics. The rubric became so successful that even a CD appeared exclusively with Horst Frank parodies ( Pfui Spinne - Die Horst Frank Parodie , 1998).

The poem My Time with You by Horst Frank is the subject of episode 20 of the TV series Pastewka Die Saunabürste (2007) and is recited in full by Adriana Altaras .

Filmography

movie theater

watch TV

Radio plays

Discography (selection)

Singles

  • 1979: My time with you / For you
  • 1980: Where are the girls / A little piece of me

Albums

  • 1989: stage fright

Web links

Commons : Horst Frank  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with Horst Frank on terrorverlag.de, accessed on November 18, 2013
  2. ↑ Nordbayerischer Kurier of May 27, 1999
  3. ↑ Horst Frank on steffi-line.de, accessed on November 18, 2013.
  4. ^ Entry on Horst Frank's grave site on the Ohlsdorf Cemetery website, accessed on February 17, 2017.
  5. ↑ Horst Frank died, accessed on November 18, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Frank, Horst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frank, Horst Bernhard Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor as well as radio play and voice actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Lübeck
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 1999
Place of death Heidelberg