Horst Wendlandt

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Horst Wendlandt (born March 15, 1922 in Criewen near Schwedt ; † August 30, 2002 in Berlin ; born Horst Otto Grigori Gubanov ) was a German film producer .

Life

Gut Rothsee, Horst Wendlandt's second home since 1969
Chapel of Gut Rothsee, Horst Wendlandt's grave

Wendlandt was the son of a Russian farm worker and a German. He was adopted by his mother's sister and took her name. After attending the commercial college, he completed an apprenticeship with the Tobis Tonbild Syndicate in 1939 , which took him over as a cashier in 1941. Since he was threatened with internment as a Russian citizen , he volunteered for the German Air Force in 1944. After his capture by the Americans, he worked as a forced laborer in a French mine until 1947.

Back in Berlin, Wendlandt worked again for various film companies, first as a cashier and then as production manager . In 1956 he was hired by Artur Brauner for his CCC film company . In 1961 Wendlandt switched to Rialto Film , in which he had the majority of the shares from 1972.

Wendlandt became the toughest competitor of his former employer Artur Brauner on the German market. He achieved great popularity with the production of the successful and lucrative Edgar Wallace and Karl May films in the 1960s. After the death of the Winnetou figure in the last part of the Winnetou trilogy in 1965, a wave of protests that was unique in German cinema history pelted down on the producer, prompting him to immediately start preparing for the next Karl May adventure Old Surehand 1 To begin part in which he had the hero resurrected on film.

Wendlandt worked with many stars of European cinema. He paid particular attention to comedies, which with the protagonists Heinz Erhardt , Otto , Loriot (“ Ödipussi ”, 1988, and “ Pappa ante portas ”, 1991) are on his long list of successes. He was also active in film distribution and brought the duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill to cinemas , among others . In 1998, Wendlandt received the Scharlih Prize, the most famous award associated with the name Karl May .

Son Matthias (* 1952) and daughter Susan (* 1956) also took on production tasks at Rialto.

Horst Wendlandt, who was married to Ilsegard Winter, died of cancer on August 30, 2002 in Berlin.

Wendlandt acquired Gut Rothsee in the Weilheim-Schongau district in 1969 and used it as a second home and for legendary celebrations with actors and film teams. He is buried in the family vault of the chapel on the estate.

Allegations of plagiarism

His former employer Artur Brauner claimed throughout his life that Wendlandt had "stolen" the idea for the successful film adaptations of the Karl May novels from his drawer. However, this claim is offset by the "legend" that still exists today that his son Matthias made him aware of the adventure materials after reading a Karl May book.

Awards

Filmography

Production management

Production or co-production

literature

  • Dona Kujacinski: HORST WENDLANDT - The man who brought Winnetou & Edgar Wallace, Bud Spencer & Terence Hill, Otto & Loriot to the cinema. A biography , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89602-690-9 / from 2007: ISBN 978-3-89602-690-3 .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. Münchner Merkur: Gut Rothsee as the final resting place , March 29, 2009