Norbert Grupe

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Wilhelm von Homburg boxer
Data
Birth Name Norbert Grupe
Weight class Light heavyweight
nationality GermanyGermany German
birthday August 25, 1940
place of birth Berlin
Date of death March 10, 2004
Place of death Puerto Vallarta
style Left delivery
size 1.91
Combat Statistics
Struggles 46
Victories 29
Knockout victories 24
Defeats 11
draw 6th

Norbert Grupe junior (born  August 25, 1940 in Berlin ; †  March 10, 2004 near Puerto Vallarta , Mexico ) was a German professional boxer and actor . He was also known under his pseudonym Wilhelm von Homburg .

Life

Grupe began his sporting career in the 1950s at the side of his father Richard Grupe , also a boxer, in wrestling shows. When performing in the USA, he took the name Prince Wilhelm von Homburg for this, among other things because his German name was pronounced in English groupie . In 1962 he switched to professional boxing. He won 29 of 46 professional fights; however, the light heavyweight never won a world or European title.

His appearance on June 21, 1969 in the current sports studio of ZDF after his defeat in the third round against Óscar Bonavena , when Grupe no longer answered questions from moderator Rainer Günzler during the interview, is considered legendary . The background was a previous contribution by Günzler to the ZDF program Der Sport-Spiegel , in which Günzler critically dealt with the sporting achievements of groups and, rather derogatory to groups, sometimes made bizarre appearances in public. Thereupon Grupe is said to have sworn in front of friends: “He'll get that back!” Because of this behavior, he was given a lifelong ban by the Association of German Professional Boxers , against which he successfully took legal action.

In his penultimate fight, Grupe was defeated by Jürgen Blin on points. Blin said he was very impressed with the strength of the group after the fight.

Grupe spent a total of five years in detention for a number of criminal activities.

During his sporting career, Grupe began an acting career. First followed, after an episode of the television series Smoking Colts in 1964, extras in the films Morituri by Bernhard Wicki from 1965 and in Alfred Hitchcock's The Torn Curtain in 1966 as a man on the bus. In 1969 Grupe was given a bigger role than the criminal boxer Max Graf at the side of Mario Adorf in The Gentlemen with the White Waistcoat . In this film, posters for his fights can be seen in the boxing stable. In 1977 he played a pimp in the movie Stroszek by Werner Herzog . However, major successes in the acting field were denied him throughout his life. His most famous roles were the appearance as the dark Carpathian prince Vigo in the movie Ghostbusters II and as one of the gangsters in Die Hard . His German dubbing voice comes from Helmut Krauss .

In 2000, the German filmmaker Gerd Kroske made the award-winning documentary The Boxing Prince , in which he drew a portrait of the dazzling life of Norbert Group.

Grupe last lived in Los Angeles . On March 10, 2004, he died of lung cancer in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Filmography (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eckhard Haschen: Portrait of a boxer as a pop star. In: taz.de , April 5, 2002.
  2. ↑ Norbert Grupe: No thing is impossible . In: Der Spiegel . No. 50 , 1969, p. 150 ( online ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Grupe, Norbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Homburg, Prince Wilhelm von (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German boxer and actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 2004
Place of death near Puerto Vallarta , Mexico