Oskar Werner

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Oskar Werner on stage, 1949

Oskar Werner (born November 13, 1922 in Vienna , † October 23, 1984 in Marburg an der Lahn ; Oskar Josef Blussmayer until 1946 ) was an important Austrian film and stage actor . He has worked in numerous international film productions.

Life

Memorial plaque in Marchettigasse 1A, Mariahilf , Vienna

Oskar Werner was born in Gumpendorf , the western part of Vienna's 6th district, Mariahilf , at Marchettigasse 1A. (Five blocks away, at the beginning of Garbergasse, Oskar-Werner-Platz has existed since 2003.) The son of a factory worker and an insurance agent grew up in simple circumstances with his mother and grandmother after his parents divorced. When he was eight years old, his mother tried to kill herself.

At the age of 16, Werner witnessed the November pogroms in 1938 . Under this impression, Werner worked as a declared pacifist against nationalism and anti-Semitism .

Oskar Werner already played roles in the school theater during his school days. Early extras in film productions followed: Werner had smaller appearances in typical films of the time, such as Money falls from heaven (1938) or Hotel Sacher (1939). In addition, there were first speaking roles in radio, cabaret and at the theater. Oskar Werner left school after failing the Matura without a qualification.

After his school days he was drafted into the Reich Labor Service . On October 1, 1941, Werner received an engagement at the Vienna Burgtheater . In the following years, his employment contract was repeatedly impaired by being called up for service in the army: “In consideration of a possible call-up for service in the armed forces, Werner’s contracts [with the Vienna Burgtheater, dV] are only concluded for one month until 1941, from 1942 onwards Werner enlist in the army and will be made available on a daily basis upon request for work leave. "

At the instigation of the Vienna Burgtheater, an indispensable position was to be enforced for Oskar Werner , but this was unsuccessful. Oskar Werner therefore withdrew from military service in the Wehrmacht in 1945 by deserting and fleeing to Baden in the Vienna Woods . He was accompanied there by his then wife Elisabeth Kallina , who was considered a " half-Jewish " under the Nuremberg race laws , and their daughter Eleonore, born in 1944.

Oskar Werner's Liechtenstein residence (2009) "Teixlburg"

Immediately after the end of the war, Oskar Werner played again at the Burgtheater in the Ronacher . His first marriage to the actress Elisabeth Kallina, which had been entered into on May 31, 1944 according to the provisions of the then applicable “Noteheschloßungsreform”, was officially celebrated on September 11, 1946 in the Stanislaus Chapel of St. Peter's Church in Vienna in the city center. Werner now also put down his real family name Blussmayer . This request was officially granted on October 4, 1946.

In 1949 Werner began his international film career with the Austro-British production Der Engel mit der Trosaune (1949). After further film roles, he signed a contract for a seven-year collaboration with producer Darryl F. Zanuck in Hollywood . However, this was terminated prematurely by the contractual partners.

In 1952 he bought a piece of land in the Triesen municipality in Liechtenstein and built a house on it, which was significantly expanded in 1974. On the gate to his property was a sign that read: “Granted that I request no unannounced visits. Private - no visitors please. “In addition to this property, he also owned other properties in Thallern (part of Krems ), in the Wachau ( Lower Austria ) and in Paris as well as properties in Spain.

In 1954 Oskar Werner married - already divorced from Elisabeth Kallina - his second wife Anne Power , the daughter of the French actress Annabella who had been adopted by Tyrone Power . From a later relationship with Diane Anderson , the son Felix Florian Werner was born in 1966 . From 1970 to 1979 Werner was in a relationship with the actress Antje Weisgerber . In 1978 Werner returned to the theater in der Josefstadt . From 1980 he lived again in Vienna and in Thallern in the Wachau .

The last years of Werner's life, often described as difficult and eccentric, were overshadowed by depression and his progressive alcoholic illness . He held readings and recitation evenings and organized the first Austrian memorial service in 1983 out of his own pocket in the former Mauthausen concentration camp . On January 22nd, 1984, he organized a “Memorial Service for the Jews” in Vienna's Palais Auersperg on his own initiative and without any support. In Liechtenstein, as in Innsbruck, he failed with his theater festival. In Tyrol they only use the boards of life for skiing (Oskar Werner).

A Faust project with ORF , Austria's state radio and television company, could not be realized either: Although Werner prepared this project meticulously and calculated all the costs - at that time, a total budget of 3 million schillings would be affordable for the ORF for 55 days of shooting and all actors had promised, demanded television director - been Wolf in the Maur ", shaping the final version on average reductions scene change title change 'to secure one and a half years of negotiations by Werner, ORF in the contract. That was not achievable for Werner ( Robert Dachs ).

In the last years of his life, Werner owned an apartment in the 8th district , Trautsongasse 3. Burgtheater director Achim Benning had won him over in 1983 to take on the title role in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar ; the piece would have been arranged by Pavel Kohout . Werner, who had been promised the director, spoke the entire play on tape in his apartment and stuck a poster with the inscription Caesar's secret camp on his apartment door. The previously planned Oskar Werner Festival in the Wachau was massively hindered by the local mayor and not only burdened Werner financially. The Julius Caesar premiere planned for December 1983 did not take place, allegedly because Benning wanted to change the arrangements.

In 1984 Werner died of a heart attack at the age of 61 in a hotel in Marburg an der Lahn while he was preparing for a recitation tour through West Germany.

Former grave site of Oskar Werner at the Triesen cemetery

During his lifetime he made sure that he would be buried in Triesen, where he had lived in seclusion for many years, seeking anonymity, and not in Vienna, where he would have received a grave of honor. His original grave no longer exists. In 2011 his remains were exhumed, cremated and the urn buried in the southwest corner of the cemetery. A memorial plaque was attached to the cemetery wall.

Memorial plaque for Oskar Werner in the cemetery in Triesen , Liechtenstein

In episode 30 of the US crime series "Columbo", in which Werner participated in 1974, Werner spoke himself in the first German synchronization, but ARD shortened the episodes of these Columbo synchronizations, which is why RTL had them re-synchronized. In this version, Werner was spoken by Miguel Herz-Kestranek . The episode broadcast on ZDFneo in 2015 was dubbed by Oskar Werner himself in 1975.

A plaque on the house where he was born was donated by the ISSA - Academy for Holistic Art Therapy . Werner chose the nickname Teixl for himself and called his Liechtenstein house Teixlburg . In the Viennese dialect, Teixl is the word for devil.

Career

Werner had his first contact with the theater during his school days in Vienna, when he was performing for pupils. In 1938 and 1939 extras for film productions followed. In 1941 the actor made his debut under his stage name Oskar Werner at the Burgtheater in Vienna in a play by Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer . In October of the same year he was drafted into service in the Wehrmacht. However, regular leave for work leave enabled him to continue to play roles at the Burgtheater. With the closing decree of the National Socialists, which resulted in the closure of all German theaters in the Reich, Werner threatened to be transferred to the front. He escaped from Vienna by fleeing with his family.

After the end of the Second World War, Werner was back on the stage of the Ronacher establishment on May 17, 1945 in a play by August von Kotzebue , which served as an alternative stage after the destruction of the Burgtheater in Vienna. In the years up to 1948 he stayed at the Burgtheater in Vienna and also played on tours in neighboring Switzerland. In 1947 preparations began for the first major film role. The angel with the trumpet was a great success for the actor, for which he left the Burgtheater in Vienna for filming in London without a contractual basis . This was followed by termination without notice by the Burgtheater in 1949.

In 1950 he received a 7-year contract from 20th Century Fox in Hollywood , which was dissolved in 1951; During this time he played the impressive lead role in the Oscar-nominated anti-war film Decision Before Dawn . In the course of the 1950s, Werner became one of the leading actors of his generation as a theater and film actor. In 1955 he played the title role at the reopening of the Vienna Burgtheater in the so-called “Century Don Carlos” in Schiller's Don Carlos, alongside Werner Krauss , who played King Philip II. In 1958 he designed the film A certain Judas for television . Werner directed and played the role of Judas . In it he made his critical stance towards the Christian religion clear. In 1959 he returned to the Burgtheater. Werner called the actors Werner Krauss and Alma Seidler , whom he admired, as his "parents-to-be", and he was on stage with both of them.

In 1962 Werner made his international breakthrough in François Truffaut's cult film Jules and Jim . Werner and Truffaut have been friends since then. In 1964 he played alongside an international star cast in The Ship of Fools and received his only Oscar nomination for it. In 1965, he delivered a fascinating acting duel with Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came Out of the Cold , for which he won a Golden Globe for best supporting actor. In Truffaut's film adaptation of the pessimistic future vision Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury , he was seen in 1966 as a fireman Monday, who is used in book burns. However, the film marked the end of the friendship between Truffaut and Werner. The two had a completely opposite view of the role. Werner, a contemporary witness of Hitler's book burnings, wanted to show more clearly the importance of literature for the awareness of people and the crime of book burning. During the course of the filming, Werner increasingly began to question Truffaut's decisions and to ignore his instructions. Towards the end of the shooting, Werner was even confronted with accusations of sabotage individual scenes.

Directed by Kevin Billington , Oskar Werner played the conductor Stefan Zelter in the film Interlude in 1968 . In 1968 Oskar Werner appeared alongside Anthony Quinn as the doubting Father David Telemond in the film In the Fisherman's Shoes . He received other offers such as from Stanley Kubrick , who offered him the lead role in a film adaptation of the life story of Napoleon Bonaparte , which was never realized due to financial difficulties . Kubrick then turned a clockwork orange in 1971 , which Werner considered problematic due to its explicit representation of violence. A collaboration on the next Kubrick film Barry Lyndon (1975) for the incorruptible actor, who turned down over 300 role offers as “betrayal of artistic taste”, was no longer an option.

From 1968 Werner only appeared in front of the camera twice: In 1976 he appeared in “ Reise der Verdammten ” as “Dr. Egon Kreisler ”, in 1974 he played the villain“ Harold Van Wick ” as Peter Falk's adversary in the episode“ Playback ”of the crime series“ Columbo ”.

In addition to his acting successes, Werner gained great fame and popularity thanks to his unmistakable voice, which with its gentle, poetic modulation and the characteristic Viennese language coloring still exudes a special fascination. This is particularly evident in the radio play productions and reading productions in which he participated as a speaker and which played an increasingly important role in the last phase of his life. Werner's voice is repeatedly parodied in advertising and cabaret to this day.

Filmography, theater, recitation

Film rolls

Film direction

theatre

Source: Robert Dachs, Oskar Werner - Ein Nachklang , Kremayr & Scheriau , ISBN 3-218-00478-0 .

Oskar Werner theater company

  • 1959: Ferdinand in Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich Schiller; Director: Josef Gielen, Landestheater Innsbruck (Innsbrucker Schauspielwochen, guest performance of the Oskar Werner theater company)
  • 1959: Ferdinand in Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich Schiller; Director: Josef Gielen, BRD / Vienna; Oskar Werner theater company
  • 1963: title role in Torquato Tasso by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; Director: Josef Gielen, Vienna / BRD / Paris; Oskar Werner theater company
  • 1964: For the Shakespeare year 1964, the Oskar Werner theater company prepared Shakespeare's Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet .

recitation

  • All of the 1966 recordings below are available as LP from Polydor International GmbH. Newly published in 1993 for “Library Heliodor”, title: Werner speaks poems .
  • 1961: Paris: Christ Visions (6 poems by Rilke for the Deutsche Grammophon Society , newly published in "Literarisches Archiv Deutsche Grammophon")
  • 1961: Stuttgart: Oskar Werner reads Knut Hamsun's novel Hunger . Production: Süddeutscher Rundfunk , newly published: 2002, ORF .
  • 1966: Poems by Eduard Mörike : 1. The night rose calmly on land, 2. The morning was deadly dread, 3. When I saw you, 4. The mirror of those faithful brown eyes, 5. What a storm tonight been, 6. Yes, my luck, the long-used one
  • 1966: Poems by Heinrich Heine : 1. I was in my youth, 2. I dreamed, 3. It is believed that I am grieving, 4. Lean your Wang against my Wang, 5. On wings of song, 6. Escape with me me, 7. How can you sleep peacefully.
  • 1966: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , 3 poems: 1. Hymn to Silence, 2. Prayer of Solitude, 3. Hymn to Night
  • 1966: Gesang zur Nacht , Georg Trakl (6 poems by Trakl for the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft : 1. Confiteor, 2. Gypsy, 3. Crucifixus, 4. The young maid, 5. In an old family book)
  • 1978: Schubertiade Hohenems , from Goethe's works 

Radio plays (selection)

Source of all work lists: Robert Dachs, Oskar Werner - Ein Nachklang , Kremayr & Scheriau , ISBN 3-218-00478-0 .

Literature about Oskar Werner

Awards

documentary

Web links

Commons : Oskar Werner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian Berger, Michael Nolte: Oskar Werner's death. In: Dembski & Mühlegger-Henhapel, 2003, ISBN 978-3-85498-190-9 , p. 70.
  2. ↑ Quotation in: Ulrike Dembski, Christiane Mühlegger-Henhapel: Oskar Werner: "What a strange dream I dream ..." Brandstätter, Vienna 2003, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-3-85498-190-9 , p. 22.
  3. ↑ Robert Dachs: Genie und Fetzenschädl , 1994, p. 94. "Teixl" was Oskar Werner's self-chosen nickname.
  4. ↑ Ulrike Dembski: Oskar Werner - Sketches of his life. In: Dembski & Mühlegger-Henhapel, 2003, p. 23, with reference to the archive of the Burgtheater, quoted in Marietta Macheck: Oskar Werner - Die Gezeiten eines Schauspielers. Diploma thesis, University of Vienna, p. 182.
  5. ↑ Robert Dachs: Genie and Fetzenschädl , 1994, p. 91.
  6. ^ Obituary for Anne Power Werner (1928–2011). In: The Boston Globe , January 1, 2012.
  7. ^ Robert Dachs: Genie und Fetzenschädl, Verlag Der Apfel, Vienna 1994, ISBN 978-3-85450-027-8 .
  8. ↑ Alexander Van der Bellen : Oskar Werner 1922–1984. 2002, Internet article no longer available; see article archive of the Greens, ( Memento of November 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
  9. ^ Attila E. Láng: Oskar Werner. A forensics. Jugend und Volk, Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-224-16037-3 , p. 116.
  10. ↑ cf. Columbo: Playback. ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.synchrondatenbank.de archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: synchrondatenbank.de .
  11. ↑ Sara Gohbert: Columbo in German. The synchronous story. In: zauberspiegel-online.de , May 2015.
  12. ↑ Columbo: Playback (1975). In: synchronkartei.de .
  13. ↑ cf. Hedwig Abraham: Memorial plaques in Vienna: Oskar Werner. In: viennatouristguide.at , accessed December 12, 2014.
    ISSA art and art events. In: ISSA Academy for Holistic Art Therapy , accessed December 11, 2017.
  14. ↑ Julius Jakob: Dictionary des Wiener Dialektes , Gerlach & Wiedling, Vienna 1929, (= reprint in the series Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher , Harenberg, Dortmund 1980), p. 191 f.
  15. ↑ Marc Hairapetian: Oskar Werner Bonaparte. In death the eccentric actor is worshiped like a pop star. In: Die Welt , November 12, 1997.
  16. ↑ Mike Supancic at Stermann & Grissemann - Welcome Austria. Parody about Oskar Werner by cabaret artist Mike Supancic , from minute 6:49, broadcast on September 24, 2009.
  17. ↑ Marc Hairapetian: Felix Florian Werner: The inheritance of the incorruptible. In: Spiegel Online , April 14, 2001.
  18. ^ Oskar Werner - The stage. In: oskarwerner.at , cast list of his theater performances.
  19. ^ Event archive : Oskar Werner and Antje Weisgerber. In: Schubertiade Hohenems , June 23, 1978.
  20. ^ Oskar Werner. In: oskarwerner.at .
  21. ↑ Review of The Sad Prince by Nikolaus Merck: Götterliebling und Untergeher. In: nachtkritik.de , March 25, 2015.
       Jochen Kürten: Book tip: “The sad prince” Oskar Werner. In: Deutsche Welle , April 6, 2015.
  22. ↑ Oskar Werner's 75th birthday . In the Austria Forum , accessed on April 15, 2015.
  23. ^ APA : Mariahilf: naming of Oskar Werner-Platz. In: Rathauskorrespondenz , May 26, 2003, accessed December 12, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Werner, Oskar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blussmayer, Oskar Josef (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian actor and declamator
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1984
Place of death Marburg