Otto Clemens

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Otto Clemens (born October 21, 1946 in Vienna ) is an Austrian stage, television and film actor and television announcer. He is known to German-speaking television viewers as the voice of numerous television productions and documentaries.

Childhood and youth

He grew up in Vienna-Brigittenau , Universumstrasse 50, where he attended elementary school and secondary school. Otto Clemens studied acting in Vienna and with Walter Lott from the Actors Studio New York to learn method acting from Lee Strasberg .

Theater and film

His stage career includes memberships in the ensembles of the Burgtheater and Volkstheater , as well as the Theater in der Josefstadt . Otto Clemens ended his work at the Burgtheater in 1985 when, due to the idiosyncratic direction of Angelika Hurwicz during rehearsals for the play Die Frau vom Meer by Henrik Ibsen, he gave up his role of Lyngstrand due to artistic conflicts . Many fellow actors admired his consistent attitude and showed solidarity with Otto Clemens. He was proved right: the performance was a failure.

The director Michael Kehlmann brought Otto Clemens to the theater in der Josefstadt. One of the highlights of his successful roles at the theater was the awarding of the Josef Kainz Medal , which he received from the City of Vienna in 1987. He got this for the portrayal of Arnold in Gerhart Hauptmann's play Michael Kramer in the Theater in der Josefstadt.

He toured with the theater Der Kreis under the direction of George Tabori as far as Wellington , New Zealand and Adelaide , Australia . Here he played theater for the first time in English.

Otto Clemens took part in a number of internationally known American productions for the film: among other things, he played alongside Meryl Streep and James Woods in Holocaust - The History of the Weiss Family in 1978 under the direction of Marvin J. Chomsky, an SS officer. In Wagner - The Life and Work of Richard Wagner , Otto Clemens played the patron Karl Tausig with Richard Burton in the title role of the composer Richard Wagner .

In 1980 he lived for two years in New York to the method acting to study by Lee Strasberg. However, Clemens is also enthusiastic about working behind the camera. He regards writing scripts as a particular passion.

Television announcer

Otto Clemens began early on, in addition to working at the theater and in film, as an actor and speaker in numerous radio plays and literary productions and made people sit up and take notice with recitation evenings.

On television, he shaped the most successful historical TV documentary series of the ORF with his voice: Austria I and Austria II or Hear the signals of Hugo Portisch and Sepp Riff . Otto Clemens is also the German narrator of the so far most expensive computer animation six-part series ( BBC ) of the television story Dinosaurier - Im Reich der Gianten und Die Erben der Saurier (ProSieben).

Since 1987 he has also been known to Austrian and German television viewers from the multi-award-winning nature documentary series Universum , which shows ORF's own productions and co-productions with other broadcasters ( BBC , Discovery Channel , ...) every week . With his fascinating voice and expressiveness, Otto Clemens played a key role in the success of the audience. He was initially offered an exclusive contract to make his voice a distinctive element of the series. However, he refused on the grounds that he did not want to be tied to a single matter. In 2011, the new weekly program Terra Mater started on ServusTV, and it was a huge hit from the start. Otto Clemens was the narrator of this TV series. In 2014 he ended his collaboration with Terra Mater in order to be able to focus on other tasks.

selection

  • Ants - the secret world power
  • Bionics Revolution - Nature's best ideas
  • The secret world of termites
  • The last paradises (series)
    • New Zealand: land of legends
    • South Tyrol: treasures of nature
    • Africa: Kenya / Tansani - In the land of the Maasai
    • Hunter at the Cape of Storms
    • Africa: Mozambique
    • Africa: Wild Ethiopia
  • The ancestors of the dinosaurs - In the realm of the prehistoric monsters
  • The heirs of the dinosaurs - In the realm of primeval times
  • The story of Big Al
  • The tricks of the plants - The secret life of orchids and carnivorous plants
  • Dinosaurs - In the realm of the giants
  • Limits of time
  • In the realm of primitive man
  • Planet of Dragons - The future of reptiles
  • Desert Kings - The Lions of the Namib
  • Africa's Wild West - The Namib
  • Africa: Lake Malawi - Lake of the Stars
  • Dragonflies
  • Austria - land of green borders

Filmography

Movies

  • 1976: happy times
  • 1976: Romantic adventures at Bois-Doré Castle (speaking role)
  • 1978: The man in the reeds
  • 1980: The sailors of Cattaro (after Friedrich Wolf )
  • 1986: Rosa and Rosalind
  • 1995: Deadly love

TV films & series

theatre

  • Theater of Courage
  • The comedians
  • Theater mbH.
  • Echo room
  • Theater in the Künstlerhaus
  • Theater of Youth
  • Studio stage in Villach
  • Summer Games Kobersdorf
  • Drachengasse theater
  • The Circle (George Tabori)
  • Burgtheater
  • Theater in the Josefstadt
  • Popular theater

Guest appearances

Awards

Private

Otto Clemens is married and has two sons. He currently lives in Vienna.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Clemens, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian actor, television announcer
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna