Otto Wernicke

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Otto Wernicke

Otto Karl Robert Wernicke (born September 30, 1893 in Osterode am Harz , † November 7, 1965 in Munich ) was a German actor .

Life

The son of a brewery director took acting lessons after an apprenticeship as a bookseller and played in Erfurt and Eisenach from 1910 to 1914 . After participating in the First World War, he worked at the Stadttheater in Bonn , from 1921 to 1937 at the State Theater in Munich , from 1934 to 1941 also at the Deutsches Theater and from 1941 to 1944 under Gustaf Gründgens at the State Theater in Berlin . Since 1945 he has appeared at the Bavarian State Theater in Munich. Although successful in tragic roles, Wernicke was considered a humorous, folk actor.

He became particularly well known for the role of Commissioner Lohmann in Fritz Lang's masterpieces M (1931) and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933). He was the first to create a pragmatic and rational commissioner.

Married to a Jewess , Wernicke was only able to work during the Third Reich with a special permit from the Reich Chamber of Culture , but in 1939 he received full membership in the Reich Theater Chamber . In the final phase of the Second World War , Joseph Goebbels added him to the God-gifted list of actors he needed for his propaganda films in August 1944 , which meant that Wernicke was exempt from military service, including on the home front .

After the war, Wernicke continued to work as an actor in theater and film. Only once did he (together with Max Dieckhout) direct the film Who drove the gray Ford? , in which he also plays the investigating commissioner.

Wernicke had a serious accident in April 1951 in a stage accident. As a result of paralysis and a loss of language skills, he was no longer able to fully practice his profession. It was not until 1955 that he appeared again in smaller film roles and also in radio plays. He also worked as a guest lecturer at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich, a theater school.

His daughter Annemarie Wernicke also became an actress.

Wernicke was buried in the north cemetery in Munich, the grave site has since been closed.

synchronization

As a voice actor, he lent his voice a. a. Lionel Barrymore ( Sailorless ), Alan Hale senior ( The Adventures of Robin Hood ), Raymond Massey ( Unrestrained Love ; first dubbed version), Claude Rains ( The Great Passion ) and Charles Vanel ( Leap in the Clouds ).

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Otto Wernicke  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Ernst Klee : The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 659.
  2. ^ Volker D. Laturell : Theater and youth in Munich. A compilation of 500 years of Munich theater history. Tins, Munich 1970, p. 106.