Peter Fröhlich (actor)

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Peter Fröhlich , actually Peter Fritsch (born August 29, 1938 in Wiener Neustadt (according to another source in Pitten ); † July 11, 2016 in Altaussee ), was an Austrian actor and singer .

According to legend, his long-time friend Franz Antel gave him his stage name in 1964 , as there was already a Willy Fritsch and a Thomas Fritsch at that time . Antel had therefore unceremoniously "renamed" him Peter Fröhlich because he was always "such a happy fellow".

Life

Origin and education

The son of a middle school teacher and a lawyer , grew up in Pitten in Lower Austria and wanted to become an actor at an early age. According to his own account, he noticed this at the age of four in the Pitten local cinema: "I saw the film 'The White Dream' with my mother - I passed out because the film made such an impression on me." As a ten-year-old he was in the Wiener Stadttheater Neustadt for the first time on stage. His mother encouraged his acting ambitions, but insisted on completing a law degree after graduating from Wiener Neustadt . During his student years in Vienna in various fields of study, he already took acting lessons from Professor Zdenko Kestranek and chamber actor Fred Liewehr in the dramatic subject. The first successes in acting came during the studies and pushed this more and more to a minor matter.

stage

After completing his acting training, Fröhlich worked as an actor and assistant director at various Viennese basement theaters from 1958 . Engagements took him to the Volkstheater in Vienna and the Theater in der Josefstadt . He soon made a name for himself in the theater world with plays such as Once Moscow and Back and The Concert . For decades he appeared on German-speaking stages, particularly in Vienna, Munich , Frankfurt , Hamburg and Berlin , where he proved his skills not least in many tabloid plays .

In the Theater an der Wien and on other musical stages, he impressed in productions like Alexis Sorbas as Nikos, in Das Appartement ( Promises, Promises ), My Fair Lady , Schwejk it easy! and Anatevka . In his last musical role he played from 2010 at the Raimundtheater in I've never been to New York as Otto Staudach, one of the leading male roles.

With the staging of operettas such as Paganini in Frankfurt, as well as with chansons composed , written and interpreted by him , Peter Fröhlich demonstrated his further artistic diversity in the entire German-speaking area. With his lecture of Viennese songs and Viennese stories in numerous European cities, he saw himself as an "ambassador of Viennese" in order to promote Vienna. Felix Dvorak brought Peter Fröhlich first to his "Komödienspiele Mödling" and then to Berndorf, where he played Anton Gschmeidler in Wildgans´ "In Ewigkeit Amen" in 1996 and in 1998 Anton Seidelbast in Kästner's "Das Lebenslängliche Kind".

In total, Peter Fröhlich was on stage at around 5,600 performances by 2011. On November 13, 2016, he should have been on stage at the 18th Wienerlied Rathaus Gala in Vienna City Hall , which was no longer possible due to his sudden death in July.

Movie and TV

In addition to his work as a stage actor, Fröhlich has been involved in Austrian and German film and series productions for television as well as in feature films since at least 1957 (see filmography). On September 2, 1969, he presented from the international radio exhibition in Stuttgart , as the immediate successor to Chris Howland , the 60th episode of the TV show Musik aus Studio B, produced by NDR for ARD . Until April 27, 1970 he then moderated a total of five issues of this series. From 1986 to 1990 he hosted the early evening show Fröhlich am Saturday , in which he welcomed well-known and emerging artists to the broadcast slot of the late Heinz Conrads ( Good evening on Saturday ) . Fröhlich, who was friends with Conrads and had valued him ("Conrads was a great one."), Was important to emphasize in an interview in 2011 that he had not taken Conrad's place, but only his broadcasting slot.

For the time being, Fröhlich gained wide fame in Austria in the 1990s through his series role in the ORF production Kaisermühlen-Blues . In it he mimed the "black" (=  ÖVP ) District Councilor Erwin Schoitl, who, on the other hand, also formed coalition alliances with his political counterpart, the "red" (=  SPÖ ) District Council Rudolf "Rudi" Gneisser , to forge common, mostly doomed projects. Cheerful played this role with a toupee , because at that time he was already bald . Through the later takeover of the series by German television and the associated cult status , Fröhlich's fame also expanded to the German television audience. When asked about the comparison with his series role, he said in 2011: “That doesn't bother me. He [the District Councilor Schoitl] was a rascal politician - people love roles like that. "

Apart from stage and film, Fröhlich also worked as a radio play and voice actor.

Private

Peter Fritsch ("Happy") was married to Anita, a former ballerina, in his second marriage. In 2011 he had been living in Munich for around fifty years, but at the time was planning to move back to Pitten or the surrounding area.

On July 26, 2016, his family announced that he had died of a "sudden death" on July 11, a few weeks before his 78th birthday.

Peter Fröhlich was buried in the Westfriedhof in Munich (grave field 160, row U1, number 0012).

Awards

Filmography (selection)

Discography (selection)

  • I'm always there for you single, Polydor 1966
  • Don't worry, I'll be back single, Polydor 1966
  • A handful of luck single, Polydor 1967
  • Servus in Vienna - 12 Viennese songs by Peter Fröhlich audio CD, composer and performer Peter Fröhlich, Verlag Weltmusik (80065) with:
    • 3 kilometers outside of Vienna
    • Are you still Viennese city?
    • Hello in Vienna
    • A Viennese song
    • I am a Viennese
    • I have a rendezvous with Vienna
    • I know a girl in Vienna
    • I don't cry for a Vienna like it used to be
    • When will we see you in Vienna
    • When an old weaner tells you
    • When I come home to Vienna
    • You can get to know Vienna in one day

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Daniela Filz: In conversation: “Conrads was a great one”. “NÖN met Peter Fröhlich, he will conduct the Heinz Conrads Matinee for an interview in Wiener Neustadt.” In: Niederösterreichische Nachrichten , March 28, 2011, accessed on July 27, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c Actor Peter Fröhlich is dead. In: noe. ORF .at, July 26, 2016 in the version July 27, accessed on July 27, 2016
  3. ↑ a b Cf. Peter Fröhlich in an older interview, excerpts on July 26, 2016 on the occasion of an obituary on ORF 2 in several programs like live today, Vienna today and Zeit im Bild broadcast. Regarding the source of the news of death, the article referred not only indefinitely to the family, but also to Fröhlich's widow.
  4. ↑ a b c Cooked happily, according to Anita. In: noe. ORF .at - Kulinarium, March 21, 2010, accessed on July 27, 2016.
  5. ↑ 18th Wienerlied Rathaus Gala with Peter Fröhlich, Horst Chmela and many others. Entry on November 13, 2016 in: All Events in City, accessed on July 27, 2016.
  6. ↑ Entry from Wienerliedrathausgala in their Facebook profile from July 26, 2016, accessed on July 27, 2016: “We mourn Peter Fröhlich, who would have been one of our stars this year. / Rest in peace, dear Peter! "
  7. ↑ Description of the picture: "Peter Fröhlich, at a celebration for the shooting of the Kaisermühlen-Blues in 1996 / © zib / Doris Sperlich".
personal data
SURNAME Happy, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fritsch, Peter (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian actor and singer
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiener Neustadt
DATE OF DEATH July 11, 2016
Place of death Altaussee