Peter Garden

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Peter Garden , (born August 17, 1924 as Karl-Heinz Rothmayer in Munich ; † January 7, 2015 there ) was a German actor , singer and show presenter.

Success as an actor, singer and show host

The son of the singer Karl Rothmayer, after graduating from high school and doing military service, attended the Salzburg Music Academy and in 1947 went to the Munich Volksoper. In the early 1950s he worked at the Bavarian State Operetta , at which time he also made his film debut. After two years at the Stadttheater Bern , he ended his theater career and returned to Munich to devote himself intensively to his film career.

Garden played supporting roles in a number of entertainment productions - all comedies. At the beginning of the 1960s he turned to television and appeared as a singer in several operettas such as Viktoria and her Husar at the side of popular singing colleagues such as Johannes Heesters and Rudolf Schock . In addition, he was a guest singer in shows and other entertainment programs such as O mia bella Napoli, Star Parade , Magic of Melody and Snacks .

Towards the end of the 1960s, Garden had reached its peak in popularity when ZDF offered him two shows of his own, Garden Party and Black Peter, in quick succession . The last-mentioned show, which was conceived as a follow-up to the entertainment classic The Golden Shot , only made three shows due to poor response from critics and viewers.

Scandal about his Nazi past

Parallel to Garden's steadily increasing television popularity, his past and his behavior during the Nazi dictatorship caught up with him. 1967 was in Berlin a criminal investigation opened against him for complicity in the murder, but closed in early 1970th At this point he came more and more into the focus of several press products. The Münchner Abendzeitung , the program guide Gong and even Der Spiegel reported on a dark phase of life of Rothmayer, which had remained unknown to the public to this extent - around the year 1944 - which stood in stark contrast to the image cultivated by Garden as a sun boy on duty . So it said in the issue of the Spiegel from November 8, 1971 under the heading “ Uralte Kiste ”: “Alexander Anders, 78, for example, has been complaining for years in letters to ZDF and Austrian television: 'It is probably not an unreasonable request, in future programs where this Peter Garden appears, to reject. ' Because 'this fellow' was 'active as a paid Gestapo confident' in Salzburg during the Nazi era and 'plunged a number of respected Salzburg citizens and families into hardship and misery'. ”Anders, one of Rothmayer's victims, became in Salzburg arrested by the Gestapo and sentenced by a special court to three years in prison for listening to foreign broadcasters.

In order to increase the pressure, Anders started a signature campaign together with the Salzburg actor Herbert Fux in Salzburg and other places with the aim of getting Gardens released as a showmaster at ZDF. The Rothmayer / Garden case now threatened to become a heavy burden for ZDF, whereupon the broadcaster separated from Garden, once one of his show hopefuls. The trial against Peter Garden ended in an acquittal for him. The plaintiffs are prohibited from repeating their allegations.

Since then, Garden / Rothmayer had almost completely disappeared from the public eye and tried to be an inventor. Several US patents for inventions such as retractable boots and foldable skis are documented in the 1970s.

Peter Garden was married to the actress Christiane Jansen (* 1929) until 1959 . In 1972 he married the actress Margit Nünke , with whom he was married until his death on January 7, 2015. Margit Nünke died three days later of complications from pneumonia.

Filmography

literature

  • Herbert A. Frenzel , Hans Joachim Moser (ed.): Kürschner's biographical theater manual. Drama, opera, film, radio. Germany, Austria, Switzerland. De Gruyter, Berlin 1956, DNB 010075518 , p. 199.
  • Johann Caspar Glenzdorf: Glenzdorf's international film lexicon. Biographical manual for the entire film industry. Volume 1: A-Heck. Prominent-Filmverlag, Bad Münder 1960, DNB 451560736 , p. 474.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ AFFAIRS: Ancient chest . In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 , 1971 ( online ).
  2. ↑ http://www.wolf-stegemann.de/dorsten/projektarbeiten/1967-1971/
  3. ↑ http://www.bolivien.com/patents/search?q=inventor:%22Karl-Heinz%20Rothmayer%22  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bolivien.com  
personal data
SURNAME Garden, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rothmayer, Karl-Heinz (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor, singer and show presenter
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 2015
Place of death Munich