René Deltgen

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Renatus Heinrich Deltgen (born April 30, 1909 in Esch an der Alzette , Luxembourg ; † January 29, 1979 in Cologne ) was a Luxembourg actor , voice actor and radio play speaker .

biography

Deltgen was the son of the chemist Mathias Deltgen and his wife Katharina, née Pütz. After graduating from high school, he went to the drama school in Cologne in 1927, where he learned to speak German without an accent. From 1931 to 1934 he gained stage experience at the Städtische Bühnen Köln. He had his first successes in the play Der Graue by Friedrich Forster . After a year-long engagement at the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt, he got his first film role at UFA in 1935 in Das Mädchen Johanna , a film about Johanna von Orléans .

Until 1944 he played on various stages in Berlin and took part in numerous films. His star roles were those of the charming lover or the unscrupulous adventurer. German cultural policy in Luxembourg annexed by Germany tried to represent Deltgen during the Second World War as a type of Luxembourger who had become established in the Reich; In 1939 he was appointed state actor . Posters, on which he promoted the entry of the Luxembourg youth into the Hitler Youth , spoiled the population of their earlier pride in the most famous actor in Luxembourg. Even in the post-war years, his countrymen did not forgive him for collaborating with the Germans. In 1945/46 there was therefore a high-profile court case against Deltgen for treason in Luxembourg. The sentence was two years in prison, a fine of 100,000 francs and the loss of Luxembourg nationality, which he was restored to in 1952. He only had to serve part of the sentence.

After the war, René Deltgen had again successes in the cinema, among other things as the bitter former fighter pilot Stefan Gorgas in Night Watch (1949). The large Fritz Lang productions Der Tiger von Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb with Debra Paget (both 1959) deserve special mention . In the 1960s, Deltgen played the title character in the Edgar Wallace films The Witcher (1964) and Neues vom Hexer (1965). In the first of the two films, his name did not appear in the opening credits in order not to reveal the witcher's identity prematurely. In the less successful sequel he was known as "the witcher" from the start.

René Deltgen was even more successful in the 1950s and 1960s on the radio with the Francis Durbridge radio plays about the detective Paul Temple . He played the title role in 11 of 12 radio plays; only in the last radio play Paul Temple and the case Alex took Paul Klinger , the role of the detective. In eight cases, Annemarie Cordes spoke the role of his wife Steve. With one exception, Kurt Lieck was at his side as Sir Graham Forbes in all episodes, as was Herbert Hennies , who played his servant Charlie, and Deltgen's long-time friend Heinz Schimmelpfennig in various roles. In Paul Temple and the Margo case, Deltgen and his son Matthias Deltgen also played the role of Ken Sinclair.

In the 1960s and early 1970s numerous television roles were added, e.g. E.g. in Schau heimwärts, Engel (with Inge Meysel), in the film adaptation of a novel by Luise Rinser The Scapegoat (with Therese Giehse ), the Böll film adaptation Not only at Christmas time , the crime series Der Kommissar or finally in Francis-Durbridge -Straßenfeger The knife .

Gravestone for René Deltgen in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne

In addition to his work for film and television, René Deltgen continued to work on the theater stage. He played at the Munich and Hamburg Kammerspiele , the Cologne Schauspielhaus , the Schauspielhaus Zurich and the Vienna Burgtheater , among others .

René Deltgen became known to a younger audience as Alp-Öhi in the television adaptation of the 1978 novel Heidi .

As a voice actor, Deltgen was the German voice of Spencer Tracy and Kirk Douglas in several films .

Throughout his career, he has appeared in a total of over 40 films.

René Deltgen was married twice, first to the actress Elisabeth Scherer , with whom he had three children, the sons Matthias and Florian and the daughter Katrin. The daughter Dominique comes from the second marriage with Anita Irene Wapordjieff .

In 1979 René Deltgen died of cancer and was buried in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne (lit. D). His grave is in the immediate vicinity of the graves of his fellow actors Willy Birgel and Gunther Philipp .

The documentary René Deltgen - The gentle rebel (2004) by director Michael Wenk traces the career and the eventful life of the most famous actor from Luxembourg to this day.

Awards

  • 1939: Appointment as state actor
  • 1954: Film tape in gold for his role in The Path Without Reversal
  • 1978: Filmband in gold for many years of outstanding work in German film

Radio plays with René Deltgen

Paul Temple radio plays in production order, re-releases are given in brackets:

Another multi-part crime series based on Francis Durbridge
  • 1968: La Boutique, as Chief Inspector Robert Bristol (leading role) - Director: Hans Hausmann

Filmography (selection)

Documentary about Deltgen

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst O. Hermanni: The film ABC. 2009.
  2. ^ Josef Abt, Johann Ralf Beines, Celia Körber-Leupold: Melaten - Cologne graves and history . Greven, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7743-0305-3 , p. 172
personal data
SURNAME Deltgen, René
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Deltgen, Renatus Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Luxembourg actor
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Esch an der Alzette , Luxembourg
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1979
Place of death Cologne