Walter Henn (director)

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Walter Henn (born October 13, 1931 in Frankfurt am Main ; † March 22, 1963 in Basel ) was a German director and screenwriter , to whom Günter Grass posthumously dedicated his novel Dog Years after Henn was only 31 years old before a planned film adaptation of Grass novella Katz und Maus had died.

Life

Henn initially worked exclusively as a theater director. After a stopover in Frankfurt am Main , he came to Berlin , where he initially assisted Fritz Kortner . His first production at the State Drama Theaters of Berlin , which was then directed by Boleslaw Barlog , was Georg Kaiser's Die Papiermühle in the 1958/59 season. This was followed by twelve other productions at the "Barlog stages," among others on 28 September in 1959 at the Schiller Theater that of Pinkas Braun into German translated the play The Zoo Story after the one-act play The Zoo Story by Edward Albee . Henn quickly succeeded: "Soon after his first great success, Berlin's critics called him, half jokingly, half seriously, 'our young genius directing'", wrote Walther Karsch in his obituary. The critic continued: "What was Henn's peculiarity? It was based on the word to be designed. (...) In Strindberg's 'Totentanz', in which you can ask yourself whether this piece is still playable, Henn dampened it Macabre, made the hysterical, of course, relaxed the exaggerated, humanized the satanic in Captain Edgar and his wife Alice, without distorting the keynote in the orgy of this love-hate relationship. None of the productions we have had that the two still love each other until then, made as clear as this. Henn had peeled out the core so clearly. "

In 1961 Henn received the Berlin Art Prize in the "Young Generation" category, and the Berlin Critics' Theater Prize for 1961/62. The young director was brought to Vienna and Zurich for guest productions .

Since the early 1960s, he has directed four television films , initially in 1960 Dr. Knock based on the drama Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine by Jules Romains with Richard Münch in the title role and Hans Leibelt and Agnes Windeck as the Caramelle couple.

In 1963, Henn Albees filmed Die Zoogeschichte in a translation by Pinkas Braun with Kurt Buecheler as "Peter" and Thomas Holtzmann in the role of "Jerry" in a performance by the Berlin Schiller Theater for the broadcaster Free Berlin .

Also in 1963 was the adaptation of The Player based on Nikolai Wassiljewitsch Gogol for Südwestfunk , for which Henn had also written the script . At the side of Hans Korte , Wolfried Lier and Hugo Lindinger played the leading roles in this comedy, which Sigismund von Radecki translated into German .

Henn last staged the novella Der Mantel, also written by Gogol, based on a script by Arthur Adamov in 1963 . In this television film produced by the SWF, alongside Walter Bluhm as "Akakij Akakijewitsch", Günther Lüders , Robert Rathke and again Wolfried Lier played with.

After Henn - according to Karsch - died of a lung fungus - at the age of only 31 years before shooting of a cinema adaptation of the Grass novella Katz und Maus produced by Hansjürgen Pohland , which was planned for June 10, 1963 in Danzig , Günter Grass dedicated it posthumously his 1963 novel Dog Years .

Filmography

  • 1960: Dr. Knock
  • 1963: The history of the zoo
  • 1963: The players
  • 1963: The coat

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walther Karsch: Berlin's theaters are poorer by one great talent - Zum Tode Walter Henns. In: Der Tagesspiegel. March 24, 1963
  2. ↑ Walther Karsch: Berlin's theaters are poorer by one great talent - Zum Tode Walter Henns. In: Der Tagesspiegel. March 24, 1963
  3. ↑ Emergency is now . In: Der Spiegel from June 28, 1993
  4. ↑ Walther Karsch: Berlin's theaters are poorer by one great talent - Zum Tode Walter Henns. In: Der Tagesspiegel. March 24, 1963
  5. ↑ Walther Karsch: Berlin's theaters are poorer by one great talent - Zum Tode Walter Henns. In: Der Tagesspiegel. March 24, 1963
  6. ^ CULTURE: Grass film. The bestseller novella . In: Der Spiegel from April 25, 1962
  7. ↑ GROUP 47: Ringed Again - WRITER . In: Der Spiegel from November 7, 1962
  8. ↑ GRASS: Braking Gurgel - FILM . In: Der Spiegel from February 27, 1963
  9. ↑ WRITER / GRASS: Tongue out . In: Der Spiegel from September 4, 1963
personal data
SURNAME Henn, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1963
Place of death Basel