Walter Morath

Walter Morath (born September 26, 1918 in Basel ; † July 3, 1995 there ) was a Swiss cabaret artist .

Life

After high school, mother and stepfather initially planned a civil career for Walter Morath, and he took a degree in German studies for employment as a German teacher. After almost four semesters, during which he was secretly taking acting lessons, Morath left university and his parents' home at the age of 21 to devote himself to the theater. He took acting lessons from Gustav Hartung at the Basel Conservatory and received his first engagement at the Basel City Theater in the 1939/1940 season . He played in fairy tale productions and never turned down a role from the “sulfur-yellow lightning witch with red-tinged hair” to the first character portrayals. From the 1941/42 season he was engaged at the Biel-Solothurn City Theater under the direction of Egon Neudegg . On the side he did military service . From 1943 to 1946 Morath appeared at the Schauspielhaus Zürich under the direction of Oscar Wälterlin , where he played the roles of Acaste in Molière's " The Misanthrope ", Biondello in Shakespeare's " The Taming of the Shrew ", Jimmy Farrell in Synge's " The Hero of the Westerland " and Lakai Yascha in Chekhov's " The Cherry Orchard " took over.

The small political theater was successful, including the Cabaret Cornichon , which Morath joined at the end of the war and to which he belonged until 1948. He met Voli Geiler , who already belongs to the Cornichon ensemble. From 1948 onwards, Walter Morath was best known for his joint appearances with Voli Geiler in a cabaret duo program, and celebrated international success on tours in South America and Israel, where he was one of the first German-speaking artists to travel after the war. Fridolin Tschudi , Werner Wollenberger , CF Vaucher and Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote for them. At the height of their careers, they retired as a cabaret duo in 1970 and worked separately as stage actors.

Morath received several inquiries from film and television, but declined most of them and starred in only four films: " Matto reigns " (1947, directed by Leopold Lindtberg ), " Bäckerei Zürrer " (1957) and " Der Teufel hat gut lachen " (1960), both by Kurt Früh , “ De Grotzepuur ” (1975, directed by Mark M. Rissi ). In the ZDF three-part series “ Babeck ” (1968) he played a Swiss arms dealer.

For years he worked for the Schauspielhaus Zürich and the Theater Basel. In later years he made productions for radio and television. Like other older colleagues, Morath suffered from the changes that took place on the stage in the 1970s, and which he perceived as the decline of theater culture. After the divorce of his second marriage, he took over the children.

literature

• Stefan Koslowski, Tanja Stenzl: Walter Morath . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 2, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 1271 f.

Web links

• Walter Morath in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Walter Morath at filmportal.de
• Ingrid Bigler-Marschall: Morath, Walter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .