Willy Millowitsch

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Willy Millowitsch (1987)

Willy Millowitsch (born January 8, 1909 in Cologne ; † September 20, 1999 there ) was a German theater actor and the most famous Cologne folk actor . He was the director of the private Millowitsch Theater in Cologne .

biography

Memorial plaque of the Millowitsch dynasty in Düsseldorf's old town at the Uerige brewery

Beginnings

Willy Millowitsch came from an old dynasty of actors . His parents were in Dusseldorf -born actor Peter Wilhelm Millowitsch (1880-1945) and his wife, the Viennese Kathe Plank (1881-1942). His aunt was the actress and singer Cordy Millowitsch . Even as a child he was more interested in his father's theater than in school. In 1922 he switched to the acting profession without leaving school. In 1940 he took over the management of his father's stage. He was very often active as a director and leading actor. In 1939 Willy Millowitsch married Linny Lüttgen; the marriage was later divorced.

The bombing of the Second World War had only slightly damaged the Millowitsch Theater on Aachener Strasse in Cologne. At the request of the Mayor of Cologne Konrad Adenauer, gaming was resumed as early as October 1945, and performances were held every day until 1949. For many years Millowitsch managed the house with his sister Lucy Millowitsch , with whom he also stood on stage for decades. The siblings were considered to be the ideal cast when it came to portraying spirited couples.

On September 28, 1946, Millowitsch married Gerda Feldhoff; they had four children: Katarina, Peter , Susanne and Mariele . With the exception of Susanne, the children have inherited an interest in acting; Peter Millowitsch took over the management of the theater in 1998 until he had to close it on March 25, 2018 for economic and age reasons.

actor

From 1949 he took part in numerous movies; the first was Wanted Majora , which was released on September 2, 1949. As a result, he appeared in a wide variety of film roles. His over 125 films (until 1996) and television roles provided additional income in view of the rather fluctuating economic success of his theater. The films in particular included Three Men on a Horse (1957), Two Hearts in May (1958), Scampolo with Romy Schneider (1958) and in To the Devil with the Penne (1968) as the father of Hansi Kraus and as a supporting actor in Hollywood -Production Help the Americans come alongside Chevy Chase (1985). His best-known television role was that of Commissioner Klefisch on WDR television from January 7, 1990, which was broadcast in six episodes up to January 7, 1996.

The first German live broadcast of a play took place on October 19, 1953 with the stage hare , a play by the Low German poet Karl Bunje in which Willy Millowitsch played the leading role. This performance made his theater known nationwide. In the following decades, television broadcast numerous comedies from his house. These became veritable street sweepers , which was also due to his stage partner Elsa Scholten , who had been part of the theater's ensemble since 1920. On September 14, 1968, Millowitsch was seen in a guest role on the stage of the Ohnsorg Theater in Hamburg as part of the ARD television lottery . There he played under the direction of Hans Mahler the district judge Dr. Small fish in the comedy The Card Reader .

Millowitsch entertained his audience  for over forty years with countless plays designed by himself and often recorded by television - then mostly under the direction of his theater friend Karl Wesseler - often together with his sister and children. As he said in an interview, he could not write any pieces himself, which he very much regretted.

Singer

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Today we're blue
  DE 51 04/01/1960 (9 weeks)
Citronella
  DE 35 09/05/1960 (4 weeks)
Schnapps, that was his last word
  DE 5 05.12.1960 (23 weeks)
The heart of Cologne
  DE 43 05/08/1961 (4 weeks)
Love is fleeting
  DE 49 December 04, 1961 (5 weeks)

Millowitsch also tried himself as a pop singer. With Ariola he received a record deal in 1960. His first title there was When this song becomes a hit . This was followed a few months later by his first title on alcohol, Today we are blue . His biggest hit was the carnival and mood song Schnaps, which was his last word from November 1960, which was sold more than 900,000 times. Other successful songs were The Heart of Cologne (1961), Love is Ephemeral (1961), We Are All Little Sinner (1964), Heidewitzka, Herr Kapitän (1979) and In My Bathtub I'm Captain (1982).

For decades he was one of the most successful interpreters of carnival songs in the Rhineland. The song Ich bin ene kölsche Jung by Fritz Weber is still associated with his name today . In 1979 he sang with Heidi Kabel Der will was von mir , the German version of the pop song Stumblin'in by Chris Norman and Suzi Quatro ; Peter Orloff took over the production of the single.

death

Gravesite of the Millowitsch family, Melaten cemetery, Cologne

Willy Millowitsch died on September 20, 1999 in the St. Elisabeth Hospital in Cologne (Hohenlind) of heart failure. On September 25, 1999, he was buried in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne. The funeral mass was held by Auxiliary Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann in Cologne Cathedral , which is usually reserved for church dignitaries. When the coffin moved out, the then cathedral organist Clemens Ganz played an improvisation in minor on his successful song Ich bin ene kölsche Jung . The funeral procession via Neumarkt and Aachener Strasse to the cemetery was broadcast live on WDR television. His estate is now in the Theater Studies Collection in Cologne.

Social commitment and awards

Willy Millowitsch monument on the Eisenmarkt in front of the Hänneschen Theater (until April 2014)
Unveiling of the monument at its new location (from left to right): District Mayor Andreas Hupke , Mayor Elfi Scho-Antwerpes and Peter Millowitsch (April 25, 2014)
Edel-Rose Wimi named after Willy Millowitsch (1982)

In 1983, Millowitsch was the first to receive the Telestar television prize initiated by the WDR . In 1994 he received the Great Federal Cross of Merit . On March 17, 1989, the city of Cologne granted Willy Millowitsch honorary citizenship ( see also : List of honorary citizens of Cologne ). Only two days later, on March 19, 1989, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia . The band Höhner dedicated the song Willy, wat wör Kölle without you to Millowitsch in 1989 for his 80th birthday . In 1992 the Cologne theater man Harry Owens financed a monument for Willy Millowitsch, which was erected in the old town on the Eisenmarkt. In the same year Millowitsch appeared as a speaker and singer at the Cologne concert “ Arsch huh, Zäng ussenander ” against racism and anti-Semitism. The Willy Millowitsch Medal has been awarded annually since 2003 to personalities who have made a special contribution to the “Kölsche Rede”.

On October 4, 2002, the city of Cologne followed a suggestion from citizens to name a small parking area near the Millowitsch Theater on Aachener Straße Willy-Millowitsch-Platz. After a few years, this little-noticed area behind a hotel high-rise ( 50 ° 56 ′ 8.2 ″  N , 6 ° 56 ′ 14.6 ″  E ) was considered inappropriate. Instead, in 2013 a square previously popularly known as Gertrudenplätze (corner of Breite Strasse / Gertrudenstrasse 50 ° 56 ′ 18.6 ″  N , 6 ° 56 ′ 43.4 ″  E ) was renamed Willy-Millowitsch-Platz. The Willi Millowitsch memorial from Eisenmarkt was moved there on April 25, 2014.

Further awards

The rose grower Rosen Tantau named the noble rose Wimi after Willy Millowitsch in 1982 . When naming the name, Willy Millowitsch said: "So far you could see and hear me, now you can even smell me."

Filmography

Works

  • Amusing guide to drinks. Juncker Verlag, Munich 1970 ISBN 3-7796-7501-3 .
  • My best friends: Tünnes and Schäl, Klein Erna, Count Bobby. Lichtenberg-Verlag, Munich 1971 ISBN 3-7852-1112-0 .
  • Cheerful lasts the longest - the stage of my life. Hestia Verlag, Bayreuth 1988 ISBN 3-7770-0385-9 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Willy Millowitsch  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfgang Oelsner: Entry Millowitsch Willy, in: Ulrich S. Soénius (Hrsg.), Jürgen Wilhelm (Hrsg.): Kölner Personen-Lexikon. Greven, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-7743-0400-0 , p. 370.
  2. ↑ http://historischesarchivkoeln.de/lav/getimg.php?img=/Personenstandsregister/Standesamt_Weiden_Koeln/Sterbefaelle/1942/1942_Bd_01/0189.jpg
  3. ↑ Chart sources: DE
  4. ↑ Short video tour about the Melaten tour, which ends at the Millowitsch grave
  5. ↑ Merit holders since 1986. State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
  6. ^ Werner Schäfke : Cologne. Two millennia of history, art and culture on the Rhine. DuMont, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-4368-X , p. 193.
  7. ^ Speech by Mayor Fritz Schramma on the occasion of the handover of Willy-Millowitsch-Platz. (PDF, 9 KB) October 4, 2002, accessed on February 22, 2011 .
  8. ^ Newspaper report on the decision on the new Willy-Millowitsch-Platz . KStA-Online of December 21, 2012, accessed on December 28, 2012.
  9. ↑ Stefan Palm: Willy Millowitsch gets a new place. City of Cologne - Office for Press and Public Relations, October 4, 2013, accessed on April 27, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Millowitsch, Willy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theater actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 1999
Place of death Cologne