Wolfgang Heinz (actor)

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Wolfgang Heinz, 1959
Wolfgang Heinz, 1979

Wolfgang Heinz , born as Wolfgang Hirsch or David Hirsch (born May 18, 1900 in Pilsen , † October 30, 1984 in East Berlin ) was an Austro-German actor and director.

Life

Wolfgang Heinz was born the son of the journalist Julius Hirsch and his wife, the actress Camilla Alt. He attended the Erzherzog-Rainer-Realgymnasium in Vienna. After graduation, his goal was to become an actor. After a short training, he got his first engagement in Eisenach in 1917 . In 1918 he came to Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater Berlin in Berlin. In the 1918/19 season he also played at the Volkstheater in Vienna. From 1919 to 1923 he was in Berlin at the Prussian State Theater under Leopold Jessner . Then Heinz worked at the Hamburger Kammerspiele, among others . From 1927 Wolfgang Heinz played again at the Prussian State Theater under Leopold Jessner. Under the influence of his friend Hans Otto , he joined the KPD in 1930 . Shortly after the National Socialists came to power in 1933, he fled to Austria, also because of his Jewish origins. In 1934 he went to the Schauspielhaus Zürich and remained as a director and actor until 1946. In 1943 he left the KPD, but remained a communist.

In 1946 Wolfgang Heinz was engaged at the Vienna Volkstheater . From 1948 to 1956 he worked as an actor, director and director of Scala Vienna . Since his theater was ostracized as a communist stage and closed in 1956, he moved to the German Theater in East Berlin . He had worked here as a guest director since 1951. From 1956 to 1962 he was senior director and from 1963 to 1969 artistic director. 1959 to 1962 he was also director of the State Drama School in Berlin . He played at the Deutsches Theater Berlin until 1976 and was best known for his interpretation of the title role in Lessing's Nathan the Wise , which he played there for the first time in 1966. Other roles were Woyzeck , Shylock , Gessler , Lear , Galileo Galilei in Bertolt Brecht's Life of Galilei , Wallenstein , Falstaff , Danton and the Teterew in Die Kleinbürger von Gorki . As a director, he directed the productions of Gorky , Chekhov and Hauptmann . In 1961, Heinz took on the title role of Professor Mamlock in Konrad Wolf's film adaptation of the play of the same name. Heinz had already played the role on the stage of the German Theater.

Heinz joined the SED in 1963 . From 1966 he was President of the Association of Theater Professionals and from 1968 to 1970 Vice President of the German Academy of the Arts . He was married to the actress Erika Pelikowsky and their daughter is the actress and director Gabriele Heinz . In the 1980s he tried to bring his half-brother David Hurst to Berlin in the GDR, but this failed due to the resistance of the authorities. This only came to Berlin in the 1990s.

tomb

Heinz found his final resting place in the Adlershof cemetery in Berlin. It is dedicated to the city of Berlin as an honorary grave.

Awards

Filmography

theatre

Director

actor

Radio plays

Director

speaker

literature

Web links

Commons : Wolfgang Heinz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andrea Weibel : Wolfgang Heinz. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . August 29, 2006 .
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Heinz at filmportal.de
personal data
SURNAME Heinz, Wolfgang
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hirsch, Wolfgang (birth name); Hirsch, David (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-German actor and director
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Pilsen
DATE OF DEATH October 30, 1984
Place of death East Berlin