Wolfgang Spier

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Wolfgang Spier (left) during a meeting with composer and director Thorsten Wszolek about his musical Crazy Hotel , Cologne 1999

Wolfgang Spier (born September 27, 1920 in Frankfurt am Main ; † March 18, 2011 in Berlin ) was a German director , actor , voice actor and presenter .

Life

The son of the psychochirologist Julius Spier (1887–1942) wanted to study medicine after graduating from high school, but as a " half-Jew " was not allowed to study by the National Socialists. Instead he did a bank apprenticeship in Berlin and worked as a bank clerk until the end of the war. However, he secretly took acting classes. His teacher was killed on a night of bombing.

As early as 1946 Spier got an engagement at the Wiesbaden State Theater , where he also directed under Karl-Heinz Stroux . In 1950 Wolfgang Spier went back to Berlin and founded the theater club in the British Center with actors like Horst Buchholz , Martin Benrath and Wolfgang Neuss and worked with the Berlin porcupines and the cabaret Die Wühlmäuse . After a short permanent engagement at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus , he worked as a freelance director, actor, voice actor and presenter from 1957. The TV quiz show Who Lies Three Times introduced him to a wide audience in Germany. In 1978 he brought the radio quiz program, Alone Against All, devised by Hans Rosenthal to Erste . He led through four programs and then handed over the moderation to Max Schautzer . He also staged the comedy series Grumpy Old Men with Grit Boettcher and Harald Juhnke and played in 1995 with the latter together in the play The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon , the lead role.

Spier has played in over 250 plays, from light to sophisticated entertainment, and is often referred to as the “king of the boulevard theater”. As a voice actor, Spier lent his distinctive voice to Peter Cushing (Journey to the Isle of Horror) , Linda Hunt (in her Oscar- winning role as male war correspondent in A Year in Hell ), John Nettleton ( Yes Minister ) , Donald Pleasence (in The Fantastic Journey and Dracula ), Gene Wilder (two warriors rarely come alone) and Kenneth Williams ( a totally crazy vacation ) . He also acted as a narrator for the television series The Liang Shan Po Rebels .

Wolfgang Spier's first marriage to actress Waltraud Schmahl from 1949 to 1951 had a daughter. He was then married to actress Almut Eggert from 1959 to 1965 . He was the stepfather of Nana Spier and had a daughter, Miriam Bettina Spier , who was also an actress and voice actress , with Almut Eggert . His third marriage was from 1981 to 1989 with the actress Christine Schild. In 1991 he got his fourth marriage to Brigitte Fröhlich.

Grave of Wolfgang Spier in the Heerstrasse cemetery in Berlin-Westend

In 1986, Wolfgang Spier received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon for his outstanding artistic work . In 1988 he was awarded the Silver Leaf by the Dramatiker Union . In 1995 he received the Curt Goetz Ring .

On March 18, 2011, Wolfgang Spier died of a heart attack in Berlin at the age of 90. His grave is in the state's own cemetery in Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend (grave location: 16-G-24/25).

Filmography (selection)

Synchronous rollers (selection)

Donald Pleasence

Movies

Series

Radio plays

Director:

Moderations

Fonts

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "King of the Boulevard" - actor Wolfgang Spier is dead. Retrieved on March 19, 2011 .
  2. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . P. 495.
personal data
SURNAME Spier, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German director, actor, voice actor and presenter
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 2011
Place of death Berlin