Swiss actor Bruno Ganz who played Hitler in 'Downfall' dies aged 77

[rooster59]

Swiss actor Bruno Ganz who played Hitler in 'Downfall' dies aged 77

 

71st Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "The House That Jack Built" out of competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France May 14, 2018. Cast member Bruno Ganz arrives. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier

 

ZURICH (Reuters) - Bruno Ganz, the Swiss actor who portrayed Adolf Hitler in Oscar-nominated film "Downfall" and the kindly grandfather in "Heidi", died of cancer at his home in Zurich on Saturday, aged 77, his agent said.

 

Ganz had been active in German language theatre, film and television for more than 50 years and was the holder of the Iffland-Ring, the most important award for German-speaking actors.

 

"One of the most important actors of our times goes, his brilliant work remains. We mourn with the family and friends of Bruno Ganz," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a tweet.

 

Born to a Swiss mechanic father and a northern Italian mother, Ganz grew up in Zurich and decided to become an actor after a friendly lighting technician allowed him into a local theatre.

 

It was not an easy path, with his family opposed to his career choice. "As a boy I was morbidly shy," he recalled in one interview.

 

As a teenager Ganz dropped out of school to attend evening acting classes in Zurich where he also worked as a bookseller and trained as a paramedic.

 

In the early 1960s Ganz left Switzerland to work in theatre in Germany, and from the 1970s onwards he acted at the Berlin-based Schaubuehne theatre.

 

He earned praise for his performances, while also branching out into cinema where he worked with renowned German directors like Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog and Volker Schloendorff.

 

In 1987 Ganz played an angel called Damiel in Wenders's film "Wings of Desire", who becomes mortal so he can experience earthly pleasures.

 

One of his most famous roles came when he played Hitler in the 2004 film "Downfall", which dramatised the last days of the Nazi dictator in the Berlin bunker, one of Germany's first attempts to characterise the Fuehrer in film.

 

Ganz portrayed Hitler as a ranting and delusional madman, but also as a fatherly figure suffering from Parkinson's disease who fussed about the welfare of his secretaries. His ravings went on to feature in many internet parodies.

 

Immersing himself in the Hitler role affected the actor, who later admitted he had been haunted by his portrayal for a very long time.

 

"I tend to identify with my roles to such an extent that I appear to be totally convinced about certain statements that, in real life, I would never believe in," Ganz said.

 

He also continued to work on the stage, playing classic roles like "Faust" and "Hamlet", as well as appearing in films including "The Reader", "The Manchurian Candidate" and "The Tree of Life".

 

During his long career, Ganz exhibited the breadth of his acting skills. "The script has to grab me, irritate me, seduce me. I do not want to repeat myself with my roles," he said.

 

But he narrowly missed out on some plum roles, including the main character opposite Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman" which went to Richard Gere. He was also rejected by Steven Spielberg for the main role in Oscar-winning "Schindler's List".

 

More recently, he played Heidi's grandfather in a 2015 Swiss film about the national heroine, seeing it as a kind of patriotic duty.

 

"Good thing that Switzerland is associated with Heidi rather than banks, cheese or chocolate," he told Hamburger Abendblatt.

 

Intensely private, he largely shunned Hollywood. Married once, he separated from his wife with whom he had a son, and lived in Zurich, Berlin and Venice.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-16

[thaiguzzi]

Genius.

Awesome actor.

RIP.
Unfortunate he will be most remembered for the internet Hitler parodies on You Tube, some of which are, it has to be said,  brilliantly funny.

Most people are not familiar with it, but German cinema was absolutely brilliant and genre breaking in the 70's & 80's, very much like the French movie industry in the 50's & 60's.

[SheungWan]

"Wings Of Desire" is the classic one. However, the only German movies of that period I think I would watch again were both TV productions, namely Das Boot and Heimat 1+2.

 

[tutsiwarrior]

my favorite european actor he was excellent in Wim Wender's The American Friend also with Dennis Hopper in an adaptation of an episode from Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series...he was always like 'hmm, looks like I'm gonna die soon...what next?'

 

RIP Bruno...

 

 

[impulse]

2 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Unfortunate he will be most remembered for the internet Hitler parodies on You Tube, some of which are, it has to be said,  brilliantly funny.

 

If you get a chance, Google up his YouTube interview on that.  It's interesting, his take on the parodies.

[blazes]

RIP Bruno:

 

Apparently Hitler was no friend of Trump....

 

 

[Knee Jerk Reaction]

15 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Genius.

Awesome actor.

RIP.
Unfortunate he will be most remembered for the internet Hitler parodies on You Tube, some of which are, it has to be said,  brilliantly funny.

Most people are not familiar with it, but German cinema was absolutely brilliant and genre breaking in the 70's & 80's, very much like the French movie industry in the 50's & 60's.

I like German cinema. I'd recommend the 2018 film The Captain. Set in the last days of WW2 it is one of those incredible but true stories.

[MaxYakov]

Bruno Ganz on the Hitler Parodies (Hat tip to impulse):

 

 

RIP Mr. Ganz