He was born Horst Bernhard Wilhelm Frank in Lubeck, Germany on May 28, 1929. After graduation he completed an apprenticeship as a trader before enrolling in an acting class at the Music Academy in Hamburg. After his final exam in 1951, he appeared in plays at the theatre in Bonn, Basel, Wuppertal and Baden-Baden, where he became a member of the Südwestfunk ensemble and started working in television productions.
In 1956, he made his screen debut as a cynical coward in the war film “Der Stern von Africa”. From 1959 on he appeared in International productions mostly in Italy and France. He married actress Chariklia Baxevanos in 1960. The marriage lasted only a year. He also became a framer raising coffee and vegetables in Tansania.
In his early years he portrayed sensitive loners and neurotic characters. From the 1960s on he was typecast as a villain in Italian and German westerns. In 1973 he returned to the stage with his own production company. In the 1980s he became a fixture on German crime TV series. Frank published his autobiography in 1981 and a book of poems in 1989. Horst Frank had two children and married actress Brigitte Kollecker in 1979 and they remained together until his death on May 25, 1999 following a heart attack, We remember Horst Frank today on what would have been his 80th birthday.
I just saw him a couple of days ago in the TV Movie CATHERINE THE GREAT starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. But I first became aware of him back in 1969 or so in a French gangster film with Jean Louis Trintingnant called SAFARI DIAMANTS, of which I've been unable to find a good copy.
ReplyDeleteGreat actor, never gave a bad performance. He's especially good playing cool, slick, corrupt villains like in THE GRAND DUEL.
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