RIP Pedro Hebenstreit

I have just discovered that East German actor Pedro Hebenstreit passed away on December 11, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. Erhart Hebenstreit was born on November 27, 1926 in Meiningen, Germany. He studied ballet and drama in school and made his debut as a dancer and an occasional appearance in the local theater. Later he became the principal dancer at the Leipzig Opera House and the first soloist at the Berlin Deutsche Staatsoper. In the 1960s he appeared in several ballets filmed for East German television. He became an actor in DEFA films and television where he often appeared as Italian, Spaniards, Armenians and Mexicans. He appeared in character roles in four DEFA East German westerns, “Apaches” (1973), “Kit & Co.” (1974), “Blood Brothers” (1975) “Death for Zapata” (1976) and the 1987 Karl May TV film “Prairie Scout in Mexico”.