Sunday, March 20, 2011

RIP Wolfgang Spier

The German actor and director Wolfgang Spier died on Friday evening March 18, 2011 after a long illness at the age of 90 years in Berlin, his family announced on Saturday.

As the "King of the Boulevard" Spier had staged more than 250 plays at various German theaters. On Berlin's Kurfürstendamm Theater, he was an institution. There, he celebrated with Harald Juhnke and Günter Pfitzmann great success. Spier was famous for his comedy series "The Odd Couple" with Grit Böttcher, Harald Juhnke. As a voice actor, he lent his distinctive voice to Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence. On television, he also hosted the shows "One Against All" and “Three Times a Liar."

Spier was born in Frankfurt, Germany on September 27, 1920 and came to Berlin in 1929. Spier really wanted to be doctor but that was denied him during the Nazi era, because of his Jewish origins. His path led him to Wiesbaden State Theatre and in 1950 he returned to Berlin, where he founded the Theatre Club in the British center. Following were more than five decades of his own productions and theater roles, ranging from boulevard comedy to Shakespeare. Spier also appeared in one DEFA East German western “Prairie in the City” 1971 and a TV movie called “Mixikanische Revolution in 1968.

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