Remembering Jurgen Frohriep

Jürgen Frohriep was born on April 28, 1928 in Rostock, Germany. He was the brother of the writer Ulrich Frohriep [1943- ]

After World War II, Jürgen Frohriep engaged in the FDJ amateur theater movement, although he had no professional acting training. In 1951, he was engaged at the Berlin Theater der Freundschaft. Later, more gigs followed at various theaters of the GDR.

In the late fifties Konrad Wolf gave him the lead role in his anti-war movie “Sterne” (1959). The film marked the professional breakthrough for Frohriep. As a permanent member of DEFA he often played the roles of military men and soldiers. In “Wolf unter Wölfen” (1965, based on a novel by Hans Fallada) Frohriep played an officer of the Black Reichswehr. In 1966, he appeared in “Ohne Kampf kein”. From the late sixties, the roles offered became sparse. In a supporting role Frohriep appeared in the 1973 film “The Legend of Paul and Paula”. Jürgen appeared in two Euro-westerns: “Chingachgook, the Great Snake” (1967) as Harry Hurry and “Osceola” (1971).

From 1973 on Frohriep worked mainly in television of the GDR. Since 1972, he played a police lieutenant Hübner in the crime series ‘Police 110’ as Lieutenant Huebner which showed on German TV from 1972-1991.

Frohriep also worked extensively as a voice actor, lending his voice to among others Charlton Heston (“Antony and Cleopatra”) and Raimund Harmstorf (in the DEFA synchronization of “The Sea Wolf”, in the West German version of Harmstorf Kurt E. Ludwig was Harmtorf’s voice).

After the end of the GDR Frohriep received few offers for work. The actor suffered from alcoholism and depression. During this time he also divorced his second wife actress Kati Székely [1941- ].

After the ARD In 1993, the continuation of the ‘Police 110’ TV series Frohriep returned in episode ‘Keine Liebe, kein Leben’ (1994) as Chief Commissioner Hübner, this was his last appearance on screen. Shortly after filming was completed, he died in Berlin. It was his wish to be buried at sea. His ashes were buried in the Baltic Sea Warnemünde in the family.

Today we remember Jürgen Frohriep on what would have been his 85^th birthday.