Ulrich Mühe
Encyclopedia
Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe (ˈʊlʁɪç ˈmyːə) (20 June 1953 – 22 July 2007) was a German film, television and theatre actor. He played the role of Hauptmann
(Captain) Gerd Wiesler in the Oscar
-winning film Das Leben der Anderen
(The Lives of Others, 2006), for which he received the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Gold, at Germany's most prestigious film awards, the Deutscher Filmpreis
(German Film Awards); and the Best Actor Award at the 2006 European Film Awards.
After leaving school, Mühe was employed as a construction worker and a border guard at the Berlin Wall
. He then turned to acting, and from the late 1970s into the 1980s appeared in numerous plays, becoming a star of the Deutsches Theater
in East Berlin
. He was active in politics and denounced Communist
rule in East Germany
in a memorable address at the Alexanderplatz demonstration
on 4 November 1989 shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. After German reunification
he continued to appear in a large number of films, television programmes and theatre productions. In Germany he was particularly known for playing the lead role of Dr. Robert Kolmaar in the long-running forensic crime series Der letzte Zeuge (The Last Witness, 1998–2007).
The son of a furrier, Mühe was born on 20 June 1953 in Grimma
, Saxony
, in the German Democratic Republic
(East Germany). After leaving school he trained as a construction worker, then served in the Nationale Volksarmee (National People's Army
) as a border guard at the Berlin Wall
. He was relieved of duty after contracting stomach ulcers
; a number of commentators have said that this was due to stress, and also suggested that it marked the beginnings of the stomach cancer
that would eventually lead to his death.
He then turned to acting, and studied at the Hans Otto Theaterhochschule in Leipzig
from 1975 to 1979. He appeared in his first professional stage role in 1979, as Lyngstrand in Ibsen
's Fruen fra havet (The Lady from the Sea
) at the Städtisches Theater in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz
). He followed this by appearing in a production of Macbeth
by playwright and director Heiner Müller
at the Volksbühne
in East Berlin
.
In 1983 at Müller's invitation he joined the ensemble of East Berlin's Deutsches Theater
, and became its star due to his versatility in comic and serious roles, appearing in productions such as Goethe
's Egmont
(1986), Ibsen's Peer Gynt
and Lessing
's Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise, 1988). He took the lead role of Hamlet
in both Shakespeare
's play and Heiner Müller's Die Hamletmaschine
(Hamletmachine, 1989). Mühe later said: "Theatre was the only place in the GDR where people weren't lied to. For us actors it was an island. We could dare to criticise." On screen, he co-starred with his second wife Jenny Gröllmann in Herman Zschoche's film Hälfte des Lebens (Half of Life, 1984) about the German lyric poet
Friedrich Hölderlin
(1770–1843).
Mühe played a leading role in organizing the demonstrations that took place prior to the reunification of Germany
. He often gave public readings from Walter Jenka's essay Schwierigkeiten mit der Wahrheit (Difficulties with the Truth, 1989) at the Deutsches Theater, before the book was permitted to be published in East Germany. On 4 November 1989 shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, in front of half a million people during the Alexanderplatz demonstration
, he declared the Communists
' monopoly on power to be invalid. In the same year he became internationally known after playing, next to Armin Mueller-Stahl
and Klaus Maria Brandauer
, the leading role in Bernhard Wicki's Das Spinnennetz (The Spider's Web
, based on the expressionist, fragmentary novel of the same name by Austrian writer Joseph Roth
) right-wing lieutenant Lohse who sleeps and murders his way to professional success in the early Weimar Republic
following a near fatal injury during the Wilhelmshaven mutiny
of 29 October 1918.
After German reunification
he continued to appear in a large number of films, television programmes and theatre productions in Germany and abroad. He proved his ability to take on comic roles in Schtonk!
(1991), an Oscar-nominated satire about the Hitler Diaries
hoax, and showed his more serious side in Michael Haneke
's Benny's Video
(1992), Das Schloss (The Castle, 1996) (an adaptation of Kafka
's The Castle (1922)) and Funny Games (1997). In the latter film, Mühe and his third wife Susanne Lothar played a husband and wife held captive in their holiday cabin by two psychotic young men who force them to play sadistic "games" with one another.
In the 2000s Mühe played a series of Nazis
. He portrayed Joseph Goebbels
in Goebbels und Geduldig (Goebbels and Geduldig, 2001); Dr. Josef Mengele
in Amen.
(2002), a film by Costa Gavras; and was to have played Klaus Barbie
in an upcoming feature. His last film was the comedy Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler
(My Führer: The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler, 2007), in which he played Prof. Adolf Israel Grünbaum, an actor hired to give Hitler lessons.
In 2006 he appeared at the Barbican Arts Centre in London in Zerbombt, Thomas Ostermeier's German production of Sarah Kane
's Blasted
, playing a middle-aged journalist whose encounter with a young girl leads to pandemonium in a Leeds
hotel room.
Mühe was also well-known in Germany for playing the brilliant but eccentric pathologist Dr. Robert Kolmaar in 73 episodes of the forensic crime serial Der letzte Zeuge (The Last Witness, 1998–2007), for which he was awarded the prize for Beste/r Schauspieler/in in einer Serie (Best Actor or Actress in a TV Series) at the Deutscher Fernsehpreis (German Television Awards) in 2005.
His last film "Nemesis" for blocked for nearly three years, due to a legal battle.
To English-speaking audiences, Mühe was probably best known for portraying Hauptmann
(Captain) Gerd Wiesler in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
's Das Leben der Anderen
(The Lives of Others, 2006), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
in 2007. The film is set in the mid-1980s, and Wiesler is a Stasi
agent who is assigned to bug and conduct surveillance of the apartment of an East German playwright, Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch
), and his girlfriend, the actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck
). However, he becomes disillusioned about the necessity of monitoring the couple for national security reasons after discovering that the government minister who ordered the surveillance did so for sexual rather than political motives. Gradually, Wiesler's heart moves from contempt and envy to compassion. For his performance, in 2006 Mühe received, among other things, the Beste darstellerische Leistung – Männliche Hauptrolle (Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role), Gold, at Germany's most prestigious film awards, the Deutscher Filmpreis
(German Film Awards); and the Best Actor Award at the European Film Awards.
The Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
(Federal Foundation for the Reconciliation of the SED
Dictatorship, known in short as "Stiftung Aufarbeitung"), the government-funded organization tasked with examining and reappraising East Germany's Communist dictatorship, said of Mühe: "Through his impressive performance... Ulrich Mühe sensitized an audience of millions to the Stasi's machinations and their consequences." The statement added that Mühe had been an active and valued participant in the foundation's events.
Mühe was already seriously ill at the prize-giving ceremony in Los Angeles in February 2007 when Das Leben der Anderen was awarded its Oscar, and flew back to Germany hours later for an urgent stomach operation. In an article in Die Welt
dated 21 July 2007, Mühe discussed his diagnosis of stomach cancer
which had put his acting career on hold; he died the following day. On 25 July 2007 he was buried in his mother's village of Walbeck
in the Landkreis (rural district) of Börde
, Saxony-Anhalt
.
Mühe was married three times. He was first married to dramaturge
Annegret Hahn and had two sons by her: Andreas, a Berlin-based photographer, and Konrad, a painter. His second marriage was in 1984 to the actress Jenny Gröllmann, after they fell in love while acting together in the TV film Die Poggenpuhls (The Poggenpuhls) in that year. Mühe and Gröllmann had a daughter, Anna Maria Mühe
, who is also an actress, and he was stepfather to Gröllmann's daughter Jeanne, a make-up artist.
After German reunification, Mühe allegedly discovered evidence in his Stasi file that he had been under surveillance not only by four of his fellow actors in the East Berlin theatre, but also by his wife Gröllmann. The file held detailed records of meetings that Gröllmann, who was registered as an "Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter" (unofficial collaborator), had with her controller from 1979 to 1989. This mirrored the plot of Das Leben der Anderen as in the film pressure exerted by the Stasi on the playwright's girlfriend makes her betray him as the author of an exposé of covered-up GDR suicide rates. Mühe and Gröllmann divorced in 1990. In a book accompanying the film, Mühe spoke about the sense of betrayal he felt when he found out about his former wife's alleged Stasi role. However, Gröllmann's real-life controller later claimed he had made up many of the details in the file and that the actress had been unaware that she was speaking to a Stasi agent. After a highly public and acrimonious battle in the courts, Gröllmann, who died in August 2006, won an injunction preventing the book's publication. Mühe's response when asked how he prepared for his role in Das Leben der Anderen was, "I remembered."
At the time of his death, Mühe was married to his third wife, stage actress Susanne Lothar
, and living in Berlin
with her and their two children, Sophie Marie and Jakob. He died at the age of 54 of stomach cancer.
Some information in this table was obtained from . Retrieved on 23 September 2007.
Some information in this table was obtained from . Retrieved on 23 September 2007.
Some information in this table was obtained from the online catalogue of the German National Library
.
Hauptmann
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e...
(Captain) Gerd Wiesler in the Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-winning film Das Leben der Anderen
The Lives of Others
The Lives of Others is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police...
(The Lives of Others, 2006), for which he received the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Gold, at Germany's most prestigious film awards, the Deutscher Filmpreis
Deutscher Filmpreis
The Deutscher Filmpreis is the highest German movie award. From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, since 2005 the award has been given by the Deutsche Filmakademie...
(German Film Awards); and the Best Actor Award at the 2006 European Film Awards.
After leaving school, Mühe was employed as a construction worker and a border guard at the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. He then turned to acting, and from the late 1970s into the 1980s appeared in numerous plays, becoming a star of the Deutsches Theater
Deutsches Theater
The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...
in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
. He was active in politics and denounced Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
rule in East Germany
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
in a memorable address at the Alexanderplatz demonstration
Alexanderplatz demonstration
The Alexanderplatz demonstration was a demonstration for political reforms and against the government of the German Democratic Republic on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin on 4 November 1989...
on 4 November 1989 shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. After German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
he continued to appear in a large number of films, television programmes and theatre productions. In Germany he was particularly known for playing the lead role of Dr. Robert Kolmaar in the long-running forensic crime series Der letzte Zeuge (The Last Witness, 1998–2007).
Early life and education
Grimma
Grimma is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany on the left bank of the Mulde, southeast of Leipzig. Founded in c. 1170, it is part of the Leipzig district.- Location :...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, in the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(East Germany). After leaving school he trained as a construction worker, then served in the Nationale Volksarmee (National People's Army
National People's Army
The National People’s Army were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic .The NVA was established in 1956 and disestablished in 1990. There were frequent reports of East German advisors with Communist African countries during the Cold War...
) as a border guard at the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. He was relieved of duty after contracting stomach ulcers
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
; a number of commentators have said that this was due to stress, and also suggested that it marked the beginnings of the stomach cancer
Stomach cancer
Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...
that would eventually lead to his death.
He then turned to acting, and studied at the Hans Otto Theaterhochschule in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
from 1975 to 1979. He appeared in his first professional stage role in 1979, as Lyngstrand in Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's Fruen fra havet (The Lady from the Sea
The Lady from the Sea
The Lady from the Sea is a play written in 1888 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.Kvinnan från havet is a ballet by choreographer Birgit Cullberg, and based on Ibsen's play...
) at the Städtisches Theater in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz
Chemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
). He followed this by appearing in a production of Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
by playwright and director Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller was a German dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. Described as "the theatre's greatest living poet" since Samuel Beckett, Müller is arguably the most important German dramatist of the 20th century after Bertolt Brecht...
at the Volksbühne
Volksbühne
The Volksbühne is a theater in Berlin, Germany. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in what was the GDR's capital....
in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
.
Career
Deutsches Theater
The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...
, and became its star due to his versatility in comic and serious roles, appearing in productions such as Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
's Egmont
Egmont (play)
Egmont is a play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which he completed in 1788. Its dramaturgical structure, like that of his earlier 'Storm and Stress' play Götz von Berlichingen , is heavily influenced by Shakespearean tragedy; in contrast, however, to the earlier work, the portrait in Egmont of the...
(1986), Ibsen's Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
and Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature...
's Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise, 1988). He took the lead role of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
in both Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's play and Heiner Müller's Die Hamletmaschine
Hamletmachine
Hamletmachine is a postmodernist drama by German playwright and theatre director Heiner Müller. Written in 1977, the play is loosely based on Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The play originated in relation to a translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet that Müller undertook...
(Hamletmachine, 1989). Mühe later said: "Theatre was the only place in the GDR where people weren't lied to. For us actors it was an island. We could dare to criticise." On screen, he co-starred with his second wife Jenny Gröllmann in Herman Zschoche's film Hälfte des Lebens (Half of Life, 1984) about the German lyric poet
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
Friedrich Hölderlin
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
(1770–1843).
Mühe played a leading role in organizing the demonstrations that took place prior to the reunification of Germany
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
. He often gave public readings from Walter Jenka's essay Schwierigkeiten mit der Wahrheit (Difficulties with the Truth, 1989) at the Deutsches Theater, before the book was permitted to be published in East Germany. On 4 November 1989 shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, in front of half a million people during the Alexanderplatz demonstration
Alexanderplatz demonstration
The Alexanderplatz demonstration was a demonstration for political reforms and against the government of the German Democratic Republic on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin on 4 November 1989...
, he declared the Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
' monopoly on power to be invalid. In the same year he became internationally known after playing, next to Armin Mueller-Stahl
Armin Mueller-Stahl
Armin Mueller-Stahl is a German film actor, painter, writer and musician.-Early life:Mueller-Stahl was born in Tilsit, East Prussia...
and Klaus Maria Brandauer
Klaus Maria Brandauer
Klaus Maria Brandauer is an Austrian actor, film director, and professor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.-Personal life:...
, the leading role in Bernhard Wicki's Das Spinnennetz (The Spider's Web
Spider's Web (film)
Spider's Web is a 1989 West German film directed by Bernhard Wicki. It is based on the eponymous 1923 novel by Joseph Roth. It was chosen as West Germany's official submission to the 62nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, but did not manage to receive a nomination...
, based on the expressionist, fragmentary novel of the same name by Austrian writer Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth, born Moses Joseph Roth , was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga Radetzky March about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and for his novel of Jewish life, Job as well as the seminal essay 'Juden auf Wanderschaft' translated in...
) right-wing lieutenant Lohse who sleeps and murders his way to professional success in the early Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
following a near fatal injury during the Wilhelmshaven mutiny
Wilhelmshaven mutiny
The Kiel mutiny was a major revolt by sailors of the German High Seas Fleet on 3 November 1918. The revolt triggered the German revolution which was to sweep aside the monarchy within a few days. It ultimately led to the end of the First World War and to the establishment of the Weimar Republic.-...
of 29 October 1918.
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
he continued to appear in a large number of films, television programmes and theatre productions in Germany and abroad. He proved his ability to take on comic roles in Schtonk!
Schtonk!
Schtonk! is a satirical German movie, retelling the hoax of the Hitler Diaries.Subtitled Der Film zum Buch vom Führer , the movie is a grotesque farce about the events when, in 1983, German Stern magazine began to publish, with great fanfare, the 60 volumes of the alleged diaries of Adolf Hitler...
(1991), an Oscar-nominated satire about the Hitler Diaries
Hitler Diaries
In April 1983, the West German news magazine Stern published excerpts from what purported to be the diaries of Adolf Hitler, known as the Hitler Diaries , which were subsequently revealed to be forgeries...
hoax, and showed his more serious side in Michael Haneke
Michael Haneke
Michael Haneke is a German born Austrian filmmaker and writer best known for his bleak and disturbing style. His films often document problems and failures in modern society. Haneke has worked in television‚ theatre and cinema. He is also known for raising social issues in his work...
's Benny's Video
Benny's Video
Benny's Video is a 1992 horror-of-personality film directed by the Austrian Michael Haneke. The plot of the film centers on Benny , a teenager who views much of his life as distilled through video images, and his well-to-do parents Anna and Georg , who enable Benny's focus on video cameras and...
(1992), Das Schloss (The Castle, 1996) (an adaptation of Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
's The Castle (1922)) and Funny Games (1997). In the latter film, Mühe and his third wife Susanne Lothar played a husband and wife held captive in their holiday cabin by two psychotic young men who force them to play sadistic "games" with one another.
In the 2000s Mühe played a series of Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. He portrayed Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
in Goebbels und Geduldig (Goebbels and Geduldig, 2001); Dr. Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
in Amen.
Amen. (film)
Amen. is a 2002 German, Romanian and French film directed by Costa-Gavras.- Plot :The film Amen. examines the links between the Vatican and Nazi Germany. The central character is Kurt Gerstein , a Waffen-SS officer employed in the SS Hygiene Institute, designing programs for the purification of...
(2002), a film by Costa Gavras; and was to have played Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
in an upcoming feature. His last film was the comedy Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler
Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler
Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler is a 2007 German comedy directed by Dani Levy....
(My Führer: The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler, 2007), in which he played Prof. Adolf Israel Grünbaum, an actor hired to give Hitler lessons.
In 2006 he appeared at the Barbican Arts Centre in London in Zerbombt, Thomas Ostermeier's German production of Sarah Kane
Sarah Kane
Sarah Kane was an English playwright. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture — both physical and psychological — and death. They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of...
's Blasted
Blasted
Blasted is the first play by British author Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London. This performance was highly controversial and the play was fiercely attacked by most newspaper critics, many of whom regarded it as a rather immature attempt to...
, playing a middle-aged journalist whose encounter with a young girl leads to pandemonium in a Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
hotel room.
Mühe was also well-known in Germany for playing the brilliant but eccentric pathologist Dr. Robert Kolmaar in 73 episodes of the forensic crime serial Der letzte Zeuge (The Last Witness, 1998–2007), for which he was awarded the prize for Beste/r Schauspieler/in in einer Serie (Best Actor or Actress in a TV Series) at the Deutscher Fernsehpreis (German Television Awards) in 2005.
His last film "Nemesis" for blocked for nearly three years, due to a legal battle.
The Lives of Others, and later life
Hauptmann
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e...
(Captain) Gerd Wiesler in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Florian Maria Georg Christian, Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck is a German film director, best known for writing and directing the 2007 Oscar-winning film The Lives of Others and the 2010 film The Tourist.-Personal life and family:...
's Das Leben der Anderen
The Lives of Others
The Lives of Others is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police...
(The Lives of Others, 2006), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
in 2007. The film is set in the mid-1980s, and Wiesler is a Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
agent who is assigned to bug and conduct surveillance of the apartment of an East German playwright, Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch
Sebastian Koch
-Life and career:Koch was born in Karlsruhe and grew up in Stuttgart. His mother raised him alone, and he spent some time in the children's home where she worked...
), and his girlfriend, the actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck
Martina Gedeck
Martina Gedeck is a German actress. She came to broader, international attention due to her roles in films such as Mostly Martha, The Lives of Others, and The Baader Meinhof Complex...
). However, he becomes disillusioned about the necessity of monitoring the couple for national security reasons after discovering that the government minister who ordered the surveillance did so for sexual rather than political motives. Gradually, Wiesler's heart moves from contempt and envy to compassion. For his performance, in 2006 Mühe received, among other things, the Beste darstellerische Leistung – Männliche Hauptrolle (Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role), Gold, at Germany's most prestigious film awards, the Deutscher Filmpreis
Deutscher Filmpreis
The Deutscher Filmpreis is the highest German movie award. From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, since 2005 the award has been given by the Deutsche Filmakademie...
(German Film Awards); and the Best Actor Award at the European Film Awards.
The Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
The Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur is a government-funded organisation established in 1998 by the German parliament.Its mandate is to assess the history of the socialist regime of the German Democratic Republic , and its impact on the now reunified Germany.As its logo, the...
(Federal Foundation for the Reconciliation of the SED
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
Dictatorship, known in short as "Stiftung Aufarbeitung"), the government-funded organization tasked with examining and reappraising East Germany's Communist dictatorship, said of Mühe: "Through his impressive performance... Ulrich Mühe sensitized an audience of millions to the Stasi's machinations and their consequences." The statement added that Mühe had been an active and valued participant in the foundation's events.
Mühe was already seriously ill at the prize-giving ceremony in Los Angeles in February 2007 when Das Leben der Anderen was awarded its Oscar, and flew back to Germany hours later for an urgent stomach operation. In an article in Die Welt
Die Welt
Die Welt is a German national daily newspaper published by the Axel Springer AG company.It was founded in Hamburg in 1946 by the British occupying forces, aiming to provide a "quality newspaper" modelled on The Times...
dated 21 July 2007, Mühe discussed his diagnosis of stomach cancer
Stomach cancer
Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...
which had put his acting career on hold; he died the following day. On 25 July 2007 he was buried in his mother's village of Walbeck
Walbeck, Börde
Walbeck is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen....
in the Landkreis (rural district) of Börde
Börde
Börde, a district in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany, is arguably best known as the area of the former repository for radioactive waste Morsleben. The disposal of waste into the facility ended in 1998.- History :...
, Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
.
Personal life
Dramaturge
A dramaturge or dramaturg is a professional position within a theatre or opera company that deals mainly with research and development of plays or operas...
Annegret Hahn and had two sons by her: Andreas, a Berlin-based photographer, and Konrad, a painter. His second marriage was in 1984 to the actress Jenny Gröllmann, after they fell in love while acting together in the TV film Die Poggenpuhls (The Poggenpuhls) in that year. Mühe and Gröllmann had a daughter, Anna Maria Mühe
Anna Maria Mühe
Anna Maria Mühe is a German actress.-Biography:Born in Berlin to actor Ulrich Mühe and actress Jenny Gröllmann , she was invited by director Maria von Heland to a casting for Big Girls Don't Cry...
, who is also an actress, and he was stepfather to Gröllmann's daughter Jeanne, a make-up artist.
After German reunification, Mühe allegedly discovered evidence in his Stasi file that he had been under surveillance not only by four of his fellow actors in the East Berlin theatre, but also by his wife Gröllmann. The file held detailed records of meetings that Gröllmann, who was registered as an "Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter" (unofficial collaborator), had with her controller from 1979 to 1989. This mirrored the plot of Das Leben der Anderen as in the film pressure exerted by the Stasi on the playwright's girlfriend makes her betray him as the author of an exposé of covered-up GDR suicide rates. Mühe and Gröllmann divorced in 1990. In a book accompanying the film, Mühe spoke about the sense of betrayal he felt when he found out about his former wife's alleged Stasi role. However, Gröllmann's real-life controller later claimed he had made up many of the details in the file and that the actress had been unaware that she was speaking to a Stasi agent. After a highly public and acrimonious battle in the courts, Gröllmann, who died in August 2006, won an injunction preventing the book's publication. Mühe's response when asked how he prepared for his role in Das Leben der Anderen was, "I remembered."
At the time of his death, Mühe was married to his third wife, stage actress Susanne Lothar
Susanne Lothar
Susanne Lothar is a German actress.Lothar studied at the Schauspiel an der Hochschule für Theater und Musik in Hamburg...
, and living in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
with her and their two children, Sophie Marie and Jakob. He died at the age of 54 of stomach cancer.
Awards
In addition to the awards mentioned elsewhere in this article, Mühe was conferred the following awards:- 1990 – The Chaplin Shoe, the Deutscher Darstellerpreis (German Actor Award) of the Bundesverbandes der Fernseh- und Filmregisseure in Deutschland eV (Federal Association of Television and Film Directors in Germany).
- 1991 – The Gertrud-Eysoldt-Ring (Gertrud Eysoldt Ring)
- 1992 – The Bambi
- 1994 – The Kainz-Medaille (Kainz Medal)
- 2006 – The Bernhard-Wicki-Filmpreis (Bernhard Wicki Film Award)
- The Helene-Weigel-Medaille (Helene WeigelHelene WeigelHelene Weigel was a distinguished German actress. She was the second wife of Bertolt Brecht, and together they had a son Stefan Brecht and daughter Barbara Brecht-Schall .The daughter of a Jewish lawyer, she became a Communist Party member from 1930 and Artistic Director of the...
Medal) - The prize of the critics of the Berliner ZeitungBerliner ZeitungThe Berliner Zeitung, founded in 1945, is a German center-left daily newspaper based in Berlin, published by Berliner Verlag. It is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since unification. In 2003, the Berliner was Berlin's largest subscription newspaper—the weekend...
Film
| Year(s) of appearance |
Film | Role | Awards and nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Ol' Henry (Old Henry) |
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| 1985 | Hälfte des Lebens (Half of Life) |
Friedrich Hölderlin Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his... |
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| 1987 | Sansibar oder der letzte Grund (Zanzibar or the Last Reason) |
Dr. Grote | |
| 1988 | Späte Ankunft (Late Arrival) |
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| 1989 | Hard Days, Hard Nights Hard Days, Hard Nights (1989 film) Hard Days, Hard Nights is a 1989 film.-Plot:A British rock and roll band from Liverpool descends on Hamburg, circa 1960. They form romantic liaisons with several townspeople.-Cast:... |
Flimmer | |
| 1989 | Sehnsucht (Desire) |
Sieghart | |
| 1989 | Das Spinnennetz (The Spider's Web) |
Theodor Lohse |
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| 1990 | Rönnes Reise (Rönne's Journey) |
Gottfried Benn | |
| 1992 | Schtonk! Schtonk! Schtonk! is a satirical German movie, retelling the hoax of the Hitler Diaries.Subtitled Der Film zum Buch vom Führer , the movie is a grotesque farce about the events when, in 1983, German Stern magazine began to publish, with great fanfare, the 60 volumes of the alleged diaries of Adolf Hitler... |
Dr. Wieland | |
| 1992 | Benny's Video Benny's Video Benny's Video is a 1992 horror-of-personality film directed by the Austrian Michael Haneke. The plot of the film centers on Benny , a teenager who views much of his life as distilled through video images, and his well-to-do parents Anna and Georg , who enable Benny's focus on video cameras and... |
Father | |
| 1992 | Einfach raus (Simply Get Out) |
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| 1994 | Der Blaue The Blue One The Blue One is a 1994 German drama film written and directed by Lienhard Wawrzyn. It was entered into the 44th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Manfred Krug as Otto Skrodt* Ulrich Mühe as Karl 'Kalle' Kaminski... (The Blue One) |
Karl | |
| 1996 | Engelchen (Little Angel) |
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| 1996 | Peanuts – die Bank zahlt alles (Peanuts – The Bank Pays Everything) |
Dr. Jochen Schuster | |
| 1996 | Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel (Rudi, The Racing Pig) |
Dr. Heinrich Gützkow | |
| 1997 | Das Schloss (The Castle) |
K | |
| 1997 | Funny Games | Georg | |
| 1997 | Sterben ist gesünder (Dying is Healthier) |
Hugo Wallner | |
| 1998 | Feuerreiter (Fire Rider) |
Jacob Gontard | |
| 1998 | Sieben Monde (Night Time) |
Eschbach | |
| 1999 | Straight Shooter | Markus Paufler | |
| 2001 | Goebbels und Geduldig Goebbels und Geduldig Goebbels und Geduldig is a 2002 German war comedy film about Joseph Goebbels and Nazi Germany, directed by Kai Wessel and written by Peter Steinbach.-Cast:*Ulrich Mühe: Goebbels bzw. Geduldig*Eva Mattes: Magda Goebbels*Götz Otto: Brenneisen... (Goebbels and Geduldig) |
Harry Geduldig/Joseph Goebbels Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism... |
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| 2002 | Amen. Amen. (film) Amen. is a 2002 German, Romanian and French film directed by Costa-Gavras.- Plot :The film Amen. examines the links between the Vatican and Nazi Germany. The central character is Kurt Gerstein , a Waffen-SS officer employed in the SS Hygiene Institute, designing programs for the purification of... |
Doctor | |
| 2003 | Spy Sorge (Spy Richard Sorge) |
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| 2005 | Schneeland (Snowland) |
Knövel | |
| 2006 | Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others The Lives of Others The Lives of Others is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police... ) |
Hauptmann Hauptmann Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e... (Captain) Gerd Wiesler |
Deutscher Filmpreis The Deutscher Filmpreis is the highest German movie award. From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, since 2005 the award has been given by the Deutsche Filmakademie... (German Film Awards) (2006) Copenhagen International Film Festival Copenhagen International Film Festival is a film festival held in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was first held in 2003, and is held annually. The main award at the Copenhagen International Film Festival is the Golden Swan, which will be awarded for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best... (2006) BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:... , BAFTA Awards British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:... (nominated) (2008). |
| 2007 | Verwehte (Blown Away) |
Mann (man) | |
| 2007 | Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler is a 2007 German comedy directed by Dani Levy.... (My Führer – The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler) |
Prof. Adolf Israel Grünbaum | |
| 2010 | Nemesis | Robert |
Some information in this table was obtained from . Retrieved on 23 September 2007.
Television
| Year(s) of appearance |
Film or series | Role | Awards and nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Der Mann und sein Name (The Man and His Name) |
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| 1984 | Die Poggenpuhls (The Poggenpuhls) |
Leo | |
| 1986 | Das Buschgespenst (The Bush Ghost) |
Kaufmann Strauch | |
| 1987 | Die erste Reihe (The First Row) |
Rudolf Schwarz | |
| 1988 | Nadine, meine Liebe (Nadine, My Love) |
Oberleutnant Oberleutnant Oberleutnant is a junior officer rank in the militaries of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In the German Army, it dates from the early 19th century. Translated as "Senior Lieutenant", the rank is typically bestowed upon commissioned officers after five to six years of active duty... (Senior Lieutenant) Stein |
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| 1988 (1 episode) |
Polizeiruf 110 (Emergency Call 110) (1971–present) "Flüssige Waffe" ("Liquid Weapon") |
Kegel | |
| 1989 | Die gläserne Fackel (The Glass Torch) |
Maxi Steinhüter | |
| 1990 | Der kleine Herr Friedemann (The Small Mr. Friedemann) |
Johannes Friedemann | |
| 1991 | Ende der Unschuld (The End of Innocence) |
Julian Green | |
| 1991 | Jugend ohne Gott (Youth without God) |
Lehrer (teacher) | |
| 1993 | Extralarge: Diamonds | Father Enrique | |
| 1993 | Das letzte U-Boot Das letzte U-Boot Das letzte U-Boot is a 1992 German television film directed by Frank Beyer and starring Ulrich Mühe and Ulrich Tukur. The film is based on the true story of the German submarine U-234.... (The Last U-Boat) |
Lt. Cmdr. Gerber | |
| 1993 | Wehner – die unerzählte Geschichte (Wehner – The Untold Story) |
Selbstmörder (suicide victim) | |
| 1995 | Geschäfte (Business) |
Sturm | |
| 1995 | ...nächste Woche ist Frieden (...Next Week brings Peace) |
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| 1995 | Nadja – Heimkehr in die Fremde (Nadja – Homecoming Among Foreigners) |
Sergej | |
| 1995 | Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) |
Pfarrer (Minister) Ohlbaum | |
| 1995 (1 episode) |
Rosa Roth (1994–2006) "Lügen" ("Lies") |
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| 1995 | Tödliches Schweigen (Deadly Silence) |
Christian Plache | |
| 1996 | Das tödliche Auge (The Deadly Eye) |
Stefan | |
| 1996 (1 episode) |
Tatort (Crime Scene) (1970–present) "Die Abrechnung" ("The Reckoning") |
Peter Fuchs | |
| 1998 | 36 Stunden Angst (36 Hours) |
Rudolph | |
| 1998 (1 episode) |
Siska (1998–present) "Tod einer Würfelspielerin" ("Death of a Female Dice-Thrower") |
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| 1998–2007 (73 episodes) |
Der letzte Zeuge (The Last Witness) |
Dr. Robert Kolmaar |
|
| 1999 (1 episode) |
Tatort (Scene) (1970–present) "Traumhaus" ("Dream House") |
Friedel Hebbel | |
| 1999 | Todesengel (Angel of Death) |
Dr. Leon Stein | |
| 2001 | Dreimal Leben (Life Times Three) |
Henri | |
| 2003 | Alles Samba (Everything's Samba) |
Gerd | |
| 2003 | Hamlet_X | Claudius Müller | |
| 2003 | Im Schatten der Macht (In the Shadow of Power) |
Günther Gaus | |
| 2004 | Hunger auf Leben (Hunger for Life) |
Jochen Hensel | |
| 2006 | Das Geheimnis von St. Ambrose (The Secret of St. Ambrose) |
Professor Nicolas Cramer | |
| 2006 | Peer Gynt Peer Gynt Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"... |
Der Knopfgiesser (The Button Moulder) |
Some information in this table was obtained from . Retrieved on 23 September 2007.
Theatre
| Year(s) of appearance |
Production | Role | Awards and nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Fruen fra havet The Lady from the Sea The Lady from the Sea is a play written in 1888 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.Kvinnan från havet is a ballet by choreographer Birgit Cullberg, and based on Ibsen's play... (The Lady from the Sea) by Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
|
Lyngstrand | |
| [Date uncertain] (?1979–1986) |
Macbeth Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607... by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
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| 18 November 1983 | Gespenster Ghosts (play) Ghosts is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was written in 1881 and first staged in 1882.Like many of Ibsen's better-known plays, Ghosts is a scathing commentary on 19th century morality.... (Ghosts) by Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
|
Osvald Alving | |
| 1986 | Egmont Egmont (play) Egmont is a play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which he completed in 1788. Its dramaturgical structure, like that of his earlier 'Storm and Stress' play Götz von Berlichingen , is heavily influenced by Shakespearean tragedy; in contrast, however, to the earlier work, the portrait in Egmont of the... by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
|
Egmont | |
| [Date uncertain] ?1986–1989 |
Hamlet Hamlet The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601... by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
|
Hamlet | |
| [Date uncertain] ?1986–1989 |
Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise) by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature...
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| [Date uncertain] ?1986–1989 |
Peer Gynt Peer Gynt Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"... by Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
|
Peer Gynt | |
| 1989 | Die Hamletmaschine Hamletmachine Hamletmachine is a postmodernist drama by German playwright and theatre director Heiner Müller. Written in 1977, the play is loosely based on Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The play originated in relation to a translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet that Müller undertook... (Hamletmachine) by Heiner Müller Heiner Müller Heiner Müller was a German dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. Described as "the theatre's greatest living poet" since Samuel Beckett, Müller is arguably the most important German dramatist of the 20th century after Bertolt Brecht...
|
Hamlet | |
| 1990 | Die Jüdin von Toledo The Jewess of Toledo The Jewess of Toledo is a play by Franz Grillparzer. Written in 1851, it was first performed in Prague in 1872, after Grillparzer's death.The play is based on the love affair between King Alfonso VIII of Castille and Rahel la Fermosa, a Jewish woman.... (The Jewess of Toledo) by Franz Grillparzer Franz Grillparzer Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer was an Austrian writer who is chiefly known for his dramas. He also wrote the oration for Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral.-Biography:...
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König Alfons (King Alfonso, Alfonso VIII) | |
| end-1990s | Dreimal Leben (Life Times Three) by Yasmina Reza Yasmina Reza Yasmina Reza is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter. Her parents were both of Jewish origin, her father Iranian, her mother Hungarian.-Career:...
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Henri | |
| 1999 | Gesäubert Cleansed Cleansed is the third play by the English playwright Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1998 at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs in London. The play is set in a university which has been converted into some form of bizarre institution under the rule of the sadistic Tinker... (Cleansed) by Sarah Kane Sarah Kane Sarah Kane was an English playwright. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture — both physical and psychological — and death. They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of...
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Der Arzt (The Doctor) | |
| 2003 | Wittgenstein Incorporated
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| 2005 | Zerbombt Blasted Blasted is the first play by British author Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London. This performance was highly controversial and the play was fiercely attacked by most newspaper critics, many of whom regarded it as a rather immature attempt to... (Blasted) by Sarah Kane Sarah Kane Sarah Kane was an English playwright. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture — both physical and psychological — and death. They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of...
|
Ian | |
| 2006 | Zerbombt Blasted Blasted is the first play by British author Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London. This performance was highly controversial and the play was fiercely attacked by most newspaper critics, many of whom regarded it as a rather immature attempt to... (Blasted) by Sarah Kane Sarah Kane Sarah Kane was an English playwright. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture — both physical and psychological — and death. They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of...
|
Ian | |
| [Date unknown] | Clavigo Clavigo (play) Clavigo is a five-act tragedy written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1774. The lead role is taken by Beaumarchais. The play was written in just eight days in May 1774. It was published by July 1774 and is the first printed work to which Goethe put his own name, although the play was received... by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long... |
Clavigo | |
| [Date unknown] | Philotas by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature... |
Philotas | |
| [Date unknown] | Der Traum, ein Leben (The Dream, a Life) by Franz Grillparzer Franz Grillparzer Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer was an Austrian writer who is chiefly known for his dramas. He also wrote the oration for Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral.-Biography:... |
Sigismundis |
Audio books
| Year(s) of appearance |
Book | Awards and nominations |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Ein Monat in Dachau (One Month in Dachau, 1992) by Vladimir Sorokin Vladimir Sorokin Vladimir Georgievich Sorokin is a contemporary postmodern Russian writer and dramatist, one of the most popular in modern Russian literature.-Biography:... ; translated from the Russian by Peter Urban |
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| 1999 | Ich bin eine Welt: Briefe und Gedichte – eine Collage (I am a World: Letters and Poems – a Collage) by Georg Trakl Georg Trakl Georg Trakl was an Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists.- Life and work :Trakl was born and lived the first 18 years of his life in Salzburg, Austria... |
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| 2000 | Einen Dichter denken – LAUT (A Poet Thinks – ALOUD) by Heiner Müller Heiner Müller Heiner Müller was a German dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. Described as "the theatre's greatest living poet" since Samuel Beckett, Müller is arguably the most important German dramatist of the 20th century after Bertolt Brecht... |
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| 2002 | Adler und Engel (Eagles and Angels) by Juli Zeh Juli Zeh Juli Zeh is a German novelist.Her first book was Adler und Engel , which won the 2002 Deutscher Bücherpreis for best debut novel. She traveled through Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2001, which became the basis for the book Die Stille ist ein Geräusch... |
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| 2002 | Die Kinder (The Children) by Peter Hacks Peter Hacks Peter Hacks was a German playwright, author, and essayist.Hacks was born in Breslau , Lower Silesia. Displaced by World War II, Hacks settled in Munich in 1947, where he made acquaintance with Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht... |
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| 2002 | Reise gegen den Wind (Journey Against the Wind, 2000) by Peter Härtling |
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| 2003 | Südkurier (Southern Mail, 1929) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award... |
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| 2003 | Wind, Sand und Sterne (Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award... |
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| 2004 | Ein unbekannter Freund (A Friend of Unknown Quantity) by Ivan Bunin (read by Susanne Lothar and Ulrich Mühe) |
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| 2004 | "Ich küsse Dich vielmals...": Liebesbriefe ("I Kiss You Many Times...": Love Letters) (read by Susanne Lothar and Ulrich Mühe) | |
| 2005 | Der kleine Prinz The Little Prince The Little Prince , first published in 1943, is a novella and the most famous work of the French aristocrat writer, poet and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry .... (The Little Prince, 1943) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award... |
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| 2005 | Weihnachtswünsche: Die Weihnachtsgeschichte nach Lukas und die schönsten Weihnachtsgedichte (Christmas Wishes: The History of Christmas according to Luke and the Most Beautiful Christmas Poems) by Joseph von Eichendorff (told by Otto Mellies, Ulrich Mühe and Otto Sander) |
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| 2006 | Shakespeares Hamlet und alles, was ihn für uns zum kulturellen Gedächtnis macht (Shakespeare's Hamlet and Everything that Makes it Cultural Memory For Us) (read by Dietrich Schwanitz, Ulrich Mühe and Hanns Zischler) | |
| 2006 | Von allem Anfang an (From All Beginning) by Christoph Hein |
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| [Date unknown] | Helden wie wir (Heroes Like Us, 1995) by Thomas Brussig Thomas Brussig Thomas Brussig is a German writer best known for his satirical novels that deal with the German Democratic Republic.- Life :... |
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| [Date unknown] | Das kalte Herz (The Cold Heart, 1826) by Wilhelm Hauff Wilhelm Hauff Wilhelm Hauff was a German poet and novelist.-Early life:Hauff was born in Stuttgart, the son of August Friedrich Hauff, a secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs, and Hedwig Wilhelmine Elsaesser Hauff... |
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| [Date unknown] | Der Katze, die immer nur ihre eigenen Wege ging (The Cats, which in Each Case Went Their Own Ways, ?1985) by Horst Hawemann |
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| [Date unknown] | Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke (The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Cornet (military rank) Cornet was originally the third and lowest grade of commissioned officer in a British cavalry troop, after captain and lieutenant. A cornet is a new and junior officer.- Traditional duties :The cornet carried the troop standard, also known as a "cornet".... Christoph Rilke, 1906) by Rainer Maria Rilke Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language... |
Some information in this table was obtained from the online catalogue of the German National Library
German National Library
The German National Library is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany...
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