28 March 2024

Catherine Deneuve

Elegant Catherine Deneuve (1943) is an icon of the French cinema. She gained recognition in the 1960s for her portrayal of cool, mysterious beauties in classic films of directors like Luis Buñuel, Roman Polanski and François Truffaut. Apart from being a great actress, she is also an archetype for Gallic beauty. From 1985 to 1989, she succeeded Brigitte Bardot as the model for the national symbol Marianne, seen on French coins and stamps. Since then she had new successes with such directors as Lars von Trier and François Ozon.

Catherine Deneuve
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 568.

Catherine Deneuve in Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo for Kores Carboplan, no. C-195, 1964. Photo: Radio Films. Catherine Deneuve in Les parapluies de Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964). The Spanish title was Los Paraguas de Cherburgo.

Catherine Deneuve and Sami Frey in La costanza della ragione (1964)
East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2771, 1967. Samy Frey and Catherine Deneuve in La costanza della ragione/The consistency of reason (Pasquale Festa Campanile, 1964).

Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorleac in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)
French postcard by La Cinémathèque française, no CF 5002, 1997. Photo: Hélène Jeanbrau / Ciné-Tamaris. Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort/The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy, 1967).

Catherine Deneuve in Peau d'âne
French postcard by Editions d'art Yvon, Paris, no. 40-110-07. Photo: Park Film / KIM. Publicity still for Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970). Caption: 'La Princesse reçoit la peau d'âne' (The princess receives the donkey skin).

The umbrellas of Cherbourg


Catherine Deneuve was born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac in 1943, in Paris, France. She was the third of four daughters to the stage actors Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve, who was the French voice of Esther Williams, and whose name Catherine uses. Her sisters were actress Françoise Dorléac, Sylvie Dorléac and Danielle Dorléac.

When Catherine was 13 she had the opportunity to play in Les Collégiennes/The Twilight Girls (André Hunebelle, 1956) during the summer school holidays with her sister Sylvie, and she accepted because she was curious to see how a film was made. She was credited as Catherine Dorléac. She began using her mother's maiden name professionally in 1960, to differentiate herself from her sister Françoise Dorléac, then an upcoming actress.

Catherine continued with small parts in minor films until she met film director Roger Vadim, the former husband of Brigitte Bardot. Stunning and only 17 years old, Deneuve and the 32-year-old Vadim began romancing. She dyed her naturally brown hair blonde to please Vadim, who gave her a leading part in the Marquis de Sade adaptation Le vice et la vertu/Vice and Virtue (Roger Vadim, 1963).

Her breakthrough came the next year with the musical Les parapluies de Cherbourg/The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964) in which she gave an unforgettable performance as a romantic middle-class girl who falls in love with a young soldier (Nino Castelnuovo) but gets imprisoned in a loveless marriage with another man (Marc Michel). The film was nominated for five Academy Awards.

Demy also cast Deneuve in the less successful Les demoiselles de Rochefort/The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy, 1967), with her elder sister Françoise Dorléac. That year Françoise would die in a fatal car crash on the French Riviera, only 25 years old. The sisters were extremely close and Deneuve was devastated.

Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo in Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
French postcard by La Cinémathèque française, no. CF 5004, 1998. Photo: Ciné Tamaris / Collection C.T. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo in Les parapluies de Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964).

Catherine Deneuve
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Catherine Deneuve in Un monsieur de compagnie/I Was a Male Sex Bomb (Philippe de Broca, 1964).

Catherine Deneuve
East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2769, 1967. Catherine Deneuve in La costanza della ragione/The consistency of reason (Pasquale Festa Campanile, 1964).

Catherine Deneuve in Benjamin ou Les mémoires d'un puceau (1967)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 147. Catherine Deneuve in Benjamin ou Les mémoires d'un puceau/The Diary of an Innocent Boy (Michel Deville, 1967).

Francoise Dorléac and Catherine Deneuve in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 120. Photo: Françoise Dorléac and Catherine Deneuve in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort/The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy, 1967).

Belle de jour


Catherine Deneuve had her English-speaking film debut in Roman Polanski’s shocking psychological thriller Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965). She delivered a creepy performance, as Carol, a sexually repressed, paranoid schizophrenic. Her descent into madness results in her murdering men who lust after her.

Deneuve was again a sensation as a bored housewife who fulfils her sexual fantasies while working as an afternoon call girl in Luis Buñuel’s masterpiece Belle de jour/Beauty of the Day (Luis Buñuel, 1967) with Jean Sorel and Michel Piccoli.

James Travers at French Films: "The casting of Catherine Deneuve as Séverine is a marvellous example of serendipity. At the time, she was in a relationship with the film director François Truffaut, who was so impressed with her acting skill that he lobbied Buñuel to give her a lead role in his next film. Buñuel was initially lukewarm towards Deneuve and insisted that she should not perform. Ever the professional, Deneuve obliged and delivered a non-performance par excellence that was perfectly suited for the film. It is the actress’s ice-cold aloofness and the tight grip she has on her emotions that makes her so perfect for the role of Séverine."

She also worked with the Spanish director on Tristana (Luis Buñuel, 1970), in which she again portrayed an innocent beauty exploited by a lecherous older man, this time played by Fernando Rey. Unlike in Belle de Jour, her character in Tristana achieved independence and eventually exacted revenge on the man who exploited her. The film garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. She gave another great performance in a dual role opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo in La sirène du Mississipi/Mississipi Mermaid (François Truffaut, 1969, a kind of apotheosis of her ‘beautiful ice maiden’ persona. When their private relationship failed, Truffaut reportedly had a nervous breakdown.

Catherine Deneuve in Manon 70 (1968)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 165. Catherine Deneuve in Manon 70/French Mistress (Jean Aurel, 1968).

Catherine Deneuve in La chamade (1968)
French postcard by Éditions Hazan, Paris, in the Collection Magie Noire, no. 6435, 1994. Photo: Raymond Depardon / Magnum Photos. Catherine Deneuve in La chamade/Heartbeat (Alain Cavalier, 1968).

Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933-2021)
French postcard in the Collection Magie Noire by Éditions Hazan, Paris, no. 6247, 1991. Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Belmondo in La Sirène du Mississipi/Mississippi Mermaid (François Truffaut, 1969).
Catherine Deneuve in Peau d'âne (1970)

French postcard by Cinetamaris and Arte Video to promote the DVD and CD box 'Intégrale Jacques Demy'. Photo: M.P. Lavoix / Succession Demy. Catherine Deneuve in Peau d'âne/Monkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970).

Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli and Darry Cowl in Touche pas la femme blanche (1974)
French postcard, no. C139. Photo: Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli and Darry Cowl in Touche pas la femme blanche/Don't Touch the White Woman! (Marco Ferreri, 1974).

Chanel no. 5


Catherine Deneuve was the muse of fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent, who dressed her for Belle de jour, La chamade/Heartbeat (Alain Cavalier, 1968), La sirène du Mississipi, Un flic/A Cop (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1972), Liza (Marco Ferreri, 1972) and The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983). She was also the face of Chanel no. 5 in the 1970s and caused sales of the perfume to soar.

In the US, the press nominated her as 'the world's most elegant woman'. She appeared then in two American movies, the comedy The April Fools (Stuart Rosenberg, 1969) opposite Jack Lemmon, and the crime drama Hustle (Robert Aldrich, 1975) with Burt Reynolds. However, she remained active in European films during the 1970s, although she didn't find parts of the same calibre as her roles in the 1960s.

Deneuve reunited with Jacques Demy for the fairytale Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970) with Jean Marais, and made five films together with Marcello Mastroianni: Ça n'arrive qu'aux autres/It Only Happens to Others (Nadine Trintignant, 1971), Liza (Marco Ferreri, 1972), L'événement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la lune/A Slightly Pregnant Man (Jacques Demy, 1973), Touche pas à la femme blanche/Don't Touch the White Woman! (Marco Ferreri, 1974), and Les cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma/A Hundred and One Nights of Simon Cinema (Agnès Varda, 1995).

In 1989, she was back with a magnificent role in Le dernier métro/The Last Metro (François Truffaut, 1980) as a stage actress in Nazi-occupied Paris. It was the first of six films in which she starred opposite Gérard Depardieu. For her performance, she won a César Award, and the film, which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, revived her international career.

Deneuve played a bisexual vampire in the slick The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983), with David Bowie and Susan Sarandon. The role brought her a significant lesbian following. Her appearance in the romantic thriller, Le Lieu de crime/Scene of the Crime (André Techiné, 1986), with Danielle Darrieux, was also well-received.

Catherine Deneuve
French postcard by Sofraneme, Levallois Perret, 1980.

Catherine Deneuve
French postcard by E.D.U.G., Paris, no. 506. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Catherine Deneuve and Alain Delon in Le choc (1982)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Photo: Catherine Deneuve and Alain Delon in Le choc/Shock (Robin Davis, 1982).

Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Louis Trintignant in Le bon plaisir (1984)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 43 072. Photo: Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Louis Trintignant in Le bon plaisir (Francis Girod, 1984).

Richard Bohringer and Catherine Deneuve on the set of La reine blanche (1991)
French postcard by Les Cartophiles du pays Nantes / Office du Tourisme, Nantes, no. CPN 197. Photo: Yannick Pasquet. Richard Bohringer and Catherine Deneuve on the set of La reine blanche/The White Queen (Jean-Loup Hubert, 1991). The film was shot in Trentemoult between 17 June and 9 August 1990.

Dancer in the Dark


Catherine Deneuve has never performed in the theatre due to stage fright. However, she is universally hailed as one of the ‘grandes dames’ of the French cinema, joining Michèle Morgan, Danielle Darrieux, Simone Signoret, Jeanne Moreau, Isabelle Huppert, and Juliette Binoche.

During the 1990s, Deneuve continued to appear in a large number of films. She was very good opposite Vincent Perez in the epic drama Indochine/Indochina (Regis Warnier, 1992) as a plantation owner in the 1930s. For this role, she earned her first Academy Award nomination and a second César Award.

She starred in several films by André Téchiné, including Ma saison préférée/My Favorite Season (1993) and Les Voleurs/The Thieves (1995), with Daniel Auteuil. She joined the documentary L'Univers de Jacques Demy (Agnès Varda, 1995), to show tribute to the director who made the film that brought her to fame.

In 1998, she won acclaim and the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for her performance as a jewellers widow in Place Vendôme (Nicole Garcia, 1998) and in 1999 she appeared in five films, Est-Ouest/East-West (Régis Wargnier, 1999), Pola X (Leos Carax, 1999), Belle-maman/Beautiful Mother (Gabriel Aghion, 1999), and Le vent de la nuit/The Wind of the Night (Philippe Garrel, 1999) and the wonderful Le temps retrouvé/Marcel Proust's Time Regained (Raoul Ruiz, 1999) with Emmanuelle Béart and John Malkovich.

The following year, she surprised everyone with her portrayal of the factory worker sidekick of Icelandic singer Bjork in the melancholy musical Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, 2000). She had seen Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves (1996) and was so impressed with the Danish director; that she wrote him a letter requesting a part in one of his upcoming projects. He obliged, and her performance provided further proof that she was much more than a pretty face, and had always been. Though it polarised critics and audiences alike, the film was selected for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Happy birthday, Catherine Deneuve!
French postcard by Editions La Malibran, Paris, no. MC 18.

Catherine Deneuve
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Catherine Deneuve
Vintage postcard, no. 2071.

Catherine Deneuve
French postcard by Editions F. Nugeron, no. 71. Photo: J. Ritchie.

Catherine Deneuve in Potiche (2010)
Belgian Freecard by Boomerang. Photo: Mandarin Cinema. Catherine Deneuve in Potiche/Trophy Wife (François Ozon, 2010). Caption: Chipie.

8 Femmes


In 2002, Catherine Deneuve shared the Silver Bear Award for Best Ensemble Cast at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance in the musical comedy 8 Femmes/8 Women (François Ozon, 2002). It was another triumph. In 2005 she published her diary 'A l'ombre de moi-meme' (Close Up and Personal: The Private Diaries of Catherine Deneuve), in which she writes about her experiences shooting the films Indochine, and Dancer in the Dark.

At the unheard-of age of 62, she signed a deal with Mac Cosmetics in 2006, and a year later, nabbed a contract modelling for Louis Vuitton. She voiced the mother in Persepolis (Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi, 2007), an animated film based on Satrapi´s graphic novel of the same name. Her daughter Chiara Mastroianni voiced the anti-Disney heroine, a rebellious, teenage Iranian girl who loves heavy metal. The edgy animated feature was nominated for an Academy Award.

In 2008, Deneuve appeared in her 100th film, Un conte de Noël/A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin, 2008). However, she continued to work steadily making at least two or three films per year. She reunited with director François Ozon for the hilarious comedy Potiche/Trophy Wife (2010) and was the Queen of England in the comic book adaptation Astérix et Obélix: Au service de Sa Majesté/Astérix and Obélix: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Laurent Tirard, 2012). In both films, she co-starred with Gérard Depardieu. Mark Deming writes at AllMovie in his review of Potiche: "They just don't make movie stars like Catherine Deneuve anymore. It's not just a matter of her beauty, though she's still a radiantly lovely woman at the age of 67 - Deneuve has the rare ability to seem perfectly naturalistic while firmly holding the screen with her presence, and she can effortlessly play both comedy and drama, sometimes moving back and forth between both in a single picture without ever seeming less than authentic."

The following year, she could be seen in the cinema opposite Mylène Demongeot in Elle s'en va/She Leaves (Emmanuelle Bercot, 2013). Since then, she appeared in writer/director Pierre Salvadori's comedy-drama Dans la cour/In the Courtyard (2014), and André Téchiné's drama L'Homme qu'on aimait trop/In the Name of My Daughter (2014). The latter is a fictionalised account of the true story of the events surrounding the life of Agnès Le Roux, a casino's heiress, before and after her unresolved disappearance in the fall of 1977. Deneuve also co-starred alongside Catherine Frot, in writer/director Martin Provost's French drama Sage femme/The Midwife (2017).

Catherine Deneuve's only marriage was from 1965 to 1972 with British photographer David Bailey. The couple divorced in 1972 but remained friends. Deneuve has two children: actor Christian Vadim (1963), from her relationship with Roger Vadim, and Chiara Mastroianni (1972), from her relationship with Marcello Mastroianni. She is now the grandmother of Milo (1997) and Anna (2003) and resides in the luxurious neighbourhood of Saint Germain des Pres in Paris. In November 2019, the actress suffered a mild stroke but there was no damage to her motor functions. Five weeks later, she was released from the hospital and spent the remainder of 2019 recuperating at her Paris home. Since then she acted in the films De son vivant/Peaceful (Emmanuelle Bercot, 2021) with Benoît Magimel and the biographical comedy Bernadette (Léa Domenach, 2023) with Deneuve in the titular role of Bernadette Chirac, French politician and the widow of the former president Jacques Chirac. More than 65 years after her debut, Catherine Deneuve continues to be one of the major stars of European cinema.

Catherine Deneuve in 8 Femmes (2002)
Dutch postcard by Cinemien / Lumière. Catherine Deneuve in 8 Femmes/8 Women (François Ozon, 2002). Interestingly, the card was published to promote another Deneuve film, Sage femme/The Midwife (Martin Provost, 2017).

Catherine Deneuve in Fête de Famille (2019)
Dutch promotion card by Cherry Pickers Film. Catherine Deneuve (far left) in Fête de Famille/Happy Birthday (Cédric Kahn, 2019).


Scenes from Les parapluies de Cherbourg/The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Source: Dyland33 (YouTube).


Commercial Chanel No. 5. Source: Ralf Bayer (YouTube).


British trailer Potiche/Trophy Wife (2011). Source: Studio Canal UK (YouTube).

Sources: Geoff Andrew (The Guardian), Thanassis Agathos (IMDb), Rebecca Flint Marx (AllMovie), Jason Buchanan (AllMovie), James Travers (French Films), French Films, Wikipedia and IMDb.

27 March 2024

Spinelly

French actress Andrée Spinelly (1887-1966) was commonly known as Spinelly. She had a rich stage career between the 1900s and the 1920s. She emerged as a major music hall star in Paris and also had success in London and New York. In the 1930s, she acted in various films in particular Jean Epstein's thriller La Châtelaine du Liban/The Lady of Lebanon (1934).

Spinelly
French postcard by FA, no. 104. Photo: Talma.

Spinelly
French postcard. Caricature by Charles Gesmar. Collection: Marlene Pilaete. Charles Gesmar (1900-1928) had a short but brilliant career as a poster designer, illustrator and costume designer.

Spinelly
French postcard by Wyndham Ed., Paris, no. 101.

Critics celebrated her charm


Spinelly was born Élisa Berthelot in 1887 in Paris. Her mother was Elisa Marie Louise Berthelot. Her father was unknown. In 1904, Élisa took the name of Fournier when her mother married Marc Fournier.

As Andrée Spinelly, she made her stage debut in 1905 in 'Les Petites Laripette', an operetta bouffe by Paul Morize and Henry Vernel at the Parisiana.

She was noticed by Alfred Delilia, the critic of the prominent newspaper Le Figaro: "Miss Andrée Spinelly, a young artist of sixteen, has just turned out to be an excellent actress in 'Les Petites Laripette', the current success of Parisiana ”. In the following years, she starred on stage in light comedies and revues. 

During the first ten years of her career, Spinelly spotted unknown or overlooked designers. She enlisted Paul Poiret for both her costumes and gowns. Until the advent of the First World War, Poiret worked closely with Spinelly. André Perugia became her shoemaker of choice. In 1915, she discovered the talent of the very young Charles Gesmar, then only fifteen years old. Gesmar designed her costumes and posters. Later he became Mistinguett’s costume designer and a popular illustrator.

In the same period, Spinelly began an affair with Raimu with whom she played in 'Plus ça change!' (1915) and 'L'École des cocottes' (1920). Critics celebrated her charm.

Spinelly
French postcard by J.L.C., no. 2. Caption: Parisiana.

Spinelly
French postcard by A.N. (A. Noyer), Paris, no. 49. Photo: Studio G.L. Manuel Frères.

A beautiful young woman at the centre of a web of espionage in Lebanon


During the 1930s, Spinelly starred in a few films. She played the lead in the comedy L'amour à l'américaine/American Love (Claude Heymann, Pál Fejös, 1931) co-starring André Luguet and Suzet Maïs. Based on a play of the same name, it portrays the romantic escapades of a young American woman in France who falls in love with a married man.

Spinelly then starred in the spy thriller La Châtelaine du Liban/The Lady of Lebanon (Jean Epstein, 1934), with Jean Murat. She played a beautiful young woman at the centre a web of espionage in Lebanon with clashes between the French and British secret services. The film was based on the novel 'La Châtelaine du Liban' (1924) by Pierre Benoit. Filming took place in Lebanon, France, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.

Her other films included the Georges Feydeau adaptation Un fil à la patte/A Fly in the Ointment (Karl Anton, 1933) with Robert Burnier, and the French-German co-production Idylle au Caire/Season in Cairo (Claude Heymann, Reinhold Schünzel, 1933), starring Renate Müller. It was an alternate language version of the musical comedy Saison in Kairo (Reinhold Schünzel, 1933) made by the Ufa. The film was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin and on location in Egypt.

Her final film was Suzanne et ses brigands/Suzanne and the Robbers (Yves Ciampi, 1949) with René Dary and Suzanne Flon. Her affair with the novelist Pierre Benoit, whom she had met in 1933 during the filming of his novel 'La Châtelaine du Liban', led her to retire to the Pyrénées-Atlantiques in 1948.

In 1966, Andrée Spinelly died in Bidart, Pyrénées-Atlantiques. She was 79.

Spinelly
French postcard. Photo by Studio G.L. Manuel Frères. Publicity for Campari. Caption: Campari est le jazz band de l'appetit.

Spinelly
French postcard. Photo by Studio G.L. Manuel Frères. Publicity for Campari. Caption: Campari est le jazz band de l'appetit.

Sources: The Historialist, Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.

26 March 2024

Fritz Wepper (1941-2024)

Yesterday, 25 March 2024, German television and film actor Fritz Wepper (1941-2024) died at the age of 82. In 1972, he played an important supporting role in Bob Fosse's classic musical Cabaret. He became an international cult figure as inspector Harry Klein, first in the Krimi series Der Kommissar/The Commissioner (1969–1976) and later in another popular Krimi series Derrick (1974-1998). He also won several German TV awards, including one for his role in the series Um Himmels Willen/For Heaven's Sake (2002-2021).

Fritz Wepper (1941-2024)
West German collector card in the Unsere Bambi-Lieblinge series by Penny Bildband, no. 14. Reinhard Glemnitz, Günther Schramm, Fritz Wepper and Erik Ode in Der Kommissar/The Commissioner (1969–1976). Caption: Erik Ode, "Der Kommissar", and his three assistants have been the uncrowned crime kings of German television since 1969.

Fritz Wepper
German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Wir hau'n die Pauker in die Pfanne/We'll Take Care of the Teachers (1970).

A seemingly unimportant bridge


Fritz Wepper was born in Munich, Germany in 1941. His father was the jurist Friedrich Karl Wepper, who has been missing since early 1945 in Poland. As a 9-year-old boy, Fritz played in children’s TV programs at the Bayerische Rundfunk (Bavarian TV). In 1952 he made his stage debut in 'Peter Pan'. He made his film debut with a small supporting part in Sauerbruch – Das war mein Leben/The Life of Surgeon Sauerbruch (Rolf Hansen, 1954), starring Ewald Balser.

More small roles followed in the drama Der dunkle Stern/The Dark Star (Hermann Kugelstadt, 1955), the Grimm Brothers’ fairytale Tischlein deck dich/Table, Donkey and Stick (Jürgen von Alten, 1956) and the comedy Eine verrückte Familie/A crazy family (Harald Philipp, 1957) starring Paul Dahlke and Hans Moser. Wepper also appeared in the Heinz Rühmann comedy Der Pauker/The Crammer (Axel von Ambesser, 1958).

He had his breakthrough in the anti-war film Die Brücke/The Bridge (Bernhard Wicki, 1959). Dan Pavlides at AllMovie: “This is an excellent little film with little plot and no known names on the roster. In the final days of World War II, German teenagers join the Nazi army in a futile attempt to stop the enemy invasion. A sympathetic officer places the boys as guards on a seemingly unimportant bridge. The seven youths are thrown into battle when American tanks unexpectedly appear and try to cross the bridge. The film has a definite anti-war message.”

From then on he also played on stage, such as at the Kleinen Komödie in Munich. In the cinema he was seen in such films as Question 7 (Stuart Rosenberg, 1961), the Walt Disney production Miracle of the White Stallions (Arthur Hiller, 1962), and on television in the Shakespeare adaptation Was Ihr wollt/As You Like It (Franz Peter Wirth, 1962) with Ingrid Andree, and Sonderurlaub/Special Leave (Rainer Erler, 1963).

In 1964, the then 23-year-old Fritz Wepper won the Filmband in Gold as Best Young Actor for his role in the war drama Kennwort: Reiher/The River Line (Rudolf Jugert, 1964) starring Peter van Eyck and Marie Versini.

Fritz Wepper (1941-2024)
West German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 5177. Photo: Divina / Gloria / Milles. Fritz Wepper in Nachbarn sind zum Ärgern da/Neighbors are there to annoy you (Peter Weck, 1970).

Fritz Wepper
German postcard by Burda Fernsehen Starpostkarte. Publicity still for Der Kommissar/The Commissioner (1969–1976). Caption: 'Fritz Wepper - Bambi award winner 1970'.

Most successful German TV series ever


The crisis in the German film industry of the 1960s limited Fritz Wepper’s film career. He only found roles in mediocre genre films like the crime drama Wenn es Nacht wird auf der Reeperbahn/When Night Falls on the Reeperbahn (Rolf Olsen, 1967), Der Arzt von St. Pauli/ Bedroom Stewardesses (Rolf Hoppe, 1969) with Curd Jürgens, the Edgar Wallace thriller Der Mann mit dem Glasauge/The Man with the Glass Eye (Alfred Vohrer, 1969) starring Horst Tappert, and the comedy Wir Hau'n Die Pauker in Die Pfanne/We'll Take Care of the Teachers (Harald Reinl, 1970) with Uschi Glas.

He found new employment in the budding German TV industry. Wepper became internationally known with the popular Krimi series Der Kommissar/The Commissioner (1969–1976). In 66 episodes, Wepper portrayed Harry Klein, the assistant of Commissioner Keller (Erik Ode), from the series' start until 1974. In 1972 Fritz Wepper had another chance at an international film career with his role opposite Liza Minnelli and Michael York in the groundbreaking musical Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972), based on Christopher Isherwood's 'Goodbye to Berlin'. In this 10 Oscars nominated film, he played Fritz Wendel, a Jew passing as a Christian. Although the film lost the Best Picture Oscar to The Godfather (Francis Coppola, 1972), Cabaret won eight Oscars, including awards for Liza Minnelli and Bob Fosse. Hollywood agency MCA offered Wepper stage and film roles, but Der Kommissar producer Helmut Ringelmann did not allow Wepper to attend the Oscar gala, nor to accept the offered roles. It was a bitter disappointment for the actor.

In 1974, the character Harry Klein was replaced in Der Kommissar by his younger brother Erwin, played by Fritz Wepper's brother Elmar Wepper. Harry was transferred to the new Krimi series Derrick, starring Horst Tappert. In Derrick (1974-1998), Wepper would play Harry, now promoted to inspector, 281 times. The series was sold to over 100 countries and is reportedly the most successful German TV series ever. The series will no longer be repeated in both Germany and the Netherlands. The reason is the Nazi past of Horst Tappert, who starred in Derrick. Tappert died in 2008. Five years after his death, it was discovered that he had served in the Waffen-SS during the war.

In the cinema, Wepper appeared in the French Sci-Fi film Le Dernier Combat/The Last Battle (1983), the first feature-length film by the then 24-year-old Luc Besson. With his brother Elmar, Fritz Wepper worked together in the TV series Zwei Brüder/Two Brothers (1994-2001). He also had a role in the American made-for-TV remake of Agatha Christie’s mystery Murder on the Orient Express (Carl Schenkel, 2001), starring Alfred Molina as Hercule Poirot. From 2002 to 2021, Wepper played the lead in the TV series Um Himmels Willen/For Heaven's Sake, for which he was awarded the Deutscher Fernsehpreis (German TV Award). He starred in the series as mayor Wolfgang Wöller.

In 2004 Harry Klein returned in the comic animation film Derrick – Die Pflicht ruft/Derrick - Duty Calls! (Michael Schaack, Michael Ekbladh, 2004), and once again Wepper gave the character his voice. It was not a success. In 1979, Fritz Wepper married Angela von Morgen, Countess von Grotz and former Princess von Hohenzollern. They had one daughter, actress Sophie Wepper, with whom he appeared in the TV series Mord in bester Gesellschaft/High Society Murder (2007-2017). From 2009 on, Wepper lived with camerawoman and director Susanne Kellermann, who was 36 years his junior. In 2011 their daughter Filippa was born. He later returned to his wife. Angela von Morgen died in 2019 and in 2020, Wepper married Susanne Kellermann. He received a lifetime achievement award, the Bayerischen Fernsehpreis, in 2019. In 2024, Fritz Wepper died in Munich, Oberbayern, at 82.

Fritz Wepper (1941-2024)
West German card by ARD. Photo: Ralf U. Heinrich. Fritz Wepper in Um Himmels Willen/For Heaven's Sake (2002-2021).


Trailer for Der Mann mit dem Glasauge/The Man with the Glass Eye (1969). Source: RialtoFilm (YouTube).


Trailer Cabaret (1972). Source: GayMovieReviews (YouTube).

Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-Line - German), Dan Pavlides (AllMovie), NOS (Dutch), AllMovie, Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.