Bruno Ganz, actor who played Hitler in Downfall, dies aged 77
Actor was widely praised for 2004 portrayal of dictator’s final days in Berlin bunker
He was not on the list.
Bruno Ganz, the Swiss actor who played Adolf Hitler in the film Downfall, has died in Zurich at the age of 77, his agent said on Saturday.
The actor became internationally renowned for his 2004 portrayal of the dictator of Germany in the final days inside his Berlin bunker.
In a Guardian review of the film Rob Mackie described Ganz as “the most convincing screen Hitler yet: an old, bent, sick dictator with the shaking hands of someone with Parkinson’s, alternating between rage and despair in his last days in the bunker”.
His lengthy rants in the film became a recurrent meme with subtitles laid over the footage to create parodies of everything from sporting events to current affairs.
It is widely believed to be the cinematic footage most often shared online, as well as the cause of one of the world’s most productive internet memes.
Speaking to the Guardian in 2005, Ganz said that during the months of painstaking research, that involved looking at historical records including a secretly-recorded tape of Hitler, before taking on the role he became convinced that Hitler was suffering from Parkinson’s disease towards the end of his life.
He said: “There is newsreel of him presenting medals to the Hitler Youth a few days before his death, and you can see his hand shaking, so I visited a hospital and observed Parkinson’s sufferers.”
The actor also revealed that in taking on the role it was “useful to be able to put my Swiss passport between my heart and Mr Hitler, so that he couldn’t touch me”.
The actor said he was “fascinated” that “he was not just supported by the German people; he was loved”.
He added: “The relationship between him and them was almost religious. There was also that Wagnerian undercurrent – the hero dressed in white, standing against a corrupt world. Look at the bunker - the way Goebbels’s wife is willing to kill her children because she can’t imagine life after national socialism. It is like a cult. So it helped me that I am Swiss, not German.”
But Ganz added that he had not gained real insight into Hitler’s motivation, saying: “I cannot claim to understand Hitler. Even the witnesses who had been in the bunker with him were not really able to describe the essence of the man.”
On the actor’s 75th birthday the German news outlet Deutsche Welle reported that Ganz’s decision to quit school and pursue his dream of acting baffled his parents.
In the early days of his career he worked as a bookseller and a paramedic before he broke into film with roles in The Marquise of O, which won a special prize at Cannes in 1976, and Peter Stein’s drama Sommergäste (Summer Guests).
He also played Jonathan Harker in Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) and an angel in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987) and its sequel Faraway, So Close! (1993).
In 2008 he appeared in The Baader Meinhof Complex and in 2018 he was in Lars von Trier’s The House that Jack Built.
At the time of his death Ganz was the holder of the Iffland-Ring – a diamond-studded ring stamped with the image of German actor August Wilhelm Iffland. It is passed from actor to actor to mark the recipient as the “most significant and worthy” German-speaking actor of their era.
It is not known to whom he had chosen to pass the heirloom at the time of his death.
Last year it was reported Ganz was suffering from intestinal cancer. He is survived by his son, Daniel.
Filmography
Ganz appeared in the following films:
The Man in the Black Derby (1960), as Bellboy
Chikita [de] (1961)
Es Dach überem Chopf (1962), as Fred Weber
The Smooth Career (1967), as Barnhard Kral
Eine große Familie (1970, TV Movie), as Heinz Hallasch
Summerfolk [de] (Sommergäste, 1976), as Jakov Shalimov
Lumière (1976), as Heinrich Grün
The Marquise of O... (1976), as Der Graf
Die Wildente (The Wild Duck, 1976), as Gregers
The American Friend (Der Amerikanische Freund, 1977), as Jonathan Zimmermann
Die linkshändige Frau (The Left-Handed Woman, 1978), as Bruno
The Boys from Brazil (1978), as Professor Bruckner
Schwarz und weiß wie Tage und Nächte (1978, TV Movie), as Thomas Rosemund
Messer im Kopf (Knife in the Head, 1978), as Dr. Berthold Hoffmann
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu the Vampyre, 1979), as Jonathan Harker
Retour à la bien-aimée (Return to the Beloved, 1979), as Dr. Stephan Kern
Oggetti smarriti (Lost and Found / Lost Objects / An Italian Woman, 1980), as Werner
5% de risque (1980), as David
Polenta (1980), as Jules, the Narrator
Der Erfinder (The Inventor, 1980), as Jakob Nüssli
La provinciale (1980), as Remy
Etwas wird sichtbar (1981)
La Dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias, 1981), as Count Perregaux
Ręce do góry (Hands Up!, 1981)
Die Fälschung (Circle of Deceit, 1981), as Georg Laschen
Logik des Gefühls (The Logic of Emotion, 1982)
Krieg und Frieden (War and Peace, 1982)
Dans la ville blanche (In the White City, 1983), as Paul
Closed Circuit [de] (System ohne Schatten, 1983), as Faber
Killer aus Florida (Killer from Florida, 1983, Short)
De ijssalon (Private Resistance, 1985), as Gustav
El río de oro (1986), as Peter
Der Pendler (1986)
Väter und Söhne – Eine deutsche Tragödie (1986, TV Mini-Series), as Heinrich Beck
Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire, 1987), as Damiel
Un amore di donna (1988), as Franco Bassani
Von Zeit zu Zeit (1989), as Jumbo
Bankomatt (1989), as Bruno
Strapless (1989), as Raymond Forbes
The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway (1989), as Ezra Pound
Tassilo (1991, TV Series), as Tassilo
Erfolg (Success, 1991), as Jacques Tüverlin
Children of Nature (1991), as Engill
La Domenica specialmente (Especially on Sunday, 1991), as Vittorio (segment "La domenica specialmente")
Prague (1992), as Josef
Brandnacht [de] (Night on Fire, 1992), as Peter Keller
L'Absence (The Absence, 1992), as Player
The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992), as J.P.
In weiter Ferne, so nah! (Faraway, So Close!, 1993), as Damiel
Heller Tag (1994), as Georg
Diario senza date (1995)
Tödliches Schweigen (Deadly Silence, 1996, TV Movie), as Hans Plache
Saint-Ex (1997), as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Gegen Ende der Nacht [de] (Daybreak, 1998, TV Movie), as Fehleisen
Mia aioniotita kai mia mera (Eternity and a Day, 1998), as Alexandros
You Can't Go Home Again (1999), as Narrator (voice)
WerAngstWolf (2000)
Pane e Tulipani (Bread and Tulips, 2000), as Fernando Girasole
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust (2001, TV Movie), as Faust
La forza del passato (The Power of the Past, 2002), as Bogliasco
Epsteins Nacht [de] (Epstein's Night, 2002), as Adam Rose
Behind Me (2002), as Himself
Luther (2003), as Johann von Staupitz
The Manchurian Candidate (2004), as Delp
Der Untergang (Downfall, 2004), as Adolf Hitler
Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II (2005, TV Movie), as Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski
Vitus (2006), as Grandfather
Baruto no Gakuen (バルトの楽園; Ode an die Freude, 2006), as Kurt Heinrich
Youth Without Youth (2007), as Prof. Roman Stanciulescu
Stairway to Nowhere (2008), as Brot Darsteller
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex, 2008), as Horst Herold
Η Σκόνη του Χρόνου (The Dust of Time, 2008), as Jacob
The Reader (2008), as Professor Rohl
Giulias Verschwinden (2009), as John
The Day of the Cat [de] (2010), as Kater
Taxiphone: El Mektoub (2010)
Satte Farben vor Schwarz [de] (Colors in the Dark, 2010), as Fred
Das Ende ist mein Anfang (The End Is My Beginning, 2010), as Tiziano Terzani
Unknown (2011), as Ernst Jürgen
Sport de filles (2011), as Franz Mann
Night Train to Lisbon (2013), as Older Jorge O'Kelly
Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013), as The Governor
The Counselor (2013), as the Diamond Dealer
In Order of Disappearance (2014), as Papa
Amnesia (2015), as Bruno, Jo's grandfather
Remember (2015), as Rudy Kurlander #1
Heidi (2015), as Alpöhi, Heidi's grandfather
Un Juif pour l'exemple (2016), as Arthur Bloch
The Party (2017), as Gottfried
In Times of Fading Light (2017), as Wilhelm Powileit
Fortuna (2018), as Brother Jean
The House That Jack Built (2018), as Verge
The Tobacconist [de] (2018), as Sigmund Freud
The Witness (2018), as Nikola Radin
A Hidden Life (2019), as Judge Lueben
Winter Journey (2019), as Gunther Goldschmidt (final film role)
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