Götz George

Götz George (born July 23, 1938 in Berlin, real name "Götz Schulz") is a German actor, son of actor couple Berta Drews and Heinrich George. His arguably best-known role is that of Duisburg commissar Horst Schimanski in the TV crime series "Tatort".

Early years

Götz George was born into an actor family: His father Heinrich George was a famous film and theater star of his era; his mother Berta Drews a well-known character actress. George is named after his father's favorite character, Götz von Berlichingen. His father was imprisoned by the Soviets and died in 1946, after a botched appendix operation at the Soviet concentration camp Speziallager Nr. 7 Sachsenhausen (). George grew up in Berlin with his elder brother Jan and his mother. He went to school in Berlin-Lichterfelde and later attended the Lyzeum Alpinum in Zuoz. He was married to Loni von Friedl from 1966 to 1976, who gave birth to their daughter Tanja-Nicole in 1967.

Acting career

George made his stage debut in 1950, performing a role in William Saroyan's "Mein Herz ist im Hochland". In 1953 he was able to get a small film role next to Romy Schneider in "Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht". In the same year he played, as he would often do from then on, next to his mother in Shakespeare's "Richard III". From 1955 to 1958 he studied at the Berlin UFA-Nachwuchsstudio, though he received the crucial part of his acting education between 1958 and 1963. Following his mother's advice he occasionally played at the Deutsches Theater in Göttingen under the direction of Heinz Hilpert. After Hilpert's death, George would never join a fixed theater company again, although he did regularly perform on tours and as a guest performer.

Hansgünther Heyme signed him in 1972 to the Kölner Schauspielhaus, where George played Martin Luther in Dieter Forte's "Martin Luther und Thomas Münzer". His most important stage achievement, in his own opinion, was the lead role in Büchner's "Dantons Tod" during the Salzburger Festspiele in 1981. In 1986 and 1987 George, together with Eberhard Feik and Helmut Stauss, stage-managed Gogol's "Revisor". Performing in Anton Tschechow's "Platonov", George went on his hitherto last theater tour.

After small movie parts during the 1950s, Götz George broke through with audiences and critics in the film "Jacqueline".

George was awarded the Bundesfilmpreis and the Preis der Filmkritik for his role. In 1961 he received the Bambi award as the most popular actor.

In the sixties, George got the chance to show that he is able to do more than playing sappy peasants, through roles in movies such as "Kirmes", playing a desperate Wehrmacht deserter, and "Herrenpartie". More often, though, he performed in comedies and action-oriented movies which benefited from his physical presence. He became well-known to a broad audience when, during his theater tour in Göttingen, Horst Wendlandt persuaded him to play in one of the Karl May series of films, which he started in 1962 with "Der Schatz im Silbersee". It was originally planned to give George the lead role of the farmer son Fred Engel, but this plan was abandoned when Lex Barker became engaged, playing the role of Old Shatterhand.

George performs all stunts himself, even in his lead role as sheriff in "Sie nannten ihn Gringo".

In the 1970s he turned primarily to stage roles and to television, including the many episodes of "Der Komissar", "Tatort", "Derrick", and "Der Alte" for which he would become famous. It was not until 1977 that he was cast in a prominent role again, playing Franz Lang in "Aus Einem Deutschen Leben", a character modeled after Auschwitz commander Rudolf Höß.

George probably had his greatest popular success in the eighties on TV: in Tatort episodes of the WDR, broadcast from 1981 to 1991, he portrayed proletarian police officer Horst Schimanski, who eventually became cult in German TV. The series of "Schulz & Schulz" movies, starting in 1989 and dealing with the issue of the German reunification, gave him the opportunity to show his talents as a comedian in a double role, as did the role of the industry consultant Morlock in the series of the same name, which is very far away from the roughneck charm of senior commissar Schimanski.

Among George's most impressive roles in the nineties are his TV appearances: In "Der Sandmann" he portrayed the alleged serial killer and writer Henry Kupfer as a cold, calculating and manipulative intellectual, and in "Die Bubi-Scholz-Story", the trauma of an aged, broken boxer.

Awards

*1995 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Actor [ [http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf] ]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0313443/awards Awards for Götz George] at the Internet Movie Database

Filmography (Movies)

* Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht, 1953
* Ihre große Prüfung, 1953
* Alter Kahn und junge Liebe / Sonne über den Seen (GDR), 1957
* Solange das Herz, 1958
* Jacqueline, 1959
* Kirmes, 1960
* Die Fastnachtsbeichte, 1960
* Der Teufel spielt Balaleika, 1961
* Mörderspiel, 1961
* Unser Haus in Kamerun, 1961
* Ihr schönster Tag / Das Fenster zum Flur, 1962
* Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt, 1962
* Nur tote Zeugen schweigen (Hipnosis), 1963
* Liebe will gelernt sein, 1963
* Mensch und Bestie, 1963
* Herrenpartie, 1964
* Wartezimmer zum Jenseits, 1964
* Unter Geiern, 1964
* Ferien mit Piroschka, 1965
* Sie nannten ihn Gringo, 1965
* Winnetou und das Halbblut Apanatschi, 1966
* Der Schatz im Silbersee, 1962
* Ich spreng' euch alle in die Luft - Inspektor Blomfields Fall Nr. 1 (video release title: Der Superbulle / Mad Joe), 1968
* Der Todeskuss des Dr. Fu Man Chu, 1968
* Commandos, 1968
* Ostwind (Le Vent d'Est), 1970
* Die Diamanten des Präsidenten (The Pawn), 1976
* Aus einem deutschen Leben, 1977
* Abwärts, 1984
* Zahn um Zahn, 1985
* Zabou, 1987
* Die Katze, 1988
* Der Bruch (GDR), 1989
* Blauäugig, 1989
* Schtonk!, 1992
* Ich und Christine, 1993
* Die Sturzflieger, 1993
* Der Sandmann, 1995
* Der Totmacher 1995
* Rossini, 1997
* Das Trio, 1998
* Solo für Klarinette, 1998
* Nichts als die Wahrheit, 1999
* Viktor Vogel - Commercial Man, 2001
* Gott ist tot, 2003
* Maria an Callas, 2006
* Mein Kampf, 2009

Filmography (made-for-TV movies and series)

* Kolportage, 1957
* Alle meine Söhne, 1965
* Schlehmihls wundersame Geschichte, 1967
* Match, 1968
* Ein Jahr ohne Sonntag, 1969
* 11 Uhr 20, 1970
* Der Kommissar, Episode: Tod einer Zeugin, 1970
* Tatort: Blechschaden, 1971
* Diamantendetektiv Dick Donald, 1971
* Der Kommissar, Episode: Der Amoklauf, 1972
* Der Illegale, 1972
* Tatort: Rattennest, 1972
* Kesselflickers Hochzeit, 1972
* Die Gräfin von Rathenow, 1973
* Der Kommissar, Episode: Sommerpension, 1973
* Zwischen den Flügen, 1973
* Mandragola, 1974
* Café Hungaria, 1976
* Tatort: Transit ins Jenseits, 1976
* Vermutungen über Franz Bieberkopf, 1977
* Derrick, Episode: Der Spitzel, 1978
* Der Alte, Episode: Der schöne Alex, 1978
* Überfall in Glasgow, 1981
* Die Sonnenpferde (Les chevaux du soleil), 1981
* Tatort: Duisburg Ruhrort, 1981
* Der König und sein Narr, 1981
* Tatort: Grenzgänger, 1981
* Tatort: Der unsichtbare Gegner, 1982
* Der Regenmacher ("The Rainmaker"), 1982
* Tatort: Das Mädchen auf der Treppe, 1982
* Tatort: Kuscheltiere, 1982
* Tatort: Miriam, 1983
* Das schöne Ende dieser Welt, 1984
* Tatort: Kielwasser, 1984
* Tatort: Zweierlei Blut, 1984
* Abgehört, 1984
* Tatort: Rechnung ohne Wirt, 1984
* Tatort: Doppelspiel, 1985
* Tatort: Das Haus im Wald, 1985
* Tatort: Zahn um Zahn, 1985 (Kinofilm)
* Tatort: Der Tausch, 1986
* Tatort: Schwarzes Wochenende, 1986
* Tatort: Freunde, 1986
* Tatort: Zabou, 1987 (Kinofilm)
* Tatort: Spielverderber, 1987
* Tatort: Gebrochene Blüten, 1988
* Tatort: Einzelhaft, 1988
* Tatort: Moltke, 1988
* Tatort: Der Pott, 1989
* Tatort: Blutspur, 1989
* Spielen willst du ja alles. Götz George - rastlos im Einsatz, 1989
* Tatort: Katjas Schweigen, 1989
* Schulz & Schulz, 1989
* Tatort: Medizinmänner, 1990
* Tatort: Schimanskis Waffe, 1990
* Tatort: Unter Brüdern, 1990
* Schulz & Schulz II, 1991
* Tatort: Bis zum Hals im Dreck, 1991
* Tatort: Kinderlieb 1991
* Tatort: Der Fall Schimanski, 1991
* Schulz & Schulz III, 1992
* Schulz & Schulz IV, 1992
* Morlock I - Kinderkram, 1993
* Morlock II - Die Verflechtung, 1993
* Morlock III - König Midas, 1993
* Schulz & Schulz V, 1993
* Morlock IV - Der Tunnel, 1994
* Das Schwein - Eine deutsche Karriere, 1995
* Der König von Duisburg, 1995
* Der Sandmann, 1995
* Der Mann auf der Bettkante, 1995
* Tote sterben niemals aus, 1996
* Tor des Feuers, 1996
* Schimanski - Die Schwadron, 1997
* Schimanski - Blutsbrüder, 1997
* Schimanski - Hart am Limit, 1997
* Die Bubi-Scholz-Story, 1998/99
* Bargeld lacht, 2001
* Schimanski - Kinder der Hölle, 2001
* Liebe. Macht. Blind., 2001
* Mein Vater, 2002
* Liebe ist die halbe Miete, 2002
* Schimanski - Asyl, 2002
* Verliebte Diebe, 2002
* Der Anwalt und sein Gast, 2002
* Geheimnisvolle Freundinnen, 2003
* Familienkreise, 2003
* René Deltgen - Der sanfte Rebell, 2004
* Schimanski - Das Geheimnis des Golem, 2004
* Blatt und Blüte - Die Erbschaft, 2004
* Alpenglühen zwei - Liebe versetzt Berge, 2005
* Kein Himmel über Afrika, 2005
* Einmal so wie ich will, 2005
* Kabale und Liebe, 2005
* Schimanski - Sünde, 2005
* Die Sturmflut, 2006
* Als der Fremde kam, 2006
* Schimanski - Tod in der Siedlung, 2007
* Der Novembermann, 2007
* Die Katze, 2007
* Meine fremde Tochter, 2008
* Schimanski - Schicht im Schacht, 2008
* Schokolade für den Chef, 2008

External links

*
* [http://goetz-george.de/ goetz-george.de (in German)]

Persondata
NAME = George, Götz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Schulz, Götz
SHORT DESCRIPTION = German actor
DATE OF BIRTH = July 23, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH = Berlin, Germany
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =