Known from “Toni Erdmann”: actor Peter Simonischek is dead

The actor Peter Simonischek is dead. The Austrian died at the age of 76 on the night of May 30 with his family at home in Vienna, the Burgtheater confirmed on Tuesday according to media reports.

The Austrian has appeared in numerous roles on stage, in film and on television. He played the title role in the touching father-daughter story “Toni Erdmann”. at the side of Sandra Hüller. The film was a finalist for the 2017 Oscar for best international film.

From 2002 to 2009 he played “Jedermann” at the Salzburg Festival. More than 100 times, more often than anyone else, he played the rich man who slowly but surely dies.

Simonischek played almost all the important roles

• The career of the star actor, who was born in Graz on August 6, 1946, was multifaceted. Simonischek played in the past decades practically all important games in German-speaking countries.
• After his first appearances at the Graz theater, he received a permanent engagement at the St. Gallen municipal theater. From there he moved to 1970 Bern and then came across this Darmstadt State Theatre to Theater Dusseldorf.
• From 1979 he was a member of the ensemble of the Berlin Schaubühne at. In 1999 he returned Vienna to the Burgtheater return.

Constant change between film, television and stage

Working with renowned directors such as Bob Wilson, Dieter Dorn, Luc Bondy, Peter Stein and Andrea Breth was formative for him. His father, a dentist, had unintentionally infected his son with the acting virus. He took him to a “Hamlet” performance in Graz. “I was lost after this Hamlet,” Simonischek told the German Press Agency on his 75th birthday.

“The turbo is ignited abroad”

He found the years in Germany particularly enriching. “When you’re a stranger, try harder. The turbo is ignited abroad,” the actor was glad not to have stayed in sheltered Austria. In 2016, Simonischek was awarded the Austrian honorary title of “Chamber Actor” for his impressive stage presence.

For decades, Simonischek has juggled his appearances in film, on television and on stage. He was convincing in the highly acclaimed, abysmal homeland saga “Hierankl” (2003), as a philanderer (“Die Welt der Wunderlichs”, 2016) and as the son of a Nazi war criminal (“Der Dolmetscher”, 2018).

One of the last roles of the extremely versatile artist was in the film “A Place in the Sun” as a professor who justifies the German genocide of the Hereros and Nama with his racist teachings. “I’m so grateful that I can do what I love,” said Simonischek of the dpa, who has collected two Grimme prizes, the European and the German film prize in his career. (dpa)