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Rainer Basedow in »The Bull of Tölz«
Photo: Peter Bischoff/Getty Images
He was one of the eye-catchers in the classic film adaptation of "Der Räuber Hotzenplotz" from 1974: Rainer Basedow died on Sunday at the age of 83 with his family after a short, serious illness in Salzburg, as his agency now announced.
With a spiked helmet and a twirled mustache, he embodied Sergeant Dimpfelmoser, who, bent over huge knuckles of pork, ranted about law and order while the cunning Hotzenplotz led him by the nose.
A touch of satire on the Wilhelmine authoritarian state in unbreakable children's book fun.
Basedow, who was born in Mühlhausen in Thuringia in 1938, was satirical.
In 1956 he fled the GDR.
In his varied career he appeared in the Kleine Komödie in Munich, among other things, and later he was a member of the ensemble of the laughing and shooting society for almost 20 years.
He stood next to cabaret greats like Jochen Busse or Henning Venske on the stage.
A larger television audience also knew him from his appearances on "Windscreen Wiper" with Dieter Hildebrandt.
As early as 1967, Basedow had been seen in a larger role in the comedy "Zur Sache, Schätzchen" alongside Uschi Glas.
Since then he has been in front of the camera for a number of roles in cinema and television productions.
There is no well-known German crime series in which he has not appeared since the 1970s – from “Der Alte” and “Derrick” to “Der Bulle von Tölz” and of course “Tatort”.
Not only his striking appearance impressed the audience - his smoky voice also became a familiar quantity.
Among other things, Basedow dubbed John Belushi for his »Blues Brothers« performance and lent his voice to the warthog Pumbaa in the German-language version of the Disney classic »The Lion King«.
cbu/dpa
