Obituary for Hardy Krüger: He was the "herb", but definitely not a villain

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Hollywood star Hardy Krueger 2013

Photo: Felix Kästle / picture alliance / dpa

For a good film, as Hardy Krüger once quoted a French director in an interview with SPIEGEL in 2003, you need three things: »A good screenplay, a good screenplay and a good screenplay«.

The screenplay of his own life could hardly have been more adventurous – and better.

The selection of works that established his worldwide reputation as an actor speaks for itself.

From a whole series of films in which Hardy Krueger shone as only Hardy Kruger could shone, one can pick at random »The Flight of the Phoenix«.

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Krüger as Heinrich Dorfmann in the film »The Flight of the Phoenix«

Photo: KPA Publicity / dpa

In this action drama from 1965, Krüger played a leading and key role alongside stars such as James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy. A transport plane with an international crew crash-landed in the Sahara, and the only German passenger, Heinrich Dorfmann, has the idea of ​​building a new plane from the wreckage. Krüger plays this engineer with his round glasses as a quiet and slightly capricious nerd who takes on the flight captain: »Mister Towns, you are acting like stupidity is a virtue. Why is that?".

The other stranded people call Dorfmann a "herb"; the war wasn't that long ago.

But although it turns out that the German was only familiar with the construction of model airplanes, the men manage to fly and thus escape from certain death.

This Heinrich Dorfmann culminated in what Hardy Krüger was able to give to international cinema, especially in the 1960s: a German who may be complicated and not very tight, but certainly not a villain.

German films were too shallow for him

This image was also covered by Krüger's own biography.

Born in Berlin in 1928, his parents, who were enthusiastic about the regime, sent him to an Adolf Hitler school in Sonthofen.

He was supposed to and wanted to be an engineer, but was cast for a supporting role in a propaganda film (»Young Eagles«) because of his blond hair and blue eyes.

While filming in Babelsberg, the fifteen-year-old met two older actors who opened his eyes to the atrocities of the Nazi leadership.

In the final months of the war he was drafted into a division of the Waffen SS, but deserted as soon as an opportunity arose.

After the war he first worked as an extra at the Hamburger Schauspielhaus and as a speaker for the NWDR, the forerunner of NDR and WDR, before he got his first roles as an actor in German post-war cinema.

Because he felt the screenplays were too shallow, he first went to Paris and later to London, attracted by the Nouvelle Vague.

His role as the German fighter pilot in "One came through" made him known to English-speaking audiences in 1957.

Meanwhile the German productions had also improved, but his international career had already taken its course.

For more than three decades, Krüger not only played alongside the greatest, he was a great himself.

His film partners included Orson Welles, Sean Connery, Charles Aznavour and Claudia Cardinale, especially in adventure and action films such as »Hatari!« (with John Wayne), »The Wild Geese are Coming« (with Richard Burton) and »Taxi to Tobruk« (with Lino Ventura).

In an interview with SPIEGEL, Krüger said that he had not played "at least 20 or 30 Germans in international films" that were offered to him, and yet his roles also included Wehrmacht officers ("Die Brücke von Arnheim").

In Germany he could be seen in the street sweeper »Das Messer« in 1971, in the grotesque western curiosity »Potato Fritz« with the soccer player Paul Breitner in 1975 - and from the 1980s in a new role as »Globetrotter«.

Having previously lived in Tanzania in the shadow of Mount Meru, he remained a traveler after returning from Africa.

According to "Harrys Bordbuch" for Radio Bremen, he was the "globetrotter" for ARD.

The reports were produced from 1987 to 1995 and also provided the basis for his career as a travel writer and novelist.

Three marriages, no family man

After showing the world the »good German«, he now showed the world to the Germans – and he remained committed to the good to the end.

He supported various initiatives against right-wing extremism and also took a critical look at his own roles.

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Pictures of a life: Hardy Krüger - between Hamburg and Hollywood

Married three times, according to his own statement, he was not a family man.

His career took up too much of him.

He also never made a film together with his son, Hardy Krüger Jr.

Whenever there was a request to cast father and son together, his answer was: "To do what?".

Hardy Krüger died on January 19 in Palm Springs, California.

He was 93 years old.