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Author Huby in the office: journalist, crime writer, screenwriter
Photo: imago stock&people
He was one of the most productive and successful screenwriters in Germany: Felix Huby invented the »Tatort« commissioners Bienzle (SWR), Palu (SR) and Casstorff (NDR), and he was also involved in the development of Götz Georges Schimanski (WDR).
There were also hundreds of screenplays for series and films, as well as novels, children's books and plays.
Huby died in Berlin on Friday at the age of 83.
This was confirmed by film producer Zoran Solomun, citing Huby's son.
Huby had been suffering from cancer for a long time, but recently he had felt much better, reported the "Stuttgarter Zeitung", which was the first to report Huby's death.
He was 83 years old.
»Lost one of the defining authors of German television culture«
In a statement, SWR director Kai Gniffke expressed his deep sadness for the author, who was associated with the broadcaster for a long time: "With Felix Huby, we have lost one of the defining authors of German television culture." helped represent the Southwest on TV«.
According to Gniffke, Huby understood in an incomparable way how to capture people's attitude to life in exciting and cheerful stories.
The Association of German Screenwriters described Huby on Facebook as a pleasant colleague, as a humorous and kind person: "We will remember you and we will miss you."
Pseudonym of the SPIEGEL boss
The Swabian was born as Eberhard Hungerbühler on December 21, 1938 in Dettenhausen near Tübingen.
He left high school without a high school diploma and began a career as a journalist, initially with the »Schwäbische Donauzeitung« in Ulm.
After working for the product test magazine »DM« and the scientific magazine »X-Magazine«, he became the Stuttgart correspondent for SPIEGEL in 1972.
Hungerbühler reported on events in the vicinity of the RAF prison in Stammheim and interviewed Prime Minister and former Nazi naval judge Filbinger.
Hungerbühler wrote his first novel when he was still managing the SPIEGEL office in Stuttgart.
Rudolf Augstein himself gave him a pseudonym because he didn't want a SPIEGEL author to publish a thriller under his own name.
From then on, Hungerbühler was called Felix Huby.
When he finally became an independent author, Augstein granted him the right to return – at least that's what Huby later said.
From 1977 he wrote crime novels under the pseudonym (»Der Atomkrieg in Weihersbronn«), in which he drew on authentic cases from his days as a journalist.
His down-to-earth inspector Ernst Bienzle, who was also discovered for television in 1991 and made his »Tatort« debut, was particularly popular in the southwest.
After a long search, Huby found the Stuttgart state actor Dietz-Werner Steck
found an adequate actor for the Bienzle novel character.
By then, Huby had long been established as a television writer.
Among other things, he wrote a large number of popular early evening series such as "The Harbor Detective", "Köberle Comes" and "Der Eugen".
One of his greatest successes was the ARD series "Oh Gott, Herr Pfarrer" with leading actor Robert Atzorn.
It achieved ratings of up to 45 percent and was one of the most popular programs on ARD in 1988, along with "Kir Royal" and "Liebling Kreuzberg".
With Atzorn, Huby developed the »Tatort« inspector figure Jan Casstorff, whose form the author was ultimately shown in the NDR crime thriller - his screenplay had been changed too much, he complained.
In January 1988, Max Palu, the Saarland soulmate played by Jochen Senf, premiered as a "crime scene" inspector, also invented by Huby.
Huby was involved as the author of several episodes and a background story as a novel for Horst Schimanski, probably the most famous investigator of the 1980s.
»He was never lazy«
Huby was also successful on private television: the series »Ein Bayer auf Rügen« with Wolfgang Fierek in the leading role was created on Sat.1 based on his idea.
And the RTL soap "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten" only began its success story after Huby had convinced the broadcaster not only to translate Australian models, but also to use its own local stories.
Huby wrote a musical, films, plays.
He published autobiographical books and invented another crime fiction hero, Peter Heiland.
"He was never lazy," said theater maker Uwe Zellmer in typical Swabian understatement.
Huby was a recipient of the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg.
His work has received numerous awards, including the Robert Geisendörfer Prize, the Berlin Crime Prize and the Ehren-Glauser.
In April 2007 he received the »Golden Romy« in Vienna for the best screenplay of 2006, for »Tatort: Bienzle and the Dead Man in the Vineyard«.
In 2016 he was awarded the honorary prize of the Baden-Württemberg Film Show.
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