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Karl Merkatz in front of a poster for his cinema film »Echte Wiener 2 – Die Deppat'n und die Gspritzt'n« (archive image)
Photo: Herbert Pfarrhofer / dpa
Austrian actor Karl Merkatz died on Sunday at the age of 92.
The family confirmed to the German Press Agency that he fell asleep peacefully at home in Straßwalchen in the state of Salzburg.
During his career, Merkatz has appeared in more than 250 film and television productions.
He became known, among other things, as grumpy Edmund "Mundl" Sackbauer in the television series in the TV series "Ein Echter Wiener geht nicht unter" (1975-1979), which shows the life of a working-class family.
His parade figure was the »Bockerer«.
In the film series of the same name, the butcher Karl Bockerer fights against various authorities with a lot of Viennese humor: among other things against the National Socialists after Hitler forced Austria to join the German Reich and against Soviet occupying forces after the Second World War.
From »Blunzenkönig« to »Everyman«
In 1982, Merkatz was awarded the Filmband in Gold and the German Acting Prize for »Bockerer«.
Later he took part in movies like "Echte Wiener 2 - Die Deppat'n und die Gspritzt'n" or "Der Blunzenkönig".
In his more than 150 stage roles he played mainly Nestroy, Raimund and Shakespeare characters.
Merkatz was born in Wiener Neustadt in 1930 and, after completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter, took acting lessons in Salzburg, Vienna and Zurich.
This was followed by engagements on stages in Nuremberg, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna, among others, where he worked at the Theater in der Josefstadt and the Burgtheater.
He also embodied various characters at the Salzburg Festival – including in »Jedermann«.
che/dpa
