Known from several BR series: cult actor died - mourning for the "Brandner Kaspar"

The Bavarian film scene mourns the loss of a cult actor. He was known from numerous BR series such as "Zur Freiheit" or "Café Perjury". His star role as “Brandner Kasper” will also not be forgotten.

• Fred Stillkrauth is at the age of 81 years died .
• The Bavarian cult actor has appeared in numerous films and TV series.
• His role as "Brandner Kasper" will not be forgotten .

Munich - speaking the dialect without exhibiting it, playing older and older men without kitsching them into cliché grandpas - there are not many of the older generation of actors who can do that. The temptation to do more than is good for the figure is too great for many. Fred Stillkrauth never gave in to this temptation - he always played close to life, he was authentic. Now the actor , who ennobled so many Bavarian-tinted productions with his participation in recent years, has died at the age of 81 . His son confirmed this to our newspaper on Thursday evening.

Fred Stillkrauth is dead. According to media reports, the Munich folk actor died at the age of 81.https: //t.co/mO79W3go0m pic.twitter.com/6CXHpNIU4J

Fred Stillkrauth: "Silent Star" in numerous films and series

The fact that Stillkrauth was always a "silent star", one who never looked for the flash of flashlights, suited his professional view of being completely at the service of the respective story that was to be told. Authors and directors valued this and cast him for a wide variety of roles in different genres - in films and series, in dramas and comedies.

Born in Munich, he didn't leave anything to chance at the beginning of his career. He trained at the renowned Otto Falckenberg School and completed tough lessons in order to meet all the demands of the experimental theater makers in the early 1960s. He received his first engagement at the Theater der Jugend. “That was a crazy time, that was just the beginning of life,” he recalled a few years ago in an interview with our newspaper. The stages quickly got bigger, Stillkrauth switched to the ensemble of the Münchner Kammerspiele and later to the Bavarian State Theater .

Fred Stillkrauth unforgettable in his star role "Brandner Kasper"

He rarely played leading roles - and yet, or perhaps because of that, he was indispensable for the directors. With him, the figures from the second and third rows were in the best of hands. Therefore, there was no getting around him when it came to re-casting the title role in Kurt Wilhelm's cult piece “The Brandner Kaspar and Eternal Life” after the death of Fritz Straßner . Stillkrauth took over - and solved the task brilliantly.

Mourning for Fred Stillkrauth: Many knew him from cult series "Zur Freiheit" or "Café Perjury"

With mischievous understatement, the actor also took one or the other “comedy nobility” productions with him - he had long since made his mark in front of the camera with major cinema and television productions such as “Steiner - the Iron Cross” or “Sachrang”. From then on, Stillkrauth was at the top of the list when it came to playing seasoned (Upper) Bayern, convincing, present, but never at the expense of his teammates. Milestones in television history were such as “Zur Freiheit”, “Löwengrube” or “Café Perjury” , dramas like “The Terrible Girl”, and homeland films such as “Hölleisengretl” or “Krambambuli”.

In the ensemble of Munich crime actors , poor in real originals of his age , the man with the gray beard that had recently become characteristic did not have to speak out loud - which was not his style anyway. The makers were happy to be able to count on someone like him for the “Tatort” or the Munich “Police Call” . Someone who accepted new challenges, because: “You always have to be with your heart where you are right now, there is no other way.” His role as a retired investigator in the “Tatort” episode “The oide dork ".

Fred Stillkrauth dead: That was the last role of the cult actor

Most recently Stillkrauth was one of the faces of modern Heimatfilm, his roles in “The Miracle of Merching” and “Falsche Seventies” are remembered. The Bavarian film and television landscape will miss it.

Fred Stillkrauth together with actress Jule Ronstedt on the film set of “The Miracle of Merching” (archive image from October 2, 2010)

© Ursula Düren dpa

Fans recently had to say goodbye to a well-known “Dahoam is Dahoam” and “Tatort” actor. Maximilian Krückl also died much too early. There is also great mourning for Ruth Gassmann. As "Helga" she was the nation's enlightener and became a superstar not only in Germany.

List of rubric lists: © Ursula Düren dpa