“It's a great honor”: the play by and about Pierre Brice will be premiered in the Small Theater

Pierre Brice is making a comeback - posthumously.

The play on which the legendary Winnetou actor worked until his death will be premiered in the Small Theater.

The junior directors Tatjana Pokorny and Matthias Weckmann are working on the implementation with his widow Hella Brice.

• There is a heartfelt connection between Tatjana Pokorny and Pierre Brice.

• Widow Hella Brice translates tape recordings of her husband that can be heard in the play.

• The Frenchman became a superstar in Germany through the Winnetou films.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

- He was her five-star husband.

One with whom Tatjana Pokorny had a heart connection.

Pierre Brice calls her “a good friend and wonderful person”.

The news of his death at the age of 86 hit the Garmisch-Partenkirchen native, who speaks affectionately of the charming Frenchman, deeply in June 2015.

But at the same time she feels it is “a real gift” to have met him.

Another gift has now been given to her posthumously.

Hella Brice, the actor's widow, asked her to put his “One Man Show” on stage.

“That is of course a great honor,” emphasizes the junior director of the small theater.

No other actor can play Pierre Brice

Brice, the legendary Winnetou actor, wrote the piece while he was still alive. “Three scenes are done,” says his wife. In one he is in conversation with Karl May, in the next with her and in the third with a journalist. From this and from numerous notebooks in which the actor recorded his ideas, Pokorny's husband Matthias Weckmann is now developing a full-length program. “He has great ideas,” praises Hella Brice. It is already clear that no other actor slips into the role of the French. “That would be strange,” says his wife. Instead, a shadow play is used, for which a mask is specially made by Brice as Winnetou. After the native Amberger found a lot of tapes in addition to the notes, personally discussed by Pierre Brice,his words will definitely ring out in the Small Theater. "He dictated in French, so we let his voice run in the background and someone up front on stage translates."

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Arranges her husband's estate: This is where Hella Brice came across the “One Man Show”.

© Maria Zsolnay

The project is close to the heart of the 71-year-old.

Also that it is brought to life in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

In the market town she and the love of her life, with whom she had spent 40 wonderful years, wanted to finally enjoy her retirement.

In a house with her triplets and their husbands.

This togetherness did not last long, Pierre Brice, who had seen the light of day as Pierre Louis Baron Le Bris, died much too early.

The relationship to Werdenfelser Land has existed since the 1970s, when Hella Brice's sister Huberta "Hummy" moved with her husband Hubert Wisgickl to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he taught at the St. Irmengard grammar school.

“My husband and I were very happy here,” says Hella Brice.

The close connection to Tatjana Pokorny - “she belongs to the family” - also contributed to this.

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Tatjana Pokorny played on stage with her “five-star man” Pierre Brice for several years.

© private

The junior director of the small theater, who played Hiladini, the leading female role at the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg in 1999 under the direction of Pierre Brice, had already forged big plans with her famous colleague.

“Pierre wanted to play with me again,” she says.

The “Five Star Man” has shown that the two harmonize perfectly on stage.

A piece that has been in Germany for several years.

Austria and Switzerland could be seen.

Nothing came of doing theater together again.

“But it's nice that we can implement his wish posthumously,” says Pokorny.

"Above all, that we can bring the people of Pierre Brice closer to our viewers."

Winnetou films have left a strong mark on the French

This is also due to Hella Brice, who is just rediscovering everything that she has experienced in the 40 years together with her husband. It is logical that the Winnetou films - from 1962 to 1968 Brice was seen in a total of eleven Karl May films - occupy a large space. This made him a star in Germany. The Apache chief “shaped him and was a great role model for him,” emphasizes Hella Brice. Her husband lived his values ​​of justice, peace, equality and, above all, humility. This can be seen in his social commitment, in particular through his work as a UNICEF ambassador. His aid convoy to Bosnia in 1995 was spectacular, which he led personally and which led him through partly still disputed territory. He also supported Sri Lanka after the catastrophic tsunami in 2004. "That was a deep need for him",says his wife.

She also promises private insights in the piece that will be staged in the Small Theater. Brice's followers - "he has a huge fan base" - have to be patient a little longer. Pokorny does not set the premiere until 2022, when hopefully cultural life can take place again under normal conditions. "We are still at the beginning," says Hella Brice, "but we are a bit curious."