As of: February 1, 2024, 3:44 p.m
By: Armin T. Linder
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Mourning for Achim Benning.
With him, the world is not just losing a renowned theater maker.
He also had a big stage as a Tatort actor.
Vienna - Mourning for a man who left deep footprints on the German and Austrian acting scene: Achim Benning, former director of Vienna's Burgtheater and supporter of authors such as Vaclav Havel, is dead. The German actor and director died on Tuesday (January 30th). .) at the age of 89, as the theater confirmed to the German Press Agency.
The broadcaster ORF had previously reported on Benning's death.
Achim Benning in a photo from 2019. © Leopold Nekula/VIENNAERPORT/Imago
Achim Benning was first an actor and then director at the Burgtheater in Vienna
Benning, who comes from Magdeburg, directed the Burgtheater from 1976 to 1986 after performing and directing there as a member of the ensemble for years.
He opened the house for the Director's Theater and hired German directors such as Hans Neuenfels, Dieter Dorn and Peter Palitzsch.
Benning also provided a platform for Czech dissidents and authors such as Vaclav Havel and Pavel Kohout during the Cold War.
Benning directed the Schauspielhaus Zurich from 1989 to 1992 and then taught at the renowned Viennese acting and directing school Max Reinhardt Seminar.
Achim Benning also worked as an actor - in several Tatort episodes alongside Gustl Bayrhammer
Benning was also active as a film actor.
He had a big stage in several Munich “Tatort” episodes in the 1970s alongside the then new investigator Melchior Veigl, who was played by the legendary Gustl Bayrhammer.
Benning played Detective Schneehans.
In the episode “3:0 for Veigl” you can see him – unimaginable 50 years later, especially in Bavaria – smoking and presenting a case to the investigator while he is eating.
Scene from “3:0 for Veigl”: Achim Benning as Detective Schneehans (l.) assigns Veigl (Gustl Bayrhammer) to a case.
© Screenshot
As the fan sites
tatort-fundus.de
(now offline) and
tatort-fans.de
write, “3:0 for Veigl” is said to have had an incredible 65.0 percent market share at the time; official information about this is no longer available online today find.
But it sounds plausible, especially since there weren't that many programs back then.
“With the currently recognized system for recording ratings, only programs up to 1991 can be evaluated.
According to the methodology that was common at the time, the 65% market share is consistent,” says a BR spokesman when asked by our editorial team.
The 65% are still recorded in the BR archive.
The episode was surrounded by sad circumstances: According to media reports, parts of the existing “crime scene” had to be re-shot and edited because the hostage-taking at the 1972 Olympic Games had occurred in the meantime and scenes were unintentionally reminiscent of it.
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“Benning made theater that unwaveringly dealt with the politics of the time”
As a director at Vienna's Burgtheater, Benning made a big impact.
“The suppressed story about Achim Benning,” is the title of the ORF in a long obituary and writes: “The fact that Benning brought pieces by Vaclav Havel to the Burgtheater angered some people who later liked to be celebrated as a dissident friend.”
Kurt Brazda also reminded the Austrian news agency APA of the uncomfortable Benning.
Director Brazda actually wanted to present the documentary “Achim Benning – Homo Politicus” on Wednesday (January 31) - according to ORF, the event in Vienna's Metrokino should now become a commemorative event.
“Benning's work,” says Brazda, “was at a time when there was a leaden press that was very much influenced by the old Nazis and strict conservatives.
He made a theater that unwaveringly dealt with the politics of the time without turning it into a show; it was lively, gripping theater." The two current Munich commissioners recently explained why they are soon calling it quits.
(lin with dpa)