Hansjörg Felmy

Hansjörg Felmy was the son of senior Luftwaffe general Hellmuth Felmy (1885-1965) who had risen to corps command in the closing stages of the Second World War. The younger Felmy grew up in Braunschweig (Brunswick) and first worked in the locksmiths and printing trades. Finding the arts more to his taste he joined a travelling theatrical troupe, afterwards taking acting classes. He made his stage debut in 1950 in Carl Zuckmayer's "Des Teufels General". Felmy had looks, a certain impudent charm and a fair share of acting ability. He fell into the anti-hero category at a time of "angry young men", skepticism and the questioning of authority. He was fortunate to score as many high profile and challenging film roles as he could reasonably expect: The Muzzle (1958), Aren't We Wonderful? (1958), The Buddenbrooks (1959) and the beautifully filmed epic family saga Duel with Death (1959). Felmy consequently emerged as one of the most bankable and popular stars of the 1950s and early 1960s. As the quality of German cinema began to decline, Felmy concentrated more on theatrical and dubbing work (notably for English-speaking stars like Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine). In pictures, he made his international debut in Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (1966) and remained in the public consciousness playing conventional, dramatically undemanding leads in commercially successful Edgar Wallace potboilers like The Mad Executioners (1963) and Das Ungeheuer von London-City (1964). After a quiet spell of five years, Felmy's screen career was revived when he was signed by the WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) to star as thoughtful police inspector Heinz Haferkamp in the long running TV series Tatort (1970). He played Haferkamp for six years, in the process becoming one of Germany's most popular TV actors. Felmy died from osteoporosis in 2007, aged 76.