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Fritz Wepper (1941–2024)
Photo: Sven Simon / IMAGO
At the age of just 18, he could be seen in one of the most important films of the post-war period: In Bernhard Wicki's "Die Brücke" Fritz Wepper played a student who was drafted into the Wehrmacht in the last days of the Second World War.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Munich native became one of the most popular German television actors. He was regularly seen in TV crime dramas. He gained fame especially from 1974 as Harry Klein in the ZDF series “Derrick” alongside Horst Tappert. He had previously had a permanent role in the crime series “The Inspector”.
In the series “Two Brothers” (1994 to 2000) he appeared alongside his real younger brother Elmar, who died in October last year.
Until recently, Wepper celebrated success in series such as the monastery comedy “For Heaven's Sake”. In the long-running hit, he has played Mayor Wolfgang Wöller since 2002.
Among other things, the actor was honored with the Golden Camera, the German Television Prize and the Karl Valentin Order. He received the Bambi six times.
Fritz Wepper has now died in his hometown of Munich, as his lawyer and friend Norman Synek announced.
He had already been admitted to hospital last year due to blood poisoning. Shortly afterwards, according to Synek, he was still on the mend. The actor had had to fight for his health for a long time. He had already had heart surgery and had fought with all his might against cancer. Wepper was 82 years old.
cbu/dpa