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Photo of Helmut Qualtinger

Helmut Qualtinger

Actor, Writer, Additional Credits
Died September 29, 1986 (57 years)
Helmut Qualtinger was born in Vienna, Austria. He initially studied medicine, but quit university to become a newspaper reporter and film critic for local press, while beginning to write texts for cabaret performances and theater plays. Qualtinger debuted as an actor at a student theater and attended the Max Reinhardt Seminar as a guest student.

Beginning in 1947, he appeared in cabaret performances. In 1949, Qualtinger's first theatrical play, Jugend vor den Schranken, was staged in Graz. Up to 1960, Qualtinger collaborated on various cabaret programmes with the Namenlosen Ensemble made up of Gerhard Bronner, Carl Merz, Louise Martini, Peter Wehle, Georg Kreisler, and Michael Kehlmann.

Qualtinger was famous for his practical jokes. In 1951, he managed to launch a false report in several newspapers announcing a visit to Vienna of a (fictional) famous Inuit poet named Kobuk (author of "The Burning Igloo"). The reporters who assembled at the railway station however were to witness Qualtinger, in fur coat and cap, stepping from the train. Asked about his "first impressions of Vienna", the "Inuit poet" commented in broad Viennese dialect, "Haaaßis'sdo - [It's hot here]".

The short one-man play Der Herr Karl, written by Qualtinger and Carl Merz and performed by Qualtinger in 1961, made the author known across German-speaking countries. "Herr Karl", a grocery store clerk, tells the story of his life to an imaginary colleague - from the days of the Habsburg empire, the First Austrian Republic, the Austrofascist regime leading up to the Anschluss (annexation) by Nazi Germany, World War II and finally military occupation by Allied forces in the 1950s, seen from the perspective of a one who is a prototypical opportunist. Qualtinger's portrayal of the petit-bourgeois Nazi collaborator came at a time when "normality" had just been restored and Austrians' involvement in the Nazi movement was being downplayed and "forgotten", making many enemies for the author, who even received anonymous threats of murder.

Beginning in the 1970s, Qualtinger frequently performed recitals of his own and other texts, including excerpts from Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and Karl Kraus' Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The Last Days of Mankind). These recitals were highly popular and resulted in several records being published.

Qualtinger played countless theater, TV and film parts, making his final appearance in The Name of the Rose in 1986, along with Sean Connery.

Qualtinger died in Vienna on 29 September 1986, of a liver condition.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movies & Shows on Plex
  • The Name of the Rose
Known For
  • The Name of the Rose
  • End of the Game
  • Tales from the Vienna Woods
  • The Castle
  • Das falsche Gewicht
  • Qualtingers Wien
  • Das große Liebesspiel
  • MitGift
  • The Magnificent Rogue
  • Ice Age

Filmography

2004
Le nom de la rose · as Remigio Da Varagine
1986
The Name of the Rose · as Remigio Da Varagine
1979
Tales from the Vienna Woods · as Zauberkönig
1976
MitGift · as Huck
1975
End of the Game · as Von Schwendi
1975
Ice Age · as Offizier
1971
Das falsche Gewicht · as Anselm Eibenschütz
1969
Das weite Land · as Natter
1968
The Castle · as Bürgel
1967
Kurzer Prozeß · as Inspektor Pokorny
1965
Radetzkymarsch · as Kapturak
1961
Der Herr Karl · as Herr Karl
1961
Mann im Schatten · as Oberpolizeirat Dr. Radosch
1961
1960
The Magnificent Rogue · as Seppl Reber
1959
Die schöne Lügnerin · as Detective Zawadil
1958
1957
Seven Years Hard Luck · as Wollner
1955
Hanussen · as Ernst Röhm
1955
Sonnenschein und Wolkenbruch · as Werbefachmann
1953
Hab' ich nur deine Liebe · as Direktor Pokorny
1952

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