Hansjörg Felmy

'Hansjörg Felmy' (qv) 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 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' (qv)'s "Des Teufels General". His first screen roles were similarly in uniformed garb (paralleling the beginnings of fellow young actors 'Horst Frank' (qv) and 'Joachim Hansen' (qv)), in _Der Stern von Afrika (1957)_ (qv) and _Haie und kleine Fische (1957)_ (qv).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: _Der Maulkorb (1958)_ (qv), _Wir Wunderkinder (1958)_ (qv), _The Buddenbrooks (1959)_ (qv) and the beautifully filmed epic family saga _Duel with Death (1959)_ (qv). Felmy consequently emerged as one of the most bankable and popular stars of the 1950's and early 60's. 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' (qv) and 'Michael Caine' (qv)). In pictures, he made his international debut in 'Alfred Hitchcock' (qv)'s _Torn Curtain (1966)_ (qv) and remained in the public consciousness playing conventional, dramatically undemanding leads in commercially successful 'Edgar Wallace' (qv) potboilers like _The Mad Executioners (1963)_ (qv) and _Das Ungeheuer von London-City (1964)_ (qv). 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)_ (qv). He played Haferkamp for six years, in the process becoming one of Germany's most popular TV actors. Felmy died from the effects of osteoporosis in August 2007 at the age of 76.::I.S.Mowis