R.I.P. Manfred Krug, the coolest actor you never heard of
Born in the western part of Germany, moved to the East with his parents in 1949, went back to the west in 1977, already established as an East German actor, in protest over the kicking out of another western-born entertainer, Wolf Biermann.
He played various roles, including a dry, sometimes funny homicide cop in Hamburg, totally incongruous with his now-ingrained Berlin accent. His greatest role was written by a friend, the gifted screenplay writer, Jürek Becker. He played a lawyer in West Berlin in the mid to late 1980s. Balding and a little rotund, he was not exactly a sex symbol, except that he charmed women off their feet. His lawyer character was modeled on himself by Becker. A little lazy, brilliant, sarcastic, his character, Robert Liebling, liked to lay down and smoke cigars on his office couch and consume large quantities of red and green Jello. My wife and I used to laugh in hysterics at that series, arguably THE best German TV series ever ("Liebling Kreuzberg"
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He had been in retirement for years now (he was 79), but he was an icon in German TV and film. I can only wish there were a way to explain him and/or his roles without getting too detailed about a culture that you have to had experienced to appreciate.
I would be amazed to hear that any headlines will appear in papers outside German-speaking areas, but an icon has passed. If there are any episodes of "Liebling Kreuzberg" out there with subtitles, and some gifted translator did them, do yourself a favor and watch a few, and take a trip into a world that you might appreciate more than you know. No fast action, almost no suspense, but just everyday life with a lot of whimsical, hysterical aspects thrown in.
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My husband might have.
I'll make sure he sees this thread!
