Man sometimes speaks a little carelessly of veterans when one wants to express that someone has made a great contribution to something, has been there for a long time, has shown perseverance and has behaved quite charmingly; thus won the favor of colleagues and the audience. This definitely applies to the actor Fritz Wepper.
Wepper appeared in the cinema early in his career: in 1959, when he had just passed his high school diploma, he played the young Wehrmacht soldier Albert Mutz, who was drafted in Bernhard Wicki’s 1945 film “Die Brücke” at the age of just sixteen. At the age of 22, Wepper received the Federal Film Prize for his role as a fighter pilot in Rudolf Jugert’s war drama “Password: Heron” from 1964.
Eight years later, his anger was great – he made this clear in conversations – when his producer at the time, Helmut Ringelmann (“The Commissioner”), forbade him to go to the Oscars in 1972, where “Cabaret”, in which he was appearing played alongside Liza Minnelli, received eight Oscars. He later made up for it on Arte in “Through the Night with Liza Minnelli and Fritz Wepper”, and the two remained close friends after filming.
The sentence that was never uttered: “Harry, get the car.”
A role contributed to his legendary status, from which a sentence has been handed down that was never used in the series: “Harry, get the car.” What is meant is Wepper’s role as assistant Harry Klein, in which he initially played Erik Ode as “The Inspector”, Herbert Keller, supported and later – he took the role with him – Horst Tappert as Chief Inspector Stephan Derrick. From 1974 to 1997, Wepper assisted the chief inspector in 281 episodes of “Derrick,” which were so internationally successful as crime thrillers made in Germany that they were broadcast in China and Saudi Arabia, among others.
As a small player, Wepper only supposedly played in the second row. He was a key figure in the series. He held the plot threads together and made sure that there was a certain rigor in the investigation – even if it only involved introducing the people present at the crime scene.
Fritz Wepper
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On the death of Fritz Wepper
Later, thanks to the similarly popular and long-lasting series “For Heaven’s Sake” (260 episodes in almost 20 years), he rose from detective to mayor and veritable troublemaker in the fictional Bavarian town of Kaltenthal, where the nun Lotte (Jutta Speidel), later her successor Hanna (Janina Hartwig) fought to preserve her monastery and against the ambitious plans of the ambitious city leader.
Wepper, who was born on August 17, 1941 in Munich as the son of a lawyer, saw his father for the last time when he was three years old. He didn’t come back from the war. His younger brother, the actor Elmar Wepper, and he were showered with love, Wepper recalled in a SWR portrait. He starred in films and series (“Two Brothers”) with his brother Elmar, who died in Munich in October of last year at the age of 79. In 1998, the two were seen in the sketch show “Kanal Fatal” as “Two Bavarians in Space”, who although they did not venture into new, unknown worlds of humor in their spaceship “Bavarian Shuffle 1”, they did play quite a dashing game in leather suspender glitter space suits .
Fritz Wepper was a pragmatist as an actor. He showed what needed to be shown, what was desired and expected. Anyone who wanted to could follow his private life in the tabloid press – he made no secret of it. Most recently, Wepper is said to have devoted himself to Japanese Zazen meditation, which focuses on practical matters and puts aside theoretical considerations. If you look at Wepper in late shots, you can’t help but notice how quick-witted he is and how calm he is. Fritz Wepper died on Monday at the age of 82.
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