Bruno Ganz

Bruno Ganz was born in Zurich in 1941 and attended the city’s Academy of Music and Drama. He began his first professional engagement at the Göttingen Junges Theater in 1962 and two years later joined the Bremer Theater am Goetheplatz, where he worked with Peter Zadek on Schiller’s The Brigands and other plays. He also played Hamlet and other roles in productions by Kurt Hübner and worked with Peter Stein on a staging of Torquato Tasso in which he played the main role. The production was also seen at the Berlin Theatre Festival in 1970.

From 1970 to 1975 Bruno Ganz was a member of the Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer in Berlin. Among other companies with whom he appeared at this time were the Munich Kammerspiele and the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. In 2003 he played the title role in Klaus Michael Grüber’s production of Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus at the Burgtheater in Vienna.

At the 1972 Salzburg Festival Bruno Ganz was a brilliant Doctor in Claus Peymann’s production of the world premiere of Thomas Bernhard’s The Ignoramus and the Madman, a production that was also seen at the 1973 Berlin Theatre Festival. In 1986 he appeared in Klaus Michael Grüber’s world-premiere production of Peter Handke’s adaptation of Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound, and in 1993 and 1994 he took the title role in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus in a production by Deborah Warner.

A film version of Peter Stein’s production of Summer Folk marked the start of Bruno Ganz’s regular work in films. (The production was invited to the Berlin Theatre Festival in 1975.) In 1976 he appeared alongside Edith Clever in Eric Rohmer’s film adaptation of Die Marquise von O. He was equally impressive in three films by Wim Wenders: The American Friend (1977), Wings of Desire (1987) and Faraway, So Close! (1993). Among other leading directors of the New German Cinema with whom he has worked are Werner Herzog (Nosferatu the Vampire, 1979) and Volker Schlöndorff (Circle of Deceit, 1981).

A highlight of Bruno Ganz’s career was his performance as Hitler in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall (2004). He also appeared in Uli Edel’s The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008) and Jo Baier’s The End Is My Beginning (2010) based on Tiziano Terzani’s book of the same title. In 2012 he appeared alongside Jeremy Irons in the film adaptation of Pascal Mercier’s Night Train to Lisbon, directed by Bille August, and also starred in Ridley Scott’s The Counsellor. In 2014 he played the part of Alpöhi in Alain Gsponer’s film adaptation of Heidi and also appeared in Hans Petter Moland’s In Order of Disappearance, in Barbet Schroeder’s Amnesia and in Atom Egoyan’s Remember. In 2017 he worked with Sally Potter on The Party and in 2018 he appeared in Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built at the Cannes Festival.

Bruno Ganz received the Iffland Ring in 1996. Four years later he was awarded the European Film Prize and the Premio David di Donatello for is appearance in Silvio Soldini’s Bread and Tulips. In 2010 he received the European Film Prize as a lifetime achievement award.

Current as of July 2018