Gerhard Klingenberg

Gerhard Klingenberg (born Gerhard Schwabenitzky; 11 May 1929 – 18 June 2024) was an Austrian actor and stage director, and theatre manager. He was also involved in television productions as an actor, director, and scriptwriter. He was of the Burgtheater in Vienna from 1971 to 1976, and then of the Schauspielhaus Zürich from 1977 to 1982.

He had a successful early career in Austria, stepping in at the Burgtheater at age 18 to play Camille in Büchner's Dantons Tod and both acting and directing at Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Stadttheater St. Pölten and the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck. In 1958 he followed an invitation by Bertold Brecht to his Berliner Ensemble in East Germany, and worked also for Deutscher Fernsehfunk directing television plays. When the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, he moved to West Germany where he directed at major theatres. His first direction at the Burgtheater was in 1968, and he became theatre manager in 1971. He brought avant-garde European directors to Vienna, including Giorgio Strehler, Peter Hall, Luca Ronconi, Jean-Louis Barrault, Peter Wood and Otomar Krejča, and introduced plays by authors such as Thomas Bernhard, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard. In his directions there, such as Hebbel's Judith, he used political analogies to a divided Europe.

Life and career Gerhard Schwabenitzky was born in Vienna on 11 May 1929. As he was getting little work there, he also worked for Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF), where he directed television plays and theatrical recordings.

From 1962 to 1968, Klingenberg directed at the Städtische Bühnen Köln, the Schauspiel Frankfurt, He introduced plays by authors such as Thomas Bernhard whose caused controversies in 1974, He was Intendant at Berlin's . Thereafter, he worked as a freelance director. as an actor, director and scriptwriter. He authored books such as Das gefesselte Burgtheater (2003) and Aus vergangenen Burgtheater Tagen (2009) as well as an autobiography, Kein Blatt vor dem Mund (1998).

Klingenberg died in Villach on 18 June 2024, at the age of 95.

Films Klingenberg's films include:

East Germany 1959: Spuk in Villa Sonnenschein (TV film)

1968: (based on Death of a Salesman, TV film) 1968: (based on The Shooting Party, TV film)

1969: Der Talisman (based on a play by Johann Nestroy, TV film) 1969: Das Interview (TV film)

1970: Ardèle oder Das Gänseblümchen (based on Ardèle ou la Marguerite, TV film) 1970: Friede den Hütten! Krieg den Palästen! (film about Georg Büchner and The Hessian Courier, TV film) 1976: Kabale und Liebe (based on Intrigue and Love, TV film) 1977: Morgen (based on the short story To-morrow by Joseph Conrad, Swiss TV film)

Awards 1964: Television Film Prize of the German Academy of Performing Arts for In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer 2002: Jakob Prandtauer Prize for Science and Art Austrian Decoration for Science and Art