Helmut Griem

Helmut Griem (6 April 1932 – 19 November 2004) was a German film, television and stage actor, and director.

Biography Born in Hamburg, Griem was primarily a stage actor, appearing at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Munich Kammerspiele, and finally in the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, also in Munich.

Griem became well known to international audiences as the diabolical SS officer Aschenbach in The Damned. His role in the Academy Award-winning film Cabaret (1972) as the wealthy bisexual Baron Maximilian von Heune is probably his best-known international performance.

Other performances include his work in The McKenzie Break, and Ludwig and Breakthrough. His many film and TV appearances include NBC's Peter the Great as the Tsar's lifelong friend and "right hand" Alexander Menshikov, alongside Maximilian Schell. He starred in the television mini-series The Devil's Lieutenant directed by John Goldschmidt, adapted by Jack Rosenthal, and based on the novel by the Hungarian-American playwright and author Maria Fagyas (1905–1985), for Channel 4 and ZDF.

Griem performed in many classic roles from both the German and English-language repertoire. Later in his career Griem turned to theatre direction, including Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill. Before his death, he had planned to direct the Botho Strauss play, Die eine und die andere (This One and The Other). Griem twice won the Bambi Award: in 1961 and in 1976.

He died in Munich in 2004, aged 72.

Theatre

Title Author Role Director Intrigue and Love Friedrich Schiller Ferdinand Willi Schmidt Leonce and Lena Georg Büchner Leonce Hans Bauer As You Like It William Shakespeare Orlando Willi Schmidt The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams Tom Willi Schmidt Richard II William Shakespeare Title Role Hans Lietzau The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov Lopachin Hans Lietzau The Philanthropist Christopher Hampton Philipp Dieter Dorn The Prince of Homburg Heinrich von Kleist Title Role Hans Lietzau The Maids Jean Genet Claire Dieter Dorn Philoctetes Heiner Müller Title Role Hans Lietzau Die Räuber Friedrich Schiller Karl Moor Hans Lietzau My Fair Lady Lerner and Loewe Professor Higgins August Everding Troilus and Cressida William Shakespeare Thersites Dieter Dorn Faust Johann Wolfgang Goethe Title Role Dieter Dorn Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee George Martin Meltge

Filmography Year Title Role Language Director With...Notes 1960 Oberleutnant Krafft German Frank Wisbar Written by Hans Hellmut Kirst Horst Frank 1961 Girl from Hong Kong Glenn Dierks German Franz Peter Wirth Akiko Wakabayashi and Hanns Lothar Barbara Doctor Poul Aggersø German Frank Wisbar Harriet Andersson The Dream of Lieschen Mueller Jan German Helmut Käutner Sonja Ziemann, Martin Held and Cornelia Froboess 1962 (Today in Berlin) Hans Italian Piero Vivarelli Written by Piero Vivarelli, Giuseppe Isani 1963 Because, Because of a Woman Johann Muller French Michel Deville Mylène Demongeot, Marie Laforêt and Jacques Charrier 1968 Georges Duroy German Helmut Käutner TV film 1969 The Damned Aschenbach English Luchino Visconti Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin and Helmut Berger 1970 The McKenzie Break Kapitänleutnant Schlüter English Lamont Johnson Brian Keith 1972 Cabaret Baron Maximilian von Heune English Bob Fosse Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Joel Grey and Fritz Wepper The Morals of Ruth Halbfass Franz Vogelsang German Volker Schlöndorff Senta Berger Ludwig Count Dürckheim English Luchino Visconti Helmut Berger, Romy Schneider, Gert Fröbe, Trevor Howard and Silvana Mangano 1975 Children of Rage Dr. David Shalom English Arthur Allan Seidelman Olga Georges-Picot 1976 The Clown Hans Schnier German Vojtěch JasnýWritten by Heinrich Böll Hanna Schygulla and Hans Christian Blech The Desert of the Tartars Lieutenant Simeon Italian Valerio Zurlini Vittorio Gassman, Laurent Terzieff, Max von Sydow, Philippe Noiret, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Fernando Rey, Giuliano Gemma and Francisco Rabal Voyage of the Damned Otto Schiendick English Stuart Rosenberg Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Max von Sydow, James Mason, Malcolm McDowell, Orson Welles, Katharine Ross, Ben Gazzara, Fernando Rey, José Ferrer, Maria Schell and Julie Harris 1978 Germany in Autumn German Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Volker Schlöndorff, Edgar Reitz, Alexander Kluge, et al. The Glass Cell Phillip Braun German Hans W. Geißendörfer Brigitte Fossey and Bernhard Wicki Willi Mohr Swedish Arne Mattsson Slobodan Dimitrijević Les Rendez-vous d'Anna Heinrich Schneider French Chantal Akerman Aurore Clément 1979 Breakthrough Major Stransky English Andrew V. McLaglen Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger and Curd Jürgens The Hamburg Syndrome Sebastian German Peter Fleischmann Fernando Arrabal 1980 Put on Ice Lehrer Brasch German Bernhard Sinkel Ángela Molina and Martin Benrath 1981 Martin Rethmann German Jeanine Meerapfel Ingrid Caven and Ivan Desny Hans German Heidi Genée Barbara Lass Ludwig German Krzysztof Zanussi Maja Komorowska and Eva Maria Meineke TV film1982 The Magic Mountain James Tienappel German Hans W. Geißendörfer Christoph Eichhorn, Marie-France Pisier, Rod Steiger and Charles Aznavour Eduard Otto French Claude Chabrol Stéphane Audran TV film La Passante du Sans-Souci Michel Wiener French Jacques Rouffio Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli 1984 The Devil's Lieutenant Judge Advocate Kunze English John Goldschmidt Ian Charleson, Barbara De Rossi and Claudine Auger TV film1986 Peter the Great Alexander Menshikov English Marvin J. Chomsky, Lawrence Schiller Maximilian Schell, Vanessa Redgrave, Laurence Olivier, Omar Sharif, Lilli Palmer, Ursula Andress, Hanna Schygulla, Elke Sommer and Trevor Howard TV miniseries Boundaries of Time: Caspar David Friedrich Carl Gustav Carus German Peter Schamoni Sabine Sinjen and Hans Peter Hallwachs 1987 The Second Victory Karl Fischer English Gerald Thomas Anthony Andrews, Max von Sydow, Mario Adorf and Renée Soutendijk 1988 Faust German Dieter Dorn(Filmed theatre performance) , Sunnyi Melles and Cornelia Froboess 1989 A proposito di quella strana ragazza Ugo De Magistris Italian Marco Leto Joely Richardson Hard Days, Hard Nights Kronschneider German Rita Tushingham 1990 The Plot to Kill Hitler Field Marshal Erwin Rommel English Lawrence Schiller Brad Davis and Ian Richardson TV film Shooting Stars Gutke English Chris Bernard Sharon Duce and Gary McDonald 1991 Landläufiger Tod Judge Sonnenberg German Michael Schottenberg Paulus Manker and Mercedes Echerer TV film1993 Charlemagne, le prince à cheval Widukind English Clive Donner , Anny Duperey and Frank Finlay TV miniseries Verlassen Sie bitte Ihren Mann! Pertussini German Reinhard Schwabenitzky Elfi Eschke 1995 Brennendes Herz Gustav Regler German Peter Patzak Dominique Sanda, Thomas Kretschmann, Dieter Laser and John Phillip Law 1997 The Lost Daughter Rolf Sutter English Roger Cardinal Richard Chamberlain TV film 2000 Auguste La Fontaine Italian Alessandro Gassmann, Stefania Rocca, Andréa Ferréol and Sydne Rome TV film 2001 Oscar German Anja Kling TV film