Werner Stocker

Werner Stocker (April 7, 1955 – May 27, 1993) was a German actor. He studied acting at the and at the Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts.

Stocker appeared in the 1987 American television film The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission.

He is probably best known to English-speaking audiences for his role as Darius, the immortal monk who was Duncan's friend in the first season of "Highlander: The Series" in 1993. It was his final role as he died from a brain tumour in 1993 shortly after finishing filming for the series.

Highlander: The Series

Stocker featured in the fantasy hit Highlander: The Series as Darius, a 2,000-year-old immortal priest.

The script of the episode "Band of Brothers" describes Darius as a monk with a "hideously ugly face", but when the producers cast the part, they chose Stocker, who did not fit this description. Creative Consultant David Abramovitz explains, "Darius, originally in the script, was written as almost to look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, to be physically ugly and with a glorious soul. And when I got to France, I noticed that they cast this young, handsome German actor named Werner Stocker. I said, 'Wait a minute. What's going on here? He's supposed to be ugly.' And it seemed that the Germans, who were putting up a great deal of money, didn't want the only German actor in the show to be ugly; so he wasn't ugly. And this was one of the cases where politics won out and it didn't hurt anything because he was wonderful in the part."

Associate Creative Consultant Donna Lettow says about Darius' character development, "It was always planned that Darius would die in "The Hunters". The original plan for Darius was that he would reappear in flashbacks, much like Fitzcairn does now." Abramovitz confirms, "Darius would have played a bigger part in the show, but Werner passed away." Stocker's unexpected illness effectively prevented this. Producer Bill Panzer remembers that Stocker "had announced that he had a brain tumor," and that it happened "before we started shooting ["The Hunters"], just before. It involved a tremendous amount of rewriting." The season 1 promotional booklet recounts, "Just days before going into production actor Werner Stocker was stricken ill and was unable to work. By now the character of Darius had become an integral part of the story and the writers had to scramble to adjust the story line." Abramovitz recalls, "This was the episode when we learned that Werner Stocker was extremely ill. (...) I got a call at three o'clock in the morning, saying Werner would not be available, we were shooting in a day and a half, and there was fear if we were going to have to shut down. I went into work, wrote twenty-five straight hours, without a break, and got out a script and the show went on and it turned out pretty well." The promotional booklet reports that Darius was "played with soulful grace by (...) Stocker. Stocker was an instant hit with fans."

Awards 1983 (Deutscher Darstellerpreis) as Best Young Actor 1988 Bavarian Film Award (Bayerischer Filmpreis) shared with Dana Vávrová for Herbstmilch, Best Young Actors 1989 German Film Award in Gold shared with Dana Vávrová

Filmography 1977 - Les rebelles (TV miniseries) 1980 - , directed by (TV film) 1980 - SOKO 5113 (TV series) "Rosis Brüder" Part 1 and Part 2 1981 - Exil, directed by Egon Günther (TV miniseries) 1981 - Der Richter, directed by (TV film) ... Edwin 1981 - , directed by (TV film) ... Peter Urack 1982 - Warum hast du so trauige Augen, directed by (TV film) 1982 - Die Weiße Rose, directed by Michael Verhoeven ... Christoph Probst 1982 - Die fünfte Jahreszeit (TV miniseries) ... Leopold Perwanger 1984 - Derrick (TV series) - Season 11, Episode 02: "Die Verführung" ... Willi Stein 1984 - Abenteuer aus dem Englischen Garten, directed by Margit Saad (TV film) ... Emil 1984 - , directed by Radu Gabrea ... Walter/Armand 1984 - Rambo Zambo, directed by (TV film) ... Xaver 1984 - The Old Fox (TV Series) - Episode 80: "Reihe 7 Grab 11" ... Ludwig Huber 1984 - Die Wiesingers, directed by (TV series, Episodes 1-10) ... Ferdinand Wiesinger 1984 - The Last Civilian, directed by Laurent Heynemann (TV film) ... Hungrich 1985 - Die Unbekannten im eigenen Haus, directed by (TV film) ... Luska 1985 - Flight into Hell, directed by Gordon Flemyng (TV miniseries) ... Adolph Klausmann 1985 - , directed by ... Hoffmann 1986 - , directed by (TV miniseries) ... Kalle Grossmann 1986 - , directed by ... Tom 1987 - The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission, directed by Lee H. Katzin (TV film) ... SS Sergeant 1987 - Aquaplaning, directed by (TV film) ... Herrmann Ort 1988 - Der Condor, directed by Jobst Oetzmann (Short) 1988 - Die Wiesingers, directed by (TV series, Episodes 10-20) ... Ferdinand Wiesinger 1988 - Ein Fall für zwei (TV Series) Episode 59: "Die einzige Chance" ... Thomas Stelzer 1989 - SOKO 5113 (TV series) "Der große Bruder" ... Richard 1989 - Herbstmilch, directed by Joseph Vilsmaier ... Albert Wimschneider 1990 - The Private War of Lucinda Smith, directed by Ray Alchin (TV miniseries) ... Hans 1991 - Lex Minister, directed by Peter Patzak 1991 - , directed by Joseph Vilsmaier ... Hans Stadler 1991 - Saint Peter's Snow, directed by Peter Patzak ... Dr. Amberg 1992 - Far from Berlin, directed by Keith McNally ... Dieter Hausmann 1992 - Shadows of Love, directed by Christoph Vorster ... Tom 1992 - Samba Syndrom, directed by Achim Lenz 1992 - , directed by Clive Donner ... Franz 1993 - , with Dana Vávrová, directed by Radu Gabrea ... Emil Lehmann 1993 - Highlander (TV series) The Hunters (1993) … Darius Saving Grace (1993) … Darius The Beast Below (1993) … Darius For Tomorrow We Die (1993) … Darius Band of Brothers (1993) … Darius