Bruno Ganz, who played Hitler in the 2004 film Downfall (Der Untergang), has died aged 77.
Bruno Ganz, who played Hitler in the 2004 film Downfall (Der Untergang), has died aged 77.
The Swiss actor was diagnosed with colon cancer last year and died at home in Zurich on Friday night, his management said.
Ganz was well-known in German-language cinema and theatre and also had roles in English-language films including The Reader and The Manchurian Candidate.
In
2005, Ganz said that he spent four months preparing for the role. He
admitted he had been haunted by his portrayal for a very long time.
I tend to identify with my roles to such an extent that I appear to be totally convinced about certain statements that, in real life, I would never believe in.
I cannot claim to understand Hitler. Even the witnesses who had been in the bunker with him were not really able to describe the essence of the man. He had no pity, no compassion, no understanding of what the victims of war suffered.
Ganz was the recipient of a Donatello Award, Italy's Oscar equivalent, for his role in the Italian-Swiss comic drama Bread and Tulips, and in 2010 was awarded a European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.
However, his greatest honour was the Iffland-Ring, a
bequest from his predecessor Josef Meinrad in 1996, which is given to
the "most significant and most worthy actor of the German-speaking
theatre".
He was just the fifth actor to have held it since the 1870s.
May he rest in peace.
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