Biography:

The actor Rolf Ludwig was born in Stockholm on July 28, 1925 and grew up in Dresden. He served in the German air force during WWII and was captured by the British. His close contact to the poet Wolfgang Borchert influenced his artistic work. His first professional stage performance was with the Hamburg Kammerspiele in 1947 and he continued performing throughout his life at theaters in Lübeck, in Berlin at the Volksbühne and the Deutsches Theater and made guest appearances at the Burgtheater in Vienna, among others.

Ludwig first appeared in small film parts in 1952 before his breakthrough came in 1956 with the title role in Der Hauptmann von Köln. Ludwig’s popularity grew with his work in several Stacheltier films. His next great public success was in the contemporary comedy Der Mann mit dem Objektiv.

Several of Ludwig’s finest films resulted from his work with director Egon Günther, such as Abschied and Lotte in Weimar. Günther wrote later “I don’t want to do anyone an injustice, but the pleasure in filming Lotte was to watch a brilliant comedian and to be able give him a little help in that balancing act between comedy and melancholy.”

Perhaps Rolf Ludwig’s most brilliant role of all was in one of the last East German films, Stein, also directed by Günther. In the title role, Ludwig plays a has-been actor who wavered between genius and insanity. For his performance Ludwig won the Italian Fellini-Prize.

Despite serious illness during the 1990s, he continued work in the theater and television and also wrote the book Nüchtern betrachtet (1995, transl. Keep It in Perspective). Rolf Ludwig died in Berlin on March 27, 1999.

Festivals & Awards:

Bibliography & More:

Ludwig, Rolf. Nüchtern betrachtet (transl. Keep It in Perspective). Berlin: Verlag Das Neue Berlin. 1995.