Winnetou, My Hero: On the death of Pierre Brice – www.dw.de

If Old Shatterhand did in the movie “Winnetou III” the head of his dying blood brother in her lap and violin sounds the shared experiences were displayed, flowed gallons of tears. Even my. Because Winnetou was the hero of my childhood. And
 Pierre Brice his face.

In 1962, Pierre Brice was in “The Treasure of Silver Lake” for the first time as Winnetou front of the camera. The film was based on one of the works by the German writer Karl May, who had appeared in 1897 and told of the adventures of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand blood brothers in the US west of the 19th century. The stories about the German “West man” and the noble Apache chief had already impressed generations of young German. The film version of “Treasure of Silver Lake” with the magnificent soundtrack by Martin Böttcher rang in the 60s a Karl May movie wave, which made known throughout Europe Pierre Brice.

Blood Brothers Winnetou and Old Shatterhand

That Winnetou would be the role of his life, he had no idea at that time. Karl May Brice had never heard before and the first time he wanted to better play the role of Old Shatterhand. His girlfriend at the time and his agent convinced him to play the Winnetou. The film was shot not on location in the US (it is not enough money), but in the picturesque landscapes of Yugoslavia, between white limestone cliffs, green fields and wild waterfalls. Of the Americans Lex Barker apart (in the role of Old Shatterhand) and Steward Granger (as Old Surehand), most of the actors from Europe, many German actors such as Uschi Glas and came
 Mario Adorf were there. Numerous Indians were played by extras from the surrounding villages.

use of the Resistance

Born Winnetou actor Pierre Brice on 6 February 1929, named Pierre Louis de Bris in Brest in Brittany, France. His father, a naval officer who fought during the Second World War as a member of the Resistance against the German occupiers and also Pierre took over as a young man running errands for the resistance fighters against the Nazis. After the war he went, following the family tradition, the Naval Academy and was trained in Algeria to combat diver and skydiver. Until 1951, he fought in the Indochina war in Vietnam and received several medals for bravery. In addition, he organized a front stage for the soldiers. After the war he returned to the Navy his back and made a drama school in Paris. In the 50s, the handsome young actor appeared in demanding theatrical roles of Chekhov and Tolstoy, worked as a dancer and model and even as typewriters representative. The big success came with the role of Winnetou.

Noble Indians and heartthrob

Those who grew up with Winnetou, will never forget him.

The stories about the noble and brave Indian chief Winnetou had fictitious Karl May. When he wrote, was the self-proclaimed “travel writer” temporarily in jail, the US, he had never seen with his own eyes. The Romane offered a poorly differentiated and distorted picture of the “Wild West”. I knew as a child does not, but it would not have bothered me, I devoured the books enthusiastically. Because in a complicated modern world between the many do’s and don’ts of adults they offered one thing: orientation, and what is good evil. The noble Indian chief was my hero because he helped the good and the bad punished. Pierre Brice put it in an interview in 2012 similar: “I liked the fact that Karl May has been trying to teach values ​​Winnetou has fought for peace, freedom, respect and human rights – as I also..”

So I mimed prefer Winnetou, when we played in the afternoon after school in the fields cowboys and Indians. With its figure, boys and girls were able to identify. When German television the films were repeated (and often they were), I begged them with my best friend (they played Old Shatterhand) to be allowed to see my parents kept some of the films for too brutal. They did not know how often (and how brutal) we had there been stabbed, beaten and shot in the game … The only important thing was that the good had to win in the end. On the wall of my nursery a Pierre Brice-Starschnitt hung from the teen magazine Bravo, who took the androgynous-beautiful French him repeatedly on the front page – a perfect object adolescent infatuation

Forever Apache <. /> b>

There is no other role Pierre Brice had ever again similar success as that of the Winnetou. However, the role of the Indian chief caught up with him again. In a German television series in the ’80s he played Winnetou, as well as at the Karl May Festival at the open-air stages in Elspe and Bad Segeberg, where he also directed, as he could no longer assume themselves the role of age. Unfortunately I could never fulfill my dream and experience it live as a child. But my desire and lived on the 40th anniversary I was invited by my husband in to the Karl May Festival. Too late: Pierre Brice was at this time that matter no longer

Pierre Brice Winnetou was whether he wanted it or not

At the end of his life he did not quarreled with the fixation on the role, as he told in an interview with the Tagesspiegel 2012: “Every actor wants to be successful – and with Winnetou I had tremendous success … Winnetou has allowed me a lot. The Pierre-Brice aid convoy in 1995, for example. Just because people Winnetou familiar, I was able to gather two million marrow donations to people, especially children, to help in the war zone in the former Yugoslavia. “

On Saturday, 06.06.2015, Pierre Brice, the was married to a German, died in a hospital in Paris. In an interview he once told me that his favorite scene from the Winnetou movies was the death scene, she allows a full life Revue. As Winnetou will be actor Pierre Brice in the hearts of many people continue to live in my. in the part that has remained child

.