Otto Sander

Otto Sander
Sander in 2008 at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival
Born	(1941-06-30)30 June 1941 Hanover, Germany
Died	12 September 2013(2013-09-12) (aged 72) Berlin, Germany
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1964–2013
Relatives	Chris Sander (brother)

Otto Sander (German: [ˈɔtoː ˈzandɐ] ; 30 June 1941 – 12 September 2013) was a German film, theater, and voice actor.

Life

Education and early career

Sander grew up in Kassel, where he graduated in 1961 from the Friedrichgymnasium. After leaving school he spent his military service in 1961/62 with the Bundesmarine and left as reserve fenrik. Sander then studied theatre science, history of art and philosophy. In 1965 he made his acting debut at the Düsseldorfer chamber plays. After his first film work in the same year he abandoned his studies in 1967, and went to Munich to become a full-time actor.

Theatre

His career is closely connected with the Schaubühne theatre in Berlin under the direction of Peter Stein. From 1980 onwards Sander appeared on several of Berlin's theatre stages, among others at the Schillertheater in 1981, at the Freie Volksbühne in 1985 and in 1989 at the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm. More recently he starred in Hauptmann von Köpenick at the Schauspielhaus Bochum (2004).

Film

Among his best-known film roles are the angel Cassiel in Wings of Desire and its sequel Faraway, So Close! by Wim Wenders, and a shell-shocked U-boat commander, Kapitänleutnant Philipp Thomsen, in Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot. Sander also appeared in The Tin Drum (1979) as a trumpeter and in Comedian Harmonists, a biopic about the musical group of the same name. He also played a professor in the movie The Promise about the division of Berlin by the wall. In 1999 he played a role in Rosa von Praunheim's movie The Einstein of Sex.

In 1990, he was a member of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.

Voice acting

Because of his warm, strong voice, which earned him the sobriquet "The Voice" (the English term is used), he has been used frequently as narrator for television documentaries, and numerous talking books in the 1990s.

Personal life and death

He was married to the actress Monika Hansen and was stepfather to the actors Ben Becker and Meret Becker. He had two brothers, the lawyer Adolf Sander, the scientist Chris Sander, and a sister, the book dealer Marianne Sander.

Sander died, aged 72, in Berlin on 12 September 2013. No cause of death was given, though he had been diagnosed with cancer several years before his death.

Filmography

As actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Don't Fumble, Darling	Revoluzzer Otto
1974	One or the Other of Us	Rulle
1975	Lehmanns Erzählungen	Lehmann	TV film
	Meine Sorgen möcht' ich haben	Harald Bornemann
1976	Summerfolk	Pjotr Suslov
	The Marquise of O	Der Bruder, Der Forstmeister
	Vier gegen die Bank	Eberhard Winter	TV film
1979	The Tin Drum	Musiker Meyn
1980	Palermo or Wolfsburg	Prosecutor
	Die Ursache	Anton Seiler	TV film
1981	Strike Back	Kowalski
	Das Boot	Phillip Thomsen
	The Man in Pyjamas	Rudi
	In the Land of Cockaigne	Kaflisch	TV film
1982	Who's Crazy, Doc?	Number Seven
1984	Der Mord mit der Schere	Inspector Spalt	Short
1986	Rosa Luxemburg	Karl Liebknecht
	Miko: From the Gutter to the Stars	Kreditberater Grop
	Wahnfried	Richard Wagner
	Boundaries of Time: Caspar David Friedrich	Gerichtsgehilfe
1987	Wings of Desire	Cassiel
1988	The Case of Mr. Spalt	Otto Spalt
1989	The Break	Lubowitz
1990	Time of Vengeance	Robert
	Vorwärts	Backward Pedestrian	Short
1991	Amaurose	Amaurose
1992	Lyrische Suite. Das untergehende Vaterland
1993	Inge, April und Mai	Inges Vater
	Faraway, So Close!	Cassiel
	The Movie Teller	Salzmann
1994	Hölderlin-Comics	Friedrich Hölderlin - Elder
	Movie Days	Maður á hesti
	Three Sisters	Vershinin
	The Promise	Professor Lorenz
1996	Killer Condom	Mr. Higgins
	Conversation with the Beast	Hitler double
	Truck Stop		Short
1997	Comedian Harmonists	Bruno Levy
1998	Der Traum von der Freiheit	Anton Melbye
	Am I Beautiful?	David
1999	Men Are Like Chocolate	Father Lano	TV film
	Girls Under Investigation	Baldur Meixner
	Der Einstein des Sex	Prof. Steinach
2000	Marlene	Bühnenmanager
	Les Misérables	Monseigneur Bienvenu	TV miniseries
2001	Sass	Vater Sass
2002	Tödliches Vertrauen	Bernd Kortens	TV film
2003	Donau, Duna, Dunaj, Dunav, Dunarea	Franz
2007	Der kleine König Macius – Der Film	Erasmus	Voice
	The Heart Is a Dark Forest	Helmut
2010	Life Is Too Long	Guest
2012	Die Schuld der Erben	Leonhard Asmussen	TV film
	Fly Away	Eckehardt Tiedgen

As Narrator

Year	Title	Notes
1983	A Love in Germany
1990	Werner – Beinhart!
1993	The Olympic Summer
2001	100 Pro
2003	Werner – Gekotzt wird später!
2006	Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
2008	Krabat

External links

• Otto Sander at IMDb