{{Short description|German actor (1916–1992)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Wolf Kaiser | image = Wolf Kaiser.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|10|26|df=y}} | birth_place = Frankfurt, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|1992|10|22|1916|10|26|df=y}} | death_place = Berlin, Germany | othername = | occupation = Actor | yearsactive = | spouse = | domesticpartner = | website = | awards = Art Prize of East Germany, National Prize of East Germany, Fatherland Service Order }} {{More citations needed|date=July 2025}} '''Wolf Kaiser''' (26 October 1916 – 22 October 1992) was a German theatre and film actor. He grew up in Switzerland, where he studied chemistry and physiology. In 1937 he was deemed unfit for service in the Wehrmacht, and then went to Berlin where he trained as an actor.
==Career== Kaiser made his stage début in 1941 at the Stadtheater in Jihlava, Czechoslovakia, when that country was occupied by Germany. This led to Kaiser's engagement at the Volksbühne in Berlin from 1942 until 1945. Kaiser then had engagements in Frankfurt am Main, Munich and the Schauspiel Leipzig. In 1950 Kaiser returned to Berlin, where Bertolt Brecht recruited him to the Deutsches Theater and the Berliner Ensemble. Kaiser starred as Mack the Knife in Brecht and Weill's ''The Threepenny Opera'' in more than 450 times.<ref>[http://www.film-zeit.de/home.php?action=result&sub=person&info=long&person_id=8337 Wolf Kaiser] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305144652/http://www.film-zeit.de/home.php?action=result |date=5 March 2007 }}. film-zeit.de (25 March 2011). Retrieved 12 January 2012.</ref> Kaiser stayed with the Berliner Ensemble until 1967, becoming one of East Germany's foremost stage actors.
Kaiser had acted in films since the Second World War, including roles in Wolfgang Staudte's ''Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck'' (1953),<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045470/ IMDb: Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck]</ref> Kurt Maetzig's ''Ernst Thälmann, Sohn Seiner Klasse'' (1954),<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046958/ IMDb: Ernst Thälmann, Sohn Seiner Klasse]</ref> Martin Hellberg's ''Thomas Müntzer'' and Peter Palitzsch and Manfred Wekwerth's film of Brecht's play, ''Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder'' (1961).<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054106/ IMDb: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder]</ref> Kaiser's first starring role was in 1956 in Hellberg's ''Die Millionen der Yvette'',<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230528/ IMDb: Der Millionene der Yvette]</ref> and he was noted for his roles in Helmut Spieß's 1956 film version of ''The Valiant Little Tailor'',<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183862/ IMDb: Das tapfere Schneiderlein]</ref> Martin Hellberg's 1959 film version of Friedrich Schiller's ''Intrigue and Love''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052955/ IMDb: Kabale und Liebe]</ref> and Robert Vernay's 1965 film ''Das Stacheltier – Das blaue Zimmer''.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1510721/ IMDb: Das Stacheltier – Das blaue Zimmer]</ref> From 1969 Kaiser concentrated his career on screen acting, including Peter Zadek's 1973 version of ''Kleiner Mann – was nun?''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0440548/ IMDb: Kleiner Mann – was nun? (1973)]</ref> and Egon Günther's 1978 television version of ''Ursula''.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078448/ IMDb: Ursula (1978) (TV)]</ref> Kaiser's last major film role was in 1981 as Casanova in Martin Eckermann's ''Casanova auf Schloß Dux''.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085306/ IMDb: Casanova auf Schloß Dux]</ref> Kaiser appeared frequently on East German television.
==Death== {{Unreferenced|section|date=July 2025|find=none}}thumb|Wolf Kaiser's grave in Berlin. Kaiser believed in and supported the East German Communist state. He was distressed at its collapse in 1989, its corruption that came to light after its fall and German reunification, and the return of capitalism and mass unemployment to eastern Germany from 1989 onwards. Kaiser committed suicide in 1992 at the age of 75. He is buried in the Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder Cemetery in Berlin.
==Awards== *1961: Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic *1965: National Prize of East Germany 2nd Class *1967: National Prize of East Germany 3rd Class for collaboration in ''Geduld der Kühnen'' *1968: National Prize of East Germany 1st Class for collaboration in ''Zeit ist Glück'' *1977: Fatherland Service Order in Silver *1981: Fatherland Service Order in Gold
==Selected filmography== * ''Life Calls'' (1944) * ''The Last Year'' (1951) * ''Intrigue and Love'' (1959)
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiser, Wolf}} Category:1916 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Male actors from Frankfurt Category:Actors from Hesse-Nassau Category:German communists Category:German male stage actors Category:German male film actors Category:East German actors Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp) Category:Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Category:Recipients of the Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic Category:Suicides by jumping in Germany Category:German male television actors Category:20th-century German male actors Category:1992 suicides Category:German expatriates in Switzerland