| Ernst Schröder | |
| Birth Date: | 27 January 1915 |
| Birth Place: | Herne, Prussia, Germany |
| Death Place: | Berlin, Germany |
| Years Active: | 1934–1992 |
| Spouse: | Inge Thiesfeld (1937-1945) (divorced) (2 children) Gesa Ferck (1946-?) (1 child) |
Ernst Schröder (27 January 1915 – 26 July 1994) was a popular German theatre, film and TV actor.
Born in Herne, Schröder began his acting career at the nearby Bochum Theatre in 1934, under the director Saladin Schmitt. He worked there until 1936, also working as assistant director and Stage Designer. After working at Bielefeld and Wuppertal, he moved to the Schiller Theatre in Berlin in 1938, which became his artistic home and the location of his greatest triumphs, particularly after the Second World War.
During the war he served briefly in the army, was wounded, and returned to the Schiller Theatre in 1942. When in 1944 the theatre was closed, he returned to serve in the army, and ended the war in Italy as a prisoner. He returned to the theatre in 1946 and rapidly re-established his reputation.
He was a member of the jury at the 7th Berlin International Film Festival in 1957.[1]
He was considered one of the greatest character actors of the German theatre, enjoying larger than life roles. He was frequently compared with the pre-war star Heinrich George. In addition, he frequently acted in Zurich and Munich. Although he concentrated on stage work, both as actor and director, he occasionally appeared in film roles, most notably as German General Hans von Salmuth in the 1962 film The Longest Day.
He achieved broader popularity in the 1970s, appearing more frequently on television, particularly in crime shows like Derrick and Der Alte.
In 1980, his daughter, the actress Christiane Schröder (18 January 1942 – 17 September 1980), committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
In 1981, he staged a production of Shakespeare's King Lear at the Bad Hersfeld Festival. At the end of the 1980s he returned to television in the role of 'Lauritz Lorentz' in the series of (Lorentz and Sons).
In 1991–92, he appeared as the narrator in a dramatised radio version of The Lord of the Rings.
Throughout his career, Schröder also dubbed the voices of popular English-speaking actors into German. Amongst others, he provided the voices for Charles Boyer, James Cagney, William Conrad, Rex Harrison, Herbert Lom, Spencer Tracy and Peter Ustinov.
At the age of 79, Schröder was diagnosed with cancer at a Berlin hospital. He committed suicide on 26 July 1994 by jumping out of a window.
| Year | Title | Role | Author | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937/38 | Clavigo | Clavigo | |||
| 1938/39 | Konig Heinrich IV | Prinz Heinrich | Ernst Legal | ||
| 1946 | Die Räuber | Karl Moor | |||
| Fraulein Julie | Ernst Schröder | ||||
| Boubouroche | Ernst Schröder | ||||
| 1948 | Caligula | Title role | |||
| 1950 | Don Carlos | Domingo | Friedrich Schiller | ||
| 1952 | Urfaust | Goethe | Willi Schmidt | ||
| 1953 | Die Räuber | Karl Moor | |||
| Tartuffe | Title role | O.F. Schuh | |||
| 1954 | Der zerbrochene Krug | Dorfrichter Adam | O.F. Schuh | ||
| Warten auf Godot | Fritz Kortner | with Heinz Rühmann | |||
| 1958 | Richard III | Title role | Shakespeare | ||
| Biedermann und die Brandstifter | Schmitzi | Oskar Wälterlin | |||
| 1961 | Die Echten Sedemunds | Der alte Sedemund | Hans Lietzau | ||
| Andorra | Lehrer | Max Frisch | Kurt Hirschfeld | World premiere | |
| 1962 | Graf Öderland | Prosecutor | Max Frisch | Hans Lietzau | |
| 1963 | Herkules und der Stall des Augias | World premiere | |||
| 1964 | Christian Maske, 1913 | ||||
| Marat/Sade | World premiere | ||||
| 1965 | Die Wanze | Prisipkin | Wladimir Majakowski | Konrad Swinarski | |
| 1966 | Faust II | Goethe | Ernst Schröder | ||
| 1967 | Endspiel | Samuel Beckett | |||
| Die Wiedertaufer | Bockelson | Friedrich Dürrenmatt | World premiere | ||
| 1968 | Die Trauung | Vater | Ernst Schröder | ||
| 1973 | Lear | Title role | Hans Lietzau | ||
| 1983 | Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh | Moritz Meister | Volksbühne production | ||
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Also Starring | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Friedrich Schiller – The Triumph of a Genius | Student Zumsteg | |||
| Fahrt ins Leben | Seekadett Christian Wagner | ||||
| 1941 | Ohm Krüger | Adrian Krüger | |||
| 1942 | Der große Schatten | Dr. Martin Scholz | |||
| 1944 | The Degenhardts | Jochem Degenhardt | |||
| 1949 | The Last Illusion | Walter | |||
| 1951 | The Sinful Border | Hugo Mielke | |||
| 1952 | Poison in the Zoo | Oskar Beck | |||
| Under the Thousand Lanterns | Braun | ||||
| The Great Temptation | Prosecutor | ||||
| 1953 | Diary of a Married Woman | Dr. Hugendübel | |||
| The Man Between | Olaf Kastner | ||||
| 1954 | The Perfect Couple | Dr. Martini | |||
| Captain Wronski | Stepan | ||||
| The Great Test | Dr. Rottach | ||||
| 1955 | Love Without Illusions | Jellinek | |||
| The Plot to Assassinate Hitler | SS-Obergruppenführer | ||||
| The Captain and His Hero | Hauptmann Eisenhecker | ||||
| Du mein stilles Tal | Dr. Zöller | ||||
| 1956 | Night of Decision | Jacques Ardent | |||
| Without You All Is Darkness | Arthur Wehrmann | ||||
| Kitty and the Great Big World | Mr. Crawford - Sekretär | ||||
| The Story of Anastasia | |||||
| 1957 | Stresemann | ||||
| 1958 | |||||
| Resurrection | Der Gouverneur | ||||
| Iron Gustav | Friedrich Karl Möbius | ||||
| Franke | |||||
| 1959 | The Man Who Sold Himself | Münchmann | |||
| The Black Chapel | Julian Hoffmann | ||||
| Marili | Waldemar Heller | ||||
| 1960 | Strafbataillon 999 | Dr. Kukill | |||
| The High Life | Monsieur Alexander | ||||
| My Schoolfriend | Hauptmann Kühn | ||||
| 1962 | The Counterfeit Traitor | Baron Gerhard von Oldenburg | |||
| The Longest Day | Uncredited | ||||
| 1963 | Die Nylonschlinge | G.B. Harrison | |||
| 1964 | The Secret of Dr. Mabuse | Chefarzt | |||
| The Visit | Mayor | ||||
| 1965 | Marvelous Angelique | Le capitaine du Châtelet | |||
| Heidi | Konsul Alfred Sesemann | ||||
| 1974 | The Odessa File | Werner Deilman | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Author | Director | Also Starring | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Abendstunde im Spätherbst | Maximilian Friedrich Korbes | ||||
| 1962 | ||||||
| Von Wehrhahn | John Olden | |||||
| 1976 | Derrick | Werner Solms | ||||
| Dr. Scheibnitz | ||||||
| 1978 | Die Eingesschlossenen | |||||
| 1983 | Derrick | Professor Rotheim | Theodor Grädler | |||
| 1984 | Mrs. Harris - Freund mit Rolls Royce | Sir Wilmot | Inge Meysel, Edith Volkmann and Eberhard Feik | |||
| 1985 | A Crime of Honour A Song for Europe | Herr Direktor | ||||
| 1988 | Lauritz Lorentz | Claus Peter Witt | ||||
| 1992 | Derrick - Die Festmenüs des Herrn Borgelt | |||||
| 1992 | Melkovic | (final film role) | ||||