RIP Fritz Wepper

 

German Actor Fritz Wepper Passes Away at 82

Il Messaggero

March 25, 2024

 

German actor Fritz Wepper has died at the age of 82, reported by Bild and other media. RIP Fritz Wepper, aka Inspector Harry Klein in #Derrick (17 August 1941 – 25 March 2024).🖤 For many, a piece of childhood has also died. Wepper was the famous assistant Harry Klein in the television series 'Inspector Derrick' and acted for a long time in the series 'A Cyclone in the Convent'. 'Inspector Derrick' was first broadcast by German television in October 1974, marking a sensational success that lasted continuously for 24 years and 281 episodes. The success of the series was then exported all over the world, from France to the Netherlands, from Turkey to China, so much so that Derrick has become, according to the ironic words of the former German chancellor Helmuth Kohl, 'surely the best export product after Volkswagen'. In Italy, the first episode was broadcast by Rai in 1979. Fritz Wepper achieved his first major success in his home country in the television role of assistant Harry Klein serving Commissioner Herbert Keller (played by Erik Ode) in the series 'Der Kommissar' (1968-74). The same Harry Klein, this time with the rank of inspector, then became the trusted assistant (in fiction following a transfer) of Chief Inspector Stephan Derrick in the series 'Inspector Derrick', a role he played from 1974 to 1998. Born in Munich on 17 August 1941, Fritz Wepper, the son of lawyer Friedrich Karl Wepper, enlisted in the German army during the Second World War and declared missing in Poland in 1945, began his career at the age of nine at the radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk, where he performed in a children's program, debuting in theater in 1952 in 'Peter Pan'. His first film dates back to 1959, 'The Bridge' by Bernhard Wicki, followed by about twenty titles, including 'The Last Train from Vienna' (1963) by Arthur Hiller.

WEPPER, Fritz

Born: 8/17/1941, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Died: 3/25/2024, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Fritz Wepper’s western – actor:

Ein Sheriff für den Sarg (TV) – 1963 (Tampico)