25/07/2007

German actor Ulrich Mühe, who won international acclaim for his role as a Stasi agent in the 2006 Oscar-winning film The Lives of Others [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile] (see Focus), died on Sunday at the age of 54 of cancer.

Born in the eastern German town of Grimme, Mühe studied drama in Leipzig and led a distinguished theatrical career before turning to the big screen, where his talent attracted attention in 1989, in Bernhard Wicki’s last film, Spider’s Web.

His other films included Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, in which he appeared with his wife, actress Susanne Lothar. The Austrian director also cast Mühe in Benny's Video and The Castle.

His role in 2002’s Amen by Costa-Gavras brought him further international acclaim, but his career only reached its peak in the past two years, with a string of Best Actor awards (among which at Copenhagen and the EFA) for the quality and finesse of his performance in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s film.

The actor also starred in Dani Levy’s recent comedy Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a big box-office favourite after its release last January. This time Mühe played Prof. Adolf Grünbaum, a Jewish actor in charge of putting a depressed Hitler back on track.

His last film, Nicole Mosleh’s Nemesis, co-starring his wife, is currently in post-production.

(Translated from French)