Christian Doermer

German actor and director, the son of physician Hartmut Doermer and the actress and drama coach Ruth von Zerboni. Although Doermer studied sociology and economics after matriculating from school, he ended up opting for the acting profession courtesy of his mother's mentoring and connections. He made his screen debut in 1954, at the same time playing small roles on stage in Hamburg and Munich. Audiences first took notice of him in Teenage Wolfpack (1956), a seminal crime drama dealing with post-war juvenile delinquency. Doermer was cast as the gang leader's sensible younger brother, juxtaposed to the erratic rebel (as played by Horst Buchholz). Doermer also appeared as an NCO in the classic war drama Der Stern von Afrika (1957), a biopic based on the meteoric, though brief career of Luftwaffe ace Hans Joachim Marseille. He received the Deutscher Filmband in Gold for his performance as a disillusioned member of the socialist SED party who escapes with his girlfriend to the West in Escape to Berlin (1961). In the 60s, Doermer became a co-founder and prominent member of the New German Cinema. He subsequently starred in several high profile pictures, often in intellectual, cynical or angst-ridden roles. His more commercial projects included the hugely popular murder whodunnit Das Halstuch (1962) and a small role in Robert Redford's Downhill Racer (1969). In 1963, Doermer formed his own production company, Filmfirma Cine Dokument Film, which served as an outlet for a series of social and cultural documentaries -- often set in Africa or India -- which Doermer wrote, directed, produced and occasionally narrated. In the 80's, Doermer resumed screen acting, though appearing almost exclusively on television, often portraying both fictional and historical authority figures. In 1989, he (in association with the actor Hans Clarin) set up a private, culturally focused regional radio network (Ensemble am Chiemsee) in upper Bavaria. Doermer was predeceased by his wife, the writer Lore Bender Schmidt-Polex with whom he fathered three children.