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Gerhardt Behrendt (3 April 1929, Potsdam – 26 September 2006, Berlin) was a German director, Puppet designer, and author of the Sandmännchen character for the Deutscher Fernsehfunk Berlin.
Behrendt started his career in 1943 as a painter apprentice at the Preußisches Staatstheater Berlin in the area of scenic painting. He continued his studies after the end of World War II (1945) at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. During this time he also worked as an actor and comedian. In 1946 he started work in his chosen field, but also published caricatures. He went to Potsdam in 1948, and was certified as set designer by the State of Brandenburg one year later. Behrendt started his work as puppet designer and animation specialist at the DEFA in 1953 and began to work for the Deutscher Fernsehfunk in 1956. There, he became director for satirical animated movies, and in 1958 founded the Puppenstudio, a studio for puppets.
Within 14 days he developed the character of the Sandmännchen in 1959, which is famously known in Europe ever since. He was at the same time author, director, set designer, and animator for the Sandmännchen productions. Over time he added new characters to these shows: Professor Köpfchen, Paul und Stine, the Urvieh, and the Messemännchen (Mascot and symbol for the Leipzig Trade Fair).
In 1977 the Polish newspaper Kurier Polski awarded him the Prize of smiles on the suggestion of Polish children.
He worked in "his" studio until the German reunification, when the East German Television was disbanded, and he retired. He continued some work as an independent director and creator of puppets.
He was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz on 4 April 2005, which was given to him by the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit. He is one of the few persons who were honored with the Bundesversdienstkreuz and the East German Nationalpreis der DDR award.
Behrendt died on 26 September 2006 after a long illness.
Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames is played back. Any kind of object can thus be animated, but puppets with movable joints or plasticine figures are most commonly used. Puppets, models or clay figures built around an armature are used in model animation. Stop motion with live actors is often referred to as pixilation. Stop motion of flat materials such as paper, fabrics or photographs is usually called cutout animation.
Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn was a German cosmonaut and pilot who in 1978 became the first German to fly into space as part of the Soviet Union's Interkosmos programme.
Articles related to East Germany include:
Frank Paul Beyer was a German film director. In East Germany he was one of the most important film directors, working for the state film monopoly DEFA and directed films that dealt mostly with the Nazi era and contemporary East Germany. His film Trace of Stones was banned for 20 years in 1966 by the ruling SED. His 1975 film Jacob the Liar was the only East German film ever nominated for an Academy Award. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 until his death he mostly directed television films.
Unser Sandmännchen, Das Sandmännchen, Der Abendgruß, Abendgruß ("Evening-Greeting"), Der Sandmann, Sandmann ("Sandman"), Sandmännchen is a German children's bedtime television programme using stop motion animation. The puppet was based on the Ole Lukøje character by Hans Christian Andersen.
Jiří Trnka was a Czech puppet-maker, illustrator, motion-picture animator and film director.
Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg, based in Potsdam, was the public broadcaster for the German federal state of Brandenburg from 12 October 1991 until 30 April 2003. It was a member organization of the consortium of public-law broadcasting organizations in Germany, ARD.
Pittiplatsch, also known as Pitti for short, is a German fictional kobold character who was very famous in East Germany, especially as a puppet character on children's television. He first appeared in 1962 in the television series Meister Nadelöhr erzählt, later renamed Zu Besuch im Märchenland. The character was co-created by the writers Ingeborg Feustel and Günther Feustel, the sculptor Emma-Maria Lange, and the puppeteer Heinz Schröder. The Pittiplatsch hand puppet was puppeteered and voiced by Heinz Schröder until his unexpected death in April 2009. Norbert Schwarz succeed Schröder as Pittiplatsch's puppeteer in 2009. In May 2010, it was reported that Christian Sengewald took over the role.
Angelica Domröse is a German actress, who became famous in the role of Paula in Heiner Carow's film The Legend of Paul and Paula. Her Mediterranean appearance is the result of her biological father being a prisoner of war from France.
Hoffmaniada is a 2018 Russian stop motion-animated feature film from Soyuzmultfilm. The film is one of the first full-length puppet animated film in the recent history of the animation studio. The concept and the art design was done by Mikhail Shemyakin and is directed by Stanislav Sokolov.
Reginald Eric Hill was an English model-maker, art director, producer, and freelance storyboard artist. He is most prominently associated with the work of Gerry Anderson.
Julius von Borsody was an Austrian film architect and one of the most employed set designers in the Austrian and German cinemas of the late silent and early sound film periods. His younger brother, Eduard von Borsody, was a film director in Austria and Germany. He is also the great-uncle of German actress Suzanne von Borsody.
Heinz Schröder was a German puppeteer. He became known in East Germany for puppeteering popular characters such as Pittiplatsch and Herr Fuchs in the children's program of the East German television. From 1993 to 2009, Schröder continued to portray his characters in live performances.
Deutscher Fernsehfunk was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic from 1952 to 1991.
RBB Fernsehen is a German free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) and serving Berlin and Brandenburg. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" that are offered within the federal ARD network.
Erich Karl Heinrich Kettelhut was a German production designer, art director and set decorator. Kettelhut is considered one of the most important artists in the history of early German cinema, mainly for his set direction for Die Nibelungen (1924) and his design and visual effects for Metropolis (1927). His early career was defined by a working relationship with fellow designers Otto Hunte and Karl Vollbrecht, the trio working on many of Fritz Lang's early German films. Despite being best known for his iconic visuals on several of the most important films of German Expressionist cinema, he is also noted for a career spanning into the 1960s and his work on more light-hearted films and musicals.
Herbert Köfer was a German actor, voice artist, and television presenter. He was the first German TV news presenter for the East German Deutscher Fernsehfunk, and also presented the station's last news before the reunification of Germany. His first theatre engagement was in 1940, and he kept acting until the age of 100. Köfer played an SS-Hauptsturmführer in the 1963 film Nackt unter Wölfen. He was known for detective series such as Polizeiruf 110 and for comic roles. He founded his own troupe, Köfers Komödiantenbühne, in 2003, and published memoirs.
Herwig Kipping is a German film director and script writer.
Igor Adolfovich Kovalyov is a Russian animator, director and educator, co-founder of Pilot — the first private animation studio in the Soviet Union. From 1991 to 2005 he worked at Klasky Csupo where he co-created Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and The Rugrats Movie. He currently serves as a creative producer at Soyuzmultfilm. Kovalyov is also known for his auteur films for which received multiple international awards, including three Grand Prizes at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
Martin Schneider was a German opera director and former Hochschullehrer.
