Storyline
Henning comes from a wealthy family and is an ambitious young man. He tries to make his father Christoph proud, but seems to fail every time, when Christoph gives him the feeling that he wasn't good enough. In the early years, Henning is jealous over his younger sister Julia, who always gets the attention from Christoph. The best relationship has he for years with his stepmother Clarissa. But he is shocked, when it's revealed that Julia isn't his sister. Clarissa brought her into her marriage with Christoph, whom she met a short time after Julia was born. Christoph knew about it all the years, still accepted Julia as his daughter and still treated his own son in a strange way. Henning and Christoph have their good and their bad times in their father-son relationship, but never found a special bound to each other.
For a short time, Henning dates the young model Carla. But he soon needs to realize that they just don't fit. When he meets Sophie Levinsky (Meike Gottschalk), a young woman and former prostitute, who helps street kids, Henning starts to getting interested in her. He breaks up with Carla and Sophie and Henning fall in love. But their love seem to be complicated from the beginning. Sophie doesn't fit in Henning's world and the couple gets broken up by one of Clarissa's schemes. After that, Henning begins an affair with the beautiful blond Tanja Wittkamp. But as beautiful as she is, Tanja is scheming person only out for her own good. When Henning ends the affair with her, he leaves town for a while.
When he comes back, Henning falls in love with the attractive artist Carolin Mohr. Happy with his professional and private life, he marries Carolin. But his wife starts a forbidden affair. It's Henning's father Christoph of all people, who she betrayals him with. When Henning finds out about the affair, he is outraged. He breaks with his father and divorces Carolin. After she left town, Carolin tells her sister Isabell on the phone that she gave birth to a son - Aaron. Henning will never find out about Aaron and it's remained unclear, if Christoph or Henning is the father. Meanwhile, Clarissa blackmails Christoph into marrying her again. Heartbroken over the feud with Henning and caught in a marriage full of hate, Christoph kills himself in his work room. Henning and Clarissa have both their problems dealing with Christoph's death.
But Henning finds new happiness in his relationship with Marie von Beyenbach, who becomes his great love. But when he asks her to marry him, their love gets destroyed by Tanja. It's put in the open that maybe not Christoph, but Marie's father Martin could be his father, since he and Henning's late mother Astrid had an affair with each other. Tanja takes the possibility and tempered the DNA test. Henning thinks that Martin is his biological father and Marie his half-sister. Shocked that their love can't be, they break up their engagement. Tanja, who claims officially that she has changed, takes her chance and wants to marry Henning herself to get his money - since that plan worked once before by Henning's uncle Ben. Tanja goes too far, when she also wants to take the chance to get her nemesis Clarissa out of the way, and wants to make it look like that she killed Henning short time after the wedding. But Henning and Clarissa already know about Tanja's plan. They let her scheme blow off. But Tanja gets her revenge when she later gets on a plane with Clarissa and the plane goes down. While Tanja shows up alive few years later, Clarissa remains dead.
After Clarissa's death, Henning decides to sell castle Friedenau with the feeling that it brought nothing but harm to his family. Still believing that Marie is his half-sister, Henning begins to fall in love with Cécile de Maron, a young French woman. Even though, Cécile feels the same for Henning, she forbids herself her feelings for him. Charlie Schneider, a longtime friend of Clarissa, becomes interested in the destiny of Henning and Cécile and wants to help them. She discovers that Cécile has a secret. The young woman suffers under multiple sclerosis. She doesn't want anyone to know and when Charlie finds out, she wants her to keep her silence. But Charlie is sure, that Henning would love Cécile anyway and Cécile just would miss her chance for her great love. When Henning finds out, he lets Cécile know how much he loves her and proposes to her. When the couple couldn't be happier, Marie's new boyfriend Mark Roloff comes behind Tanja's last scheme when he finds a letter, who proves that Henning and Marie aren't related.
Mark is scared that Marie might leave him, if she knows the truth and decides to keep quiet about the paternity lie. But with time, Mark knows that he needs to tell Marie and doesn't want to build a future with her out of lies. With the truth, it's also the beginning of the end for both couples. Even though Henning tries to be with Cécile, his desire for Marie didn't stop. Cécile realizes that Henning still loves Marie and break up with him. After they try to hide her feelings for a while, Marie and Henning reunite and Henning - once again - proposes. The happy couple gets married, but after the ceremony Mark and Henning get into a fight up on a tower. Mark can't stand the fact that Marie broke up with him and that Henning has what he wanted. The fight becomes more and more serious, when a tragic accident happens and Henning falls over the tower. Henning tells Marie one last time how much he loves her, before he dies in her arms.
Is He Dead? is a play by Mark Twain based on his earlier 1893 short story. The play, written by Twain in 1898, was first published in print in 2003 after Mark Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin read the manuscript in the archives of the Mark Twain Papers at the University of California at Berkeley. The play was long known to scholars but never attracted much attention until Fishkin arranged to have it published in book form. She later played a primary role in getting the play produced on Broadway. Contemporary American playwright David Ives adapted the play for the modern stage before its inaugural performance in 2007. Is He Dead? is now published and licensed for theatrical use by Playscripts, Inc.
Tanja von Lahnstein is a fictional character from the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe , played by actress Miriam Lahnstein. She made her first appearance on-screen on 21 June 1995 and left after three years in May 1998. Lahnstein returned to the role in 2001, where she was seen from 24 April to 5 October. She came back another three years later and reappeared on 16 April 2004. Lahnstein left the show for a short time, while being on contract, from June 2005 to March 2006 and from March to December 2007 during the pregnancy of her two children. She left again in December 2009 and returned in April 2010. She played the character till the series cancelation in 2015.
Sebastian von Lahnstein is a fictional character from the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The character was portrayed by actor Joscha Kiefer from 26 November 2007 to 13 October 2009. The part was recast with Sebastian Schlemmer who took over the role on 19 October 2009.
Johannes "Hannes" von Lahnstein II is a fictional character on German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . He is the son of Tanja von Anstetten and Ansgar von Lahnstein. The character was played by child actors Daniel and Simon Kühn from 20 March 2006 to 24 November 2008. Hannes was recast with child actor Jonas Enderer, who debuted in the role on 28 November 2008. He was last seen in June 2011 and then recast with Melvin-Maxmilian Eisenstein, who debuted on 21 December 2011.
Charlotte Schneider is a fictional character from the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe, portrayed by actress Gabriele Metzger. She made her first appearance on screen in the series premiere on 2 January 1995. After the departure of Konrad Krauss, who played Arno Brandner, Metzger is the only remaining original cast member.
Lydia Brandner is a fictional character from the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe. The role was originated by actress Theresa Underberg on 16 January 2008. Theresa announced on 21 December 2010 that she will leave the show in early 2011. She made her last appearance on 29 March 2011.
Rebecca von Lahnstein is a character on the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The character was portrayed by Jasmin Lord and debuted on June 17, 2008. In 2009, Lord earned the Miss Soap award as the most beautiful actress in a soap opera, followed by the German Soap Award as Sexiest Woman in 2011. It was announced on January 18, 2011 that Lord is going to leave the show and finishes shooting in April 2011. She made her last on-screen appearance on July 27, 2011. After a few months the character was recast with Tatjana Kästel, who made her first on-screen appearance on February 13, 2012.
The Lahnstein family is a very wealthy and aristocratic prestigious fictional family on the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The Lahnsteins have been a staple on Verbotene Liebe since their introduction in September 2003.
Florian Brandner is a fictional character on German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The character was first played by Frédéric A. Komp from 2 January 1995 to the fall of 1996 and again in February 1997 and from June to October 1998. The character was recast with actor Alex Huber four years later, on 12 July 2002. Huber left after one and a half year, when the character was written out. He made his last appearance on 15 January 2004.
Clarissa von Anstetten is a fictional character on German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The character is played by actress Isa Jank from the show's debut on 2 January 1995 to 5 September 2001 and again since 21 June 2011. She left the show again on 20 March 2013.
Jan Brandner is a fictional character on German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The character was played from the show's debut on January 2, 1995 to August 27, 1997 by actor Andreas Brucker. In March 2011, the role was surprisingly recast with actor Hubertus Grimm; reinstating the Brandner family and the original story of the show. Grimm debuted in the role on June 23, 2011. The role was reactivated on short-term for a special of the show on the Spanish island Mallorca. The character made his last appearance on January 18, 2012.
Tristan von Lahnstein is a fictional character of the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The character is played by actor Jens Hartwig. He first appeared on 23 October 2009.
Julia Mendes is a fictional character from the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe , played by Valerie Niehaus. She is introduced in the series' premiere on 2 January 1995. She departed from the series in July 1997, when Niehaus decided to pursue other roles. The role was surprisingly recast with well-known actress Nina Bott in 2011; reinstating the Brandner family and the original story of the show. Bott appeared for the first time on-screen on 23 June 2011. She eventually finished shooting her story arc in October 2011 and last appeared on 18 January 2012. The character is known as the first protagonist of the show and her main story focuses around the incestuous love to her twin-brother Jan Brandner.
Alexander "Alex" Wiegand is a fictional character of the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The role was introduced by Frank Behnke in March 1995. Behnke left the show after only a few months and last appeared on November 6, 1995. He eventually returned for a short stint from August 9, 1996, to August 23, 1996. Over the years, Alex married Susanne Brandner off-screen and was reintroduced to the audience, when Susanne left Alex and returned with her two children to Düsseldorf. Unter uns-villain Stefan Franz took over the role for a telephone conversation from April 21, 2005 to April 22, 2005. Over a year later, Behnke reappeared in the role from September 12, 2006, to September 21, 2006, before returning one last time from February 27, 2007, to March 9, 2007.
Tim Sander is a fictional character on the soap opera Verbotene Liebe and was played by Roland Pfaus from June 20, 1996 to 1998. The character recently appeared in a flashback on January 16, 2012.
Carolin von Anstetten is a fictional character from the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The character was played by Jutta Fastian from January 1999 to 15 December 2000 and in a special guest appearance to the 10th anniversary of the show on 20 January 2005.
Nathalie Brandner is a fictional character from the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe . The character is portrayed by actress Jenny Winkler. She first appeared on 12 November 2004 and had her final appearance on 14 December 2010.
