Rolf Wenkhaus | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 31 January 1942 24) | (aged
Cause of death | Killed in action |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1930–1933 |
Rolf Wenkhaus (9 September 1917 – 31 January 1942) [1] was a German child actor who is best remembered for his role of Emil Tischbein in the 1931 film Emil and the Detectives .
Born in Berlin, Germany, Rolf Wenkhaus was the son of actor Kurt Wenkhaus (1891–1965). [1]
Wenkhaus made his film debut at age 14 in 1931 as a child actor in the starring role of Emil in the Gerhard Lamprecht-directed adventure film Emil and the Detectives (German : Emil und die Detektive) for Universum Film AG. The film was based on Erich Kästner's 1929 novel of the same name, and proved to be commercially successful. [2] He won the casting against thousands of other boys.
Emil was followed by the film comedy Spoiling the Game (1932) with Heinz Rühmann, but Wenkhaus' role in this film was only of minor nature. In 1933 he appeared in one of the Third Reich's first propaganda films S.A.-Mann Brand [3] as Erich Lohner, a juvenile member of the Hitler Youth who selflessly sacrifices himself at film's end to save a comrade. [4] Like many Nazi propaganda films of the period, S.A.-Mann Brand was banned from viewing for many years following World War II. S.A.-Mann Brand was his last film.
After the outbreak of World War II, Wenkhaus enlisted in the military. At the time of his death, aged 24, he was in the aircrew of a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, a four-engine bomber that specialized in attacks on shipping. Wenkhaus's plane, with identification code F8 MH 0093, was shot down on 31 January 1942, off the coast of Bloody Foreland in County Donegal, Ireland by HMS Genista, a British Flower-class corvette being utilized as a convoy escort vessel. The entire aircrew of six was killed. The body of the pilot, Werner Bornefeld, washed up at Bunbeg two weeks later, and was eventually reburied at a German War Cemetery at Glencree, Ireland. [5]
Wenkhaus would be one of three young actors from Emil and the Detectives to be killed while serving in the military in World War II. Co-stars Hans Joachim Schaufuß would be killed in action at age 22 in October 1941 in Oryol and Hans Albrecht Löhr would be killed in action at age 21 in August 1942 on the Eastern Front. [5]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1931 | Emil and the Detectives' | Emil Tischbein | |
1932 | Spoiling the Game | ||
1933 | S.A.-Mann Brand | Erich Lohner | (final film role) |
Emil Jannings was a Swiss born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. As of 2023, Jannings is the only German ever to have won the category.
Emil Erich Kästner was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including Emil and the Detectives. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1960 for his autobiography Als ich ein kleiner Junge war. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in six separate years.
Walter Trier was a Czech-German illustrator, best known for his work for the children's books of Erich Kästner and the covers of the magazine Lilliput.
Emil and the Detectives is a 1929 novel set mainly in Berlin, by the German writer Erich Kästner and illustrated by Walter Trier. It was Kästner's first major success and the only one of his pre-1945 works to escape Nazi censorship. The book was immediately popular and the original version sold an initial two million copies. First published in English in 1931, it has never been out of print and has been translated into at least 59 languages.
Erich Pommer was a German-born film producer and executive. Pommer was perhaps the most powerful person in the German and European film industries in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Donald Michael Paul is an actor, director, writer, and producer.
Emil and the Detectives is a 1931 German adventure film directed by Gerhard Lamprecht and starring Rolf Wenkhaus. It is based on the 1929 novel by Erich Kästner, who also contributed to the film's script. The film script was written by Billy Wilder. It is generally considered to be the best film adaption of Emil and the Detectives.
Gerhard Lamprecht was a German film director, screenwriter and film historian. He directed 63 films between 1920 and 1958. He also wrote for 26 films between 1918 and 1958.
Murder Can Hurt You is a 1980 American made-for-television comedy film that parodies detective and police TV shows of the 1960s and 1970s, much as Murder by Death spoofed literary detectives. The film was directed by Roger Duchowny.
Hans Richter was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1931 and 1984, mostly in supporting roles. He was born in Brandenburg, Germany and died in Heppenheim, Germany.
Franziska Buch is a German film director and screenwriter. In her work she concentrates on issues that deal with childhood and youth. The main topic in almost all of her movies is family and its difficulty shown out from children's perspectives. Franziska Buch is mainly known for the movie Emil and the Detectives (2001). In addition, she teaches Scriptwriting at the Film Academy in Ludwigsburg since 1996. She is also the principal of the screen-play at film academy of Baden-Württemberg since 2002.
Emil and the Detectives is a 2001 German family film directed by Franziska Buch and starring Tobias Retzlaff, Anja Sommavilla, and Jürgen Vogel. It is based on the classic 1929 novel Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner.
Der Stern von Afrika is a 1957 black-and-white German war film portraying the combat career of a World War II Luftwaffe fighter pilot Hans-Joachim Marseille. The film stars Joachim Hansen and Marianne Koch and was directed by Alfred Weidenmann, whose film career began in the Nazi era.
Burgfestspiele Bad Vilbel is a theatre festival in Bad Vilbel Germany. The Burgfestspiele Bad Vilbel founded in 1987 performing from June to September in the historic scenery of the water castle Bad Vilbel. Beside own theatre productions, musicals, an own child program and smaller theatre productions in the cellar, the program of the open air theater is completed by guest performances.
Rolf Hoppe was a prolific German stage, cinema, and television actor, who played in more than 400 films in a career which spanned over six decades.
Erich Johannes Bruno Ponto was a German film and stage actor.
Hans Joachim Schaufuß was a German actor. Schaufuß began as a child actor, appearing in Emil and the Detectives (1931) and The White Demon (1932). From the mid-1930s he began to appear in more mature roles. He was killed in Oryol in the Soviet Union while serving on the Eastern Front during the Second World War.
Marc Schubring is a German composer.
Emiler Goenda Bahini is a 1980 Bangladeshi feature film directed by Badal Rahman. It is based on German writer Erich Kästner's 1929 novel Emil and the Detectives. The film won Bangladesh National Film Awards in 5 categories including Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Child Artist, Best Cinematographer (Color) and Best Editing.
Emil and the Detectives is a 1954 West German family adventure film directed by Robert A. Stemmle and starring Heli Finkenzeller, Wolfgang Lukschy and Kurt Meisel.