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Acting legend Peter Weck celebrates his 90th birthday

Peter Weck has left his mark on cultural life over the last few decades as an actor, director, producer and artistic director. With his versatility and series such as “Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne” and “I marry a family”, he not only wrote TV history, but is also considered to be the innovator of German-language musicals.

He celebrates his 90th birthday on August 12th. On this occasion, he has also supplemented and expanded his autobiography “Was it das?” (Amalthea), published in 2010. There are no major celebrations – also because of the corona crisis.


Weck was born on August 12, 1930 as the son of an engineer in Vienna. The former choir boy completed his training at the acting department of the Max Reinhardt Seminar with distinction. His first engagement at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt (1953) was followed by engagements at the Berlin Theater am Kurfürstendamm, the Theater in der Josefstadt, the Münchner Kammerspiele and the Hamburger Schauspielhaus. From 1957, Weck was a member of the

Burgtheater, where he celebrated stage successes as Stani in Hofmannsthal’s “Der Schwierige”, as Zwirn in Nestroy’s “Lumpazivagabundus” or Rosenkranz in Stoppard’s “Rosenkranz und Güldenstern”. He also made guest appearances at the Salzburg and Bregenz Festival, among others. At the Schauspielhaus Zürich he tried his hand at directing for the first time. Only his attempt to succeed as a pop singer was less successful.

From “Sissi” to “I’m marrying a family”

After film successes with “A Queen’s Girl Years” and as Archduke Karl-Ludwig in “Sissi” with Romy Schneider, “Mariandl”, “Father, our best piece” or “Always Trouble with the Paukern”, Weck landed audience hits on television: in the 1970s Years as the son of Fritz Eckhardt in “When the father with the son” and in the 1980s in “I marry a family” at the side of Thekla Carola Wied.

In 1983 Weck took over the management of the Theater an der Wien, where he debuted the successful musical “Cats”. In 1987 the United Bühnen Wien (VBW) was brought into being and placed under its general director. Other musical successes under Weck’s direction include “A Chorus Line” and “Les Miserables” in the Raimund Theater as well as “Phantom of the Opera” and “Freudiana” in the Theater an der Wien. Weck ended his era as head of the VBW with the world premiere of the huge success “Elisabeth”. This was followed by the management of the Rhein-Main-Musical-Theater in Niederhausen near Frankfurt and, in parallel, other television works such as the remake of the “Hofrat Geiger” TV film.

In 2010, Weck published his memoirs under the title “Was it das?”. After the sudden death of his wife Ingrid, with whom he was married for almost 45 years, Weck took a long break. The death of his wife in the spring of 2012 was a deep turning point for him, said Weck. From then on he no longer wanted to act in light entertainment films. In 2014, Weck was seen as a murderous pensioner in “Tatort”. The following year he played a man in the ZDF series “Angel of Justice” who does not want to let his clinically dead wife die. He only said goodbye to the stage last winter when he was on stage again in “Sonny Boys” at the Bayerischer Hof.

Three golden cameras, “Bambi” and the “Romy” made of platinum for his life’s work are among the many success trophies of the television star, who of course also bears the title of professor and chamber actor.

60 programs with and about Peter Weck on ORF

The ORF pays tribute to the mimes with two new portraits – the first, “That’s not it – Peter Weck for Michael Meister’s 90th birthday”, will flicker across the screens on ORF 2 on August 15. In total, the ORF celebrates the 90s wake up to August 30th with around 60 broadcasts on ORF 2 and ORF III. The highlight, the “wake-up day”, is on August 23: ORF III shows six wake-up classics before Maximilian Gruber’s portrait “Peter Weck – The Eternal Sonny Boy” premieres.

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