-
fromDaniel Kothenschulte
–
shut down
–
On the death of world star Hardy Krüger: A hero beyond the screen.
Frankfurt – If you take a step back when looking at German post-war cinema, if you try to take an international perspective, you quickly come to Hardy Krüger. His star shone early on outside the box of a generally unambitious entertainment industry. He is one of the few German world stars.
For him, what is also said about the really big Hollywood stars applied: There was only one Hardy Krüger. But in his uniqueness, this blond, eternally young man also embodied something universal: A self-determined energy with a great physical presence. An incorruptible entrepreneurial spirit and a will to survive, an adventurous spirit that predestined him for heroic roles but was also suitable for everyday use.
Hardy Krüger: Angry young man dressed as the ideal son-in-law
At the same time, there was an intellectual sharpness that went well with this concentrated power. These traits came with a forgiving youthfulness not to be confused with light-heartedness. Similar to the American Robert Redford a little later, Hardy Krüger was an angry young man in the guise of the ideal son-in-law.
No wonder that the film industry in the economic boom yearned for a guy like that, but he kept his distance early on. “In the early 1950s I couldn’t stand German films anymore,” he recalled in a late interview, “so I went to Paris to look for a job. A director there said to me that they couldn’t use a blond actor with blue eyes in France. They were oppressed by them for years in gray uniforms.”
He had better luck in England. In the unusual adventure film from the Second World War, “One came through”, he plays the German airman from Werra, who was the only British prisoner of war to escape home. Even today, Roy Ward Baker’s incredibly exciting black-and-white film fascinates viewers with its renunciation of the stereotypes typical of war films. Hardy Krüger’s film character does not stand for a specific ideology or patriotism, but for a radical, individual urge for freedom.
Hardy Kruger in Flight of the Phoenix, 1965.
© dpa
–
Hardy Krüger used every opportunity to warn that the right would regain strength
Krüger learned early on the traps good looks can lead to in the film industry. At the age of fourteen he was cast as an apprentice in an aircraft factory in Alfred Weidemann’s Nazi propaganda film “Junge Adler”. After the success, Wolfgang Liebeneiner wanted to persuade him to pursue a film career.
It didn’t come to that; In March 1945, in the final days of the war, Krüger was drafted into the Waffen SS Division “Nibelungen” on the western front. When he refused to shoot at an American scouting party during a skirmish, he was sentenced to death, but the responsible SS officer did not carry out the execution. He made Hardy Krüger his messenger, who admittedly deserted on his second assignment. He hid in the forests of the Bavarian Alps and eventually made his way to Hamburg.
Throughout his life, Krüger used every opportunity to warn of the horrors of the Nazi dictatorship and the resurgence of the right. He was active against right-wing radicalism wherever he encountered it. During the shooting of Howard Hawks’ captivatingly funny African adventure “Hatari” (1962), after the end of the shoot he had an argument with his film partner John Wayne, who, as Krüger later said, as a Republican was so right-wing “that there was only the wall next to him gave”. By then he himself had already lost his heart to Africa; in the sixties and seventies he lived on a farm in Tanzania.
Hardy Krüger was more than just an actor
Another Hollywood classic starring Hardy Krüger is the plane crash drama Flight of the Phoenix, directed by Robert Aldrich in 1965. In the role of the aircraft designer Dorfmann, Krüger’s film character once again alludes to anti-German resentments, again Krüger is an anti-hero whose stubbornness he lends a special fascination to. Hardy Krüger’s outstanding talent as a character actor also comes into its own in this ambivalent, unpredictable character.
In 1975 Stanley Kubrick cast him as Captain Potzdorf in Barry Lyndon, with Krüger starring alongside Richard Burton, James Stewart, Gene Hackman, Dennis Hopper, Anthony Quinn, Robert Redford and Sean Connery, with whom he remained friends.
And yet his talent in leading roles was seldom realized. In his amazing life he was more than just an actor. He didn’t have to act out his heroism, he remained a role model off the screen. Hardy Krüger died on January 19, 2022 at the age of 93. (Daniel Kothenschulte)
–
Related posts:
Marvel fans are already all hyped up by Hugh Jackman's 'Wolverine' teaseTotti-Blasi breakup, daughter Chanel blurts out on social mediaAlla Pugacheva, latest news for today - How the stars and deputies of the State Duma reacted to Puga...there is no trace left of the adorable baby from the "water world" (photo)
