Jörg Schneider (actor)
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Jörg Schneider (7 February 1935 – 22 August 2015) was a Swiss stage and film actor starring usually in Swiss German-language cinema and television and stage productions. He gained great renownedness in the German-speaking area by numerous ''
Kasperle Kasperle, Kasper, or Kasperl (different spellings in German variants and dialects; ) is a traditional puppet character from Austria, German-speaking Switzerland and Germany. Its roots date to 17th century, and it was at times so popular that ''K ...
'', '' Pumuckl'' and fairytale-radio plays records and also adapted plays for the
Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...
language.


Life

Born in
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
,
canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...
, in Switzerland, Jörg Schneider lived in the
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
of Wetzikon. For three years he attended the teacher training college, before he completed a commercial apprenticeship. At the age of 20, Jörg Schneider premiered at the ''Hirschen'' (in fact a restaurant) theater in Zürich as co-founder of the Cabaret ''Äxgüsi'', and on occasion of the '' Saffatheater'' in the cabaret comedy ''Lysistrata'' in 1958. Schneider started acting in the 1960s, getting popular in comedian-related rules, later also in radio plays and as stage actor and comedian, and was one of the most prominent Swiss German actors and comedians. For his lifetime work, Jörg Schneider was awarded with the '' Prix Walo'' 2013 in May 2014. Yet end of January 2015, Schneider participated in Solothurn Film Festival at the premiere of his last movie '' Usfahrt Oerlike'', while for the shooting in May 2014 Schneider did not know that he was suffering from liver cancer. Jörg Schneider was one of the most popular actors of the German-speaking Swiss entertainment scene in comedy and boulevard theater, where he had up to 300 performances a year. He was considered a ''comedian with contagious enthusiasm''.


Work


Theater

Already while attending the teacher college, Jörg Schneider took acting classes and voice lessons. In 1955 he was co-founder of the cabaret "Äxgüsi" in Zürich, and in 1957 Jörg Schneider premiered at the Stadttheater Zürich as comedian. In 1960 he began working with Schaggi Streuli, whose radio and TV play ''Polizischt Wäckerli'' as "Hügü Vögeli" gained national notoriety in 1963. For the Theater am Hechtplatz he gained Swiss German-versions of Grimm's fairy tales in which he also starred, and in 1973 was honored with ''Ehrenpreis der Erziehungsdirektion des Kantons Zürich'', the top prize of the ministry of education of the Canton of Zürich. Between 1969 and 1971 he was permanent staff member of the municipal stage Heidelberg in Germany. Returned to Switzerland, Jörg Schneider played mainly on farces produced by Eynar Grabowsky for the Bernhard-Theater Zürich; the plays, including ''Der keusche Lebemann'' ("The chaste bon vivant") and
Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...
adaptations of ''Der Pantoffelheld'' ("The henpecked"), ''Der fidele Kasimir'' and ''Fünf im Doppelzimmer'' ("Five in a double room") were played 200-300 times throughout Switzerland. For the role of the taxi chauffeur in Schneider's own adaption ''Liebe macht erfinderisch'' of
Ray Cooney Raymond George Alfred Cooney Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director. His biggest success, ''Run for Your Wife (play), Run for Your Wife'' (1983), ran for nine years in London's West E ...
's '' Run for Your Wife'', Jörg Schneider received the ''Bernhard Prix'' in 1985. Paul Bühlmann and Ines Torelli were Schneider's most frequent partners on stage for many years. In the 1990s Schneider mostly appeared along with Erich Vock in several with Vock self-produced farces and comedies, but he always returned to the classic comedy roles and serious roles: in 1972 in Zürich '' Nick Bottom'' (Zettel) in Shakespeare's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
'' and in 1980 alongside Ruedi Walter in the Swiss German adaption ''Warte uf de Godot'' (''
Waiting For Godot ''Waiting for Godot'' ( or ) is a 1953 play by Irish writer and playwright Samuel Beckett, in which the two main characters, Vladimir (Waiting for Godot), Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters w ...
''). At the Festival Bad Hersfeld Schneider received for his portrayal of ''
Sancho Panza Sancho Panza (; ) is a fictional character in the novel ''Don Quixote'' written by Spain, Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote and provides comments throughout the novel, ...
'' in Dale Wasserman's musical ''Mann von La Mancha'' the Bad Hersfeld Prize in 1985. Jörg Schneider embodied in 1991 the title role in Molière's ''
The Imaginary Invalid ''The Imaginary Invalid'', ''The Hypochondriac'', or ''The Would-Be Invalid'' ( French title ''Le Malade imaginaire'', ) is a three- act ''comédie-ballet'' by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes ( H.495, H ...
'', and in 1992 the role of ''Director Gross'' in ''D'Benachrichtigung'', a Swiss German adaption of
Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...
's ''Alert''. In 1993/94 schneider toured again as ''Zettel'' (Nick Bottom ) and as the fool in the ''
Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
'' on occasion of various open-air performances in Switzerland, and in 1999 the title role in a dialect edition of Miller's ''
Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by the American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a ...
'' on stage at the Theater des Kantons Zürich.


Voice acting and children's plays

Beside the stage, Jörg Schneider also is very popular in the German-speaking area by his ''
Kasperle Kasperle, Kasper, or Kasperl (different spellings in German variants and dialects; ) is a traditional puppet character from Austria, German-speaking Switzerland and Germany. Its roots date to 17th century, and it was at times so popular that ''K ...
'', '' Pumuckl'' and fairytale-radio plays records. The ''Chasperli'' (Swiss German for "Kasperle") radio plays by Jörg Schneider – once again, many of the records in co-operation with Paul Bühlmann and Ines Torelli – belong to the children's culture in the German-speaking Switzerland since more than 40 years, and the records are still sold about 50,000 times a year, and to date approximately three million copies have been sold. Jörg Schneider also wrote about 40 ''Kasperle'' stories, directed and translated serious and tabloid pieces in dialect versions and wrote children's musicals. For ''
Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...
'', in 2002 he was awarded with the "fairy-tale-Oscar" ''S'Goldig Chrönli''.


Television and film

In 1960 Jörg Schneider premierred in ''Wenn d'Fraue wähle'', a Swiss German comedy. His best known television roles are probably the chef ''Koni Frei'' in the Swiss television series ''Motel'' and as ''Oskar Wehrli'' from 2004 to 2006 in '' Lüthi und Blanc'', but he also appeared in the popular Swiss television comedy '' Fascht e Familie'' in two episodes. In their last movie, the 2015 comedy '' Usfahrt Oerlike'' about a man who decided to commit suicide, Jörg Schneider starred alongside
Mathias Gnädinger Mathias Gnädinger (25 March 1941 – 3 April 2015) was a Swiss stage and film actor. Career Initially a typesetter and typographer, Gnädinger began his acting training at the ''Bühnenstudio Zürich'' (now part of the Zurich University of ...
who died in April 2015.


Death

Schneider died of his serious illness – which had forced him in September 2014 to cancel his farewell tour ''Happi Änd'' as comedian – on 22 August 2015 at the age of 80; one month before he told in an interview he had stopped the chemotherapy treatment. ''Äxgüsi!'', an audio book with passages of his autobiography will be released posthum: ''although the shots were very tiring for him, the recording gave him a lot of joy'', Jörg Schneider also told. The funeral took place within the family; a public acknowledgment was celebrated at the
Fraumünster The Fraumünster (; lit. in ) is a church in Zürich which was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the l ...
church in Zürich on 26 September 2015.Interview with Romy Schneider, ''G&F'', SRF 1 on 24 August 2015.


Awards (excerpt)

* 2015: Solothurner Filmtage: Won ''Publikumspreis'' (''Prix du public'') for '' Usfahrt Oerlike''. * 2013: Prix Walo, won ''Ehren-Prix Walo''. * 2002: ''S'Goldig Chrönli'' for the children's musical ''Heidi''. * 1995: ''Sparten-PRIX WALO'' for ''Schauspieler''. * 1985: ''Bernhard Prix'' for ''Liebe macht erfinderisch'', Schneider's adaption of a play by Ray Cooney. * 1985: ''Bad Hersfeld-Preis'', ''Sancho Panza'' in the musical ''Der Mann von La Mancha''. * 1973: ''Ehrenpreis der Erziehungsdirektion des Kantons Zürich'' for the Swiss German-versions plays of Grimm's fairy tales.


Filmography (selected works)

* 1960: ''Wenn d'Fraue wähle'' * 1984: ''Motel'' * 1996–1998: '' Fascht e Familie'' (2 episodes) * 2004–2006: '' Lüthi und Blanc'' (120 episodes) * 2008: '' Happy New Year'' * 2015: '' Usfahrt Oerlike''


Literature

* Jörg Schneider: ''Äxgüsi! : aus meinem Leben''. Autobiography on occasion of Jörg Schneider's 80th birthday. Tudor Recording, Zürich 2015, ; also as audio, read by Jörg Schneider, EAN: 7619911083441


References


External links

* *
''Jörg Schneider'' on the website of the Swiss television SRF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Jorg 1935 births Swiss male stage actors Swiss male film actors 20th-century Swiss male actors Male actors from Zurich Swiss male comedians Swiss male radio actors People from Wetzikon Swiss male musical theatre actors Swiss male voice actors Swiss male television actors 2015 deaths Swiss children's writers Swiss male dramatists and playwrights Swiss dramatists and playwrights