Otto Sander (; 30 June 1941 – 12 September 2013) was a German film, theater, and voice actor.

Life

Education and early career

Sander grew up in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, where he graduated in 1961 from the Friedrichgymnasium. After leaving school he spent his military service in 1961/62 with the

Bundesmarine The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

and left as reserve fenrik. Sander then studied theatre science, history of art and philosophy. In 1965 he made his acting debut at the

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

er chamber plays. After his first film work in the same year he abandoned his studies in 1967, and went to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

to become a full-time actor.

Theatre

His career is closely connected with the Schaubühne theatre in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

under the direction of Peter Stein. From 1980 onwards Sander appeared on several of Berlin's theatre stages, among others at the Schillertheater in 1981, at the Freie Volksbühne in 1985 and in 1989 at the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm. More recently he starred in '' Hauptmann von Köpenick'' at the Schauspielhaus Bochum (2004).

Film

Among his best-known film roles are the

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

Cassiel in ''

Wings of Desire ''Wings of Desire'' (, ; ) is a 1987 romantic fantasy film written by Wim Wenders, Peter Handke and Richard Reitinger, and directed by Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its hu ...

'' and its sequel '' Faraway, So Close!'' by

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

, and a shell-shocked

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

commander, Kapitänleutnant Philipp Thomsen, in

Wolfgang Petersen Wolfgang Petersen (14 March 1941 – 12 August 2022) was a German film and television director, screenwriter, and producer. His international breakthrough was the 1981 war film (1981), which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Directo ...

's ''

Das Boot (; ) is a 1981 West Germany, West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer and Klaus Wennemann. An Film adaptation, adaptation of Lothar-Günthe ...

''. Sander also appeared in ''

The Tin Drum ''The Tin Drum'' (, ) is a 1959 novel by Günter Grass, the first book of his Danzig Trilogy. It was adapted into a 1979 film, which won both the 1979 Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980. To "beat a ti ...

'' (1979) as a trumpeter and in '' Comedian Harmonists'', a biopic about the musical group of the same name. He also played a professor in the movie '' The Promise'' about the division of Berlin by the wall. In 1999 he played a role in

Rosa von Praunheim Holger Bernhard Bruno Mischwitzky (born Holger Radtke; 25 November 1942), known professionally as Rosa von Praunheim, is a German film director, author, producer, professor of directing and one of the most influential and famous LGBT social move ...

's movie '' The Einstein of Sex''. In 1990, he was a member of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.

Voice acting

Because of his warm, strong voice, which earned him the sobriquet "The Voice" (the English term is used), he has been used frequently as

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

for television documentaries, and numerous talking books in the 1990s.

Personal life and death

He was married to the actress Monika Hansen and was

stepfather A stepfather or stepdad is a biologically unrelated male parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepfather-in-law is a stepfather of one's spouse. Children from his spouse's previous unions are known as his stepchildren. In fiction Thou ...

to the actors

Ben Becker Ben Becker (born 19 December 1964) is a German film, theatre and voice actor. Biography Becker was born in Bremen, the son of actress Monika Hansen and actor Rolf Becker. He is the brother of actress Meret Becker and the stepson of Otto Sander ...

and Meret Becker. He had two brothers, the lawyer Adolf Sander, the scientist Chris Sander, and a sister, the book dealer Marianne Sander. Sander died, aged 72, in Berlin on 12 September 2013. No cause of death was given, though he had been diagnosed with cancer several years before his death.Otto Sander, Wings of Desire actor dies at 72
BBC, 12 September 2013

Filmography

As actor

As Narrator

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sander, Otto 1941 births 2013 deaths Male actors from Hanover German male film actors German male stage actors German male television actors German male voice actors 20th-century German male actors 21st-century German male actors