Bruno Schleinstein

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Bruno Schleinstein

Born	Bruno Schleinstein June 2, 1932 (1932-06-02) (age 76) Berlin, Germany
Other name(s)	Bruno S.

Bruno Schleinstein (born 2nd June 1932) is a German film actor, artist, and musician.

The illegitimate son of a prostitute, he was often beaten as a child, and spent much of his life in mental institutions. He is a largely self-taught musician, who, over the years developed considerable skill on the piano, accordion and glockenspiel. He would play in back gardens performing 18th and 19th century style ballads on the weekends, while sustaining himself financially working as a forklift driver at a car plant.

Schleinstein was spotted by director Werner Herzog in the documentary Bruno der Schwarze - Es blies ein Jäger wohl in sein Horn (1970). Herzog promptly cast Schleinstein (under the name Bruno S.) as his lead actor in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974), even though he had no acting experience.

Schleinstein also starred in Stroszek (1977), which Herzog wrote especially for him in four days. Stroszek has a number of biographical details from Schleinstein's life, including the use of his own flat as the home of Bruno Stroszek. He also plays his own instruments.

Herzog has claimed that Schleinstein was deeply suspicious of the director, and nervous of performing in front of the cameras — so had to be "listened to" for several hours on set in order to build his self-esteem.

Schleinstein remains somewhat enigmatic and has not acted since. Instead, he took up painting and music. Some of his artwork was shown at the 2004 Outsider Art Fair in New York City. He has now stopped smoking and drinking, and performs nightly. Recently, he released a CD of his music and songs. Werner Herzog has expressed a wish to once again meet with Bruno, as they have not seen each other in a very long time.

As for Schleinstein's mental health, he is doing much better^{[citation needed]}, although he is still very much traumatized from his past; often speaking to himself in third person, even while alone.^{[citation needed]} In Stroszek, he often refers to himself in the third person as "der Bruno" (this means "Bruno" rather than "the Bruno" in German as Herzog states in his audio commentary).