Johan Heinrich (Joop) Doderer (28 August 1921 - 22 September 2005) was a Dutch actor, well known for his role as the tramp Swiebertje in the eponymous television series. The series ran for 17 seasons between 1955 and 1975, and was broadcast by the NCRV. Beside the role as Swiebertje, Doderer played in dozens of radio and television programs, he played the role of Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady, acted in Dutch and English movies, and appeared on stage in comedies, musicals, cabaret and dramas.
Doderer was born in Velsen, but brought up in Amsterdam. After finishing the hbs (Higher Public School), it took a big effort before his parents allowed him to take acting lessons. In 1939, aged 18, the Amsterdam acting school rejected him for 'lack of talent'. Instead, he started his acting career as an extra at the Nederlandsch Toneel, which enabled him to study actors like Cor van der Lugt Melsert.
After World War II, he played in many comedies and musicals. For seven years, he was part of the ensemble of Wim Sonneveld, and this is where he met his first wife Conny Stuart. He also acted in some movies: in the 1959 movie Het Wonderlijke leven van Willem Parel, and appeared on the radio, including the programs De bonte dinsdagavondtrein and Koek en ei. From the fifties onwards, Doderer is a star. He often ad-libs on stage, to the amusement of the audience, but not of his co-players.
At age 52 he married the 21 year old Ester. Together they had two children.
Between 1955 and 1975, he played Swiebertje on television. In 2001, the series was given the one-time only Signaal-award for the best television show in the past 50 years by the Dutch television viewers. Doderer was quite proud for being well-known as Swiebertje, although it took him many years after the end of the series to look back positively (see below). In 2003, a bust of Swiebertje was placed in the town Oudewater, where many of the outdoor scenes of the series were shot.
Doderer was a Ridder in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau (Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau).
Doderer died in a nursing home in Roelofarendsveen.
Being well known as Swiebertje hampered Doderer when playing serious roles after 1975. On one occasion he entered the stage, and the public started laughing. Doderer left the stage, and reentered, and the public laughed again. After repeating this five times, he had to tell the public to stop laughing, or he would leave the theater. On another occasion, the theater public started singing the tune of Swiebertje when Doderer entered the stage. In the Netherlands, this effect of typecasting is since then known as the Swiebertje-effect. He even moved to England and for four years, he played high quality drama on television. In 1979, he played a South African agent, in The Human Factor, by Otto Preminger, together with Richard Attenborough, Derek Jacobi and John Gielgud.
In the 1990s, Doderer finally succeeded in shedding his comedian image, and he played serious roles in Dutch theaters, under the direction of Ivo van Hove and Ger Thijs.