Lukas Ammann

Lukas Ammann
Born Lukas Ammann
September 29, 1912
Basel, Switzerland
Occupation Film and television actor
Years active 1939—

Lukas Ammann (born September 29, 1912) is a Swiss actor who appeared mainly in German and Swiss films and television shows. He continued to work steadily for over 60 years.

Early Life

Lukas Amann's mother was a singer and his father a painter. After grammar school in Basel, he aspired to be an actor. Starting in 1933 he attended the acting school of Max Reinhardt in Berlin. In 1934, he left Germany with Heinrich Gretler for Switzerland. Because of his Jewish mother, he was discriminated against even in Switzerland. In the beginning he worked in St. Gallen and later at the Schauspielhaus Zürich with Therese Giehse. In 1948 he participated under Kurt Hirschfeld in the role of the attorney in the premiere of Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti. After World War II, Ammann belonged to the Ensemble of the theatre Kleine Freiheit in Munich. Guest performances and tours led him to stages in Austria, Scandinavia and the USA.

Cinematic career

He began his film career in the 1939 Swiss movie Wachtmeister Studer after the novel of Friedrich Glauser, starring Heinrich Gretler. Beginning in the 1950's, Ammann was successful especially on German TV. In 1961, he played in the series Gestatten, mein Name ist Cox with Günter Pfitzmann, Ellen Schwiers und Paul Edwin Roth. In 1963, he was one of the jurors in Die zwölf Geschworenen , which was a remake of the American film 12 Angry Men for German TV, directed by Günter Gräwert. In 1966, Ammann played in the first color-TV series Adrian der Tulpendieb. On top of that he appeared in series like Das Kriminalmuseum, Die fünfte Kolonne, Der Forellenhof and Der Kommissar. In 1973, the horror movie Mark of the Devil Part II depicted him as tortured to death.

Between 1967-1977 he achieved great popularity in his most famous role in the German detective series Graf Yoster, where he played the main part of the same name.[1] The series achieved almost cult-like staus and was long-lived. He played an aristocratic amateur detective and mystery author, who solved cases in affluent circles with his felon chauffeur „Johann“, played by Wolfgang Völz.

From 1994 to 2000 Ammann was successful in a TV series, once again by playing the head-of-family, in Die Fallers. In 1998, he played a purported survivor of the Holocaust in Dani Levy's film Meschugge. In 2005, at age 92, he played Abi Golstein in Micha Lewinsky's Swiss short film Herr Goldstein. It won an award for best Swiss short film at the Locarno International Film Festival.

Ammann lent his voice in German dubbing Peter Sellers (in John and Julie, 1955) and Lucky Luke (in the animated film Daisy Town, 1971).

In 2013, he worked again, aged 101, with the director Ronnie Vogt on the movie Reunion Solitaire.[2]

Private life

Lukas Ammann lives in Munich. After two failed marriages, he married German soprano Liselotte Ebnet in 1959, who died in 2009. She was a member of the ensemble at the state theater "am Gärtnerplatz".[3]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Ich habe hemmungslos gelebt!". BLICK. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  2. ↑ Cinzia Venafro (February 14, 2014). "Neuer Film mit 'Graf Yoster' Lukas Ammann: Comeback mit 101!". Blick (in German). Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Über der Rolle stehen". Neue Züricher Zeitung. Retrieved 2 February 2014.

External links