Gerhard Klingenberg was involved in television productions as an actor, director, and scriptwriter.
14 Facts About Gerhard Klingenberg
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Gerhard Klingenberg had a successful early career in Austria, stepping in at the Burgtheater at age 18 to play Camille in Buchner's Dantons Tod and both acting and directing at Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Stadttheater St Polten and the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck.
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Gerhard Klingenberg's father came from a worker's family of Polish origin and worked for Fiat, his mother was born in Bohemia.
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Gerhard Klingenberg took private classes in acting in Salzburg after World War II and was accepted to study at the Max Reinhardt Seminar; he studied acting and directing in the drama class of the Vienna Conservatory.
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Gerhard Klingenberg made money as an actor with the Landesbuhne Burgenland; this occupation was prohibited for students, and he therefore took the stage name Klingenberg, which he kept for life.
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Gerhard Klingenberg received an offer from the Stadttheater Klagenfurt already while studying, and directed there in March 1948 Das Haus in Montevideo by Curt Goetz.
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Gerhard Klingenberg then had engagements at the newly opened Stadttheater St Polten and later at the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck, where he played roles such as Franz Moor in Schiller's Die Rauber.
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In 1956 Gerhard Klingenberg was invited by Bertold Brecht for his Berliner Ensemble in East Germany, to work on the world premiere of his Die Tage der Commune.
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From 1962 to 1968, Gerhard Klingenberg directed at the Stadtische Buhnen Koln, the Schauspiel Frankfurt, and the Schauspielhaus Hamburg, as well as at the Schillertheater in Berlin, the Dusseldorfer Schauspielhaus, the Schauspielhaus Zurich and the Munchner Kammerspiele.
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Gerhard Klingenberg directed there Hebbel's Judith with Rolf Boysen as Holofernes in 1973, Grillparzer's Konig Ottokars Gluck und Ende in 1976 with Heinz Reincke in the title role, often with political analogies to a divided Europe.
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Alongside his theatre work, Gerhard Klingenberg participated in television productions as an actor, director and scriptwriter.
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Gerhard Klingenberg authored books such as Das gefesselte Burgtheater and Aus vergangenen Burgtheater Tagen as well as an autobiography, Kein Blatt vor dem Mund.
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Gerhard Klingenberg was the father of director Reinhard Schwabenitzky, who was married to the German-Austrian actress Elfi Eschke.
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Gerhard Klingenberg died in Villach on 18 June 2024, at the age of 95.