From Otto Normalverbraucher (»Joe Everybody«) to 007-badguy Auric Goldfinger, from child-killer Schrott in »It Happened in Broad Daylight« to Preußler’s »Räuber Hotzenplotz«: Gert Fröbe was one of the few international stars to come from Germany. Though throughout his life he was unhappy about having to play the villain, he was a darling of the public, a guy with a warm heart in a tough shell. To this day, sympathy for him goes on uninterrupted.
Michael Strauven portrays the man from Saxony on his way to becoming a world star. A highly gifted violinist, talented painter, artist, clown, legendary reciter of the poetry of Christian Morgenstern, ladies’ man and a whole-hearted actor who always wanted to go all the way – Fröbe was (and is) irresistible. This fast-paced and vivid biography shows known and previously unknown portions of Fröbe’s life, depicts the highs and lows of his brilliant career, introduces the private individual as well as the world-class character actor and thus brings a German legend to life.

Michael Strauven

, born 1940 in Berlin, has been a film and television director since 1964. He’s realized several portraits of actors, including Marlene Dietrich and Liz Taylor, documentary films, features and film analyses for TV; in addition he’s moderated several shows himself, such as Sonntagsmagazin on ARD. He received the German Critic’s Prize for ARD’s Legende, about Romy Schneider. He reached a public of millions with the film »Als die Liebe laufen lernte«.