Rolf Becker: Important German actor dies

Rolf Becker, one of the most renowned German actors, is dead. The Hamburg native died on Friday surrounded by his family at the age of 90 in a Hamburg hospice, as St. Pauli pastor Sieghard Wilm confirmed to the German Press Agency. Norddeutscher Rundfunk first reported.

Becker became known to an audience of millions in the popular ARD doctor series “In aller Friendship”, where he played the good-natured pensioner Otto Stein alongside Ursula Karusseit since 2006.

Born in Leipzig in 1935, Becker grew up in northern Germany. After graduating from high school, he studied acting at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich. After working in Munich, Darmstadt and Ulm, he moved to the Theater Bremen in 1963, where he also directed his own productions. In his adopted hometown of Hamburg, he was later a member of the ensemble at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus and the Thalia Theater.

Becker became one of the most sought-after theater actors and also made a career in television and film (“Trenck” series, 1971, “The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum”, 1976). He also made a name for himself with his distinctive voice as a speaker for audio books. From 1997 to 2004 he played “Everyman” in Hamburg’s Speicherstadt.

Becker passed on his acting talent to his children Ben and Meret Becker from his marriage to actress Monika Hansen. Since 1980, Becker’s second marriage was to the actress Sylvia Wempner, with whom he has two biological sons and an adopted son.