From the Berlinale drama “ok” to the television series: Hartmut Becker has appeared in numerous films. He has now died after a serious illness.
The actor Hartmut Becker is dead. He died on Saturday at the age of 83 after a serious illness in Berlin, as his agency announced on Sunday, citing the family. Becker acted in numerous films – he was represented at the Berlinale and was in front of the camera for television, for example for “Soko München” or the “Traumschiff”. His first important film was Michael Verhoeven’s Vietnam War drama “OK” in 1970, which caused a scandal at the Berlin Film Festival.
It was about the rape of a girl by US soldiers. The film caused such a stir that the jury resigned and the competition was canceled for the first time in the festival’s history. Becker has worked with Verhoeven on several occasions, including with Senta Berger. With Lina Wertmüller he filmed “Heimlich, still and quietly”, with Richard Attenborough “The Bridge of Arnhem”. In its obituary, the “Tagesspiegel” raved about Becker’s performance as a “hellishly Machiavellian” cardinal in Gerd Schneider’s “Verfehlung” (2015). Becker was also seen on the theater stage, for example at the Residenztheater in Munich.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) praised him as a “wonderful actor” and also named his famous film with Verhoeven. “He has always remained a political mind and was clear early on that we cannot simply continue to do business without considering our livelihoods. As the bright mind he was, he was also a member of the board of the German Film Academy for a long time.”
Becker “also gave us a picture of how hard and demanding the acting profession is – away from glamor and the red carpet,” emphasized Roth. “I thank him for his work as an artist, but especially for the time we spent together on this planet.”