“I will miss you forever, I will never forget you.” Jazz musician Martin Gasselsberger from Gaspoltshofen is deeply affected by the death of actor Frank Hoffmann on Facebook. The native German with the distinctive voice died on Saturday at the age of 83.
Gasselsberger and Hoffmann had designed several programs together: the actor read texts, Gasselsberger’s trio mg3 played – for the last time three weeks ago at Puchberg Castle. Gasselsberger wrote: “He said: ‘We can do it’.” And further: “For me and us as a trio, it was almost incomprehensible that a man who has achieved so much in his life was always free from affectations.”
Frank Hoffmann became known to a broad public as the moderator of the cinema show “Trailer”, which ran on ORF from 1975 to 1994. In 2013 he presented the magazine “Lichtspiele” with Miriam Hie on Servus TV. He was active as a radio presenter for Ö3 and Ö1.
Hoffmann was born on July 16, 1938 in Radebeul/Dresden. He completed his acting training at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich. There he also gained his first experiences with Austrian theater when he was on stage with Attila Hörbiger. When the theater legend offered him the first name shortly before an appearance in “Nathan the Wise”, the young actor was so shocked that he completely forgot the text on stage.
Gallery: The voice of cinema has fallen silent
View picture gallery
Director of the cultural summer in Güssing
Numerous engagements followed in Heidelberg, Cologne, Dortmund as well as at the Residenztheater Munich, the Schauspielhaus Graz and the Stadttheater Basel. Frank Hoffmann has also made guest appearances on stage at the Vienna Volksoper, the Salzburg Festival, the Zurich Schauspielhaus, the San Francisco Opera and the Tokyo Opera.
However, his heyday began in 1967 when he became a member of the ensemble at the Burgtheater in Vienna. “Theatre is like breathing,” he once said. Hoffmann was also often seen on television, the first time in 1982 alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo in the film “The Ace of Aces”. In 2000, the actor, who lives in Burgenland, co-founded the Güssinger Kultursommer, which he managed as director until the end.
Hoffmann’s death caused great dismay in the cultural scene. Secretary of State for Culture Andrea Mayer (Greens) paid tribute to him: “As an actor, director and above all as a presenter, he knew how to inspire his loyal audience for decades.”
Source: Nachrichten
