Joachim Fuchsberger was the first cool German crime investigator. He almost became the first James Bond.
On September 11, 2014, Joachim Fuchsberger (1927-2014), known to fans and friends as “Blacky”, passed away. He was one of the last great actors and TV entertainers whose careers began in the German post-war era and continue to shine with glory to this day.
From the late 1970s until shortly after the turn of the millennium, the likeable audience favorite with the impeccable manners appeared primarily as a game and talk show host in TV formats such as “Der Heiße Draht”, “Auf Los geht’s los” or “Heut’ Abend”. However, it was his numerous roles in the Edgar Wallace films, which were extremely popular with cinema audiences, especially in the sixties, that made him a superstar in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Rise to German crime superstar
In these crime films, which were produced in series by the German “Rialto Film” under the aegis of the German cult producer Horst Wendlandt (1922-2002) and were based on the novels of the prolific British writer Edgar Wallace (1875-1932), Fuchsberger played a smart Scotland Yard inspector who tracked down the most fearsome criminals and usually saved the life of a beautiful woman in the process.
The first film in this 32-part film series, “The Frog with the Mask” from 1959, was surprisingly a huge success, which continued into the early 1970s. For Blacky Fuchsberger, who had already celebrated his first success as an actor with his leading role in the war film “08/15” (1954), this was the final breakthrough. Other stars of the time, such as the comedian Eddi Arent (1925-2013), the daring Karin Baal (83) or Klaus Kinski (1926-1991), who specialized in psychopathic roles, would also benefit greatly in their careers from the hype surrounding the action-packed Edgar Wallace film adaptations.
Fearless daring and elegant coolness
The Scotland Yard inspectors played by Fuchsberger, who were sometimes called Larry Holt, Mike Dorn or Johnny Gray, were a complete novelty for German audiences. At the time, the only thing known in this country was the first German crime series, “Stahlnetz”, in which real criminal cases were filmed – usually in good cooperation with the West German police authorities. However, the inspectors in this TV series were miles away from the fearless daring and elegant coolness of Blacky Fuchsberger – and none of them looked anywhere near as good as him.
After a total of thirteen Edgar Wallace thrillers, Fuchsberger, disappointed by the declining quality of these productions, quit his Scotland Yard role after “The Secret of the Green Pin” (1971) and spent a few years working as an actor in comedies such as “The Beetle Goes Full Throttle” (1972) or school films such as “The Flying Classroom” (1973), before largely giving up acting and looking for new roles as a presenter and talk show host on television.
He later explained this change of direction in the following words: “In the early 70s I realized that my time as a young lover and eternal inspector was slowly coming to an end. A wonderful time, no question about it, but I wanted to avoid people saying at some point: ‘Oh, that’s Fuchsberger, he used to be quite good-looking.’ I was a bit too vain for that.”
James Bond was a size too big
In the same interview, Fuchsberger revealed that shortly after the launch of the Edgar Wallace series, he almost slipped into the role of the now legendary secret agent James Bond. One day, Horst Wendlandt, the producer of the Wallace films, came to him and put a Bond novel by the British author Ian Fleming (1908-1964) on the table, saying, “We have to do that.”
His answer was: “Man, Horst, that’s something you can’t do in black and white for 750,000 marks. You have to shoot in color. And then all the exotic locations. That’s going to be really expensive.” After that, Wendlandt didn’t dare tackle the glamorous material anymore and instead secured the filming rights to Karl May novels. Instead of Blacky Fuchsberger, a certain Sean Connery (1930-2020) became the first James Bond.
Crime comeback in “News from Wixxer”
In 2003, Fuchsberger’s Edgar Wallace past caught up with him again when he was asked to play a role in the comedy film “Der Wixxer”, a parody of Edgar Wallace film classics such as “Der Hexer” (1964). As he revealed to “Stern”, he didn’t even look at the script because of the title and politely declined. Later, the scriptwriters Oliver Kalkofe (58) and Bastian Pastewka (52) sent him a DVD of the finished film and at the same time asked him to do a sequel to the big box office success. This time Blacky jumped at the chance and appeared in the 2007 film “Neues vom Wixxer”.
His last role in the expanded Edgar Wallace universe also earned Fuchsberger a promotion to a higher police rank. In the offbeat comedy, he played a former Scotland Yard chief with the raunchy name of Lord David Dickham.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
