In the 1980s, Sascha Hehn became Germany’s most beautiful series star. Even at 70, he is still as casual as in the old days.
The big cinema has never been Sascha Hehn’s (70) thing. From the very beginning, the actor, who was born Alexander Josef Alberto Hehn in Munich on October 11, 1954, focused his career on projects that promised commercial success – and in which he was able to score points with his good looks.
Consequently, he spent the entire 1970s as a frequently booked actor in erotic films with raunchy titles such as “Girls at the Gynecologist” (1971), “Young Girls Like It Hot, Housewives Even Hotter” (1973) and “Naked and Hot on Mykonos” (1979 ). In the 1980s he left the sleaze film genre to pursue more serious and less bare-bones roles.
In the right place at the right time
Even on public television, the beautiful Sascha was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Through his participation in ratings miracles such as “Das Traumschiff” and “Die Schwarzwaldklinik”, the always tanned Sonnyboy quickly became one of the biggest German series stars and a living legend.
As Hehn revealed to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” a few years ago, he could have pursued a career as a serious theater actor at the time, but he consciously chose the lucrative mainstream. There he said: “The director Ernst Haeusserman wanted to bring me to the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna, but I said: ‘No, Professor, that’s not my path. I want to go into commerce and earn money’.”
Iconic jumps into the white convertible
Sascha Hehn earned his money in the wild 1980s in an extremely casual way. From 1981 he embodied the busy chief steward Victor Burger on the “Dream Ship”, from 1985 onwards he transformed himself into the notorious philanderer and junior surgeon Dr. Udo Brinkmann. Especially with the latter role, Sascha Hehn became the epitome of classic 80s cool. To this day, his iconic popper outfits, with which he casually jumped into his white VW Golf convertible after work in the doctor’s series without ever opening the door, are an absolute cult. Sascha Hehn made it easy for women to love him – from schoolgirls to mothers-in-law.
After the “Black Forest Clinic” series ended, the TV heartthrob remained true to the genre of the filmed medical novel for a while and between 1994 and 1997 he took care of the physical and mental well-being of his patients and viewers as “gynecologist Dr. Markus Merthin”.
Secured income through “Dream Ship” repeats
Just in time for the turn of the millennium, the actor had achieved such fame and prosperity with his specialization in perfectly formed, shallow entertainment that he was able to significantly reduce the number of his acting projects. In an interview with “Quotenmeter” a few years ago, the timeless audience favorite revealed that he can still make a good living from the regular repetitions of his successful series.
There he said: “I’m rarely on German television these days, I don’t do that much. And when I do, I still live off the repeats that come on at some point, whether they’re on the Heimatkanal or Romantik TV or wherever run.” Of course, contracts like the ones he was allowed to sign in the golden eighties no longer exist today. “These are these ‘brilliant’ contracts from the broadcasters,” says Hehn, “who basically only pay young actors once and are then allowed to broadcast their stuff for 100 years or even longer without them/we getting anything out of it.” With a “little drop of sadness” when looking back on times past, this must also be said clearly.
A little nostalgia was probably also at play when Sascha Hehn returned to the “dream ship” in 2014, this time as captain Victor Burger. But just four years later, he disappointedly handed over the high-ranking position on the command bridge to his successor Florian Silbereisen (43), justifying this by saying that the production conditions for the series had fallen below even his modest quality limits. The series has lost its charm and he is really not up for joyless assembly line work.
Last major project “Lerchenberg”
However, he had much more fun with his last major series project, “Lerchenberg”, a ZDF satire about ZDF in which Sascha Hehn portrays himself as a washed-up actor who is supposed to make a comeback with a new TV show. Which of course goes completely wrong. The fact that the strange series was only shown in the late night program from 11 p.m. between 2015 and 2017 and was discontinued after two short seasons caused disappointment for the actor. “It was a bit like they had hidden it,” . In his role as Sascha Hehn he could finally have shown what he was really made of.
For around ten years now, the series hero has largely retreated into his well-deserved retirement and spends his days away from the cameras at the side of his wife Gloria (51) or on the golf course. He therefore sometimes described himself as an “actor and Bavarian privateer”.
In 2020 he once again plunged into the fray at the Karl May Games in Bad Segeberg as the nasty supervillain Grinley. However, the autograph cards that he signed on the sidelines of the event in full western outfit did not show him from today, but as the way his fans want to remember him forever: as a young, tanned sonny boy in a classic eighties outfit, ready at any time. to hop into his white convertible with a casual jump and speed away from everyone with a hot chick at his side.
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.
