Television: “Drombusch’s” star Hans Peter Korff is dead

He was one of the most famous TV faces in Germany: The actor Hans Peter Korff is dead. “He-outstanding human being and human connoisseur-gave countless characters-depth, humor and lightness,” says a message from his widow Christiane Leuchtmann. He was “ceded off the stage of life” in the night of Sunday at 82 years.

Korff was one of the most busy actors in Germany and remained active until old age. The Hamburger has been seen in more than 160 different productions since the mid -1960s.

Many know him from a Loriot film

His best-known roles were probably the postman “Uncle Heini” from the ZDF children’s series “News from Uhlenbusch” (1977-1982) and the family man Siegfried “Sigi” Drombusch from the ZDF series “This Drombuschs” (1983-1994). Even as Uncle Hellmuth in the Loriot movie “Pappa Ante Portas” (1991), he is remembered by many people. The number of his TV appearances was huge. Most recently, he stood in front of the camera for the television game “Sea lights” and for the “Murder in the north”.

The Hamburger should actually have become a scripture like his father, as he reported in 2012 in a dpa interview for the 70th birthday. “I did an apprenticeship in such a terrible clit,” recalled Korff. “It was in a dark hole – it was a horror! I can’t describe it negatively enough.”

He floated around the drama school on knees

The young apprentice reached the student theater at the University of Hamburg, where Claus Peymann was head of the group. And Korff made it to the University of Music and Theater in his hometown, where Eduard Marks taught. “I joked him, fell on my knees on the street in front of him and banged him.”

Marks allowed him for the entrance exam. “I played for my life – and was taken.” As an actor, he found his own words as “great liberation”.

Many people over 50 automatically come to mind at Korff’s title melody of the children’s series “News from Uhlenbusch”. The fact that some decades later sometimes someone “Auweia, Auweia, the Hahn does not lay eggs”, when he was recognized as a former naive-friendly Heini, did not bother him. “I am happy to be asked about it,” he said.

Recently with the “three ???” visiting

In addition to television and cinema, Korff remained loyal to the theater, traveling to scenic readings through the country with his wife, the actress Leuchtmann. In 2023 he still worked as a spokesman in the cult series “Die Drei ???” with. In the 223rd episode “The Three ??? and the bone man” he was Mr. Lincoln. Together with his wife, he was involved in the IVQS Foundation against poverty in old age.

Hans Peter Korff was a passionate cigarette smoker, “but that was doomed,” wrote his widow about him. She and her husband have been soul mates for 35 years. “We wrote in his biography and now, with his death, she has ended and it will shy away my heart.”

“With great grief we found out about Hans Peter Korff,” wrote ZDF program director Nadine Bilke. “His roles in series such as ‘these drombuschs’ and ‘News from Uhlenbusch’ have delighted and touched generations of spectators. His contribution to the German television landscape is great and his loss hurts us deeply,” said Bilke.

ARD program director Christine Strobl praised Korff as a formative actor in German television history: “With his distinctive way, he enriched numerous ARD productions, including the ARD crime series” Adelheid and her murderer “and later also the series” Veterinarian Dr. Mertens “. In particular, his collaboration with Loriot made him unforgettable and left a lasting piece of television history. His commitment and versatility will be remembered.”