Bill Mockridge (72) is an actor and cabaret artist. He may be known to several older TV viewers as Erich Schiller in the ARD series "Lindenstrasse". For younger audiences, the last name may ring. One of his sons is Luke Mockridge (30), one of the most successful comedians in Germany. "This is very interesting for me," said Bill Mockridge in an interview with the news agency spot on news. "For years it was the case that Luke, when he was traveling with me, was addressed to me, the famous father. Now it's the other way around."
The 72-year-old continues: "When I come to a hotel or a restaurant, everyone asks me if Luke is my son. That has changed, which I find very funny." But Luke is not the only one working in show business. "Nicolas is a film, television and stage director. Matthew is an author and motivational speaker. (…) Lenny is a film and television composer, for example he composed a 'crime scene'. Jeremy is very successful at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. And Liam, the youngest, is a singer, film producer and DJ, "says the proud father of his other five sons. He sees the origin in how they grew up.
"You know comedy from the start"
At the beginning of the 80s, the Canadian-born brought improvisation theater to Germany. "And, if I can say it in all modesty, made it public and popular," said Mockridge. In 1982 something decisive finally happened. He discovers Margie Kinsky (61) for "Die Springmaus". She was a front woman there for 30 years. The couple, who has been married since 1983, also have their own theater in Bonn, Haus der Springmaus. The six children together "grew up with theater from day one".
Bill Mockridge recalls: "Luke, for example, was born nine days before the premiere of a large production that I had written and directed and in which my wife was involved. She literally nursed him backstage." Above all, one scene remains in his memory, with the late Dirk Bach (1961-2012).
Back then his wife had to go on stage and "Luke put his godfather Dirk Bach in his arms. Dirk rocked Luke in his arms and he looked at the stage with wide eyes. Five minutes later my wife came back, opened her blouse and Luke continued breastfeeding. He really was breastfed with stage air. " All six children are like this: "They have known comedy from the start. They saw that we had a lot of fun inspiring an audience. They found it pleasing to the industry themselves."
But Bill Mockridge makes it clear: "But I never said that they should go into show business. I rather gave reason to think that they should think it over very well. It is a profession that is incredibly hard, with many disappointments and very few are really successful. I advised them to do it out of passion and not to get rich and famous. "
"None of us expected it"
In 2019, Luke caused quite a stir with his controversial appearance in the ZDF "TV Garden". He "didn't tell his family in advance," says Dad Bill. He was in Canada at the time and had "learned about it early in the morning from the German press". Luke then informed him on the phone. "I said, 'That sounds very funny.' None of us expected the people to be really offended. It was a child's prank."
He goes on to say: "Luke said it himself on his show: People, we have so many construction sites in the world, whether it's the environment, Trump or the equality of women and men, that Germany has been involved in the show for so long TV garden is quite astonishing. "
Bill Mockridge will be released in German cinemas on January 30, 2020. In "The Heinzels – Return of the Heinzelmännchen" he lends his voice to the "old, wise Heinzel".