Actor Ernst-Georg Schwill died on Thursday at the age of 81 in Berlin. The Eulenspiegel publishing group announced this on Facebook, among other things. "The small and always berliner actor was very popular. Relatives, publishing staff, readers and television viewers keep him in good memory," says the post. According to the publisher Das Neue Berlin, the actor died of a heart attack at 9 a.m. in Friedrichshain Hospital today.
Ur-Berliner Schwill was discovered at the age of 14 for the thriller "Alarm im Zirkus" (1954) by Deutsche Film AG (DEFA) based in the GDR. Instead of working as a car mechanic as planned, he now concentrated on his acting career. In 1960 he completed his acting studies at the German Film Academy in Babelsberg. This was followed by roles in "You called me Amigo" (1959) or "Five cartridge cases" (1960). After a theater engagement, Schwill appeared again in smaller roles on TV in the 1970s and 1980s, including "The Hour of the Daughters" (1981).
After the reunification, he became known for the television series "Polizeiruf 110", in which he worked until 1997, and in the Berlin "Tatort", where he played the assistant Lutz Weber from 1999 to 2013. In 2008 Schwill's autobiography "Isn't a question not: memories of an actor" was published.