Michael Degen
The TV star dies at the age of 90
Mourning for the actor Michael Degen (1932-2022).
© imago/Future Image
Michael Degen is dead. The actor, known from series such as “Diese Drombuschs” and “Donna Leon”, died in Hamburg at the age of 90.
Michael Degen is dead. The actor died on Saturday, April 9, 2022 in Hamburg. This was announced by the Rowohlt publishing house in Berlin on Tuesday. Nothing is known about a cause of death.
“We mourn and bow to a person and artist who touched and carried away with his warmth and enthusiasm, and whose multifaceted work will remain,” says the Rowohlt publishing house. In addition to his work as an actor and director, Degen has published several novels and autobiographical books.
Michael Degen was born on January 31, 1932 in Chemnitz. As the son of a professor of Jewish faith, he and his mother had to hide from the National Socialists. His father was murdered by the Gestapo.
From the “Buddenbrooks” to “Donna Leon”
After the war, Degen began acting training at the Deutsches Theater in the Soviet sector in Berlin. In 1949 he emigrated to Israel, after two years he returned to Germany.
In Berlin he initially played mainly theater. He first became known to television audiences in the 1979 series adaptation of Thomas Mann’s “The Buddenbrooks”. At the end of the 80s he had a recurring role in the successful series “Dies Drombuschs”. Most recently, Degen was regularly seen as the superior of Commissario Brunetti in the crime series “Donna Leon”.
Publicly against anti-Semitism
Again and again he publicly campaigned against anti-Semitism and racism. He acted in plays and films dealing with the Holocaust. In 1986, strangers vandalized his house after he spoke out against a permitted meeting of veterans of the “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler”. Since this event, Degen has avoided public statements.
Michael Degen has two children from two marriages. He last lived with his third wife near Hamburg.