Television

Creative head: Roger Willemsen is dead

The audience loved him as the entertaining host of talk shows. Roger Willemsen wrote a Bestseller, loved football and was one of the most famous German Intellectuals. With only 60 years ago that he died.

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Moderator Roger Willemsen is dead

Shortly after his 60. Birthday in August 2015 experienced Willemsen of his cancer. All appointments and obligations of said the otherwise busy publicist then. That was also the year’s literary festival litcologne, where he, with his eloquent sense of humor as a Moderator of the big opening Gala in the past years for great moments of showmanship had taken care of. Now is Roger Willemsen at the consequences of this cancer in his home in Hamburg died, how the publishing house S. Fischer, the “mirror” confirmed.

In addition to his work as a successful TV presenter (“Willemsens Woche”/ZDF), and Essayist for the Feuilletons of major Newspapers went Roger Willemsen travel a lot. Broadening your horizons, experiencing new cultures, the own, cramped European perspective again and again in question – this was important to him. With his travel books, he came on the German bestseller lists. Also his last, very personal book about the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany (“The High house”) ended up 2014 in the top ranks of the Büchercharts.

Subtle Nachdenker

Was born Roger Willemsen on 15. August 1955 in Bonn, Germany, in Sternkreis-sign of the lion. His father was an art historian and restorer, the mother’s expert for Asian art. After the first student days in Bonn, it drove him into the world: Florence, Munich and Vienna are the stations, which to him entirely new Kultureindrücke convey. Besides studying, he worked again as a night watchman, tour guide and Museumswärter. He loved the silence Observed by his contemporaries.

In 1984 obtained a doctorate in Willemsen then in philosophy. The following planned postdoctoral thesis on “suicide in literature” he gave, however. He was employed rather than freelance Translator and author. In 1988 he went for three years as a Kulturkorrespondent to London, translated there, among others, Umberto Eco and Thomas Moore.

Steep Fernsehkarriere

In 1991, engaged him with the Hamburg Pay TV channel “Premiere” as a Moderator for the Interview-magazine “0137”, after the code is named, was among the TV viewers of the Live broadcast to participate. The talented culture journalist could about all topics of chat, from the Boulevard up to the hard politics. “Talk without taboo” was the title of the German Newspapers about him: the beginning of his TV career.

Career with creative nonchalance: TV presenter Willemsen at a young age with their own Show

Its celebrity guest list ranged from the Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn up to Palestinian leaders Yasser Arafat. His claim of “just be” and his distinctive interviewing made Willemsen quickly becoming one of the most famous talk show host of the German television. Prizes and honourable awards followed: in 1993, he received the Grimme-award in Gold.

Switching to public-service ZDF brought him then in 1994 again in a different TV-League. He had his own show and grew with the Talkformat “Willemsens Woche” in the Olympus of the most important German opinion-makers. The renowned Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung certified him “intelligent, if not intellectual entertainment”.

Artistic Multi-Talent

But Roger Willemsen was not with the rapid success of the talk shows satisfied. Since 1993 he produced their own TV documentaries, Interviews, Portraits, and dedicated theme nights. In the ZDF-series “Willemsens contemporaries,” he had celebrities such as Vivienne Westwood, the actor Michel Piccoli and John Malkovich, the musician and producer Quincy Jones jr. and star designer Philippe Starck as guest.

Also as a columnist for the weekly newspaper “die Zeit” made the subtle Willemsen a name, wrote books, articles, Essays, and has always led to conversations with the most interesting people. At the Expo 2000 recorded it as creative head of the German pavilion with a ten-hour video installation: “Welcome Home. Artists see Germany.” Today would be perhaps a cult.

More than 50 books has the author Roger Willemsen leave for posterity, including many travelogues in the remote areas of the world. He has always considered himself to be a citizen of the world understood.

Farewell to the TV

In October 2001 announced the TV Star surprising his final farewell to the screen. But the selbstverordnete abstinence, he kept not for long: together with Elke Heidenreich and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, he has hosted the Swiss television yet again – with visible pleasure on the ground formulation – the “Literaturclub” (3sat).

Also, the stage didn’t let him go. Along with the “Grand master of the purposeful Pointe” Dieter Hildebrandt developed by Roger Willemsen 2005 the very successful cabaret “I give you my word of honour! The history of the world of the lie”. They both went so long on tour.

An honorary professorship at the Humboldt University in Berlin gave him in 2010 an honorable completion of his unprecedented career. 2015 was for him a turning point: With Anke Engelke, he devoted himself again to be incredibly humorous way for an audio book of “the Wonderful world of Dating”. In addition to his passion for language, literature, and travel was football one of his heart issues. Roger Willemsen died on 7. February 2016 in his home in the vicinity of Hamburg. His cancer, he could no longer defeat.