Werner Dissel

Werner Dissel

1912-08-26 – 2003-01-22 (age 90) Köln, Germany
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Biography

Werner Friedrich Dissel (26 August 1912 – 22 January 2003) was a German actor, director, and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime.

Dissel's began working as a newspaper photographer in the late 1920s. After the Nazis' rise to power, he became a member of an antifascist group headed by Harro Schulze-Boysen, and was involved in the resistance newspaper Wille zum Reich. Dissel was caught and imprisoned from 1937 to 1939. During his time in prison, the Gestapo arranged for Boysen to visit him, in the hope that something incriminating would be said while the two would be left alone in a tapped room; Boysen passed a cigarette pack to Dissel, on which he wrote that the police had no concrete evidence against him. After his release, Boysen convinced him to volunteer into the Wehrmacht, so he could "destroy Hitler's army from within". Dissel joined the armed forces shortly before the German Invasion of Poland, and served in a military meteorology unit. At 1942, he barely avoided an arrest during the Gestapo's crackdown on the Red Orchestra.

After the war, he openly joined the KPD and decided to pursue his old dream to become an actor. Dissel joined a cabaret in Wiesbaden, and in 1950 emigrated to East Germany. There he appeared in numerous plays, TV shows and movies. He worked with the Berliner Ensemble, DEFA and DFF. He continued his acting career after the reunification. In total, he appeared in more than a hundred film and television productions.

He received the Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic at a collective awarding in October 1986.

Source: Article "Werner Dissel" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

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Known For

Anatomy
Anatomy

2000

as Paulas Großvater

Les Misérables
Les Misérables

1958

as Brevet (uncredited)

Liberation - Part 1 : The Fire Bulge
Naked Among Wolves
Naked Among Wolves

1963

as Otto Lange

Ware für Katalonien
Ware für Katalonien

1959

as Portier

Little Red Riding Hood
Stielke, Heinz, Fifteen...
Picknick im Schnee
Picknick im Schnee

1999

as Mann mit Decke

Love's Confusion
Love's Confusion

1959

as Taxifahrer

Coming Out
Coming Out

1989

as Älterer Homosexueller Walter

Till Eulenspiegel
Till Eulenspiegel

1975

as Scholastischer Professor

Ulzana
Ulzana

1974

as Mexikanischer Arzt

The Gleiwitz Case
The Gleiwitz Case

1961

as Volksschullehrer

As Long as There’s Life in Me
As Long as There’s Life in Me

1965

as Bethmann-Hollweg

Fallada: The Last Chapter
Beethoven - Days in a Life
Beethoven - Days in a Life

1976

as Grisslinger