‏Heinz Drache‏

This actor's chief claim to fame lies in being the most in-vogue screen cop of post-war German cinema. He first established his reputation in the role of the charismatic Inspector Yates in Francis Durbridge's miniseries Das Halstuch (1962), which hit an impressive eighty percent in TV ratings. He continued in the same vein (same part, same crew cut, different names) apprehending villains in a series of Edgar Wallace potboilers with lurid titles evocative of the genre: Der Rächer (1960), Das indische Tuch (1963), Ein Sarg aus Hongkong (1964), Neues vom Hexer (1965) and Der Hund von Blackwood Castle (1968), among others. After his contract with Constantin Filmverleih expired, he took a sabbatical from the screen and returned to the stage.

Drache was smitten by the performing arts from childhood (at the age of fourteen, he could recite Goethe's "Faust" by heart). He started acting on stage as an extra in his senior year at high school. Though intended for flight training in the Luftwaffe, he was excused from active military service and permitted to continue his theatrical training in Berlin. Whilst at the Deutsches Theater, he was spotted by Gustaf Gründgens and given a key part in the bizarre comic fantasy "Der Schatten" ("The Shadow", based on a Russian play). This turned out to be a substantial hit. While it did not make him a star, it led to further character roles under the direction of Gründgens in classics like "Danton's Death", "Candida" and "Othello". Following engagements at the Berliner Schillertheater and the Kleine Komödie in Munich, Drache made his first film appearance in 1954. For the next eight years, he alternated youthful romantic leads with more challenging assignments in serious drama (Spion für Deutschland (1956), Der Rest ist Schweigen (1959)). His archetypal crime fighting image was inaugurated with ""Der Rächer" and cemented with "Das Halstuch". Audiences took a shine to the easy-going approach and quick-witted, often cynical repartee of his screen detectives. Drache also made good use of his distinctively sonorous voice, frequently synchronising for English-speaking stars like Sean Connery, Christopher Lee, Kirk Douglas and Richard Widmark.

On the stage, Drache was able to escape typecasting and occasionally portrayed rather less wholesome characters. The screen, however, rarely permitted him to show his acting range. After a period of relative absence (just five appearances between 1969 and 1985), he returned somewhat reluctantly in familiar guise as the elegant, pin-stripe suited Kriminalhauptkommissar Hans Georg Bülow in TV's top crime-time series Tatort (1970). However, the era for anachronistic gentlemen sleuths had passed and a mixed critical reception prompted Drache to quit the show after just six episodes. After that, he quietly faded from the spotlight and died in Berlin in April 2002 at the age of 79.