Raimund Harmstorf
Raimund Harmstorf (* 7. October 1939 at Hamburg; † 3. May 1998 at Marktoberdorf) was a German actor. He reached strong popularity at the beginning of the 70s with his roles as the Sea-Wolf and Michael Strogoff.
Life
Harmstorf was the sun of a medic at Hamburg. He started a sports career and early became a regional master of decathlon. He then started to study medicine, later Music and performing arts. From the beginning of the 1960s he was performing in smaller TV productions. His breakthrough was 1971 with the TV series the Sea-Wulf after Jack London's Novel where he played the evil minded Captain Larsen. Later he played in several spaghetti western at the side of Bud Spencer, Franco Nero and Charlton Heston.
Death
Harmstorf suffered from Parkinson desease and had to start a heavy medication. Unfortunately the drugs caused delusions. Since Harmstorf had always been a symbol for the strong German man, the German press started to write articles about the decay of the artist. After that his private house was visited more and more by paparazzi and boulevard reporters Harmstorf committed suicide in his attic by hanging himself. This caused an investigation by the German police against leading boulevard magazines that proofed that most of the boulevard reports were completely wrong and that the artist's conditions were actually not that bad. The final statement of the Police was that the responibility for Harmstorf's suicide lied partially in the hands of the boulevard press.
Filmography (Selection}
- 1971: Der Seewolf - Direction: Wolfgang Staudte, Sergiu Nicolaescu
- 1973: Zanna Bianca - Regie: Lucio Fulci
- 1975: Un genio, due compari, un pollo - Regie: Damiano Damiani
- 1976: Michael Strogoff - Direction: Jean-Pierre Decourt
- 1977: California - Regie: Michele Lupo
- 1978: Quel maledetto treno blindato - Regie: Enzo G. Castellari
- 1978: Lo chiamavano Bulldozer - Regie: Michele Lupo
- 1979: Uno sceriffo extraterrestre - poco extra e molto terrestre - Regie: Michele Lupo
