Otto Sander profile
Actor profile

Otto Sander

30th June 1941 Hanover, Germany Acting

Otto Sander (German: [ˈɔtoː ˈzandɐ]; June 30, 1941 – September 12, 2013) was a German film, theater, and voice actor. Sander grew up in Kassel, where he graduated in 1961 from the Friedrichgymnasium. After leaving school he spent his military service in 1961/62 with the Bundesmarine and left as reserve fenrik. Sander then studied theatre science, history of art and philosophy. In 1965 he made his acting debut at the Düsseldorfer chamber plays. After his first film work in the same year he abandoned his studies in 1967, and went to Munich to become a full-time actor. His career is closely connected with the Schaubühne theatre in Berlin under the direction of Peter Stein. From 1980 onwards Sander appeared on several of Berlin's theatre stages, among others at the Schillertheater in 1981, at the Freie Volksbühne in 1985 and in 1989 at the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm. More recently he starred in Hauptmann von Köpenick at the Schauspielhaus Bochum (2004). In 1990, he was a member of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival. Among his best-known film roles are the angel Cassiel in Wings of Desire and its sequel Faraway, So Close! by Wim Wenders, and a shell-shocked U-boat commander, Kapitänleutnant Philipp Thomsen, in Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot. Sander also appeared in The Tin Drum (1979) as a trumpeter and in Comedian Harmonists, a biopic about the musical group of the same name. He also played a professor in the movie The Promise about the division of Berlin by the wall. In 1999 he played a role in Rosa von Praunheim's movie The Einstein of Sex.

97 Movies 28 TV Shows 125 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Fly Away poster
Fly Away 12th July 2012 as Eckehardt Tiedgen
Krabat poster
Krabat 7th September 2008 as Narrator (voice)
Happy Too poster
Happy Too 1st August 2002 as Himself / Gert Bastian
Sass poster
Sass 27th September 2001 as Vater Sass
Marlene poster
Marlene 9th March 2000 as Bühnenmanager
Close Up poster
Close Up 28th February 1987 as Professor Spalt
Das Boot poster
Das Boot 17th September 1981 as Phillip Thomsen
Ludwig poster
Ludwig 28th November 1964 as Ludwig
DAS! poster
DAS! 2nd January 1991 as Self
Das Boot poster
Das Boot 24th February 1985 as Kapitänleutnant Philipp