Bruno Ganz

Bruno Ganz is a Swiss actor, known for his roles as Damiel in Wings of desire and Adolf Hitler in Downfall (Der Untergang). Bruno Ganz was born in Zürich to a Swiss mechanic father and a northern Italian mother. He had decided to pursue an acting career by the time he entered university. He was equally drawn to stage and screen but initially enjoyed greater success in the theater.

Career
In 1960, Ganz landed his first film role, in Der Herr mit der schwarzen Melone (The Gentleman in the Black Derby). Despite the support of lead actor Gustav Knuth, his cinematic debut was not particularly successful and it was only many years later that his career in film got off the ground.

Ganz made his film breakthrough in a major part in the 1976 film Sommergäste, launching a widely recognized film career in both Europe and the U.S. Ganz played a professor opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in the thriller The Boys from Brazil (1978), about Nazi fugitives.

Ganz is probably best known for his role in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, as the angel Damiel. He co-starred with Dennis Hopper in Wenders' The American Friend, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel Ripley's Game.

He went on to portray Adolf Hitler in Der Untergang (The Downfall) (2004). Ganz did four months of research on Hitler in preparation for the role.

Ganz recently appeared in The Reader and Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, which were both nominated for the 81st Academy Awards (best picture and best foreign language film).

Filmography

 * Der Herr mit der schwarzen Melone (The Man in the Black Derby), 1960
 * Chikita, 1961
 * Sommergäste (Summer Guests), 1976
 * Lumière, 1976
 * Die Marquise von O... (The Marquise of O...), 1976
 * Die Wildente (Wild Duck), 1976
 * Der Amerikanische Freund (The American Friend), 1977
 * Die linkshändige Frau (The Left-Handed Woman), 1977
 * The Boys from Brazil, 1978
 * Messer im Kopf (Knife in the Head), 1978
 * Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu the Vampyre), 1979
 * Retour à la bien-aimée (Return to the Beloved), 1979
 * 5% de risques, 1980
 * Der Erfinder (The Inventor), 1980
 * La Dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias), 1980
 * La provinciale (1981)
 * Hands Up!, 1981
 * Die Fälschung (Circle of Deceit), 1981
 * Krieg und Frieden (War and Peace), 1983
 * Dans la ville blanche (In the White City, directed by Alain Tanner), 1983
 * Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire), 1987
 * Bankomatt (1989)
 * Strapless, 1989
 * Erfolg (Success), 1991
 * La Domenica specialmente (Especially on Sunday), 1991
 * The Last Days of Chez Nous, 1992
 * Brandnacht (Night on Fire), 1992
 * Prague, 1992
 * In weiter Ferne, so nah! (Faraway, So Close!), 1993
 * L'Absence (The Absence), 1994
 * Saint-Ex, 1997
 * Mia aioniotita kai mia mera (Eternity and a Day) 1998
 * Pane e Tulipani (Bread and Tulips), 2000
 * Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust, 2001 TV
 * Epsteins Nacht (Epstein's Night), 2002
 * Behind Me - Bruno Ganz, 2002
 * Luther, 2003
 * The Manchurian Candidate, 2004
 * Der Untergang (Downfall), 2004
 * Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II (2005)
 * Baruto no Gakuen (バルトの楽園; Ode an die Freude), 2006
 * Vitus, 2007
 * Youth Without Youth, 2007
 * The Reader, 2008
 * Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex), 2008
 * Dust of Time (Η Σκόνη του Χρόνου), 2009
 * Satte Farben vor Schwarz (Colours in the Dark), 2010
 * Das Ende ist mein Anfang (The End Is My Beginning), 2010
 * Unknown, 2011