Gert Westphal
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gert Westphal
| image =
| image_upright =
| caption =
| birth_name = Curt Gerhard Westphal
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|10|05|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Dresden, Germany
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|11|10|1920|10|05|df=yes}}
| death_place = Zürich, Switzerland
| education = Staatsschauspiel Dresden
| occupation = {{plainlist|
- Actor
- Reciter
- Audio director
- Radio manager
}}
| organizations = {{plainlist|
}}
| awards = {{plainlist|
- Deutscher Schallplattenpreis
- Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
- Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
}}
}}
Curt Gerhard Westphal, stage name Gert Westphal, (5 October 1920 – 10 November 2002) was a German-Swiss actor, audiobook narrator, recitator and director, one of the best-known audiobook narrators and speakers in German, described as "König der Vorleser" (king of reciters)[https://www.ungekuerzte-lesung.de/presse/gert-westphal/ Die Stimme der Klassiker. / Gert Westphal, Sprecher, Rezitator und Schauspieler, starb im Alter von 82 Jahren] ungekuerzte-lesung.de and "der Caruso der Vorleser" (the Caruso of reciters).Solothurner Nachrichten, 8 July 1989, article by Kurt Steinmann After his reading of her husband's works, Katia Mann called him "des Dichters oberster Mund" (the poet's principal voice).Bernd M. Kraske (ed.): Des Dichters oberster Mund – Gert Westphal zum 70. Geburtstag. Böckel Verlag, 1990, {{ISBN|3-923793-12-X}}. The literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki said he was probably the best reciter of German.{{citation|surname1=Peter Lückemeier|periodical=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung|title=Eine Stimme, die Welten erschafft|location=Frankfurt|page=10|date=22 January 2018|language=German
}}
Career
File:Thomas and Katia Mann.jpg
Born in Dresden as the son of a culturally interested factory director, Westphal attended the Realgymnasium in Blasewitz, graduating with the Abitur. He trained in acting with Paul Hoffmann at the Dresdner Staatsschauspielhaus, where he made his stage debut in 1940 in a minor role in Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen. He was then drafted for military service and later became a prisoner of war. In 1946 he moved to Bremen, where he was both a member of the {{ill|Kammerspiele Bremen|de}} and an announcer for Radio Bremen. Starting in 1948, he headed that broadcaster's radio drama division. In 1953, he took the same position with Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden where he remained until 1959. He was in contact with authors such as Alfred Andersch, Ingeborg Bachmann, Gottfried Benn, Max Frisch and Carl Zuckmayer. He commissioned new radio dramas and collaborated with Max Ophüls, Will Quadflieg, Hans Paetsch, Oskar Werner, Walter Jens and Joachim Fest.
As a reciter and audiobook narrator, Westphal recorded major works by German authors, and also translations of writers such as Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo, Henry James and Thornton Wilder, with a focus on Russian literature by Chinghiz Aitmatov, Fjodor Dostojewski, Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Goncharov, Maxim Gorki, Nikolai Leskov, Vladimir Nabokov, Leo Tolstoi and Anton Checkov, among others. In 1994, he performed along with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in a series of readings of correspondence, such as between Hofmannsthal and Strauss, and between Zelter and Goethe.
File:Thomas Mann Gert Westphal 2.jpg
He died in Zürich and was buried in Kilchberg, next to the family grave of Thomas Mann.[https://shop-kilchberg.backslash.ch/public/upload/assets/210/Friedhofsbroschure_Kilchberg.pdf Der Friedhof / Gemeinde Kilchberg] Kilchberg
Awards
- 1975: Literature prize of Kanton Zürich
- 1982: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
= Awards for recordings =
- Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
- Ehrenurkunde, 1991, as the first and so far only speaker*{{Cite web |url=http://www.schallplattenkritik.de/component/docman/doc_download/62-ehrenpreistraeger-1968-2011 |title=Complete list of Ehrenpreis recipients 1968–2011, p. 3 |access-date=15 November 2018 |archive-date=25 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925171126/https://www.schallplattenkritik.de/component/docman/doc_download/62-ehrenpreistraeger-1968-2011 |url-status=dead }}
= Awards for audio plays =
- Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden for Prinzessin Turandot by Wolfgang Hildesheimer, 1955 (direction)[http://www.kriegsblindenbund.de/hoerspielpreis-der-kriegsblinden.html#preise Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden Akustische Spielformen – Von der Hörspielmusik zur Radiokunst – Der Karl-Sczuka-Preis 1955–2005] Bund der Kriesblinden
- {{ill|Karl Zczuka Prize|de|Karl-Sczuka-Preis}} for Der trojanische Krieg findet nicht statt by Jean Giraudoux, music by {{ill|Peter Zwetkoff|de}}, 1955 (direction)[https://web.archive.org/web/20181115170801/https://www.swr.de/swr2/hoerspiel-feature/hoerspiel-als-radiokunst-der-karl-sczuka-preis/akustische-spielformen-buchdokumentation/-/id=661194/did=637882/mpdid=2180706/nid=661194/11t9q8o/index.html ] SWR
- Prix Italia for Wovon wir leben und woran wir sterben by {{ill|Herbert Eisenreich|de}}, 1957(speaker)[https://www.radiobremen.de/unternehmen/chronik/hoerspiel140.html Bremer Rundfunk-Chronik / 1950–1960: Das Jahrzehnt des Hörspiels] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115153833/https://www.radiobremen.de/unternehmen/chronik/hoerspiel140.html |date=15 November 2018 }} Radio Bremen
- Karl-Sczuka-Preis for Ungeduld des Herzens by Stefan Zweig, music by Peter Zwetkoff, 1961 (direction)
- Prix Italia for A hard day's night by Anders Bodelsen, 1967 (direction)[http://hoerspiele.dra.de/vollinfo.php?tipp=1&dukey=1432596 Anders Bodelsen / A hard day's night] hoerspiele.dra.de
- {{ill|Hörspiel des Monats|de}} for Udo der Stählerne by {{ill|Theodor Weißenborn|de}} and Josef Alois Gleich, January 1994 (narrator)[http://www.goetz-naleppa.de/regie2.html Udo, der Stählerne] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101053823/https://www.goetz-naleppa.de/regie2.html |date=1 January 2020 }} goetz-naleppa.de
Literature
- {{Theaterlexikon|Gert Westphal|3|2084|2085|Autor=Julia Danielczyk}}
- Oliver W. Grabow: Gert Westphal. Gesamtverzeichnis seiner Arbeiten von 1940 bis 2002. Arethousa Verlag, München 2013, {{ISBN|978-3-934207-22-6}}.[http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/startseite/schaffensbilanz-1.18117300 Schaffensbilanz.] (review) Neue Zürcher Zeitung 16 July 2013, retrieved 16 August 2013
- Katrin Krämer: Vorlesen ist ein Liebesakt. Gert Westphal – Die Stimme der Literatur, biographic feature, Radio Bremen 2000, aired 22 November 2015
References
{{reflist
| refs =
| url = http://www.mwolf.de/kalendarium/1994.htm
| title = 1994
| website = mwolf.de
| language = German
| accessdate = 30 December 2018
}}
| last = Zemke
| first = Klaus
| url = https://www.dw.com/de/1985-interview-mit-gert-westphal/a-15453093
| title = 1985: Interview mit Gert Westphal / "Glücklich bin ich immer, wenn ich Goethe lesen darf" – Gert Westphal über seine Tätigkeit als Rezitator
| publisher = Deutsche Welle
| date = 18 October 2011
| language = German
| accessdate = 4 October 2018
}}
| url = https://www.der-audio-verlag.de/sprecher/westphal-gert/
| title = Gert Westphal
| publisher = Der Audio Verlag
| date =
| language = German
| accessdate = 15 November 2018
}}
}}
External links
{{Commonscat}}
- {{DNB portal|115770348}}
- {{discogs artist}}
- {{IMDb name|nm0923038}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150928021904/http://www.radiobremen.de/kultur/portraets/gertwestphal102.html Gert Westphal zum 90. Geburtstag] Radio Bremen
- [http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/0,1518,434050,00.html "Lyrik und Jazz": Der Groove von Heinrich Heine] Der Spiegel 13 September 2006
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Category:Male actors from Dresden
Category:20th-century German male actors
Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Category:German emigrants to Switzerland