Willy A. Kleinau

Willy A. Kleinau ( native Willy Adolf Kleinau; born November 12, 1907 in Mulhouse in Alsace, Mulhouse today, † October 18, 1957 in Merseburg ) was a German actor and director, who enjoyed his training with Louise Dumont in Dusseldorf until 1932. From 1932 he was active mainly in Meiningen, Konstanz, Potsdam and Wuppertal. After the Second World War, he played in Bremen, Göttingen and Hamburg, and since 1949 also in Berlin.

The Deutsches Theater in Berlin and at the adult stage, he played many major classical stage roles. He embodied the city's main man in The Government Inspector, the old Clausen in Before Sunset and the title character in Wolfgang Langhoff's production of Faust 1949 /50. He participated in Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession (1950), Gorky's Egor Bulytschow (1952 ) and Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes (1957). In Othello (1953) and Götz von Berlichingen (1955 ), he starred as the title character.

His film career began in 1949 and had its focus in the DEFA productions.

Less than a month before reaching his 50th birthday died Kleinau 1957 following a car accident near Merseburg. His tomb is located on the Dorotheenstädtischer cemetery in Berlin.

Filmography

Awards

• National Prize of the GDR in 1951 and 1953