Hannes Messemer

Who was Hannes Messemer?

Hannes Messemer was a German actor. Born in Dillingen an der Donau, Bavaria, Messemer served on the Eastern Front of World War II and was eventually captured by Soviet soldiers. He managed to escape and make it back to Germany on foot. After the war, Messemer tried his hand at several jobs, before falling into acting in 1946. With only his natural talent and no training, he successfully secured roles with several major theatre companes in Tubingen, Hamburg, Munich and Berlin in the following ten years.

His big break in films came with a role in Rose Bernd in 1956. He was then cast in the major role of Colonel Rossdorf in the production of Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam the following year - a role which saw him awarded a Best Actor accolade. A series of successful roles followed, including The Doctor of Stalingrad, Der Transport, Die Brücke des Schicksals and the comedy Babette Goes to War with Brigitte Bardot. He achieved critical international acclaim for his role as Colonel Muller in the Roberto Rossellini production of General della Rovere, with the film winning the Golden Lion at Cannes that year.

Messemer is probably best known for his role as the commandant in The Great Escape. The film had a star-studded cast, but it was Messemer, relatively unknown outside Europe, who uttered the film's most famous line: "It looks, after all, as if you will see Berlin before I do."