Helmut Griem

Who was Helmut Griem?

Helmut Griem was a German film, television and stage actor and director.

Griem was primarily a German-speaking stage actor, appearing at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Munich Kammerspiele, and finally in the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, also in Munich.

Among his many film and TV appearances was one in NBC's Peter the Great as the formidable Tsar's lifelong friend and "right hand" Alexander Menshikov, alongside Maximilian Schell. His role in the Academy Award-winning film Cabaret as the wealthy Baron Maximilian von Heune is probably his best-known international performance. Other performances include his work in The Damned, The McKenzie Break, and Ludwig. He starred in the television mini-series "The Devil's Lieutenant" directed by John Goldschmidt, adapted by Jack Rosenthal and based on the novel by M Fagyas, for Channel 4 and ZDF.

Despite his success in film, the theatre remained at the heart of Griem's work, and he performed in many classic roles from both the German and English-language repertoire.