page_title: Bruno Ganz
section_title: Stage career
hierarchical_section_title: Bruno Ganz / Career / Stage career
caption_attribution_description: English: Swiss actor Bruno Ganz at German Film Festival in Tokyo, 11 June 2005. Deutsch: Schweizer Schauspieler Bruno Ganz beim Deutschen Filmfestival Tokio, am 11. Juni 2005.
context_page_description: Bruno Ganz was a Swiss actor whose career in German television and film productions spanned nearly 60 years. He was known for his collaborations with the directors Werner Herzog, Éric Rohmer, Francis Ford Coppola, and Wim Wenders, earning widespread recognition with his roles as Jonathan Zimmerman in The American Friend, Jonathan Harker in Nosferatu the Vampyre and Damiel the Angel in Wings of Desire.
  Ganz received renewed international acclaim for his portrayal of Adolf Hitler in the Oscar-nominated film Downfall. He also had roles in several English-language films, including The Boys from Brazil, Strapless, The Manchurian Candidate, The Reader, Unknown and Remember. On stage Ganz portrayed Dr. Heinrich Faust in Peter Stein's staging of Faust, Part One and Faust, Part Two in 2000.
  From 1996 until his death in 2019, Ganz held the Republic of Austria's Iffland-Ring, which passes from actor to actor—each bequeathing the ring to the next holder, judging that actor to be the "most significant and most worthy actor of the German-speaking theatre". Ganz was also honored with the Order of Merit of Germany and was made a knight of the French Légion d'honneur.
context_section_description: Ganz made his theatrical debut in 1961 and devoted himself mainly to the stage for almost the next two decades. In 1970, he helped found the Berliner Schaubühne ensemble and two years later performed in the Salzburg Festival premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Der Ignorant und der Wahnsinnige, under the direction of Claus Peymann.
  The German magazine Theater heute solidified Ganz's reputation as a stage actor by pronouncing him Schauspieler des Jahres (Actor of the Year) in 1973. One of Ganz's most physically demanding stage portrayals was the title character in Peter Stein’s 2000 production of Goethe's Faust (Parts I and II); he suffered injuries during rehearsals which delayed him starting in the role. He also served as a speaker in classical music works, including a 1993 recording of Luigi Nono's Il canto sospeso with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
caption: Ganz at the Tokyo German Film Festival in 2005[12]
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