Given the question: Facts: - death place: aachen , north rhine-westphalia , germany - known for: the great escape - birth name: hans edwin messemer - death cause: heart attack - yearsactive: 1956-1989 - death date: 02 november 1991 - spouse: monika -rrb- susanne korda -lrb- 1980-1981 -rrb- -lrb- divorced -rrb- rosel keusch schafer -lrb- 1952-1977 -rrb- -lrb- divorced -rrb- -lrb- 1 child -lrb- -rrb- 1985 -1991 -rrb- -lrb- his death - birth date: 19 may 1924 - name: hannes messemer - nationality: german - birth place: dillingen an der donau , bavaria - occupation: actor Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of hannes messemer .
The answer is:
hannes messemer -lrb- 19 may 1924 -- 2 november 1991 -rrb- 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 companies 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 '' -lrb- destination death -rrb- , '' die brucke 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 '' -lrb- 1959 -rrb- , with the film winning the golden lion at venice that year .messemer is probably best known for his role as the commandant in '' the great escape '' -lrb- 1963 -rrb- .the film had a star-studded cast , but it was messemer , relatively unknown outside europe , who uttered the film 's most famous line -lrb- to steve mcqueen/capt .hilts -rrb- : '' it looks , after all , as if you will see berlin before i do . ''he continued to star in tv and theatre productions , becoming a familiar face to german television audiences for over 20 years .some of his roles included major tv productions such as '' union der festen hand '' and '' die damonen '' , as well as two years as commissioner deeds in the tv drama series '' sergeant berry '' .he also lent his distinctive voice to radio and recorded works , including the writings of...