Lukas Ammann (29 September 1912 – 3 May 2017) was a Swiss actor who appeared mainly in German and Swiss films and television shows. He continued to work steadily for over 60 years. He is best known for his title role in the German television series Graf Yoster.
Early life Lukas Ammann's mother was a singer and his father a painter. After he saw Schiller's The Robbers at grammar school in Basel, he aspired to be an actor.Lukas Ammann 100 Jahre alt: Über der Rolle stehen Starting in 1933 he attended the acting school of Max Reinhardt in Berlin. In 1934, he left Germany with Heinrich Gretler for Switzerland. Because of his Jewish mother, he was discriminated against even in Switzerland. In the beginning he worked in St. Gallen and later at the Schauspielhaus Zürich with Therese Giehse. In 1948, he participated under Kurt Hirschfeld in the role of the attorney in the premiere of Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti. After World War II, Ammann belonged to the Ensemble of the theatre Kleine Freiheit in Munich. Guest performances and tours led him to stages in Austria, Scandinavia and the USA.
Cinematic career Ammann began his film career in the 1939 Swiss movie Constable Studer after the novel of Friedrich Glauser, starring Heinrich Gretler. Beginning in the 1950s, he was successful especially on German Television. In 1961, he played in the series Gestatten, mein Name ist Cox with Günter Pfitzmann and Paul Edwin Roth. In 1963, he was one of the jurors in , which was a remake of the American film 12 Angry Men for German television.IMDB: "Die zwölf Geschworenen" (1963)
In 1966, Ammann played in the first color-TV series Adrian der Tulpendieb. On top of that he appeared in series like Das Kriminalmuseum, , Der Forellenhof and Der Kommissar. In 1973, the horror movie Mark of the Devil Part II depicted him as tortured to death.
Between 1967 and 1977 he achieved great popularity in his most famous role in the German detective series Graf Yoster, where he played the main part of the same name.
From 1994 to 2000, Ammann played a family patriarch in the television series Die Fallers. In 1998, he played a purported survivor of the Holocaust in Dani Levy's film Meschugge. In 2005, at age 92, he played Abi Goldstein in Micha Lewinsky's Swiss short film Herr Goldstein. It won an award for best Swiss short film at the Locarno International Film Festival. Ammann lent his voice in German dubbing Peter Sellers (in John and Julie, 1955) and Lucky Luke (in the animated film Daisy Town, 1971).Lukas Ammann at Synchronkartei
In 2013, he worked again, aged 101, with the director Ronnie R. Vogt on the movie Reunion Solitaire.
Personal life Lukas Ammann lived in Munich. After two failed marriages, he married German soprano Liselotte Ebnet in 1959; she died in 2009. As of 2015, he still ran his household by himself and also drove his car.Aargauerzeitung He died in May 2017 at the age of 104 from complications from surgery.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1939 Constable Studer 1940 Verena Stadler 1940 Dilemma Sterner 1941 Bieder der Flieger Direktor der Gnomefabrik 1943 Menschen, die vorüberziehen Blacky 1952 Palace Hotel Dr. Suvalà 1955 Bel Ami Le ministre Laroche-Mathieu 1957 Weißer Holunder 1957 The Devil Strikes at Night Pflichtverteidiger von Keun 1958 I Was All His Dessouki 1959 Heiße Ware Erwin Wanka 1959 The Ideal Woman Butler Uncredited1959 Der Schatz vom Toplitzsee Jugoslawischer Grenz-Leutnant 1959 Hast noch der Söhne ja...? Coiffeur Mani 1963 Der grüne Kakadu François, Vicomte von Nogeant 1963 Ferien vom Ich 1963 Juror 12 TV movie1966 Congress of Love Von Gentz 1967 Day of Anger Judge Cutcher 1967-1977 Graf Yoster Graf Yoster 62 episodes, leading role1968 Jet Generation Inspektor Arnold 1968 The Killer Likes Candy Faoud 1970 Dällebach Kari Basler Nationalrat 1970 Cinque 1972 Massagesalon der jungen Mädchen Maurice 1973 Mark of the Devil Part II Eminence 1988 Fritz Erne 1990 Flight from Paradise Mait 1990 Prof. Wagner 1994-2000 Die Fallers – Eine Schwarzwaldfamilie Wilhelm Faller 170 episodes, leading role1998 Meschugge Max Weiss 2015 Reunion Solitaire Der ältere Herr (final film role)
See also List of centenarians (actors, filmmakers and entertainers)
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