Eberhard Feik

Famous primarily for his role as Christian Thanner on the long-running German police series "Tatort," television actor Eberhard Feik fell in love with acting during college and quit his studies in English and German to focus on dramatics. His first small part on "Tatort" came in 1972, and during the 1970s Feik honed his skills on stage as he both performed and directed plays by the likes of Brecht, Ibsen and Shakespeare, while also appearing in television movies such as "Die Vorstadtkrokodile" and "Schöne lahme Ferien." His big break came in 1981 when he was cast as Commissioner Horst Schimanski's partner, Thanner, on "Tatort," a role he would make wildly popular for the next decade, even portraying the character in the 1985 cinematic feature "Scene of the Crime: A Tooth for a Tooth" and its follow-up, 1987's "The Crack Connection." During the 1980s, Feik also performed in a slew of German films and television projects, among them 1986's "Der Polenweiher" and 1987's "Anna." After undergoing triple bypass surgery following a heart attack he suffered in 1988 on the set of "Tatort," the actor continued to work into the 1990s with roles in the series "Unser Lehrer Doktor Specht" and the 1993 comedic film "Mr. Bluesman" with B.B. King. The actor succumbed to a second heart attack while on a bicycling tour and died in 1994.