Gero von Boehm

Acclaimed journalist-turned-documentarian Gero von Boehm has lensed over a dozen small screen docs since his directorial debut in 1993. The ambitious German filmmaker won a Bavarian TV Award that year for his film "Schöpfer Mensch." His follow-up was a profile of noted philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco, "The Worlds of Umberto Eco," which aired on German television in 1995. In 2002, von Boehm was given his own series, "Gero von Boehm Begegnet...," which featured movers and shakers from the worlds of fashion, economics, and acting, among other fields. The show ran for over 100 episodes, and finally ended in 2009. Hosting duties did not prevent von Boehm from his own directorial efforts. Obsessed with fascinating personalities, he turned his eye to two world-renowned authors in the early 2000s. The first was playwright and political activist Gore Vidal, whom von Boehm chronicled in 2002's "Gore Vidal: My Life." Meanwhile, the similarly-titled "Norman Mailer: My Life" (2003) focused on the comparably innovative American storyteller Norman Mailer. Among Boehm's other documentary subjects were actresses Audrey Hepburn and Isabella Rossellini. Years before von Boehm found success in the director's chair, he had tried his hand as a performer. He notably appeared in a 1985 episode of the long-running crime drama "Tatort" and garnered an audience as two-time host of the talk show "Wortwechsel" in 1986.