Heinz Erhardt

From the late 1940s through the early 1970s, Heinz Erhardt was one of the most popular comedians and comic actors in Germany. Nearly all of his roles were built upon a persona Erhardt had perfected on radio and as a live performer: a meek, somewhat eccentric man whose milquetoast exterior hid a dextrous wit. Erhardt, whose plans to become a professional musician were interrupted by World War II, was one of Germany's biggest film and television stars in the 1950s and '60s. He played his most popular character, bumbling family man Willi Winzig, in four films between 1969 and 1972, but a debilitating stroke ended his career shortly thereafter.