Bernd Von Beyenbach - Character's Background

Character's Background

Bernd is the younger brother of Martin von Beyenbach (Gerry Hungbauer), but the relationship between the two brothers hasn't been easy for a very long time. Few years back, Bernd had an affair with Martin's first wife Sylvia (Heike Brentano), when the family still owned a shipping company in Hamburg. He also managed an insurance fraud, which lead to the ruin of the company and brought Sylvia, his partner-in-crime, behind bars for four years. Bernd himself never played for the fraud, when he fled to Brazil for the last couple of years. In Brazil also his daughter Vanessa (Inez Bjørg David).

Nearly 20 years later, Bernd comes to Düsseldorf, where Martin lives with his three children and his second wife Beatrice. But between the married-couple rages the wars of the roses. Bernd uses the situation to get Beatrice's trust. She doesn't know that Bernd only wants to use her to get Martin's company Beyenbach AllMedia. After the divorce, Bernd wants to marry Beatrice and brings her to accept his proposal. After the wedding, Bernd thinks that he can get his hand on Beatrice's shares of the company. But she wants to sell them to have for time for her new husband. Bernd needs to act fast and plans to murder his wife on a masked-ball. The attempted murder is foiled by Sylvia, but Beatrice falls into a coma. After another attempted murders come to nothing, Bernd lets Beatrice come home and sends her in a medically induced coma. Martin and his son Felix (Stefan Kirch) manage it to get Beatrice out of Bernd's care. But when Beatrice finally wakes up, she suffers amnesia and doesn't remember anything. While Bernd thinks he is safe, Beatrice's memories slowly come back and she realizes that Bernd tried to kill her. She plans her revenge, but Sylvia and Martin come behind Beatrice's plan and want to detain her. Martin even warns Bernd and he realizes that he needs to get away, while Beatrice is on a yacht waiting for him. She is shocked when Martin arrives instead of Bernd. It gets worse, when Beatrice tells him that she started a bomb and she can't stop it. When Martin and Beatrice try to escaped, Beatrice falls. Martin tries to help, when they both get killed by the explosion. Meanwhile, Bernd is driving to the airport and gets nervous when the police is looking for him, when he arrives. But they don't come to arrest Bernd, they want to tell him about Beatrice and Martin's death. Bernd is relieved and with the heritage of Beatrice's shares of Beyenbach AllMedia, he thinks he gets what he wanted in the first place. But Beatrice changed her will before her death and Bernd is left with nothing. He tries to fake the will, but his daughter Vanessa tells him to leave it. Felix becomes the sole heir. Sylvia and Felix enjoy their new power over Bernd, fire him from his job by Beyenbach AllMedia and throw him out of the house.

It doesn't take long, until Bernd meets the beautiful countess Carla von Lahnstein (Claudia Hiersche). He wants to marry her, but this marriage with Carla would be a fake for Carla's father Johannes (Thomas Gumpert), who doesn't know that his daughter is a lesbian. After the lie comes out, Johannes still wants Carla to marry to Bernd, but later Carla and Bernd get a divorce, when the marriage lost their use.

After her marriage with Carla, Bernd has lots of money problems. He finds a new victim to get to money in the wealthy bistro owner Charlie Schneider (Gabriele Metzger). Charlie's brother Lars (Herbert Ulrich) and Carla warn her about Bernd, but she doesn't listen to them. Bernd's game seems to be a success, but then he sleeps with an attractive, young woman. He doesn't know is that this was Charlie's niece Olivia (Kristina Dörfer). She blackmailes Bernd, when she needs more money for her dissolute life. But Olivia discovers that Bernd has no money. Olivia then discloses her one-night-stand with Bernd on his engagement party with Charlie. Thinking that Charlie wouldn't forgive him, Bernd leaves town.