Helmut Griem

Helmut Griem (6 April 1932 in Hamburg – 19 November 2004 in Munich) was a German actor.

Griem was primarily a German-speaking stage actor, appearing at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Staatliches Schauspielbühnen in Berlin, in the Munich Kammerspiele, and finally in the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, also in Munich.

Among his many film and TV appearances (a quite memorable one being NBC's mini-series Peter the Great, portraying the formidable Tsar's lifelong friend and "right hand" Alexander Menshikov, alongside Maximilian Schell), the Oscar-winning film Cabaret (1972), in which he played the rich "Baron Maximilian von Heune" is probably the best-known; other internationally-known performances include his work in The Damned, The McKenzie Break, and Ludwig. Griem starred in the television mini-series "The Devil's Lieutenant" directed by John Goldschmidt, adapted by Jack Rosenthal and based on the novel by M Fagyas, for Channel 4 and ZDF.

Despite his success in film, the theatre remained at the heart of Griem's work, and he performed in many classic roles from both the German and English-language repertoire. Later in his career Griem turned to theatre direction, including Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill. Before his death, Griem had planned to direct the Botho Strauss play Die eine und die andere (This One and The Other).

Griem twice won the Bambi Award: in 1961 and in 1976.