Johannes Heesters

Johannes Heesters
Heesters in March 2006
Born	(1903-12-05) December 5, 1903 Amersfoort, Netherlands
Occupation(s)	Singer and actor
Years active	1921–present
Website	www.johannes-heesters.de

Johannes Heesters (born December 5, 1903) is a Dutch-Austrian actor, singer and entertainer with an 87-year career, almost exclusively in the German-speaking world.

In Germany and Austria Heesters is almost a part of popular culture and mainly known for his acting career. In his native Netherlands on the other hand, he is a controversial figure known almost exclusively for his collaboration with the National Socialist goverment of Germany during World War II, when he performed for German SS personel in concentration camps.

As of July 2009, aged 105, Heesters still holds the record of being the oldest performer worldwide who is still active, both on the stage and on television.

Life and work

Early life and career

Born Johan Marius Nicolaas Heesters in Amersfoort, Netherlands, Heesters very early in his career specialized in Viennese operetta, making his Viennese stage debut in 1934 in Karl Millöcker's Der Bettelstudent (The Beggar Student).

Career

Over the decades, "Da geh' ich ins Maxim", Count Danilo Danilovitch's entrance song from Franz Lehár's Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) —Danilo has spent most of the night drinking at Maxim's and flirting with women— has become Heesters's signature tune. More operettas followed, many of which were also made into musical films.

He moved to Germany in 1935. He performed for Adolf Hitler and visited the Dachau concentration camp. As a result "many Dutch people have never forgiven him."

Heesters worked extensively for UFA until almost the end of the Second World War (his last wartime movie being Die Fledermaus, produced in 1945) and easily made the transition from the Nazi-controlled cultural scene to post-war Germany and Austria, appearing again in a number of films, including Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach and the 1957 version of Viktor und Viktoria. He stopped making movies around 1960 to concentrate on stage and television appearances and on producing records.

Heesters has two daughters by his first wife Wiesje Ghijs, whom he married in 1930. After her death in 1985, he remarried in 1991; his second wife, Simone Rethel (born 1949), is a German actress, painter and photographer. His younger daughter Nicole Heesters is a well-known actress in German-speaking countries too.

In the 1990s, he and his wife toured Germany and Austria with Curth Flatow's play Ein gesegnetes Alter (A Blessed Age), which was also televised in 1996.

On December 5, 2003, he celebrated his 100th birthday with a television special "Eine Legende wird 100" ("A legend turns 100") on the ARD television channel.

In September and October 2003, Heesters appeared in Stuttgart at the Komödie im Marquardt theatre in a show commissioned on the occasion of his 100th birthday, Heesters — eine musikalische Hommage. In 2005 he was featured as a soloist in a major concert tour with the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg under the direction of Scott Lawton.

On December 5, 2006 he celebrated his 103rd birthday with a concert at the Wiener Konzerthaus. On December 5, 2007 he celebrated his 104th birthday with a concert at the Admiralspalast, Berlin, and in February 2008 he performed in his home country for the first time in four decades amidst protests against his Nazi associations. He is now almost completely blind due to glaucoma and macular degeneration.

Discography

Albums

• 1965: "Jetzt geh' ich ins Maxim"
• 2003: "Ich werde 100 Jahre alt"

Singles

• 1937: "Ich werde jede Nacht von ihnen träumen"
• 1939: "Musik, Musik, Musik" (featuring Marika Rökk)
• 1941: "Liebling, was wird nun aus uns beiden"
• 1941: "Man müßte Klavier spielen können"
• 1949: "Das kommt mir spanisch vor"
• 1949: "Tausendmal möchte' ich dich küssen"
• 1998: "Ich werde 100 Jahre alt" (song)
• 2007: "Generationen" (featuring Claus Eisenmann)

Honours, decorations, awards

• 1984: Bavarian Order of Merit
• 1993: Berlinian Order of Merit
• 2000: Ring of Honour of the City of Vienna
• Bambi in 1967, 1987, 1990, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008
• 2001: Platinum Romy (TV award)
• 2003: Goldene Kamera

Controversy

Heesters made the headlines in Dutch newspapers when he was asked by a Dutch journalist what he thought of Hitler on the current affairs show "De Wereld Draait Door" ("The World Keeps Turning"). "A good guy, that's what he was," he said on the clip shown Thursday 4 December, 2008. His wife, Simone Rethel, corrected him, saying that Hitler was the worst criminal in the world. "I know, doll," Heesters responded, "but he was nice to me."

Heesters subsequently apologised on the widely watched German TV show Wetten, dass..? on Saturday 13 December, 2008. He said that he had said "something stupid" ("etwas Dummes"), "something horrible" ("etwas Fürchterliches") and "For that I ask you for forgiveness" ("Dafür bitte ich euch um Verzeihung").

On 16 December 2008, Heesters lost a libel lawsuit over claims by author Volker Kuehn that he sang for Nazi guards at Dachau concentration camp. While acknowledging having visited the camp, Heesters denies performing as entertainment for the SS troops. In ruling, the German court did not find that Kuehn's allegations were true, but rather that too much time had passed for an accurate determination of fact to be made.

Quotes

My secret to a long, healthy life is to always keep working. It keeps me busy and happy, and gives me a reason to stay alive.

— Johannes Heesters, 9 September 2006
(in Dutch: "Mijn geheim voor een lang, gezond leven is altijd blijven werken. Het houdt me bezig en maakt me gelukkig, en geeft me een reden om te blijven leven."

External links

• Johannes Heesters at IMDb
• Official website (in German)
• Postcards and tobacco cards