-and-Ernie-(Gerd-Duwner).jpg){kind=link}
Wolfgang Kieling (Bert) with Gerd Duwner (Ernie).
Wolfgang Kieling on the first episode of Derrick in 1974
Wolfgang Kieling (1924-1985) was a German actor who dubbed the voice of Bert on Sesamstrasse from 1973 until his death. Together with Gerd Duwner, who dubbed Ernie, they originated the duo on German language TV. In addition to the official Sesamstrasse albums, he also lent his voice to several Sesamstrasse albums on other labels. Kieling's wife at the time, Monika Gabriel, was also heard on Sesamstrasse, such as in "The Unhappy Empire" (included on the album Sesamstrasse, Folge 3).
Kieling was active in German cinema beginning as a child in the 1930s, although conscription into the German army during World War II interrupted his career. By the 1960s, he was often receiving third or fourth billing and sometimes even leads, with credits including two Eurowesterns, and appeared in a few English-language films. His most notable film, in any language, was Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (1966) as East German agent Gromek (killed by Paul Newman). The movie made Kieling in demand for English co-productions, and he followed it up with supporting parts in The Vengeance of Fu Manchu and House of 1,000 Dolls (with Vincent Price) and starring as literary detective Van der Valk in 1968's Amsterdam Affair.
He played drug smuggler Granich in the 1971 heist comedy $ (with Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn), and had a supporting role in the miniseries The Heart of the Matter. German films included Pension Clausewitz (starring, with Friedrich Schoenfelder), the Edgar Wallace krimi outing The Zombie Walks (with Wolfgang Spier), the Dieter Hallervorden comedy Didi und die Rache der Enterbten, Morgen in Alabama (with Klaus Höhne), and 1984's Abwärts (as one of four people trapped in an elevator). For German TV, he played Richard III, had leading parts in TV plays, starred on the legal drama Der Anwalt (1977-1978), and appeared in episodes of Tatort, Der Alte, and Derrick.
As a German-language voice actor, Kieling dubbed Frank Sinatra in Guys and Dolls and six other movies, Torn Curtain co-star Paul Newman in several films, Alec Guinness three times (including Passage to India), Leslie Nielsen twice, and in one film apiece, Charlton Heston (in Planet of the Apes), Marlon Brando, James Coburn, and Danny Kaye. He dubbed the Mad Hatter in Disney's Alice in Wonderland and narrated audio recordings ranging from a non-Disney Bambi to Dracula and Moby Dick.
Muppet dub credits[]
all as Bert
- Sesamstrasse
- Peter Alexander präsentiert Spezialitäten
- Weihnachten in der Sesamstraße (Christmas Eve on Sesame Street)
- Bibo in China (Big Bird in China)
- Bitte nicht die Bilder essen! (Don't Eat the Pictures)