Anecdotes

Spengler appeared in about 40 film and television productions between 1966 and 2004, working also with directors such as Christoph Schlingensief and Volker Schlöndorff. In Schlöndorff's Der Unhold, he played Hermann Göring, alongside Gottfried John and John Malkovich.

His trademark was his raspy voice.

His longtime partner Bob died on 20 April 1994 of AIDS.

He was a long-standing veteran at the Volksbühne and also the Berliner Ensemble.

Spengler is said to have sailed as a 14-year-old in the early 1950s and later did an apprenticeship as a businessman before studying drama in Salzburg and at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. His early career brought him together with celebrities such as the comedian Heinz Erhardt and the director Fritz Kortner.

He participated in productions of Pina Bausch's Tanztheater in Wuppertal.

Spengler was discovered for the Schiller Theater by director Fritz Kortner in 1967.

Spengler was best-known to international audiences as one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's key collaborators, especially as the transsexual Erwin/Elvira of the film In a Year of 13 Moons in 1978.

In Heiner Müller's last production, Brecht's Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui with the Berliner Ensemble, he played Giri together with Martin Wuttke.

On stage, he worked with directors such as Frank Castorf, Peter Palitzsch and René Pollesch.

He played boulevard theatre from 1965, alongside Heinz Erhardt in Stuttgart, with Ida Ehre in Hamburg, and with Fritz Rémond in Frankfurt.

From 1959 to 1961, he attended the Schauspielschule in Salzburg and the Vienna Reinhardt-Seminar.

Spengler began a commercial apprenticeship at age 18.

On stage, he played at Berlin's Volksbühne and with the Berliner Ensemble.

With Christoph Schlingensief, he played on stage at Berlin's Volksbühne, such as in Rosebud.