Christian Wolff(I)

Leading German actor, trained at the Max-Reinhardt-Academy in Berlin between 1955 and 1957. Wolff was mentored by the Austrian actress Hilde Körber who suggested him for a role in Veit Harlan's (then) controversial motion picture Le troisième sexe (1957). Thereafter, Wollf acted primarily in mainstream, commercial entertainments, often as dashing, romantic heroes or as men of conscience. An example of the former is Le Brigand au grand coeur (1958), with Wolff as a young aristocrat who throws in his lot with a group of patriotic brigands (led by 'Schinderhannes', as played by Curd Jürgens) during Napoleon's occupation of the Rhineland. This straight-forward escapist adventure yarn was based on a play by Carl Zuckmayer and directed by the accomplished Helmut Käutner.

More complex screen personae include Wolff's wartime marine deserter in Cour martiale (1959), who, along with two comrades, is sentenced to death by a tribunal after leaving his sinking ship prematurely. Next, in La rage de vivre (1959), he is the ordinary student coaxed by a teacher to commit what amounts to be a criminal act. Betrayed by the teacher and ostracized by his authoritarian father, he is then pushed towards a life of crime, but ultimately redeemed in a happy ending (his co-star in this production was Corny Collins who became Wolff's second wife in 1959). Yet again, as a man with scruples, Wolff inLe gang descend sur la ville (1959) portrays a member of a vicious criminal gang who 'wants out', and, in the end, is presented with no choice but to blow the whistle on his ex-cronies. Further roles in prestige pictures saw Wolff alongside former Ufa star Zarah Leander in Le phalène bleu (1959) (as a murder suspect) and with Gert Fröbe in the classic melodrama Via Mala (1961).

By the late 60s, Wolff worked increasingly on the small screen, playing distinguished gents in series and TV movies. Latterly at his most popular, he headlined as Forest Ranger Martin Rombach in the long-running ZDF family show Une famille en Bavière (1989). First on stage from 1958 at the Berlin Hebbel Theater, Wolff has since acted in serious classical plays with the Deutsches Theater in Munich and in comedy, musicals and revues with the Komödie im Bayerischen Hof. As his theatrical output diminished, Wolff has become more and more prolific as a voice-over actor, providing the German language synchronizing for stars like Rutger Hauer, David Hemmings, Franco Nero, Alain Delon, Robert Redford, Dirk Bogarde and Tom Courtenay.

Christian Wollf's third wife is the journalist Marina Handloser. They have a son, Patrick Wolff, who is also an actor.