Dieter Mann

Dieter Mann (20 June 1941 – 3 February 2022) was a German actor, director, university professor, and radio personality. In his career, he acted in several theater productions and in over 140 film and television productions. Between 1984 and 1991, he was director of the Deutsches Theater. In 1986, he became a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts. Internationally, he is best known for having portrayed Wilhelm Keitel in Downfall. Early life Mann was born in Berlin as the son of a worker. He had an older brother who later became a foreign correspondent. He went to school in Pankow and learned the trade of lathe operator at VEB Kühlautomat. After his Abitur, he began acting training in the early 1960s at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. Career From 1964 to 2006, during his time at the Deutsches Theater Berlin, Mann portrayed the Templar in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's Nathan the Wise, the lead role in Clavigo and Edgar Wibeau in Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.. He also portrayed Demetrius in a German production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. From 1984 to 1991, he was Intendant of the house.