Heinz Drache

Heinz Drache (1923-2002) was the most in-vogue screen cop of post-war German cinema. He first established his reputation in the role of the charismatic Inspector Yates in Francis Durbridge's TV miniseries Das Halstuch (1962) and continued in the same vein apprehending villains in a series of Edgar Wallace Krimis such as Der Zinker/The Squeaker (1963) and Der Hexer/The Mysterious Magician (1964). He appeared in 42 films between 1953 and 2002.


West German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4719 Photo: Arthur Grimm.


German postcard by Agfa, no. 525. Photo: Panorama Films. Renate Holm and Heinz Drache in Kein Auskommen mit dem Einkommen/Short of Cash (Herbert B. Fredersdorf, 1957).


East-German postcard by Progress, Berlin, no. 131/72. Photo: Suzy Kendall and Heinz Drache in Das Rätsel des silbernen Dreieck/Circus of Fear (Werner Jacobs (German version), John Llewellyn Moxey (Eglish version), 1966).

Gaining fame with Edgar Wallace Krimis

Heinz Drache was born in Essen, Germany, in 1923. Heinz did his schooling at the Alfred-Krupp-Gymnasium in Essen-Holsterhausen. He began his acting career in the theatre and acted in Nuremberg, Düsseldorf and Berlin. In Berlin, he met Gustaf Gründgens. This later brought him to Düsseldorf, where Drache was contracted for a role in Friedrich von Schiller's 'Die Räuber' (The Robbers) and in the play 'Der Schatten', which premiered in 1947. His colleagues included Käthe Gold, Marianne Hoppe, Gustav Knuth and Elisabeth Flickenschildt.

As early as the 1950s, Drache starred in numerous films and television productions. He gained fame in the 1960s in crime films based on Edgar Wallace. The first was Der Rächer/The Avenger (Karl Anton, 1960) with Ingrid van Bergen. Film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film two and a half out of four stars, calling it "[an] Above-par shocker".

Soon followed more Wallace adaptations such as Die Tür mit den sieben Schlössern/The Door with Seven Locks (Alfred Vohrer, 1962), Der Zinker/The Squeaker (Alfred Vohrer, 1963) and Der Hexer/The Mysterious Magician (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). In 1962, he also co-starred with Albert Lieven on television in the six-part blockbuster Das Halstuch/The Scarf (Hans Quest, 1962), based on a novel by Francis Durbridge.

Because of his popularity, Drache received the Golden Bravo Otto as the most popular TV star in the 1962 readers' poll of the youth magazine BRAVO. Apart from the Krimi films he also starred in the British family film Sandy the Seal (Robert Lynn, 1965/1968) with Marianne Koch. The film was shot in South Africa in Technicolor and Techniscope II with sequences shot on Seal Island, South Africa.

He also appeared in the British/West German co-production of The Brides of Fu Manchu/Die 13 Sklavinnen des Dr. Fu Man Chu (Don Sharp, 1966). This adventure crime film was based on the fictional Chinese villain Dr. Fu Manchu, created by Sax Rohmer and played by Christopher Lee.


West German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1068. Photo: Allianz Film. Heinz Drache in Bei dir war es immer so schön/It Was Always So Nice with You (Hans Wolff, 1954).


West German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3994. Photo: Dührkoop.


West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. FK 1097. Photo: Fono / Allianz-Film. Heinz Drache in Bei dir war es immer so schön/It Was Always So Nice with You (Hans Wolff, 1954).

The German voice of Frank Sinatra

Since 1946, Heinz Drache worked intensively as a radio play actor, mainly at NWDR Cologne and WDR. He was one of the lead actors in the radio plays 'Das kurze glückliche Leben des Francis Macomber' (1951) based on Ernest Hemingway or in 'Der Untertan' (1971) based on Heinrich Mann.

Drache worked as a voice actor and dubbed such Hollywood stars as Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, Frank Sinatra, Sean Connery and Richard Widmark. He also worked on German versions of Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) as the voice of Robert Duvall and The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) as the voice of Trevor Howard.

From 1985 to 1989, he also was inspector Bülow in six episodes of the popular Krimi series Tatort/Crime Scene. 'Don Flanello' was Drache's nickname because of his preference for tailored suits.

His last screen role was in the TV film Die Kristallprinzessin/The Crystal Princess (Rolf von Sydow, 2002) with Denise Zich and Anja Kruse. Heinz Drache was married to Rosemarie Eveline Nordmann from 1957 till his death. They had three children. His daughter Angelika, born in 1948, was from an earlier relationship with actress Edith Teichmann.

Heinz Drache passed away in 2002 at the age of 79. He died of lung cancer in a Berlin hospital after several months of illness. His grave is in the Dahlem in Veld cemetery.


West German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4055. Photo: Arca / Cinepress / Marszalek. Heinz Drache in Madeleine Tel. 13 62 11/Naked in the Night (Kurt Meisel, 1958).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1705, 1962. Heinz Drache in Die Frau am dunklen Fenster/The woman at the dark window (Franz Peter Wirth, 1960).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 134/70.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 234/70. Heinz Drache in Der Zinker/The Squeaker (Alfred Vohrer, 1963).


West German postcard by Kolibri - Friedrich W. Sander-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2306. Photo: Rialto / Constantin Film / Winkler. Heinz Drache in Der Hexer/The Mysterious Magician (Alfred Vohrer, 1964).

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.