The director Dieter Wedel is dead. This was confirmed by the District Court of Munich I.
Dieter Wedel became famous in the 1970s as a director of everyday television films, initially primarily for the North German Broadcasting Corporation. His stories about the Semmeling family, whose life he told in several films, were satirical reflections on normality in the Federal Republic of Germany. In the seventies it was “Once in a Lifetime” about building a house and “Every Year Again” about a family vacation trip. In 2002, Wedel continued his legendary stories on ZDF with the six-part series “The Semmeling Affair”. However, he was not able to build on the great success of the past.
In the 1990s, Wedel attracted particular attention with two television miniseries starring Mario Adorf – “Der Große Bellheim”, in which Adorf plays a hotel manager who has to deal with his own aging, was the most expensive production in German television history at the time . In “Der Schattenmann” Adorf played a criminal real estate agent and mafioso in Frankfurt’s red-light district. Wedel worked for television until 2010 and shot with stars like Veronica Ferres and Ulrich Tukur. He also repeatedly staged plays at major German theaters such as the Thalia Theater in Hamburg.
From 2003 Dieter Wedel was director of the theater festival in Worms, from 2014 to 2018 also at the Bad Hersfeld festival. In the course of the international “Me Too” revelations in early 2018, several actresses went public with allegations of sexual harassment, humiliation and rape against Wedel. Several public broadcasters then retrospectively examined their cooperation with Wedel.
In March 2021, the Munich I public prosecutor’s office brought charges because he is said to have raped the then 27-year-old actress Jany Tempel in 1996. Other women had also turned to the public about violent attacks by Wedel. Wedel denied the allegations to the end.
On Wednesday, a decision should be made there as to whether the charges against him for the allegation of rape should be admitted.