Press
On April 10th, cult actor Fritz Wepper was buried in Munich – an emotional farewell that was also attended by several companions.
Munich – There are tears even in front of the church. Poldi from Bavaria can hardly hold her back. “Fritz and I were friends for 50 years! I am incredibly sad, I will miss him so much.” Like everyone who comes to the glass Sacred Heart Church in Neuhausen on this cloudy Wednesday. It is a small circle that pays its last respects to the great Fritz Wepper, who died in the hospice on March 25th at the age of 82.
Widow Susanne Kellermann and their daughter Filippa sit in the front row of the huge hall. The few people dressed in deep black seem almost lost – only those mourners who can show an invitation are allowed into the church. The funeral assistants do not allow anyone else in; each name is strictly checked off on a list. Many acquaintances who would have liked to say goodbye turn back without having achieved anything.
Fritz Wepper buried: A number of celebrities mourn the death of the cult actor
And so the closest family circle and a few selected friends stayed among themselves. “Fritz was such a happy, fun-loving person,” says lawyer Dr. Wolfgang Seybold, who visited his friend in the hospice in Agatharied. “He was my funny Fritz, we always had a lot of fun together,” remembers actress Andrea Wildner, who once appeared in front of the camera with Wepper in “For Heaven’s Sake.” As did ex-TV nun Janina Hartwig, who spent countless hours with Wepper on the film set. “It is a great loss for all of us,” she says in a quiet voice.
Because Fritz Wepper was one thing: a man of heart and soul who could entertain brilliantly. The cheerfulness of his heart speaks to his friends on this day. Without exception, everyone remembers Wepper’s gift of being able to tell endless jokes. “He could do that for hours,” says actor Francis Fulton-Smith. Uschi Glas also immediately thinks of “the little outrages we did together. It was a close friendship, we really filmed a lot together.”
Last honor for Fritz Wepper: Prime Minister Söder also comes to the funeral
Prime Minister Markus Söder, who has honored him several times, dares to go a long way: “Fritz Wepper could have had a great career in Hollywood, but he chose his family and Bavaria.” After the more than hour-long memorial service with farewell speeches from Söder, Hubert Burda and Wepper’s friend Maximilian Heiden, the funeral took place in the small cemetery on Winthirstrasse – in the grave of Wepper’s family. His brother Elmar was buried here just last year. “Now they are reunited,” says Söder.
After the memorial service and the funeral, publisher Hubert Burda invited him to a farewell dinner in Kuffler’s lake house in the English Garden. Everyone held a portrait of Fritz Wepper in their hands, which read: “A big, wonderful heart has stopped beating. You wanted to be with us so much. It’s so hard to bear the pain. Without you everything will be different.”
It caused an uproar: Barbara Engel, Bernd Herzsprung’s ex-wife and once a close friend of Fritz Wepper, was denied entry into the church for the funeral service on the grounds that she was not on the list. “But I have an invitation,” claimed Engel, who came especially from Berlin. “No, I’m sorry, they’re not allowed in,” a funeral official said. “An outrage. I knew Fritz for 50 years,” said Engel, who later lit a candle for Wepper.