It was his warmth, enthusiasm and infectious happiness that made him the perfect host. It was no coincidence that Gerhard Schmitt-Thiel found a role as emcee and presenter that he fulfilled perfectly over many decades, from the gala to the internationally acclaimed television event. For Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), to which he remained loyal since the end of the 1970s, he also worked for a long time as the responsible source of ideas and implementation behind the scenes, organizing game shows and quiz programs.
The “show stories” that he helped launch, which were first broadcast on Bayerischer Rundfunk in 1986, even found their way onto ARD and ran to more than 60 episodes. He showed his affinity for big shows and especially for the circus with the “Stars in the Ring”, for which he even appeared in front of the cameras as ringmaster himself from the end of the 1980s. And almost as a matter of course, he also made circus fans happy for years as the organizer, producer and presenter of a television format of the Monte Carlo Circus Festival.
In 1990, Schmitt-Thiel gave up his permanent position at BR to become self-employed. He maintained his presence on the screen, bringing viewers programs such as “People with Hearts”, special Bambi awards, choir festivals, concerts, talk shows and fireside chats into their living rooms.
He remained very connected to his Munich even beyond national fame and repeatedly took part in public readings against forgetting. Every year on the first Advent he read texts to laugh, remember and think about during the Christmas season together with the radio journalist Ursula Trischler in the Freimann Mohr Villa.
He played a key role in establishing this cultural center. He was also one of the first activists who saved the house for their district – Schmitt-Thiel was one of the neighbors who climbed over the wall of the dilapidated Mohr villa at night in the late 1980s to do something about the feared felling of the magnificent trees to do in the park of the villa.
Gerhard-Schmitt-Thiel died last weekend at the age of 82.