He invented the “Tatort” inspectors Bienzle and Palu and was one of the best-known German screenwriters. Felix Huby has now died at the age of 83.
He breathed life into crime scene inspectors Schimanski, Palu and Bienzle. Now Felix Huby is dead. The screenwriter, television series writer and writer died on Friday in Berlin at the age of 83. This is reported by the “Stuttgarter Zeitung”. Huby had cancer, but he’s been better lately.
Felix Huby was born Eberhard Hungerbühler on December 21, 1938 in Dettenhausen near Tübingen. After leaving high school without a high school diploma, he became an editor at the “Schwäbische Donau-Zeitung” after completing a traineeship. He then became editor-in-chief of the product testing magazine DM and later of the magazine “X-Magazine”. From 1972 to 1979 he was a correspondent for the “Spiegel” for Baden-Württemberg and also reported on the RAF trials in Stuttgart.
Legendary interview with Prime Minister Hans Filbinger
In 1978 he interviewed Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister at the time, Hans Filbinger (CDU). It became a legendary interview because Filbinger, as a Nazi judge, had pronounced death sentences. In an hour-long conversation with Huby, Filbinger uttered the now historic sentence “What was right then can’t be wrong today”. Huby was shocked:
“I was so devastated after that, realizing that this man was so persistent about his point of view that he was absolutely right at the time. It’s still a terrible story when I think about it today.”
Filbinger had to resign. Huby gave up journalism a little later.
From journalist to author
At 40, Huby became a novelist. The book “Der Atomkrieg in Weihersbronn” was a success and Huby was in demand as a prolific writer – especially for television. He invented the “crime scene” inspectors Palu for Saarland and Bienzle for Süddeutscher Rundfunk. Huby wrote series after series: from “Oh God, Herr Pfarrer” to “Ein Bayer auf Rügen”.
Sometimes ridiculed by the critics
Critics sometimes scoffed at Huby having a writing factory in the basement. He produces simple assembly line entertainment. But Huby never challenged that. He just enjoys writing. He writes as he reads: to find out what’s next. Many of his screenplays, theater and radio plays have won awards.
“As soon as the characters are there, I often go to my desk to find out what they’re doing. They develop a life of their own and I just have to write it down.”
Awards and Honors
Huby was the recipient of the Robert Geisendörfer Prize, the Berlin Crime Prize and the Honorary Glauser. In April 2007 he received the “Goldene Romy” in Vienna for the best screenplay of 2006 – an Austrian prize that roughly corresponds to the “Goldene Kamera” in Germany. The crime scene “Bienzle and the dead man in the vineyard” was awarded.
Unexpected trouble about play
Huby also wrote plays throughout his life, one of which told the story of his home village Dettenhausen im Schönbuch. Curiously, the small town in the district of Tübingen was at odds for years afterwards. Huby had obviously worked through the stories of several Dettenhausen families in the play. Some felt belittled. The play was cancelled. Huby turned his back on his home church. There was radio silence for years. The play was not performed until 15 years later. And it wasn’t until 2018, on Huby’s 80th birthday, that the rift was finally forgotten: Dettenhausen made Huby an honorary citizen.
He was also presented with the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg “as an outstanding writer and television author” by Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens).
“It’s always been a dream of mine to be a writer. I’ve spent some of my free time writing little plays since I was a kid.”
writer to the end
At some point Huby didn’t feel like watching TV anymore, but he wrote plays and novels to the end – including an autobiographical three-part series. Huby lived with his wife in Berlin for the last 30 years of his life. He has two adult sons. Now he has died in Berlin. As a passionate writer – to the end.