The actor Christian Quadflieg is dead. As the family announced, he died on Sunday after a long, serious illness “in the presence of his family” in Hamburg. Quadfly was 78 years old. He was seen in about 200 roles on television, mainly in the 1970s to 1990s.
To this day, a large audience remembers him primarily as “The Country Doctor”. From 1986 to 1992 he played the title hero Dr. Karsten Mattiesen in the fictional Schleswig-Holstein village of Deekelsen. Quadflieg had also written TV history in 1977: In Wolfgang Petersen’s then spectacular “Tatort: Reifezeugnis”, as a teacher he seduced one of his students, played by Nastassja Kinski.
Quadflieg was born on April 11, 1945 in Växjö (Sweden) as one of five children of the actor Will Quadflieg (1914-2003, “Faust”). After school in Hamburg, he applied to the Bochum drama school – and initially failed. Engagements in Oberhausen, Wuppertal and Basel followed. From 1974 Quadflieg worked as a freelance actor at renowned houses in Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Zurich and Vienna as well as at the Salzburg Festival in major classic roles.
Christian Quadflieg in 2015.
(Photo: Christian Charisius/dpa)
On television he appeared in series and films such as “Der Alte”, “Derrick” and “Das Traumschiff”. He played a conductor in the ARD family series “Vater reluctantly” (1995-2002).
Recently it had become quieter around him. Quadflieg, who had been married to his colleague Renate Reger since 1974, concentrated on his more than 30 literary programmes, with which he gave guest performances and read in audio books. This included poetry by Erich Kästner, Heinrich Heine and Eduard Mörike as well as Bible stories. “The family mourns the loss of a loved one and great artist,” the statement said.