Mourning for a legend

Otto Schenk died at the age of 94

Stage legend Otto Schenk is dead.

(Bild: ERNST KAINERSTORFER)

Austria mourns the loss of a "theatrical genius of the century": Otto Schenk left the stage forever on Thursday morning at the age of 94. The Viennese actor left his mark on the theaters and operas of this world for over seven decades. 

Otto Schenk spent well over 70 years on stage as an actor, but also made a name for himself as a theater and opera director. The Viennese also directed the Theater in der Josefstadt from 1988 to 1997.

Now the busy man, who delighted audiences with readings until the end, died in the early hours of this Thursday morning at the age of 94 at his home on the Irrsee. This was announced by his son Konstantin Schenk.

Otto Schenk died early Thursday morning at his home on the Irrsee, his son Konstantin announced.

(Bild: APA/HERBERT NEUBAUER)

"Theatrical genius of the century"
"With him, Austria has lost a theatrical genius of the century with a universality that is second to none. From Würschtelmann to Wozzeck, from Sachen zum Lachen to the Ring des Nibelungen, from the Kellertheater to the Met and La Scala Milano, from the Burgtheater to the Theater in der Josefstadt and the State Opera, his reputation resounds ...", the son paid tribute to his late father.

"I am a heavy, inert millstone, and there have always been people who have moved this millwheel," Schenk once flirted with his own inertia, which could not have been so bad when he looks back on the 170 or so productions he has created over the course of his long career.

Already on stage as a teenager
Schenk was born in Vienna on June 12, 1930, the son of a notary and a mother from Trieste. He made his stage debut in 1947 as a gendarme in Karl Schönherr's "Karrnerleut" at the Theater der Jugend, which was housed in the Urania at the time. At his audition at the Max Reinhardt Seminar as Zettel, he won over the great Helene Thimig, among others.

Otto Schenk was on stage as an actor for well over 70 years. He celebrated his last major premiere in 2019 with Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" at the Theater in der Josefstadt.

(Bild: APA/HERBERT NEUBAUER)

Together with a group of like-minded theater enthusiasts, he also took over the Parkring Theater during this time and landed a great success with Erich Neuberg's production of Beckett's "Waiting for Godot". In the mid-1950s, he moved from the Kellertheater to the Volkstheater and then to the Theater in der Josefstadt.

Otto Schenk celebrated his breakthrough as a director in 1960 with his Josefstadt production of Eugene O'Neill's "O Wildnis!". This was followed by Horvath productions at the Münchner Kammerspiele ("Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wienerwald", 1966 and "Kasimir und Karoline", 1969), directorial work at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, at the Salzburg Festival - including Shakespeare's "Was ihr wollt" (1972) and "Wie es euch gefällt" (1980) as well as the Nestroy plays "Der Talisman" (1976) and "Der Zerrissene" (1982, with himself as Gluthammer) - and at the Burg.

He only made his acting debut at the Burgtheater in 1996 as Hohes Alter in Raimund's fairy tale "Der Bauer als Millionär".

Global career as an opera director
Otto Schenk made a global career as an opera director. He staged his first opera, Mozart's "Magic Flute", at the Salzburg State Theater in 1957. Schenk made his final breakthrough in this field in 1962 with Berg's "Lulu" at the Vienna State Opera. At the Salzburg Festival (where he was a member of the board of directors from 1986-88), he staged the world premiere of Cerha's "Baal" (1981), among other productions.

Otto Schenk was not only one of Austria's audience favorites, he even made a global career as an opera director.

(Bild: APA/HERBERT NEUBAUER)

The New York Met, where Schenk made his debut with "Fidelio" in 1970 and staged his "Ring des Nibelungen" (1986-88) again in 2009, became his second home. It was here that he broke his vow to retire from directing for good in 2006 for a collaboration with Anna Netrebko and staged Donizetti's "Don Pasquale".

Countless roles
Schenk has played himself into the audience's memory with countless roles, for example as "Bockerer" (1984 in Munich's Volkstheater and 1993 in the Josefstadt), as Fortunatus Wurzel in "Der Bauer als Millionär" (Salzburg Festival, 1987), as "Volpone" (1989), as Salieri in Shaffer's "Amadeus" (1991), as the Sorcerer King in "Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald" (1994), as Moliere's "Der Geizige" (1995), as Rappelkopf in Raimund's "Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind" (Salzburg Festival, 1996), in Turrini's "Josef und Maria" (1999) and as Thomas Bernhard's "Theatermacher" (2006).

He celebrated his last major premiere at the Theater in der Josefstadt in 2019 in Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard", and in 2023 he was still on stage at Theater Akzent with an evening of remembrance after taking a break from the stage following the death of his wife Renée in 2022. The title: "It was very nice, it made me very happy".

Made people laugh
Schenk also owed his popularity in Austria to his lively screen presence, such as in "Mein Opa ist der Beste" (1995) or "Mein Opa und die 13 Stühle" (1997), directed by Helmuth Lohner, and his numerous readings.

Otto Schenk will remain unforgotten with films such as "Mein Opa ist der Beste".

(Bild: picturedesk.com/- / First Look)

In the German version of the Oscar-winning animated film "Up", he lent his voice to the adventurous and grumpy widower Carl Fredricksen.

With cabinet pieces such as "Die Sternstunde des Josef Bieder" (since 1992) or "Othello darf nicht platzen" (from 1990), he has inscribed himself in the collective memory above all as a comedian.

In 2020, Otto Schenk appeared in front of the camera for the film "Vier Saiten".

(Bild: ORF)

Otto Schenk last appeared on screen in 2020 in Michael Kreihsl's TV comedy "Vier Saiten" with a new work. "It wasn't always funny," he wrote in a memoir, "I was never out to make it funny. I was out to be believed."