The Austrian actor Peter Simonischek (1946-2023) died surprisingly to the public at the end of May 2023 at the age of 76. The “Toni Erdmann” star died after a “short, serious illness,” according to numerous media reports at the time. It only became clear later due to many obituaries that Simonischek was suffering from incurable cancer. Only friends and family were informed.
Who also knew about it was filmmaker Til Schweiger (59), who portrayed Simonischek in his current film “The best is yet to come!” helped him get his last role. In an interview with the “Bild” newspaper, Schweiger spoke about his relationship with his deceased colleague: “I knew that he was sick. He was full of confidence and with the declared will to beat cancer.” He told Simonischek that he was already developing a new script for him, with a “mega leading role”: “He was looking forward to that. And unfortunately he didn’t make it. That’s sad.”
Simonischek became internationally known through the title role in the Oscar-nominated feature film “Toni Erdmann” (2016). For his role as a retired music teacher who wanted to lure his manager’s daughter (Sandra Hülser, 45) out of the reserve with his odd alter ego, he was awarded many awards, including the European Film Prize, the Austrian Film Prize and the German Film Prize – each as best actor.
Most recently in 2022 he was seen in the improv series “Kranitz – Get your money back when you break up” by and with Jan Georg Schütte (61), and also in “Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets” (2022) as a prison guard. Simonischek was also already active alongside Til Schweiger: They also starred together in the tragicomedy “Dear Kurt” in 2022.
