Frederick Jaeger; actor
Hyfler/Rosner
Frederick Jaeger
Versatile actor who spread his talents wisely
Toby Hadoke
Wednesday September 8, 2004
The Guardian
In a career that touched seven decades, the actor Frederick
Jaeger, who has died aged 76, managed to escape typecasting
by dividing his time between the stage, radio, television
and film, adapting his talents to every genre. He was also
an active and distinguished member of the council of the
actors' union Equity for 10 years.
Jaeger was born in Berlin, but, following the Nazi takeover
in 1933, fled with his family, first to France and then
England, to escape Hitler's persecution of the Jews. This
cosmopolitan and turbulent childhood prepared him well for a
career playing different nationalities and classes, and, by
1948, he had graduated from the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama, and was in constant demand.
His 47-year theatre career began in 1949, and included a
number of West End appearances. He had great success as
Ramble in Lock Up Your Daughters (1959), at the Mermaid
Theatre, and reprised the role in a tour of America. He also
toured Europe and Latin America, playing in Shakespeare with
Ralph Richardson.
Jaeger's early film credits are telling. In The Black Tent
(1956), The One That Got Away (1957), I Was Monty's Double
(1958) and Ice Cold In Alex (1958), he played respectively,
a junior Nazi officer, a German prisoner, a junior German
officer and a second German officer, despite having become a
British citizen in 1950 and painstakingly removed all trace
of his natural accent. Although he was to play many more
Nazis in television productions in this country (Selling
Hitler, 1991) and in the US (The Nightmare Years, 1989),
there was more to him than that.
He starred in Carla Lane's thoughtful and touching
tragi-comedy I Woke Up One Morning (1985), displaying a
moving fragility and vulnerability as Derek, one of four
recovering alcoholics around whom the two series revolved.
An early lead had come in 1966, when Jaeger played a dual
role in the espionage thriller The Man In The Mirror, and he
was also Professor Bhaer in Little Women (1970), a regular
in the popular series Special Branch, playing Commander
Fletcher (1974), the industrialist Max Langemann in Take The
High Road (1980), Chief Constable Melchett in The Body In
The Library (1984) and Dr Mudal in John Schlesinger's
production of Cold Comfort Farm (1995).
He escaped being typecast as a heavy, partly because of his
malleable appearance - burly frame, large watery eyes and
permanently lined brow - and partly because he could be
very, very funny; he was a hoot as a humourless head of
comedy in The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin (1978), and
collaborated well with Barry Took on N.U.T.S and
One-Upmanship (both 1976).
His guest-starring roles were an immediate indication of
quality in series as diverse as The Avengers (three
appearances in the 1960s), Callan (1969), Doctor Who (three
appearances, including playing the creator of the popular
robot dog K-9), Remington Steele (Pierce Brosnan's
successful US comedy thriller, 1984), Keeping Up Appearances
(1990) and The Chief (1990).
Jaeger's many film credits included The Looking Glass War
(1969), based on a John Le Carré book and starring Anthony
Hopkins, Henrik Ibsen in Song Of Norway (1970), The Seven
Per Cent Solution (1976), Voyage Of The Damned (1976) and
Nijinsky (1980).
His first marriage, to Hazel Penwarden, was dissolved in
1972. He married Elizabeth Griffiths in 1973, and after his
retirement, in 1996, moved with her to a farmhouse in
Mallorca, where he died after a long illness. She survives
him.
· Manfred Frederick Jaeger, actor, born May 29 1928; died
June 18 2004
April Cool
<rel...@rcn.com> wrote:
> How is it possible that this wasn't posted earlier?
>
>
> Frederick Jaeger
>
> Versatile actor who spread his talents wisely
>
> Toby Hadoke
> Wednesday September 8, 2004
> The Guardian
>
> In a career that touched seven decades, the actor Frederick
> Jaeger, who has died aged 76, managed to escape typecasting
> by dividing his time between the stage, radio, television
> and film, adapting his talents to every genre. He was also
> an active and distinguished member of the council of the
> actors' union Equity for 10 years.
> Jaeger was born in Berlin, but, following the Nazi takeover
> in 1933, fled with his family, first to France and then
> England, to escape Hitler's persecution of the Jews. This
> cosmopolitan and turbulent childhood prepared him well for a
> career playing different nationalities and classes, and, by
> 1948, he had graduated from the Guildhall School of Music
> and Drama, and was in constant demand.
Two pics of him (including one from The Avengers) at
Lenona321
Lenona.