Biography
Gert Gütschow, born 1928 in Rostock, made his acting debut at the age of 17 at Theater Rostock. Between 1945 and 1947, he also studied at Rostock's Hochschule für Musik. After his graduation, he did not pursue a career as a musician but instead turned back to acting. During the following years, Gütschow performed at theatres in Stralsund, Halberstadt, Altenburg, Görlitz, and Erfurt, before he went to Leipzig in 1959 and became a cast member of Leipzig's Schauspielhaus where he stayed for 35 years. In Leipzig, he played, for instance, the title role in Molière's "George Dandin", the role of Horatio in Shakespeare's "Hamlet", and both the role of Faust and the role of Mephisto in productions of Goethe's "Faust". Furthermore, he played several roles in plays by Bertolt Brecht, including the role of Arturo Ui in Brecht's parable "Der aufhaltsame Aufsteig des Arturo Ui" ("The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui") about Hitler's ascension to power and his expansion of power.
In 1959, Gert Gütschow made his TV debut as senior lieutenant Pierre Lebon in "Algier 12 Uhr 5". In Günter Reisch's film "Solange Leben in mir ist", a DEFA film about the life of Karl Liebknecht, Gütschow made his debut on the movie screen – although still in a rather small supporting role. But in the early 1970s, he got the opportunity to play larger character roles in the DEFA films "Dr. med. Sommer II" ("Medical Doctor Sommer the Second", 1970) and "Karriere" (1971). Gütschow finally received a lot of praise and credit for his performance as the serial killer Erwin Retzmann in "Leichensache Zernik" (1972). He gave the criminal a likeable, everyday face which made his tendency towards brutality even harder to grasp and lent a frightening dimension to the character. Gütschow would play a number of similar characters that seem harmless on the outside but in reality commit horrible crimes during his acting career.
During the following years, Gert Gütschow mainly played supporting roles in rather diverse films and roles. Although he did not let himself get restricted to a certain type of character, he often played persons of authority. In Roland Gräf's film "Bankett für Achilles" (1975), he played the well-meaning divisional manager of Kombinat Bitterfeld Walura who wants to play host to a banquet for a parting chemical worker but does not receive any gratitude. Furthermore, he played a physician in Lothar Warneke's film "Unser kurzes Leben" ("Our Short Life", 1980), a party chairman in Rainer Simon's film "Jadup und Boel" ("Jadup and Boel", 1981), a senior teacher in "Stielke, Heinz, fünfzehn…" (1986), directed by Michael Kann, and a prosecutor in Helmut Dziuba's film "Verbotene Liebe" ("Forbidden Love", 1989).
During the 1990s, Gert Gütschow made only occasional appearances in TV productions, for instance, in "Polizeiruf 110" or as Professor Günter Keller in the TV series "In aller Freundschaft". Besides, he mainly works as a radio and dubbing voice, or performs at readings or in concerts. In 2010/11 he played the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck in Peter Konwitschny's stage production of Gluck's "Iphigenie in Aulis" at the Leipzig Opera.
Gert Gütschow died March 10, 2023 in Leipzig age 95.