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Manfred Zapatka

Date of Birth
10/02/1942 - 12:00
Geburtsort
Bremen
Biography

Manfred Zapatka was born on October 2, 1942 in Bremen and grew up in Cloppenburg. He trained at the Schauspielschule Bochum (then: Westfälische Schauspielschule) from 1962 to 1965. During this time, he made his big screen debut with a small appearance in Wolfgang Staudte's "Das Lamm" (1964).

After his training, Zapatka first stood on stage at the Theater Freiburg (1966-68) and the Theater Essen (1968-72). In the mid-1970s he was brought to the Stuttgart Staatstheater by Claus Peymann, who directed politically charged productions. Zapatka and Peymann worked closely together for several years. In parallel, Zapatka played his first TV roles in the 1970s, for example as a detective superintendent in the series "Eurogang" (1975-76) or as a jealous boyfriend in the lesbian love story "Das Ende der Beherrschung" (1976) by Gabi Kubach.

When Claus Peymann left Stuttgart in 1979 under pressure from conservative politicians and moved to the Schauspielhaus Bochum, Zapatka also left the Stuttgart Staatstheater. He went to the Munich Kammerspiele, where he soon became one of the most important actors for the director Dieter Dorn (until his departure in 2001). His most important Munich roles include the Count of Leicester in Schiller's "Maria Stuart" (1979), Robespierre in "Danton's Death" (1980), the title role in Goethe's "Torquato Tasso" (1984) and the title role in the world premiere of Tankred Dorst's "Die Legende vom armen Heinrich" (1997). 

Parallel to his theater work, Zapatka also increasingly appeared on both, the big and the small screen from the beginning of the 1980s (i.e. after his move to Munich). In the historical drama "Preußische Nacht" (1981, TV) he portrayed August Wilhelm of Prussia; in Franz Peter Wirth's Goethe adaptation "Egmont" (1982, TV) he played the title role of a count in Spanish-occupied Holland.

Zapatka's breakout role as a screen actor was his first leading role in a feature film: in Sohrab Shahid Saless' "Utopia" (1983), which premiered in competition at the 1983 Berlinale. In it, he played an elegant-looking but extremely brutal pimp who runs a cruel regiment over five prostitutes in a Berlin apartment that has been converted into a brothel. To this day, this role is considered one of Zapatka's strongest performances. He played the implacable pimp Heinz as a cruel mixture of philistine and capitalist.

Despite great critical praise for his intense performance in "Utopia" (and, according to Zapatka, some hostility from viewers who could not distinguish between role and actor), he almost exclusively appearead in TV productions thereafter. Again under te direction of Saless, he starred in the TV relationship drama "Empfänger unbekannt" (1983), in which he played the abandoned husband of the main character, and a few years later he had a supporting role in Saless' social drama "Rosen für Afrika" ("Roses for Africa", 1991, TV).

Zapatka became known to a wider audience through his role as a scheming horse owner in the popular series "Rivalen der Rennbahn" (1989). In the same year, he starred as first lieutenant Karl Krafft in the four-parter "Fabrik der Offiziere" ("The Officer Factory").

Manfred Zapatka also appeared in a large number of television productions in the 1990s. His most important TV roles of this period include a vulgar pimp in Xaver Schwarzenberger's "Der Absturz" (1990), a squadron judge in Frank Beyer's World War II drama "Das letzte U-Boot" ("The Last U-Boat", 1992), a department store manager in Dieter Wedel's "Der große Bellheim" (1992), former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in Heinrich Breloer's highly acclaimed docudrama "Todesspiel" (1997), and a hated womanizer in Julian Pölsler's drama "Der Schandfleck" (DE/AT 1999). He was also seen in numerous series guest roles.

On the big screen Zapatka made himself very scarce in the 1990s. He portrayed a poet inspired by Bertolt Brecht in Franz Seitz's historical drama "Erfolg" (1991) and a creditor in the neighborhood comedy "Ebbies Bluff" (1993). He had a leading role as a drinking hall regular in "Frankfurter Kreuz" ("Frankfurt - Millennium", DE/FR 1998), directed by Romuald Karmakar - who, by his own admission, had been a great admirer of Zapatka's acting skills ever since "Utopia."

Over the next few years, Karmakar and Zapatka worked together several times: In the ensemble of "Manila" (2000), Zapatka played a traveler stranded at the Manila airport; in "Das Himmler Projekt" ("The Himmler Project", 2000), he recited an infamous speech by Heinrich Himmler that lasted several hours - the two received a Grimme Special Award for this film experiment. Karmakar's Jon Fosse adaptation "Die Nacht singt ihre Lieder" ("Nightsongs", 2004) featured Zapatka as the father of Frank Giering's main character; and in "Hamburger Lektionen" ("Hamburg Lectures", 2006), a kind of counterpart to "Das Himmler Projekt," Zapatka read hate sermons by the Hamburg imam Mohammed Fazazi.

In addition, Zapatka also appeared sporadically in feature films by other directors during the 2000s. In Züli Aladag's boxing drama "Elefantenherz" ("Elephant Heart", 2002), he was a shady boxing promoter. In Christoph Hochhäusler's "Falscher Bekenner" ("I Am Guilty", 2005), Matthias Glasner's "Der freie Wille" ("The Free Will", 2006) and Michael Hofmann's "Eden" (DE/CH 2006) he played father figures with highly diverse characters. After a supporting role in the culture-clash comedy "Offset" (2006), he shone in Bastian Günther's tragicomic ensemble film "Autopiloten" ("Autopilots", 2007) as a washed-up pop singer - this part was to remain Zapatka's last big screen role for twelve years.

Instead, he once again concentrated entirely on his television and theater work. In the highly acclaimed crime series "KDD - Kriminaldauerdienst" (2007-2010), he played a leading role as an alcoholic, hot-tempered inspector - for this part he received the Grimme Award in 2008, representing the cast (together with author Orkun Ertener and producer Kathrin Breininger); in 2009 he received the Bavarian Television Award for his "KDD" portrayal.

Zapatka also had series guest roles in "Tatort," "Polizeiruf 110" and "SOKO Leipzig," among others. Important TV drama parts included a professor in the mystery thriller "Schreie der Vergessenen" (2011), an ex-policeman traumatized by an RAF assassination in "In den besten Jahren" (2011), a retired investigator in "Besondere Schwere der Schuld" (2014) and a coldly calculating banker in Marc Bauder's "Dead Man Working" (2016). His TV filmography alone includes over 90 titles (close to 200 if one counts all individual series episodes).

Zapatka remained active as a stage actor. Under the direction of Dieter Wedel, he played Remchingen in a production of "Jud Süß" (at Mannheim Castle in 2011). A longtime ensemble member of Munich's Residenztheater, he appeared in productions of "Robin Hood" (as King John), "The Tempest" (as Prospero) and "The Cherry Orchard" (as Ranyevskaya's brother), among others. In 2018, he was seen in "Insgeheim Lohengrin" and "Junk". Also in 2018, he played a scheming MAD general in the two-part TV thriller "Der Staatsfeind". With Edward Berger's "All My Loving" (2019), he also appeared again in a feature film - in a signature role as an ice-cold, cynical father.

This was followed by a central role as an aging industrialist who falls victim to murder in the 2019 film adaptation of Ferdinand von Schirach’s "Der Fall Collini" ("The Collini Case"), starring Elyas M'Barek and Franco Nero. 

Zapatka then continued to appear regularly on television, including in 2019 as a retired police chief in Jan Bonny’s Grimme Award-winning drama about police violence, "Wir wären andere Menschen" ("We Would Be Different"). He reunited with Bonny in 2023 for the series "Freiheit ist das Einzigste, was zählt", set in the world of the Reichsbürger movement. In it, he played a co-conspirator working with a group - alongside Bibiana Beglau - on the final preparations for a revolution. 

In Tim Ellrich's autobiographically inspired drama "Im Haus meiner Eltern" ("In My Parents' House"), which premiered in cinemas in April 2025, Zapatka appeared in a supporting role as an aging, overwhelmed father of a schizophrenic son.

Manfred Zapatka lives in Munich. His daughter Katharina Zapatka (from his first marriage to actress Regine Vergeen) is also an actress.

 

Filmography
2022-2025
Im Haus meiner Eltern
  • Cast
2023
Freiheit ist das Einzigste, was zählt
  • Cast
2022/2023
Briefe aus dem Jenseits
  • Cast
2021/2022
Schutzmaßnahmen
  • Cast
2019-2021
Wer wir waren
  • Voice
2018/2019
Wir wären andere Menschen
  • Cast
2018/2019
Der Fall Collini
  • Cast
2018/2019
All My Loving
  • Cast
2015/2016
Sanft schläft der Tod
  • Cast
2015/2016
Dead Man Working
  • Cast
2015/2016
Der hundertste Affe
  • Cast
2015
Grenzgänger
  • Cast
2014
Besondere Schwere der Schuld
  • Cast
2012/2013
Der Tote im Eis
  • Cast
2012/2013
Momentaufnahme
  • Cast
2011
In den besten Jahren
  • Cast
2010/2011
Schreie der Vergessenen
  • Cast
2008/2009
Unter Strom
  • Cast
2007/2008
Die Weisheit der Wolken
  • Cast
2007/2008
Die Lüge
  • Cast
2006/2007
Autopiloten
  • Cast
2005/2006
Das Schneckenhaus
  • Cast
2005/2006
Offset
  • Cast
2005/2006
Eden
  • Cast
2005/2006
Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt
  • Participation
2004-2006
Der freie Wille
  • Cast
2005/2006
Hamburger Lektionen
  • Participation
2005/2006
Wigald
  • Cast
2004/2005
Falscher Bekenner
  • Cast
2004/2005
Spiele der Macht - 11011 Berlin
  • Cast
2004
Beste Freunde
  • Cast
2004
Mord am Meer
  • Cast
2002-2004
Die Nacht singt ihre Lieder
  • Cast
2002/2003
Mutterliebe
  • Cast
2002/2003
Der Puppengräber
  • Cast
2002
Der Fall Kramer
  • Cast
2001/2002
Elefantenherz
  • Cast
2001
Versuchte Nähe
  • Cast
2001
Havarie
  • Cast
1998-2000
Manila
  • Cast
1999/2000
Der vierte Mann
  • Cast
1999/2000
Das Himmler-Projekt
  • Cast
1999/2000
Erkan & Stefan
  • Cast
1999/2000
DoppelPack
  • Cast
1997/1998
Das Frankfurter Kreuz
  • Cast
1998
Kaltes Herz
  • Cast
1996/1997
Todesspiel
  • Cast
1997
Alle für einen
  • Cast
1996
Mordecho
  • Cast
1996
Christiane Hoerbiger Spezial II
  • Cast
1995
Tränen eines Siegers
  • Cast
1994
Das Floß
  • Cast
1994
... in Sevilla
  • Cast
1993/1994
Shiva und die Galgenblume. Der letzte Film des Dritten Reiches
  • Cast
1993
Die Zärtlichkeit des Monsters
  • Cast
1992/1993
Ebbies Bluff
  • Cast
1991/1992
Der große Bellheim
  • Cast
1992
Das letzte U-Boot
  • Cast
1992
Das Foto
  • Cast
1990/1991
Erfolg
  • Cast
1990/1991
Ex und Hopp
  • Cast
1991
Rosen für Afrika
  • Cast
1989
Absturz
  • Cast
1988
Eine Art Mord
  • Cast
1988
Fabrik der Offiziere, Teil 1
  • Cast
1988
Fabrik der Offiziere, Teil 4
  • Cast
1988
Fabrik der Offiziere, Teil 3
  • Cast
1988
Fabrik der Offiziere, Teil 2
  • Cast
1983
Hauptsache konsequent ...
  • Cast
1982/1983
Utopia
  • Cast
1981-1983
Krieg und Frieden
  • Cast
1981-1983
Krieg und Frieden. 05. Episode: Gespräche im Weltraum
  • Cast
1983
Empfänger unbekannt
  • Cast
1982
Egmont
  • Cast
1980/1981
Das Käthchen von Heilbronn oder Die Feuerprobe
  • Cast
1981
Preußische Nacht
  • Cast
1980
Das Käthchen von Heilbronn
  • Cast
1977/1978
Deutschland im Herbst
  • Cast
1976
Das Ende der Beherrschung
  • Cast
1975/1976
Urlaub für Harry Krausch
  • Cast
1975
Blüten für Frankfurt
  • Cast
1975
Keine Beweise gegen Martellan
  • Cast
1971
Zoff
  • Cast
1964
Das Lamm
  • Cast
Source-URL: https://www.filmportal.de/en/person/manfred-zapatka_efc0caa3e6b803c1e03053d50b372d46