Cabaret Actor Fritz Wepper Dead at 82

Fritz Wepper, star of the 1972 classic Cabaret, has died. He was 82.

The German film and television actor died at a hospice facility in his hometown of Munich on Monday, his wife Susanne Kellermann announced, per the German newspaper Bild.

Wepper's health took a deteriorating turn after a long illness, The Hollywood Reporter reported, citing that the late actor had life-threatening sepsis last year.

Wepper was well known in his native country for his illustrious acting career, particularly on the small screen, starring in such titles as the crime series Derrick (1974-98), High Society Murder (2007-2017) and in his last recurring role as a mayor in For Heaven’s Sake (2002-2021).

He bagged his first major role at age 18 in the Oscar-nominated 1959 anti-war film The Bridge. In the film, he played a young man on a suicide mission defending a bridge in the last days of World War II. 

International audiences will recognize Wepper for his charismatic part as gigolo Fritz Wendel in the 1972 musical Cabaret, in which he starred alongside Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Joel Grey and Marisa Berenson.

Wepper’s character in the film is friends with Sally Bowles (Minnelli) and Brian Roberts (York) and is torn by revealing his secret Jewish identity as he falls for heiress Natalia Landauer (Berenson), who is also Jewish.

Wepper stepped aside from Hollywood following the success of Cabaret — which went on to win eight Oscars — starring in only one other role stateside in the 2001 TV film Murder on the Orient Express.

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Wepper is survived by his second wife Kellermann, 45, whom he married in 2020, and their 13-year-old daughter Filippa.

He is also survived by his eldest daughter Sophie, 42, who he shares with his first wife Angela Wepper von Morgen, and a granddaughter, born in 2018.