Rolf Oskar Ewald Günter Herricht was an East German comedian.
Biography
Early life
Herricht graduated from school in 1943 after passing a ':de:Notabitur|War Abitur', a form of an Abitur designated to free school pupils to be mobilized. In 1945, he was drafted to the Volkssturm and assigned as an anti-aircraft battery assistant. After the war's end, he began working as property master and stage manager in a theater in his native Magdeburg, while studying acting in a local studio. After completion, he went to appear on the stages of theaters in Salzwedel, Stendal, Staßfurt, Güstrow and also in the Kleist Theater in Frankfurt am Oder.
Breakthrough
Herricht first met fellow actor Hans-Joachim Preil in 1951, while they both worked in Bernburg. The two formed the 'Herricht and Preil' comedy duo, staging their first sketch, 'The Chess Match', in 1953. In the sketch, Preil vainly attempts to play chess with Herricht, who is completely oblivious to the rules of the game. In their act, Herricht played the 'funny man', while Preil served as the 'straight man'. The pair were active until Herricht's passing away. In 1957, Herricht returned to the Magdeburg Theater, where he remained until 1961. He mainly played comical characters, like the scribe in The Beaver Coat and the drunkard from Auerbach's Cellar in Faust I. During his time in Magdeburg, he also worked in the radio. He and Preil first performed on television when one of their sketches was broadcast by Deutscher Fernsehfunk in 1959. The show was well received by the audience and the two began making regular appearances on TV. Herricht and Preil became the German Democratic Republic's most celebrated comedians.
Height of career
Herricht made his film debut in DEFA's 1959 comedy Before the Lightning Strikes, playing a minor part of a locomotive constructor. Herricht later appeared in some twenty cinema productions, while also playing in many television films. In 1964, he joined the regular cast of the Metropol Theater in Berlin. He also had a career as a singer. Herricht appeared on screen in relatively minor roles until writer Maurycy Janowski and director Gottfried Kolditz decided to create a film the plot of which would be based on his comical skill, the 1964 Geliebte weiße Maus. Herricht portrayed a traffic policeman who falls in love with a woman and only dares speak to her when she makes an accident on the road. The picture met with considerable success. Herricht starred in several other popular DEFA comedies during the 1960s and the 1970s: among others, he played the erratic National People's Army reserve soldier Ralf Horricht in the 1965 Der Reserveheld and the last-minute-travel-guide Hurtig in the 1967 Meine Freundin Sybille. His 1965 Hände hoch oder ich schieße, in which he again appeared as an eccentric policeman, was banned at the 11th plenary session of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and only released in 2009, 28 years after his death. Herricht was twice awarded the Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic: on 17 May 1973 and on 13 May 1977. He died of a heart attack at the age of 53, while performing the role of one of the gangsters in Kiss Me, Kate on the stage of the Metropol. He is buried in Berlin's I Französischer Friedhof.
