Peter Simonischek, the Austrian actor who rose to international prominence late in life through Oscar-nominated feature Toni Erdmann, has died. He was 76.
He passed away surrounded by family in Vienna, according to a statement released by Austria’s national theater, the Burgtheater. No cause of death was given.
Simonischek was a well-known actor in the German-speaking world and performed at the Salzburg Festival. He played the title role in Austrian play Jedermann several times, appeared in TV movies such as Years of Love and features such as Franz Seitz Jr.’s Success.
He joined the Burgtheater in 1999, according to the institution, and was made an honorary member in 2019.
However, it was in 2016 when he played ageing prankster Winifred Conradi in the Austrian film Toni Erdmann that he gained international popularity. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to widespread critical and was nominated for Best Foreign Language FIlm at the 89th Oscars, losing to Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman.
The film was made him first Austrian actor to win the European Film Award for Best Actor.
He then appeared in Martin Šulík’s The Interpreter, Dror Zahavi’s Crescendo and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, in which he played Warder.
