Bernhard Baumeister

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Bernhard Baumeister (28 September 1827 – 25 October 1917) was a German actor who spent most of his career at Vienna’s Burgtheater. Born in Posen (now Poznań, Poland) to a military official, he began acting as a teenager with his brother in Schwerin and later appeared in towns across Pomerania and at Hanover’s court theatre. From 1850 to 1852 he worked at the Grand Ducal Theatre in Oldenburg, then joined the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1852 after a guest appearance, invited by Heinrich Laube. He stayed there until 1915, playing more than 500 roles and becoming famous for Falstaff, with other notable parts including Werner in Minna von Barnhelm, the Mayor of Zalamea, Der Erbförster, Walter Fürst in William Tell, Kapuziner in Wallensteins Lager, and the title role in Götz von Berlichingen. He also taught at the Vienna Conservatory from 1874. He died in 1917 in Baden bei Wien.