Rolf Herricht

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Rolf Oskar Ewald Günter Herricht (October 5, 1927 – August 23, 1981) was an East German comedian and actor. He was born in Magdeburg and died of a heart attack at age 53 on stage in East Berlin.

Herricht finished school in 1943 with a War Abitur and was drafted in 1945 to the Volkssturm as an anti-aircraft assistant. After World War II, he worked backstage in Magdeburg while studying acting, then performed in theaters in several towns. In 1951 he met Hans-Joachim Preil, and the two formed the comedy duo Herricht und Preil. Their first sketch, The Chess Match, debuted in 1953, with Herricht as the funny man and Preil as the straight man. They became the most celebrated comedians in the German Democratic Republic, with regular TV appearances from 1959.

Herricht made his film debut in 1959 in Before the Lightning Strikes as a locomotive constructor and acted in about twenty DEFA films and many TV productions. In 1964 he joined the Metropol Theater in East Berlin and also pursued singing. A standout film, Geliebte weiße Maus (1964), featured him as a traffic policeman who falls in love and boosted his fame. Other notable roles include Der Reserveheld (1965) and Meine Freundin Sybille (1967). The 1965 film Hände hoch oder ich schieße, in which he played an eccentric policeman, was banned at the 11th SED plenary and released only in 2009.

Herricht won the East German Art Prize twice, in 1973 and 1977. He died of a heart attack while performing in Kiss Me, Kate at the Metropol Theatre and is buried at the Französischer Friedhof in Berlin. He was married to Christa Herricht.