# Arthur Brauss
**Arthur Brauss** (24 July 1936, [Augsburg](https://www.edgepedia.org/augsburg) – 29 August 2025, Munich) was a German actor and voice actor whose career ran from 1963 to 2014 and spanned international war and action films, the German television crime serials of the 1960s and 1970s, and a long-running comedy police role on German television.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | 24 July 1936, Augsburg; 29 August 2025, Munich, at age 89[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) |
| Athletic career | German youth champion in pole vault, 1954; member of the athletics national team in international matches[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) |
| Education | Mathematics and economics at the University of Wyoming on a scholarship; returned to Germany in 1960[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) |
| Film debut | A small role as a US military policeman in *Verspätung in Marienborn* (1963), after casting for director Rolf Hädrich[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) |
| Signature roles | Josef Bloch in *Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter* (1972); Chief of Police Richard Block in *Großstadtrevier* (1986–1991, 36 episodes)[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) |
| International credits | *The Train* (1964), *Von Ryan's Express* (1965), *Cross of Iron* (1977), *Avalanche Express* (1979)[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105973/) |
| Dubbing | Active as a voice actor from 1979 to 2005, voicing among others Dennis Hopper, Brian Dennehy, and Takeshi Kitano[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) |
| Retirement | Withdrew from acting in 2014; married Marie Poccolin in 2024[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) |
## Early life and athletics
Brauss was born in Augsburg in 1936, the son of a gardener. During the Second World War he was evacuated to Rott in 1943 under the *Kinderlandverschickung* program, the wartime relocation of children away from bombed cities[3](https://www.munzinger.de/register/portrait/biographien/arthur%2Bbrauss/00/18514).
Sport came first. He was a talented pole vaulter, became German youth champion in the discipline in 1954, and competed internationally as a member of the athletics national team[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). After his Abitur that same year he completed a commercial apprenticeship at an Augsburg construction-machinery factory[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
A sports scholarship took him to the [University of Wyoming](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-wyoming) in the United States, where he studied mathematics and economics and earned a diploma[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) • [3](https://www.munzinger.de/register/portrait/biographien/arthur%2Bbrauss/00/18514). Acting entered at the student theater, where he found both his talent and his enthusiasm for the stage[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
## Start in film, 1963–1965
**Return to Germany.** After his studies Brauss came back to Germany in 1960 and worked first for the market research institute Infratest and for Radio Free Europe, where his fluent English found him a place[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105973/). In 1963, hearing that the director Rolf Hädrich needed English-speaking actors for his adventure drama *Verspätung in Marienborn*, he attended a casting and received a small role as an American military policeman. This appearance began his long acting career[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
The next two years set the pattern of supporting roles in international productions. He played a German lieutenant in [John Frankenheimer](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-frankenheimer)'s war drama *[The Train](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-train-1964-film)* (1964) and a German lieutenant again in *Von Ryan's Express* (1965), a Hollywood production shot in Europe[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
## Screen character and the 1970s
Brauss was cast throughout his career either as an authority figure or dignitary, or as a criminal. His genre range ran from the Jerry Cotton crime film *Die Rechnung – eiskalt serviert* (1966) to Radley Metzger's sexploitation film *Carmen Baby* (1967)[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). In supporting roles he appeared in Reinhard Hauff's *Die Revolte* (1969), Hans W. Geißendörfer's *Jonathan* (1970), and Eckhart Schmidt's *Männer sind zum Lieben da* (1970, as a priest)[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). In Roger Fritz's drama *Mädchen mit Gewalt* (1970) he played a main role as a misogynistic, sexually abusive macho opposite Klaus Löwitsch; the film was panned on release and appreciated by critics only years later[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
**The goalkeeper.** [Wim Wenders](https://www.edgepedia.org/wim-wenders) cast Brauss in the title role of *Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter* (1972), the film adaptation of [Peter Handke](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-handke)'s story, playing the former goalkeeper Josef Bloch[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). IMDb describes the part as a murderous football player in Wenders's offbeat, noirish crime drama[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105973/).
His 1970s filmography was mostly adventure and crime material, where he played the hard-edged type: pimps, paid killers, bank robbers, and rough adventurers. He was the shady businessman in *Das Mädchen von Hongkong* (1973), photographer Kuppler in Ernst Hofbauer's soft-sex film *Was Schulmädchen verschweigen* (1973), and a cowboy in Peter Schamoni's western *Potato Fritz* (1976)[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). He had smaller roles as a German soldier in [Sam Peckinpah](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-peckinpah)'s war classic *Cross of Iron* (*Steiner – Das Eiserne Kreuz*, 1977) and as a BND agent in Mark Robson's spy film *Avalanche Express* (1979)[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). One well-known villain role, the vicious drug smuggler Candy Man in *$* (1971), had originally been planned for Horst Frank, an actor with a similar taste for villainous parts[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105973/).
On television he was the perennial heavy for much of the 1960s and 1970s, in series such as *Die fünfte Kolonne* (1963), *Okay S.I.R.* (1972), *Derrick* (1974), *Tatort* (1970), and *The Old Fox* (1977)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105973/). Across his career he appeared in nine *Tatort* episodes and ten episodes of *Der Alte*[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
## Television career after 1980
From the 1980s Brauss worked almost exclusively in television. He played a colonel in the nine-part series *Beim Bund* (1981) and took episode roles in series such as *Büro, Büro*, *Kottan ermittelt*, *Derrick*, and *Die Schwarzwaldklinik*[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
His best-known part was the main role of Police Chief Richard Block in Jürgen Roland's series *Großstadtrevier* (1986–1991): across the first five seasons he played the role in a total of 36 episodes[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). In the nine-part series *Ein Bayer auf Rügen* (1993–1997) he had a substantial role as a Kriminalrat[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
Feature films became rare and the parts small: a judge in the Hollywood comedy *My Blue Heaven* (1990) with [Steve Martin](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-martin), the Russian chess master Viktor Yurilivich in Carl Schenkel's thriller *Knight Moves* (1992), and the father of Heiner Lauterbach's lead character in the comedy *Zwei Männer und ein Baby* (2004)[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). Later television work included a recurring part as Albert Naujoks in *Tierarzt Dr. Engel* (1998–2004, 20 episodes)[4](https://www.imdb.com/de/name/nm0105973/).
## Dubbing, theater, and later life
**Dubbing.** Between 1979 and 2005 Brauss worked as a German dubbing voice, lending his voice among others to [Dennis Hopper](https://www.edgepedia.org/dennis-hopper), Brian Dennehy, and [Takeshi Kitano](https://www.edgepedia.org/takeshi-kitano), without being any of their fixed German voice[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). IMDb additionally lists him as the German voice for stars such as David Warner, Robbie Coltrane, Scott Glenn, James Caan, and [Max von Sydow](https://www.edgepedia.org/max-von-sydow)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105973/).
In the theater he played the title role in *Götz von Berlichingen* at the Burgfestspiele Jagsthausen in 2009, and at the Luisenburg-Festspiele in Wunsiedel in 2012 he appeared in *Wast – Wohin?* as a good-hearted servant and day laborer[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
Brauss retired from acting in 2014 and lived in the Munich district of Schwabing, where he had resided for some four decades[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105973/). In 2024, after a partnership of over 50 years, he married Marie Poccolin[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b). He died at his Munich home on 29 August 2025 at the age of 89[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b).
## Notes on conflicting dates
Sources agree on the year 1936 but differ on his birth month: filmportal.de and the Munzinger biography give 24 July, while the Online-Filmdatenbank and Moviepilot give 24 June[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) • [3](https://www.munzinger.de/register/portrait/biographien/arthur%2Bbrauss/00/18514) • [5](https://www.ofdb.de/person/1378%2CArthur-Brauss/). His date of death is likewise reported as 29 August by filmportal.de and Munzinger, and as 30 August by IMDb[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b) • [3](https://www.munzinger.de/register/portrait/biographien/arthur%2Bbrauss/00/18514) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105973/).
## References
1. [Arthur Brauss – filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/person/arthur-brauss_ef98b699a3404fb9a6d75283fa02ea5b)
2. [Arthur Brauss – IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105973/)
3. [Arthur Brauss – Munzinger Biographie](https://www.munzinger.de/register/portrait/biographien/arthur%2Bbrauss/00/18514)
4. [Arthur Brauss – IMDb (German)](https://www.imdb.com/de/name/nm0105973/)
5. [Arthur Brauss – OFDb](https://www.ofdb.de/person/1378%2CArthur-Brauss/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › German actors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license