Burkhard Driest was a German actor, writer and director, known for his acting work in Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Querelle. He also wrote novels and screenplays.
Life
Driest was born in Stettin, Germany, on 28 April 1939, the son of a graduate economist and a piano teacher. At the end of World War II, the family fled to Peine, Lower Saxony. His parents were divorced in 1950. The children stayed with the mother, who moved to Göttingen, but he returned to his father in 1957. In an anthology from 1995, Driest described his memories of childhood and adolescence under the title Halbstark in Peine. He was dismissed from school four times but achieved the Abitur as the third-best of that year. Driest studied law for ten semesters in Kiel, Berlin and Göttingen. On 11 May 1965, three weeks before his oral law examination, he robbed the savings bank in Burgdorf. He was sentenced to five years in prison and released after three years and four months. He then worked in the port of Hamburg, and as a waiter and taxi driver in London. He published his first novel, Die Verrohung des Franz Blum, with autobiographical aspects, in 1974. He wrote the screenplay for a 1974 film of the same name, directed by Reinhard Hauff, with Jürgen Prochnow in the title role, and Driest in a minor role. Peter Zadek invited him to play the role of Stanley Kowalski in Endstation Sehnsucht by Tennessee Williams, with Rosel Zech as Blanche, at the Schauspielhaus Bochum. The same year, Driest was a guest on Dietmar Schönherr's talk show, with Romy Schneider and Bubi Scholz. During this live appearance, Schneider touched Driest's arm, saying "Sie gefallen mir! Sie gefallen mir sehr!" in words from a recent popular film in which Schneider had starred. The incident won him increased attention. Driest worked with directors such as Werner Herzog, Sam Peckinpah, and Reinhard Hauff on four projects. He wrote together with Lukas Hellerthe script for the satire ', which premiered in 1978 but was a failure with critics and the audience. Driest wrote versions of the screenplay for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's final film, Querelle, but they were not accepted. He played the role of Mario, alongside Jeanne Moreau and Brad Davis. Driest wrote texts for the Peter Zadek's musical Andi and revue Falco meets Amadeus at the Theater des Westens. Driest lived in Switzerland after 1983, working as an actor and producer. In 1984, he made his debut as a film director, with '. He wrote a detective novel published in 2003 and also worked as an artist.
Personal life
Driest was married three times. His daughter is the writer. He died in Berlin on 27 February 2020 at age 80 after a long illness.
Filmography
Driest worked in films as an actor, screenwriter, director and producer, including: As actor
