Helmut Zacharias

Helmut Zacharias

Helmut Zacharias (27 January 1920 – 28 February 2002) was a German violinist and composer who created over 400 works and sold 14 million records. He also appeared in a number of films, usually playing musicians. Helmut Zacharias was born in Berlin. His father Karl was a violinist and conductor, and his mother was a singer. He started having lessons from his father at the age of 2 and a half and at 6 he played at the Faun club, a cabaret venue on the Friedrichstraße in Berlin. At the age of 8, Zacharias became the youngest student in Gustav Havemann's masterclass at the Berlin Academy of Music. Aged 11, he played on radio for the first time with a performance of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major and began touring in 1934 at the age of 14. At this time, in the 1930s, the records of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli's all-string jazz band were available in Germany and they heavily influenced Zacharias's musical style. In 1940, Zacharias was discovered by Lindström-Electrola (then-name of the German branch of EMI) and in 1941 had his first mainstream success with Schönes Wetter Heute. By the 1950s, he was considered to be one of the best jazz violinists of Europe and was dubbed "The Magic Violinist" and "Germany's Mr. Violin". In 1956 he achieved his greatest success in the United States with the release of "When the White Lilacs Bloom Again" which, on 22 September, reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. On 21 November 1964 he reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart with Tokyo Melody following its use as theme music for the BBC's coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics. Zacharias moved to Switzerland in the late 1950s and continued playing with many other famous artists, including Yehudi Menuhin. From 1968 to 1973 he appeared in his own television show. In 1985, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Zacharias had been detected as suffering from Alzheimer's disease in 1995 and retired from public life in 1997 before the fact was publicly acknowledged on World Alzheimer's Day in 2000. He died in 2002 in Brissago, Switzerland and is buried in Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg. Zacharias was married to Hella (née Konradat) from 1943 until his death. Together they had two sons, Stephan and Thomas, and a daughter, Sylvia. Stephan, born in 1956, is a composer whose credits include the soundtrack to Academy Award-nominated film Downfall while Thomas was an international athlete. Source: Article "Helmut Zacharias" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known For: Acting

Born: Berlin, Germany, 1920-01-27

Died: 2002-02-28

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1953	Das singende Hotel	Karli Alten	60
2	1954	Ten on Every Finger	Helmut	45
3	1957	Unter Palmen am blauen Meer	Self	60
4	1962	Toto at Night	Self	58
5	1981	So schön wie heut', so müßt' es bleiben	Self	0
6	1987	Bombenstimmung - Unterhaltung unterm Hakenkreuz	self	0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1948	Bambi-Verleihung	Self	90
2	1953	Wer gegen wen - ferngesehen	Self	0
3	1955	What Am I?	Self	65
4	1956	Melodie der Welt	Self	0
5	1957	Zum blauen Bock	Self	60
6	1957	Aktuelle Schaubude	Self	60
7	1959	Discorama	Self	0
8	1959	Stars in the Ring	Self	53
9	1961	Kleine Stadt - ganz groß	Self	0
10	1963	Zwischenmahlzeit	Self	70
11	1964	Einer wird gewinnen	Self	70
12	1964	Die Drehscheibe	Self	60
13	1964	Gut gefragt ist halb gewonnen	Self	0
14	1969	Unsere kleine Show	Self	0
15	1970	ZDF Werkstatt	Self	0
16	1970	Schwarzer Peter	Self	0
17	1970	Drei mal neun	Self	70
18	1971	Dalli Dalli	Self	80
19	1971	Anneliese Rothenberger gibt sich die Ehre	Self	60
20	1974	Der große Preis	Self	60
21	1975	Musik ist Trumpf	Self	60
22	1976	Music & Guests	Self	0
23	1978	Bio’s Bahnhof	Self	0
24	1979	Peter Alexander: Wir gratulieren	Self	0
25	1980	Verstehen Sie Spaß?	Self	38
26	1980	Heut' abend	Self	0
27	1981	Tag des deutschen Schlagers	Self	0
28	1982	Menschen	Self	40
29	1984	Kronen Könner Kavaliere	Self	0
30	1985	Melodien für Millionen	Self	0
31	1991	Musik liegt in der Luft	Self	0

Helmut Zacharias

Film

Television