#Hans Wilhelm Hamacher

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The stars of “Maigret” and their German voice actors

Rupert Davies - Hans Wilhelm Hamacher Helen Shingler - Ursula Traun Ewen Solon - Erich Ebert Neville Jason - Horst Sachtleben Rupert Davies was very pleased with his German voice actor

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Neuss – Die Feuerwehr Neuss ist eine traditionsreiche Organisation (gegründet 1881) und lebt von ihren Mitgliedern und deren langjährigem Engagement.

Joachim Elblinger, Leiter der Feuerwehr Neuss, dankte herzlich den Kameraden für ihren Dienst. Ob junger Kollege in Sturm und Drang, Routinier mit entsprechender Ruhe, alter Hase mit Geschichten von Früher oder geschätzter Kamerad der Alters- und Ehrenabteilung: Wir brauchen und schätzen sie alle! Gerade bei Einsätzen wie nach dem Sturmtief Friederike hat die Feuerwehr Neuss ihre Leistungsfähigkeit bewiesen.

Auf insgesamt 865 Jahre Mitgliedschaft in der Feuerwehr brachten es die Jubilare der Feuerwehr Neuss, zu deren Auszeichnung auch der stellvertretende Bürgermeister Sven Schümann und der Beigeordnete Holger Lachmann persönlich gratulierten. Lob und Anerkennung sind daher in vielen Einsatzstunden und Fortbildungen wohl verdient und führten zu Ehrungen des Landes NRW, der Landes- und Kreisfeuerwehrverbände und der Stadt Neuss. Fotos(7): FW Neuss

Für 25-jährige aktive Dienstzeit in der Freiwilligen Feuerwehr konnten im Auftrag des Innenministers NRW durch den stellvertretenden Bürgermeister der Stadt Neuss, Herrn Sven Schümann, sechs Kameraden mit dem Feuerwehr-Ehrenzeichen des Landes NRW in Silber geehrt werden:

Brandoberinspektor Wolfgang Thron (Hauptamt), Brandoberinspektor Christoph Esser (LZ Grefrath) sowie Unterbrandmeister Martin Olfs (LZ Grefrath) und Feuerwehrmann Wilhelm Offer (LZ Holzheim).

Für 35-jährige Dienstzeit wurden Hauptbrandmeister Alexander Nohles (Hauptamt), Hauptbrandmeister David Kampmann (Hauptamt) sowie Hauptbrandmeister Frank Königshofen (LZ Stadtmitte) mit dem Feuerwehr-Ehrenzeichen des Landes NRW in Gold geehrt.

Auf 40 Jahre Mitgliedschaft brachten es Hauptbrandmeister Hans-Georg Panzer (Hauptamt), Brandinspektor Wilhelm Becker (Ehrenabteilung) sowie Brandinspektor Uwe Jeschwitz (Ehrenabteilung) und Brandoberinspektor Michael Rönicke (LZ Hoisten) und wurden dafür vom Verband der Feuerwehren im Rhein-Kreis Neuss, vertreten Durch Herrn Hans-Peter Hamacher, geehrt.

Vor einem halben Jahrhundert traten die Kameraden Oberbrandmeister Bernd Kraft (Ehrenabteilung) sowie Brandinspektor Manfred Fägenstädt (Ehrenabteilung) der Feuerwehr bei. Auch dies fand Anerkennung durch Hans-Peter Hamacher und Joachim Elblinger.

Oberfeuerwehrmann Peter Simons (Ehrenabteilung) wurde für 60 Jahre Mitgliedschaft in der Feuerwehr Neuss geehrt.

Spitzenreiter an diesem Abend waren Oberbrandmeister August Weber (Ehrenabteilung) und Hauptbrandmeister Hermann-Josef Glasmacher (Ehrenabteilung) mit 65 Jahren Mitgliedschaft in der Feuerwehr Neuss.

Vieles hat sich seit ihren Anfängen in der Feuerwehr verändert, jedoch kommt es nach wie vor besonders auf eines an: Engagierte Neusser Feuerwehrleute.

Neuss: 865 Jahre Mitgliedschaft in der Feuerwehr Neuss – Die Feuerwehr Neuss ist eine traditionsreiche Organisation (gegründet 1881) und lebt von ihren Mitgliedern und deren langjährigem Engagement.

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A German magazine article about “Maigret”

The author describes that Georges Simenon - the spiritual father of Maigret - was enthusiastic at once when he first met actor Rupert Davies who had become the epitome of Maigret for the audience, which took him into their hearts.

The article from 1965 furthermore deals with Ernst Augut Quelle (born in 1931), the composer of the catchy, immortal German soundtrack of “Maigret”. The third photo shows German actor Hans Wilhelm Hamacher (1920 - 2000), who brillantly dubbed Rupert Davies in the German version.

Two little mistakes: the composer of the English opening and closing credits is Ron (not John) Grainer and Italian actor Folco Lulli never played Maigret (the author mistakes him for Gino Cervi)

The allegation made in the article that Rupert Davies as Maigret strikes his match at a wall in Place Pigalle can’t sadly be proven.

© Funk Uhr 40/1965 Union-Verlag/Springer-Verlag/Mediengruppe Klambt

In my tribute videos to Rupert Davies as “Maigret” both themes can be heard: first the German one by Ernst-August Quelle, later the English version by Ron Grainer (in the second video it is hummed by Rupert Davies himself)  

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My translation of an article in the German television magazine “HÖRZU”  about the visit of Rupert Davies in Hamburg in 1965:

“Please write your name in the driving license”, a docker asked the television Commissionor Maigret at the “Davidswache”, Hamburg’s famous police station on the Reeperbahn. “Maybe it brings me luck. I may need it.” And Rupert Davies, English actor by profession - Commissaire Maigret in the people’s opinion, did him the favor. Under the watchful eyes of real policemen. They also saw the man in the bright Trenchcoat, the famous Parisian Commissioner. They didn’t even wonder about his presence. The docklands, the entertainment district are his territory.

And it was his world. Rupert Davies, in 52 films in the shape of the Commissioner, experienced for the first time real “milieu.” Without rehearsal, without a director and apart from HÖRZU photographers without a camera.

A dream. For 27 years Rupert Davies dreamed of visiting the Reeperbahn one day. On his 49th birthday, on May 22, he saw Hamburg’s entertainment district: through the eyes of Maigret. What a coincidence - true London Bobbies accompanied the wrong Maigret off the plane. They had come by chance with him to Hamburg. And Davies insisted to lead them. One might think that he was really the  Parisian Commissioner said one of the policemen at the “Davidwache” as Rupert Davies visited the famous police station. The prostitutes invited him to their street to get his autograph. They came from everywhere. With writing pads, exercise books or wrinkled sheets of paper.

Rupert Davies sometimes does not know himself whether he is the actor or the Commissioner. In any case, he is anything but a good hunter of criminals.

Actually, he is a sailor. As an ordinary seaman he was  for one night in Hamburg in 1938. When he came to Germany for the second time as a downed observation aviator, the Sub-Lieutenant Observer discovered his acting talent in a POW camp.

Rupert Davies never watched crime films. And  he only very rarely read detective novels. The more surprised he was when he was offered five years ago by the BBC to play in a TV series the Paris Commissioner. He the Englishman who has no similarities to a  Frenchmen. At least he thought so.

The crime writer Georges Simenon thought otherwise. In Davies he saw his character live. The manner in which he stuffs his pipe, the manner as he scratches himself on the head in tricky situations  Rupert Davies was exactly as Simenon had described his Maigret repeatedly.

Laundry baskets full of letters  permanently show Davies: the audience believes in his (acted) ability to solve any crime. Complete strangers call him in the middle of the night to get his advice. They hope for the man who when it’s necessary does not care about bureaucratic rules. The man who helps to gain victory for the justice. Even if it should be a bit outside the law.

As he walked along the Reeperbahn  people looked at him with the respect that they have in this district for a famous criminologist. Because some of them might have thought maybe it was really  the Commissioner of Paris, who followed a trail to St. Pauli. And he only pretended to be the English actor Rupert Davies.

(The original German magazine article was signed: b.s.)

The photos show Rupert Davies at his arrival at Hamburg airport, during his meeting with real Hamburg police officers, in front of the “Davidwache”, the most famous police station of the city and in the company of his fellow actor Hans Wilhelm Hamacher who brilliantly dubbs him in the German version.

© Axel Springer Verlag / Alamy.com

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The huge success of “Maigret” in Germany was also due the fact that the series was dubbed brilliantly into German.

Hans Wilhelm Hamacher - a Berlin actor with a physique not unsimilar to Rupert Davies - dubbed his English fellow actor so congenially that he also lend him his voice in numerous other movies: “The Spy who came in from the Cold” (1965), “The Brides of Fu Manchu” (1966), “Das Geheimnnis der gelben Mönche” (1966) “Witchfinder General” (1968) and “The Night Visitor” (1971)

Rupert Davies met his German fellow actor and was very pleased of the way Hans Wilhelm Hamacher dubbed him into German.

In the episode “Die rote Maske” (”The Red Mask”) (1967) from the German television series “Das Kriminalmuseum” (”Museum of Crime”) Hans Wilhelm Hamacher plays a detective himself. There are certain similarities to Rupert Davies as Maigret:

Kriminaloberkommissar Castorf is man full of fatherly kindness, he is obsessed with his work, is married to an understanding wife and has a young collegue who has the highest respect for his boss.