Features on these issues provide subjects for discussion and enhance the conversation on Talking Germany. The two discuss Reiner Schöne’s experiences as an artist who crossed borders – including the borders between the former East and West Germany, and between Germany and the United States. We also speak with him about his role in German-language productions of musicals such as “Hair” and his subsequent Hollywood career.
Short Biography:
Many Germans know Reiner Schöne best through his voice – he’s dubbed the German voice for numerous Hollywood stars such as Willem Dafoe and Mickey Rourke. But he’s also had a long and varied career spanning both Germany and the US. Born in 1942, Schöne grew up in the city of Weimar in the former East Germany, where he also got his start as a singer and stage actor. After a guest appearance in West Germany in the late 1960s, Schöne decided to remain there, leaving his friends and family behind. He went on to appear in the German-language versions of big-name musicals, including “Hair”. By the mid-1980s, he’d moved on to a career in Hollywood, where he worked with stars such as Clint Eastwood and Chris Kristofferson and even became the first German to appear on Star Trek. He returned to Germany in 2002, and now lives with his partner and young daughter just outside Berlin.