Longtime Jedermann director Gernot Friedel dies at 85

Austrian theatre, film and television director Gernot Friedel, best known for directing Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival from 1984 to 2001, has died, ORF reported. He was 85.

Friedel died on Saturday in Vienna, surrounded by his family, who announced his death on Monday. His funeral is to be held in Innsbruck in a small, private ceremony.

Born in Klagenfurt on February 26, 1941, Friedel grew up in Innsbruck and studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. He began his career as an assistant director, including under Ernst Haeusserman, whom he succeeded as director of Jedermann in 1984. Klaus Maria Brandauer played the title role that year.

Friedel directed two new productions of the play, which depicts the death of a rich man, at Salzburg Cathedral Square: one in 1990 with Helmuth Lohner and another in 1995 with Gert Voss as Jedermann. Ulrich Tukur joined the existing production from 1999 to 2001.

His other theatre work included productions at Vienna’s Burgtheater, Theater in der Josefstadt and Volksoper, as well as the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2003, he stepped in to direct Lehár’s operetta Giuditta at the Mörbisch Seefestspiele. He also directed numerous film and television productions.

Friedel received the Erich Neuberg Prize in 1991 for his film The End of a Long Winter. In 2001, he was awarded the Golden Decoration of Honour of the State of Salzburg.