Erwin Steinhauer marks 75th birthday after decades in Austrian culture

Actor, cabaret performer and director Erwin Steinhauer is celebrating his 75th birthday on Saturday. ORF reports that the Vienna-born artist has shaped Austria’s cultural landscape across film, television, theatre and cabaret.

Steinhauer initially studied German and history to become a teacher after completing his secondary school examinations. He abandoned his studies to pursue cabaret. After 1974, he founded the cabaret group Keif with Wolfgang Teuschl, Erich Demmer and Alfred Rubatschek. Lukas Resetarits joined the group a few years later.

Steinhauer later found success at the Simpl cabaret theatre and at the Kommoedchen in Duesseldorf. He released his first solo programme, Entlassen, in 1982, followed by Cafe Plem-Plem and Auf der Schaufel. After a nine-year break, he returned to the stage. His programme Was lachen Sie? with Heinz Marecek became a major success, and the two were still performing it 25 years later.

From Greece to Vienna

Steinhauer has appeared in dozens of radio plays and more than 100 film and television productions. His credits include Single Bells and Stella di Mare: Hilfe, wir erben ein Schiff. He also played the eccentric rural police officer Simon Polt, a character from Alfred Komarek’s crime novels.

More recently, Steinhauer appeared in Thomas Stipsits’s successful comedy Griechenland, as the archbishop of Munich in the miniseries Himmel, Herrgott, Sakrament, and in the Salzburg crime film Dunkle Wasser.

His work has also taken him to Austria’s major theatres. He was a member of the Burgtheater ensemble from 1982 to 1988, where he played roles including Herr Karl. He also performed at the Volkstheater in Bauer als Millionaer, at Theater an der Wien as Frosch in Die Fledermaus, at the Salzburg Festival as Mammon in Jedermann and at Landestheater Niederoesterreich as Bockerer.

Steinhauer received the Salzburger Stier award in 1983 for his solo programme Kopf hoch. He won the Austrian Small Arts Prize in 1986 and 2004, as well as the Ybbser Spassvogel award.

For his portrayal of Simon Polt, he received a special award from the German Academy of Performing Arts in 2002 and the Romy award for Austria’s most popular actor. His theatre work was recognised with the Karl Skraup Prize. He also received the Golden Medals of Honour of Vienna and Burgenland, as well as the Grand Golden Medal of Honour of Lower Austria.

In 2016, Steinhauer won the Diagonale acting award for his role as a war correspondent in Thank You for Bombing. In 1995, he also supported the Peace Fleet 95 action committee, using his public profile to raise donations through the media for victims of war and to protest against political inaction during the Yugoslav Wars.

ORF2 and ORF III are marking his birthday with special programming.