He was very versatile: Rainer Basedow acted in thrillers, caused laughter as a cabaret artist, or was on the road as a voice actor. Now Basedow died in Salzburg.
Older viewers still know him from the children’s film “Der Räuber Hotzenplotz”, the younger audience knows him as the German voice of Disney hero Pumbaa: actor Rainer Basedow is dead.
He died on Sunday at the age of 83 with his family after a short, serious illness in Salzburg, as his agency announced to the German Press Agency on Tuesday morning. The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported the death, citing his family.
The actor and cabaret artist, who would have been 84 next Friday, made a name for himself primarily as a series actor on German television – for example in the ZDF series “Coast Guard” and numerous TV thrillers such as “Der Alte”, “Derrick” and “crime scene”.
Basedow stood in front of the camera as Sergeant Dimpfelmoser for the classic children’s film “Der Räuber Hotzenplotz” (1974). He dubbed John Belushi for the US feature film “Blues Brothers” (1980). He also lent his voice to the warthog Pumbaa in the German-language version of the Disney classic “The Lion King”.
Basedow was born in Thuringia in 1938 and fled East Germany in 1956. After half a year at drama school, he received his first engagements and leading roles – in Munich and later in Bern, Düsseldorf and Berlin.
