Everyone knows his eyes Secret "Tatort" star is dead
Hardly anyone knows his name, but almost everyone knows his eyes: Horst Lettenmayer has appeared in the opening credits of "Tatort" for almost 54 years. Now his eyes have closed forever.
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- He was the secret "Tator" star who, with a few exceptions, could be seen in every episode: Horst Lettenmayer is dead.
- Lettenmayer lent his eyes and legs to the opening credits of "Tatort".
- He was paid 400 Deutschmarks for his appearance. At the time, nobody could have known that the footage would achieve cult status.
Horst Lettenmayer, whose eyes and legs have appeared in the opening credits of the "Tatort" crime series for more than 50 years, is dead.
The former actor and lighting producer died on July 20, as his daughter Julia-Alina Lettenmayer confirmed to the German Press Agency. He was buried on July 31 at Munich's North Cemetery - it would have been his 83rd birthday. The Munich newspaper "Abendzeitung" first reported on this.
He received a one-off payment of 400 Deutschmarks for his performance
With few exceptions, Lettenmayer has been staring through a slit into German living rooms every Sunday at 8.15 p.m. since the start of the "Tatort" series, with white crosshairs surrounding his left iris. Then his legs can be seen in the picture, running away over shiny asphalt to the dramatic music of Klaus Doldinger.
At the time, Lettenmayer was paid a one-off 400 Deutschmarks for his performance - unaware that the images would achieve cult status and be used for decades.
Still working at the company on the day of his death
He overcame his public anger about this and concentrated entirely on his lighting company, his daughter now explained. "No matter what he did, it was always 1000 percent, there was nothing by halves - even if he was just making jam."
Even on the day of his death, he was still working as usual at the company, which the 32-year-old had already taken over the management of - albeit still with her active father at her side as the owner.
On the day of his death, he felt unwell and went home around midday, Julia Lettenmayer explained. When he stopped answering the phone, she went there and found him lifeless in his bed. "He always lived well with lots of smoking and red wine here and there, he just enjoyed his life - and that's how he always wanted it," she emphasized.
400 marks for cult recordings
As a young man, Lettenmayer had more or less made a living as an actor.
In 1970, the first "Tatort" was produced and Bayerischer Rundfunk took care of the opening credits for the crime series planned for ARD. Lettenmayer's eyes are filmed in the studio, he runs away from the camera at Munich-Riem airport - and the day job is done.
"There was no contract, nothing," says Lettenmayer in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur a few years ago. Not only was he the loser, but also the company that produced the opening credits - nobody would have thought that the series would be so successful and that the opening credits would run unchanged for decades.
Lighting company instead of spotlight
As a consolation, Lettenmayer himself was later allowed to act in a "Tatort". In the 1989 Schimanski episode "Der Pott", he played a trade union official who embezzled money from the till. His guest appearance was quite brief, he ended up dead in a wagon.
And his acting career didn't really take off either, which is why the electrical engineering graduate concentrated on his lighting company. "By chance, he was commissioned to develop a picture light and the patent for the light was an instant hit," explained his daughter. "And then it went from there."