Uwe Kockisch (1944–2025) was a German stage, screen and television actor. He trained at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in East Berlin and worked on stage at the Maxim Gorki Theater for over 20 years. He became known for crime series and for the lead role in the miniseries The Weissensee Saga: A Berlin Love Story, which portrays a Berlin family before, during and after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Career
Kockisch began working in film in 1974 and appeared in crime series such as Tatort and Polizeiruf 110. From 2003 to 2019 he played Commissario Guido Brunetti in 22 television films based on the crime novels of Donna Leon. He also played the Stasi officer Hans Kupfer in The Weissensee Saga, which ran for four seasons and 24 episodes. He received the Adolf Grimme Award in 2008 and the Deutscher Fernsehpreis in 2011.
Personal life
Kockisch was born in Cottbus in 1944. As a youth he tried to escape from East Germany, was caught and spent a year in prison. He later lived in Madrid, Spain, where he died of lung cancer on 22 December 2025, at the age of 81.