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Dirch Hartvig Passer (18 May 1926 – 3 September 1980) was a celebrated Danish actor. He was greatly renowned for his improvisational skills and, with a filmography comprising 90 movies, one of Denmark's most prolific actors. His life is depicted in the Danish semi-biographical film A Funny Man (2011, Danish title Dirch) directed by Martin Zandvliet.
When he was young, Passer was very shy, and had a dream of becoming an actor, but consented to his father's wishes by attending J. Lauritzen's sea training school near Svendborg in 1944. But since he had persistent problems with seasickness, he later started at the drama school De frederiksbergske teatres Elevskole.
During the 1950s he formed a duo with his colleague and friend Kjeld Petersen. Their revue sketches, based upon the contrast between Petersen’s mixture of joviality and desperate anger and Passer’s deadpan responses, are still considered classics by the public. The sudden death of Kjeld Petersen in 1962 led Passer to avoid revues for five years, but he built up an individual reputation and in 1967 he returned to the revue gaining new victories. Many thin jokes in the scripts were greatly improved by his performance. In particular, his many amiable eccentrics and "nature experts" together with his sketch roles as a baby and as a nonsense "Russian"-speaking clown made him famous. From his later years must be mentioned an almost silent sketch in which he portrays a man’s vain attempt to stop smoking (also shown in West German TV). It was told that he could speak any language, however he wouldn't understand any of it, which was one of his good qualities. In his life, Dirch Passer wanted to play more serious roles than what he usually did, which was very comedic. But sadly, his image as a comedian was so solid, that when he tried to do so, the moment he showed himself on stage, the audience broke in laughter. This saddened him greatly, and because of that, he only attempted it once.
Career
He was often referred to as a loud actor in spite of the fact that under-acting was responsible for much of his force. A Danish critic, Jens Kistrup, once said that one of the secrets behind the comedy of Passer was its combination of elements that are normally regarded as incompatible. He possessed noisiness and discretion, loudness and quietness, boundlessness and complete control, craziness and softness — all this combined with a special intimacy with the audience. Among his inspirations he mentioned Joe E. Brown but he was also known for his admiration of the British comedian Tommy Cooper. In his films, which were of very mixed quality, he often played kind and somewhat crazy "Everymen" or antiheroes. Among his best movie roles were stage roles transferred to film; here must be mentioned the hero in Charley’s Aunt (1959), Celestin-Floridor in Frøken Nitouche (1963) and Leopold in Summer in Tyrol (i.e. The White Horse Inn, 1964).
Numerous Danish actors see him as a role model. In day-to-day life he was quite shy in behaviour, somewhat the opposite of his theatrical appearances. He collapsed just off stage dressed as a clown for the opening number of the season premiere of Tivolirevyen, dying shortly after arrival at the hospital.
Filmography
Actor
1977
En by i provinsen (TV Series) as
Didrichsen, Hotelvært / Didrichsen, Hotelejer
- Det anonyme brev (1980) - Didrichsen, Hotelejer
- Lugten i Bageriet (1980) - Didrichsen, Hotelejer
- Den gavmilde servitrice (1980) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- Disse prægtige maskiner (1979) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- Brand (1979) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- Kun mennesker (1979) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- Den skødesløse politimand (1978) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- En ulykke alene (1978) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- Gæster fra Hovedstaden (1978) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- Jackpot hver gang (1978) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- Sagen afsluttet (1977) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- Den skøre svensker (1977) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- 33 vil ikke forstyrres (1977) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
- Generalforsamling i handelsstanden (1977) - Didrichsen, Hotelvært
1978
Fængslende feriedage as
Fængselsinspektør Frost
1977
Piger til søs as
Seniorsergent Vasby
1977
Alt på et bræt as
Alfred Emanuelsen
1976
Mellem to stole (TV Series) as
Magician / French Flea Circus Director
1976
Piger i trøjen 2 as
Vasby
1976
Spøgelsestoget as
Theodor 'Teddy' T. Thönder
1975
Piger i trøjen as
Oversergent Vasby
1975
Revy vue 75 (TV Movie)
1974
Mafiaen - det er osse mig! as
Victor 'Viffer' Hansen
1973
Mig og mafiaen as
Victor 'Viffer' Hansen
1973
Solstik på badehotellet as
Doktor Grå
1972
Lenin, din gavtyv! as
General Ludendorff
1972
1001 Danish Delights as
Grev Axel von Hasteen
1971
Kid Gang on the Go as
Viggo
1971
Guld til præriens skrappe drenge as
Biggy
1971
Hvor er liget, Møller? as
Vilhelm Hårlung
1970
Den gyldenblonde fortæller (TV Movie) as
Magician
1970
Hurra for de blå husarer as
Spjellerup
1970
Præriens skrappe drenge as
Biggy
1970
Nøglen til paradis as
Gudmund (præst og rejsearrangør)
1970
The Ways of Women as
Blikkenslager
1970
Kyrkoherden as
Bartolomeus
1969
Mig og min lillebror og Bølle as
Søren Severinsen
1969
Pigen fra Egborg as
John Søgaard
1969
Sjov i gaden as
Peter Jensen (as Dirck Passer)
1968
Musikken var af Kai Normann Andersen (TV Movie) as
Various Roles
1968
Dyrlægens plejebørn as
Dyrlæge Linsager
1968
Min søsters børn vælter byen as
Dr. Mogensen
1968
Me and My Kid Brother and the Smugglers as
Søren Severinsen
1968
Soldaterkammerater på bjørnetjeneste as
Vagtkommandør 419 (uncredited)
1967
Spotlight (TV Series)
- Episode #2.2 (1968)
- Episode #1.3 (1967)
- Episode #1.1 (1967)
1968
Musikken var af ... (TV Series)
- Kai Normann Andersen (1968)
1967
Valsedrømme (TV Movie) as
Tjener
1967
Mig og min lillebror as
Søren Severinsen
1967
Onkel Joakims hemmelighed as
Fyrst Fingernem (uncredited)
1967
Cirkusrevyen 67 as
Various Roles
1967
Elsk... din næste! as
Olaf
1967
Copenhagen Design (TV Movie) as
Various Roles
1966
The Girl and the Viscount as
Andreas Lillelys
1966
Slap af Frede! as
Fettucino
1966
Deres spion er i aften ... Dirch Passer (TV Movie) as