Willy Bogner Jr.

Life and work

Born in Munich, Bogner competed for the Unified Team of Germany shortly after turning 18 at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. He led the competition in the men's slalom after the first run, but fell during the second run. That season, he won the prestigious Lauberhorn downhill at Wengen, Switzerland. In 1962, he became double world student champion in alpine skiing's slalom and alpine combined event.

On 12 April 1964, Bogner led a group of 14 world-class skiers in the Engadine Val Selin in Switzerland, near St. Moritz, below Trais Fluors. They were filming scenes of a ski fashion movie Ski Fascination (1966). for which he was the producer. An avalanche was triggered, where the air pressure caused the departure of a second avalanche on the opposite slope. Several members of the group were buried. Bogner's girlfriend Barbi Henneberger and American Buddy Werner were recovered but had not survived. Both had raced ahead of the first avalanche, but were caught by the second. Found hours later, their deaths were attributed to suffocation, and were the only two fatalities in the group.

Bogner, 22, and Henneberger were to be engaged that summer; he was tried by a Swiss court for homicide by negligence. Initially acquitted, the prosecution later won a conviction on appeal, of manslaughter by negligence, and Bogner received a two-month suspended sentence.

His best result in the World Championships was a fourth place in the slalom (and fifth place in the combined) at the 1966 World Championships in August in Portillo, Chile.

Willy Bogner Jr. was a familiar face in the international ski scene until 1967, when he decided to concentrate his efforts on film-making. He returned in 1971 to launch his first ski collection, Formula W. An American outlet in Newport, Vermont was created in 1973 while a tennis fashion line debuted the following year. A golf fashion line was created in 1976. When his father died in 1977, Bogner returned to Munich from America to assume control of the company. In 1983, a sunglasses line was created.

He has worked as a cameraman in several films requiring complex ski footage. His most notable work in this field can be seen in James Bond films from the 1960s through to the 1980s, specifically On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only and A View to a Kill – for which he won the prestigious Bambi Award in 1985 and the Bavarian Film Award, Special Prize, in 1986. Playing James Bond in all but the first of these, Roger Moore wears Bogner ski wear, as do many other characters in skiing scenes.

Bogner continues to be active within both the fashion and film aspects of his career. In 1998 he produced and presented his own weekly TV series, Willy Bogner's Snow Show, and since then he has also produced several specialist ski films, the most impressive of which are his IMAX movies. Meanwhile, the Bogner brand continues to roll out seasonal collections and even boasts its own cosmetics range for men and women (debuted in 1985 and expanded fourteen years later.).

Bogner received the "Bundesverdienstkreuz" medal on May 30, 1996.

In 1999 he was awarded the Goldene Seidenschleife ("Golden Ribbon of Silk") to recognise excellence in enterprise.

Among the German athletes wearing the Bogner line at the 2006 Winter Olympics were Evi Sachenbacher (cross-country skiing), Martina Glagow (biathlon), Georg Hettich (nordic combined), Georg Hackl (luge), Anni Friesinger (speed skating), Viola Bauer (cross-country skiing), and Tobias Angerer (cross-country skiing).