Gerlach, Wolfgang Heribert (gen. Wolf)

Stage designer, film architect, painter, draughtsman

Born: 17.04.1928 in Stolp, Pomerania (today Słupsk, Poland)

Died: 12.11.2012 in Bad Zwischenahn

After studying and training as a stage and costume designer, Gerlach worked as a stage designer at the Staatstheater Oldenburg from 1954-59 and then moved to the Staatstheater Braunschweig, where he worked as head stage and costume designer until 1961. In 1954, he married his wife Lisa in Oldenburg, with whom he had four children. In 1962, Gerlach moved with his family to Wiesbaden, where he initially worked as a film architect for commercials.

In 1963, he invented the characters of the six "Mainzelmännchen" ("Anton, Berti, Conny, Det, Edi and Fritzchen") for the launch of the new television channel Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), who first appeared on screen on April 2, 1963 and to whom he also gave his voice in the early years. They soon became the station's trademark.

He also created episodes for other broadcasters, so-called "Werbetrenner", which were shown between the commercials; these included the characters "Ute, Schnute, Kasimir" (1978-89) for Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) and "Leo & Leo" (1989) for Bayerischer Rundfunk. He was also involved in other animated series such as "Benjamin Blümchen" and "Bibi Blocksberg".

He has lived in Bad Zwischenahn since 1988. In his retirement, he returned to painting and showed his work in various exhibitions. Gerlach has received numerous awards, including the Federal Cross of Merit (1983) and the Gutenberg Bust of the City of Mainz (2008).