Raimund Harmstorf, a towering, athletic bear of a man, rose to stardom with his unforgettable portrayal of Captain Wolf Larsen in Jack London's Der Seewolf (1971). This performance, both chilling and mesmerizing, captivated audiences worldwide and cemented his status as a German/Austrian/French/Romanian co-production's lead.
Harmstorf's iconic role not only defined his career but also led to various myths surrounding the actor himself. One of the most enduring tales revolves around his alleged ability to crush a raw potato with one hand, a feat he successfully replicated on national television. This publicity stunt led him to issue a nationwide challenge, offering prize money to anyone capable of emulating his feat.
Born in Hamburg, Harmstorf studied medicine and later attended the local college for music and the performing arts. He began his acting career with modest success in Hamburg and Berlin, before spending two years in South America cultivating his image as a macho adventurer. Upon his return to Germany, he was left with only two Deutschmarks in his pocket.
A lover of action sports and an accomplished athlete, Harmstorf's early life was marked by his passion for paragliding, surfing, and fast cars. He even claimed to have been a regional decathlon youth champion in a 1972 issue of Bravo magazine.
By the mid-1960s, Harmstorf started to establish himself on screen, initially in small TV roles. His breakthrough performance as Captain Wolf Larsen put him on the map, followed by further success in the title role of Jules Verne's Michel Strogoff (1975) and as the vernacular protagonist of Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand (1979),a role he also played on the stage. He also made appearances in several spaghetti westerns alongside genre favorites Franco Nero and Terence Hill.
However, by the early 1990s, Harmstorf's life as an action hero began to unravel. He sustained numerous sporting injuries, lost two teeth in a screen fight with Bud Spencer, and was accidentally shot in the foot during the filming of the same movie. His restaurant, "Zum Seewolf", went bankrupt, and he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1994.
Harmstorf's struggles with his condition led him to self-medicate, causing severe side effects, including bouts of paranoia and depression. Scurrilous tabloids reported on the minutiae of his psychiatric condition, and one even published a premature report of his suicide. Tragically, Harmstorf's fragile state of mind eventually broke, and he took his own life on the night of May 3, 1998.
