Manfred Jester

Along with Ilse Scheer and Otto Zonschitz, Jester was one of the founding members of the Theatermanufaktur am Hallesches Ufer, which after Rainer Harjes is the most important independent group in Germany.  The Theatermanufaktur ensemble performed together at the Paris Festival of Nations, in the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Austria, Switzerland, at the Berlin Festival and the Ruhr Festival in Recklinghausen.  Jester made his first television appearance in 1971 alongside Grischa Huber in the horror film Vampira.  Here Jester embodied none of the acting characters, but moderated the individual parts of the episodic film with a mixture of historical backgrounds and legends.  In the same year he shot the comedy Perlico - Perlaco with Michael Pfleghar.  In addition to Jester, the cast also included Elke Sommer, Robert Wagner, Elisabeth Volkmann, Wichart von Roëll and Joachim Regelien.  Three years later, Jester became known to a wide audience through another work with Pfleghar: He embodied the "Onkel Poldi" of the Klimbim family from the comedy television series of the same name.  His partners were again Volkmann, von Roëll and Regelien as well as Horst Jüssen, Ingrid Steeger and Dieter Augustin.  In addition to "Onkel Poldi", Jester took on many other roles in numerous sketches and, together with Wichart von Roëll, took on the role of double emcee, which was later taken over by Jüsse.  Shortly after the first season of the series, Jester died in a car accident.