Weck, Peter 1930-

PERSONAL:

Born August 12, 1930, in Vienna, Austria. Education: Attended Max Reinhardt Seminar, beginning 1951.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Bambauer Keplerstr, 2, D-81679 Munich, Germany.

CAREER:

Actor, director, and screenwriter. Vereinigte Buehnen ("Combined Stages"), Vienna, Austria, general manager, 1981-91; Theatre an der Wein, Vienna, Austria, artistic director, 1983-92; Varieté Theatre, Ronacher, Austria, and Raimund Theatre, artistic director, retired, 1992. Actor in over fifty German-language films, beginning 1954; also appeared in Forever My Love, Paramount, 1962, and Almost Angels, Buena Vista, 1962. Director of several films. Director of and actor in numerous made-fortelevision movies and television series.

WRITINGS:

(And director) Diebinnen (screenplay; also known as Women Robbers, Lady Thieves, and Stealing Beauties), Roxy-Film (Munich, Germany) 1996.

SIDELIGHTS:

Peter Weck has been one of the premiere figures in Austrian theater for many decades. Weck first made a name for himself as a screen actor, then later as a director of films and television programs. Weck also served in the management of several Austrian playhouses for a time before retiring. Weck, however, has continued to act and direct and has also written an original film.

Diebinnen, which translates as "Women Robbers" and is also known by the titles Women Robbers, Lady Thieves, and Stealing Beauties, is the story of three women: Kalara Herzog, Sabine Heyer, and Michaela Ritter. Herzog, a frustrated, fifty-something wife and mother of two teenage sons, takes up shoplifting just for the thrill. She is caught and has to explain her actions to Heyer, a young public prosecutor. Heyer wants to rehabilitate Herzog, but instead she finds herself being drawn into Herzog's world. The two become friends, and at Herzog's urging Heyer tries shoplifting herself. When Heyer goes to a cocktail party at Herzog's house and finds there an embezzler whom she has been trying unsuccessfully to prosecute, Heyer, Herzog, and their mutual friend Ritter (who installs burglar alarms), hatch a plot to break into the man's hotel room in search of incriminating material. The result, Stan James wrote in the Advertiser, is a "lively German comedy."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 33, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 2001.

PERIODICALS

Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia, Australia), February 4, 2000, Stan James, review of Stealing Beauties, p. 79.

ONLINE

German Films,http://www.german-cinema.de/ (June 19, 2006), information on author's career.

Internet Movie Database,http://www.imdb.com/ (June 18, 2006), information on author's career.

ORF.at,http://www.orf.at/ (June 19, 2006), information on author's career.