Johan Marius Nicolaas Heesters (5 December 1903 â€" 24 December 2011)
professionally known as Johannes Heesters, was a Dutch actor of stage,
television and film, as well as a vocalist of numerous recordings and
performer on the concert stage with a career dating back to the 1920s.
Heesters worked as an actor until his death and was one of the oldest
performing entertainers in history, performing shortly before his
death at the age of 108. Heesters was almost exclusively active in the
German-speaking world from the mid-1930s and became a film star in
Nazi Germany, which later led to controversy in his native country. He
was able to maintain his popularity in Germany in the decades until
his death.Heesters was born in Amersfoort, Netherlands, the youngest
of four sons. His father Jacobus Heesters (1865â€"1946) was a salesman
and his mother Geertruida Jacoba van den Heuvel (1866â€"1951), a
homemaker.Heesters was fluent in German from a very early age having
lived for several years in the household of a German great uncle from
Bavaria. Heesters decided to become an actor and a singer at the age
of sixteen and began vocal training. Heesters specialized in Viennese
operetta very early in his career, and made his Viennese stage debut
in 1934 in Carl Millöcker's Der Bettelstudent (The Beggar
Student).Aged 31, Heesters permanently moved to Germany with his wife
and daughters in 1935. His signature role was Count Danilo Danilovich
in Franz Lehár's Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow). His version of
Count Danilo's entrance song, "Da geh' ich ins Maxim", was well known.
During his time in Germany, he performed for Adolf Hitler and visited
the Dachau concentration camp, which made him a controversial figure
for many Dutch. Joseph Goebbels placed Heesters on the Gottbegnadeten
list as an artist considered crucial to Nazi culture.
professionally known as Johannes Heesters, was a Dutch actor of stage,
television and film, as well as a vocalist of numerous recordings and
performer on the concert stage with a career dating back to the 1920s.
Heesters worked as an actor until his death and was one of the oldest
performing entertainers in history, performing shortly before his
death at the age of 108. Heesters was almost exclusively active in the
German-speaking world from the mid-1930s and became a film star in
Nazi Germany, which later led to controversy in his native country. He
was able to maintain his popularity in Germany in the decades until
his death.Heesters was born in Amersfoort, Netherlands, the youngest
of four sons. His father Jacobus Heesters (1865â€"1946) was a salesman
and his mother Geertruida Jacoba van den Heuvel (1866â€"1951), a
homemaker.Heesters was fluent in German from a very early age having
lived for several years in the household of a German great uncle from
Bavaria. Heesters decided to become an actor and a singer at the age
of sixteen and began vocal training. Heesters specialized in Viennese
operetta very early in his career, and made his Viennese stage debut
in 1934 in Carl Millöcker's Der Bettelstudent (The Beggar
Student).Aged 31, Heesters permanently moved to Germany with his wife
and daughters in 1935. His signature role was Count Danilo Danilovich
in Franz Lehár's Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow). His version of
Count Danilo's entrance song, "Da geh' ich ins Maxim", was well known.
During his time in Germany, he performed for Adolf Hitler and visited
the Dachau concentration camp, which made him a controversial figure
for many Dutch. Joseph Goebbels placed Heesters on the Gottbegnadeten
list as an artist considered crucial to Nazi culture.
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