His eyes and legs are familiar to every "Tattor" fan.
Hardly anyone knows his name, but almost everyone knows his eyes: Horst Lettenmayer has been seen in the opening credits of "Tatort" for nearly 54 years. Now, his eyes have closed forever.
Horst Lettenmayer was the secret star of "Tatort". For over 50 years, his eyes and legs were seen in the opening credits of the ARD crime series. Now, the former actor and lighting producer has died at the age of 82 on July 20, as confirmed by his daughter Julia-Alina Lettenmayer. He was buried on July 31 at the Munich North Cemetery, which would have been his 83rd birthday. The Munich "Abendzeitung" first reported on this.
With a few exceptions, Lettenmayer has been staring through a slit into German living rooms every Sunday at 8:15 PM since the beginning of the "Tatort" series, a white thread cross surrounding his left iris. Then, his legs are seen running over glossy asphalt to dramatic music by Klaus Doldinger. For his appearance, Lettenmayer received a one-time payment of 400 D-Mark, unaware that the footage would become a cult classic and be used for decades.
His daughter explained after his death that he had overcome his anger about this and focused entirely on his lighting company. "No matter what he did, he always gave 1000 percent, even if he was just making jam," she said. He had worked in the company as usual on the day of his death, with his 32-year-old daughter already taking over the management, but still with her active father as the owner.
On his last day, he felt unwell and drove home around noon. When he didn't answer the phone, she went to his place and found him lifeless in his bed. "He lived well with a lot of smoking and wine here and there, he simply enjoyed his life - and that's how he wanted it," she said about his death.
"Tatort" opening credits were a one-day job
As a young man, Lettenmayer struggled as an actor. In 1970, the first "Tatort" was produced, and the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation was responsible for the opening credits of the crime series planned for ARD. Lettenmayer's eyes were filmed in the studio, and he ran away from the camera at Munich-Riem Airport - and the one-day job was done.
"There was no contract, nothing," Lettenmayer said in an interview with the German Press Agency a few years ago. Not only was he the "loser" in this, but also the company that produced the opening credits - no one thought that the series would be so successful and the opening credits would run unchanged for decades.
Lighting company instead of the limelight
Lettenmayer was later allowed to play a small role in a "Tatort" as consolation. In 1989, he played a union functionary who embezzles the cash in the Schimanski episode "The Pot," ending up dead in a coal car.
His acting career also didn't take off much, so the graduate in electrical engineering focused on his lighting company. "He accidentally got the order to develop a picture light, and the patent for the light was an instant hit," his daughter said.
Despite his brief appearance in the opening credits of "Tatort," delivering a captivating performance with his eyes, Horst Lettenmayer chose to pursue his career in lighting production instead. His company became successful, with his innovative picture light design gaining immediate popularity after securing a patent.
The 'entertainment' provided by Lettenmayer in the early days of "Tatort," though minimal, left a lasting impact on viewers, paving the way for his ingenious work in the world of lighting.
