A life in roles
Kerzel was born on 10 December 1941 in Hindenburg in Upper Silesia and, after his family fled, grew up in Augsburg. His path to acting was not a straight one: first he trained as a fitter and oil-heating installer, did his military service as a radio operator in the German navy – and then, from 1963 to 1966, studied acting at the State Academies of Music and Theatre in Hanover.
What followed were theatre engagements, film and TV roles – and above all a dubbing career without equal. His filmography comprises more than 1,400 roles. He was the German voice of Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins, Dennis Hopper, Harvey Keitel, Jean Reno and Robert Wagner. For dubbing Jack Nicholson in “About Schmidt” he received the German Dubbing Award in 2003.
He also recorded radio plays and audiobooks – as narrator of the “John Sinclair” series he became a companion to an entire generation, as he did through his work on the “Star Wars” radio plays. In the mid-eighties, together with his wife Maria Körber, he founded an acting school and passed on what he knew. He stayed in touch with many of his former students until the very end.
Our recordings with Joachim Kerzel
For us at speaker-search, Joachim Kerzel was a familiar guest in the studio for many years. Commercials, corporate films, trailers, voice-overs – we produced a great deal with him, and every one of those recordings had one thing in common: it was quick. Kerzel came prepared, listened once to what the director wanted, and delivered. Not with effects, but with attitude. He knew exactly how much he could leave out for a sentence to carry.
One recording that fell outside the usual remains a special highlight: the session for Sido's album “Ich und meine Maske” (2008) – for the title track. Sido came to our studio himself. A rapper from the Märkisches Viertel and the German voice of Jack Nicholson at one microphone: it was one of those days when everyone in the control room realises that something is happening that won't happen like this again. Kerzel took it seriously, as he took everything seriously – and was visibly enjoying himself.
What remains
Voice artists like Joachim Kerzel have become rare. Not because of the sound alone, but because of the experience behind it: decades of theatre, thousands of roles, a feel for text that cannot be simulated. He was a craftsman in the best sense and a colleague with whom work was simply a pleasure.
His voice is preserved in countless films, radio plays and commercials. It will go on being heard in living rooms, cinemas and headphones, long after this summer.
We bow our heads. Thank you, Joachim.
Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and all his colleagues.
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