Emil Steinberger rewarded for his entire body of work

Emil Steinberger received a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) on Thursday evening. The 91-year-old German-speaking comedian also attended the premiere of the documentary film which traces his life, “Typisch Emil” (“Typically Emil”).

In Phil Meyer’s portrait, the Lucerne artist known across linguistic borders recounts his childhood in a narrow environment, his great successes and the price of fame. The interview scenes alternate with his legendary sketches, unpublished images or extracts from the cult film “The Swiss Makers” (1978), in which he plays the main role.

Almost uninterrupted success

In 1968, the actor and former postal worker founded the Kleintheater cabaret in Lucerne with his first wife Maja. A year later, Emil, then aged 36, broke through with his first major program. By dint of “crunching” the average Swiss, successes also followed in Germany, Austria, even in French-speaking Switzerland, where he performed in “federal French”.

The Lucerne native retired from the stage for the first time in 1987, at the age of 54. He only returned in the early 2000s, as a young man in his seventies. It then toured for fifteen years with a new program and public readings.

The role of his second wife Niccel

In the documentary which pays tribute to him, Emil also evokes his love story with his second wife Niccel, a German 32 years his junior, met in New York while he was staying there in the 1990s for six years.

For around twenty years, this very creative soul has worked in particular as her husband’s manager. She co-produced the documentary “Typisch Emil”. The couple has lived in Basel for ten years after having lived for fifteen years in Montreux (VD) upon their return from New York.

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