Figure 1.--This film clip shows Michael Ande in one of his many film roles-a chorister in "Der schoenste Tag in meinem Leben" (1957). He wears the uniform of the Vienna Boys Choir.

Michael Ande was a well-known German film child star during the 1950s. He was born on October 5th, 1944. A German reader reports, "Michael played in mostly melodramas--those films with nice people, love and mountains, etc (sentimental film in an idealized setting). Some would consider these rather smaltz tear-jeakers. Two words come to mind in German. The first is "Heimatfilm". Heimat is home, where I came from This kind of film stands for: very sentimental, lots of love (and some ache but with Happy End), idealistic setting, Lederhosen, Mountains, Conservative ideals, etc. The second is "Heile-Welt-Film" meaning "intact-world-film" They were, however very popular films in Germany." He played a variety of roles in these films, including choir boys. One of these films was "Der schoenste Tag in meinem Leben" (1957) in which he played a chorister in the Vienna Boys' Choir. There is an image of him, for example, on the HBC choir-film pages. Michael also played in two German films about the Trapp family: "Die Trapp-Familie" (1956) and "Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika" (1958). These films were made some years before the U.S. film--the musical version "The Sound of Music" was made. (The Broadway version appeared several years ealier.) Michael played the role of Werner in the Trapp-films. (In "The Sound of Music" the boy's name are different.) Ande like many child actors had difficulty continuing his career as an adult actor. He had problems being accepted as adult actor as he had such a youthful-looking face. Ande is still acting and occassionally appears on German television.

Created: November 28, 2002
Last updated: November 28, 2002