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Bruno Ganz, the actor who played Hitler in the 2004 film Downfall , has died aged 77.
The Swiss star, who had roles in Hollywood films The Reader and The Manchurian Candidate , died at home in Zurich on Friday evening, his management said.
Ganz was best known for the Oscar-nominated film Downfall , the German film that charted Adolf Hitler’s final days in a Berlin bunker.
His performance gained notoriety after a scene showing Hitler ranting spawned parody memes online.
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While Ganz’s cause of death is unconfirmed, it was reported that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer.
Over his five-decade career, Ganz – a prominent figure in German cinema – worked with Werner Herzog, Eric Rohmer, Francis Ford Coppola and Wim Wenders.
He played a vampire in Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre and an angel in Wenders’ Wings of Desire eight years later.
Ganz was the current holder of the Iffland-Ring, which is given to the German-speaking actor who is judged “most significant and worthy”. It is unknown who Ganz had intended to hand it to after his time with the ring came to an end.
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