It belongs to Karl May’s films as the silver rifle belongs to Vinnetou. Ralf Wolter went down in film history as Sam Hawkens with his “wig scalp”. However, that was more than 50 years ago. Believe it or not, the actor is still alive because he played Hawkeye in his thirties.
“I’m never wrong. If I’m not mistaken, lol!” Over the years, this quote has become iconic and is inextricably linked to Ralf Wolter aka Sam Hawkens. In 1962, the character of the sympathetically befuddled woodsman first appeared in a film Treasure on Silver Lake. Wolter stars in it alongside Pierre Brice (Vinnetou) and Lex Barker (Old Shatterhand).
“I was happy with the role, it was one of my best times,” Wolter told Germany’s GDR television. Wolter literally loved the character of Sam Hawkens. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have turned out so well, he’s sure of that. Sam Hawkens also had another influence on him: “Surprisingly, this positive role came back to me in the form of Ralf Wolter. People told me he was a great guy.”
Wolter appears in various film adaptations of Karl May from the 1960s. In addition to Sam Hawkens, he also shines as Haji Halef Omar. His mouth is often faster than his mind. No less bizarre is the role of the cuckoo clock salesman Andreas Hasenpfeffer in the films Treasure of the Aztecs a Pyramid of the sun god. It is said that he learned Swabian specifically for this. In 1980, Wolter played Sam Hawkens again in the TV series My friend Winnetou.
“It’s important to me that I do everything with love,” says Wolter, adding: “Just as you know a good restaurant by the lovingly prepared salad, you know good actors by the fact that they love their role.”
Wolter also commented on why Winnetou became a true cult and why it still entertains viewers today: “Karl May has struck a chord with readers when it comes to male friendship, which all men long for and which will never be realized in this form today.”
In 2002, the actor made headlines when he contributed to a traffic accident on 22 May 2002 by taking a risky turn in a traffic jam on the A24 motorway. A truck then crushed a car and three people died. Wolter quickly left the scene of the accident. At the time, the 75-year-old actor claimed that he did not notice the accident. Subsequently, with tears in his eyes, he begged the victims’ relatives for forgiveness. “I would like to say that I am extremely sorry for everything that happened,” he was quoted by the Hamburger Morgenpost. He was sentenced to ten months’ probation for involuntary manslaughter and endangering road traffic.
He played in a feature film for the last time in 2012, and a year later, in an interview with Bild newspaper, he confided that he had already said goodbye to acting: “At some point you reach a point where you say, ‘I’ve had enough, I don’t want any more.'” Since then, he has refused offers. Ninety-five-year-old Wolter lives a quiet life in Munich with his wife, Edith, to whom he has been married since the late 1950s.
Viewers could see Wolter in his unforgettable role on Monday in the iconic Treasure on Silver Lake (1962), they can remember him again on Monday, July 25 on ČT1 in the film Vinnetou – The Last Shot (1965).
Sources: author, NDR
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