The Ghost

Herbert Achternbusch, born November 23, 1938, in Munich, wanted to become a painter and poet after finishing secondary school. But from 1960 to 1962, he consecutively studied at Pädagogische Hochschule München-Pasing, at Nuremberg’s Kunstakademie, and for three semesters at Munich’s Akademie der Bildenden Künste instead. Then, from 1962 on, Achternbusch worked in several jobs before colleagues and friends such as Martin Walser advised him to become a writer rather than a painter.

In 1969, Suhrkamp published “Hülle”, a collection of stories, Achternbusch’s first publication of meanwhile more than 50 books. Shortly after the publication, Achternbusch started to make films on substandard film and became part of the German auteur film scene. Achternbusch then played parts in films by Werner Herzog and Volker Schlöndorff and wrote the screen play to Herzog’s Herz aus Glas (Heart of Glass). —filmportal.de